Postgraduate Students

New AHRC PhD project announced

A new fully-funded AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Project has just been announced and is seeking applications.

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'Material Spirits: Objects, Past and Landscape in Contemporary Scottish Whisky' will be supervised by Professor Stana Nenadic of the University of Edinburgh and Dr Sarah Laurenson, Curator of Modern and Contemporary History at National Museums Scotland.  It is one of six awards made annually by the Scottish Cultural Heritage Consortium. 

The project will focus on the material culture of the Scottish Whisky industry, interrogated through objects and landscape. It employs an interdisciplinary methodology, drawing on social and cultural history and material culture studies. By conducting research into documentary sources, contemporary production and existing collections at National Museums Scotland and elsewhere, it is intended to make an original contribution to understanding the role of objects, past and landscape in creating ideas of Scotland through such an iconic luxury product as whisky.  The appointed student will also have the opportunity to gain invaluable professional development for following a career in the museum sector.

Dr Sarah Laurenson, former doctoral student in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at Edinburgh University, has said, ‘I am very pleased to be collaborating with Professor Stana Nenadic and the University of Edinburgh on this important project. It offers an exciting opportunity to research whisky as an area of Scottish production that links past and present, local and global.  National Museums Scotland has a rich collection of historic objects relating to the spirit. This project will throw new light on our existing material and pave the way for building collections that represent the industry in the 21st century.’

The deadline for applications is 10 April, 2019.

 

Professor Stana Nenadic's staff profile

Dr Sarah Laurenson at National Museums Scotland