AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership studentship: Henrietta Maria’s court performances

Start date: 1 October 2025

Application Deadline: Monday 30 June at 23.59

Interviews: will take place online on Wednesday 23 July 

A recording of an information webinar that took place on 20 May can be found here.

Royal Museums Greenwich (‘RMG)’, Northumbria University and Historic Royal Palaces (‘HRP’) are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative doctoral studentship from October 2025 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme. A January start date is also possible. 

This project investigates gender nonconformity and race-making in the court performances of Henrietta Maria (queen consort to Charles I), with reference to the Queen’s House, Greenwich and the Banqueting House, Whitehall. 

This project will be jointly supervised by Clare McManus and Clare Elliot (Northumbria), Victoria Lane (RMG) and Jemima Hubberstey (HRP). The student will be expected to spend time at Northumbria University, RMG and HRP, as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK. 

The studentship can be studied either full or part-time (full-time only for international students).

We encourage applications from a diverse range of people, from different backgrounds and career stages.

Students should have a Masters Degree in a relevant subject or be able to demonstrate relevant equivalent experience. 

The studentship is open to both home and international applicants.

Project Overview

The student will be encouraged to shape the project according to their interests, but research questions - drawing on literary studies, performance studies, gender, queer and trans studies, pre-modern critical race studies and exploring archival resources - may include the following: 

• The nature and limits of the Queen’s House as a queenly site for performance and the arts. While Henrietta Maria did not masque in the House, comparative work between this space and its ‘partner’ building, the Whitehall Banqueting House, can reassess it as a performative space – an early modern ‘House of Delights’.
• The creation of race-making in theatrical technologies: e.g. the creation of racialised discourses of whiteness/fairness around Henrietta Maria through Inigo Jones’s lighting techniques; the depiction of people of colour in scenic representations; the cosmetic, textile, and danced representation of the Americans, Persians, Indians and Ottomans who people the antimasques.

• Gender nonconformity and queenly femininity in (1) casting, as in a confrontation in Tempe Restored (1632) – in which Circe, played by one Madame Coniack, tells Pallas, played by an unnamed boy-actor, ‘Man-maid, begone!’; (2) costume, e.g. the masculine beards and breastplates the Queen and her women wore in court pastoral.

   

Research with Royal Museums Greenwich and Historic Royal Palaces (part of the REACH CDP Consortium)

This research studentship is one allocated to Royal Museums Greenwich, with Historic Royal Palaces, as part of the REACH CDP Consortium by the AHRC. The successful student will be expected to spend time carrying out research and gaining relevant experience with the partner in Greenwich as part of the studentship, as well as at Historic Royal Palaces at their Banqueting House site. Two placements are envisaged as part of the project at both RMG and HRP which will support student career development by working with a range of departments including Engagement, Exhibitions and Development as well as Curatorial.

Details of Award

CDP doctoral training grants fund full-time studentships for 48 months (4 years) or part-time equivalent up to a maximum of 7 years.

The award pays tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home fee. Research Councils UK Indicative Fee Level for 2025/2026 is £5,006. Students with an ‘overseas’ fee status are welcome to apply but may only study full-time and will be required to reside in the UK until completion of the PhD (full-time overseas fees are £17,980 p.a. but there is a fees scholarship to cover the difference between home and overseas tuition fees).

The award pays an annual stipend for all students, both home and international students. This stipend is tax free, and is the equivalent of an annual salary, enabling the student to pay living costs. The UKRI Minimum Doctoral Stipend for 2025/2026 is £20,780 plus a London Weighting allowance of £1,000 per year as the partner organisation is in London i.e. a total of £21,780 per year. There is also an additional CDP maintenance payment of £600 per year.

Further details can be found on the UKRI website.

The successful candidate is eligible to receive an additional travel and related research expenses grant during the course of the project courtesy of Royal Museums Greenwich worth up to £1,000 per year for 4 years.

The successful candidate will be encouraged to participate in professional development events and activities organised for all Collaborative Doctoral Partnership students who are registered with different universities and studying with cultural and heritage organisations across the UK. These activities are organised by a coordination team based at the V&A and are designed to provide CDP researchers with the knowledge, networks and skills to thrive in their future careers.

Eligibility

This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants. 

To be classed as a home student, candidates must meet the following criteria: 

• Be a UK or Irish National (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have settled status, or 
• Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
• Have indefinite leave to remain or enter

Further guidance can be found here based on revisions to Training Grant Terms and Conditions for projects starting in October 2025 - Policy statement: review of the training grant conditions – UKRI

International students are eligible to receive the full award for maintenance as are home students. (International tuition fees for 2025/26 are £17,980 but there is a fees scholarship to cover the difference between home and overseas tuition fees).

We want to encourage the widest range of potential students to study for a CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from people of Diverse Ethnic Communities as they are currently underrepresented at this level in this area. 

Applicants should ideally have or expect to receive a relevant Masters-level qualification in a relevant subject or to have demonstrable professional experience. The project will be suited to candidates with a background in early modern studies, including English Literature; Drama, Theatre and Performance studies; or creative practice or practice-based research. Experience in archival research is desirable.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the museums, heritage and/or performance sectors and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.

As a collaborative award, students will be expected to spend time at both Northumbria, Royal Museums Greenwich and Historic Royal Palaces.

NB. All applicants must meet UKRI terms and conditions for funding. See: https://www.ukri.org/funding/information-for-award-holders/grant-terms-and-conditions/

Project details and how to apply 

For further details on how to apply see: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/research/postgraduate-research-degrees/how-to-apply/

You will be asked to complete an application form, including a research proposal of maximum 1000 words, asking you to outline how you would approach this project. You will also be asked to submit a sample of writing of between 1500-2000 words which demonstrates your skills relevant to the proposal.

We ask all applicants to complete a voluntary EDI monitoring form here. All responses are anonymous.

Any queries? If you still have further questions after viewing the webinar recording, please email Clare McManus on clare.mcmanus@northumbria.ac.uk.