CHASE Studentships in Religious Studies

The Department of Religious Studies at the Open University invites applications for October 2015 entry to our PhD programme (for information on our areas of expertise and research interests, please see http://www.open.ac.uk/postgraduate/research-degrees/research-areas/religious-studies). The Open University is part of the CHASE AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (alongside the Courtauld Institute of Art, Goldsmith’s College at the University of London and the Universities of East Anglia, Essex, Kent and Sussex) and successful applicants for PhD study will be able to apply for studentship funding. For UK students, these awards cover both fees and maintenance. For EU residents awards are on a fees only basis. The funding is also designed to enable professional development opportunities, including public engagement skills and placements with CHASE partner organisations in the UK and overseas.

Research in the department is characterised by a strongly interdisciplinary approach and ethos. The Department hosts the Cross-Cultural Identities research group (http://www.open.ac.uk/arts/research/cross-cultural-identities/) and we currently have ten full-time and part-time PhD students working on a range of subjects. The Open University offers excellent provision for new PhD students. Each student is supported by two supervisors as well as a strong programme of university-wide and Faculty-specific training in research skills. In addition, students have the opportunity to participate in a lively research culture and to contribute to regular seminar programmes, conferences and workshops held in Milton Keynes, London and other Open University national/regional centres.

The Religious Studies Department has a successful track record in winning external research funding, leading large-scale collaborative research projects and supporting individual research. On-going research projects include ‘Re-Assembling Democracy: Ritual as Cultural Resource’ funded by the Norwegian Research Council http://www.tf.uio.no/english/research/projects/redo/; ‘Religion, Martyrdom and Global Uncertainties’ funded by RCUK http://www.open.ac.uk/arts/research/religion-martyrdom-global-uncertainties/ and ‘Pilgrimage and England’s cathedrals, past and present’ http://christianityandculture.org.uk/ground-breaking-project-investigates-role-pilgrimage-past-and-present.

The department also has strong links with a range of learned societies including BSA Soc-Rel (the Sociology of Religion Study Group of the British Sociological Association), the BASR (British Association for the Study of Religion), EASR (European Association for the Study of Religion), the Ecclesiastical History Society (EHS) and scholarly journals including Critical Research on Religion, Culture and Religion, Fieldwork in Religion and Folklore.

Informal enquiries re studentships should be made to paul-francois.tremlett@open.ac.uk in the first instance. Applications will be considered by the Faculty of Arts on a competitive basis and forwarded to four CHASE panels for further assessment and ranking. For full details of all subject areas and how to apply, please see the CHASE website: http://www.chase.ac.uk/. Please note that the deadline for all Postgraduate Research applications, including the CHASE Studentships, is January 14, 2015. It is anticipated that interviews at the Open University for shortlisted candidates in Religious Studies will take place in late January 2015

Dr Paul-Francois Tremlett