RAF Museum Announces Fully-Funded Doctorate
Published on: 3 February 2025
The RAF Museum and University of York are currently inviting applications for a fully-funded (academic fees and maintenance stipend) Collaborative Doctoral Award Studentship to research, write and complete a dissertation on “Resilient Traces: Investigating the Contested Heritage Significance of Recent Military Colonial Legacies – the Example of Former RAF Changi, Singapore.”
Funded by the White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities (WRoCAH), the project will assess the heritage significance of these resilient traces using mixed methods that combine archival research, field survey and oral histories.
Over fifty years after the British Royal Air Force departed, traces of former RAF Changi (Singapore) remain inscribed on the landscape in the form of buildings and street names. The flying field is now a major international airport. Also surviving are associated mementoes and archives. Active social media sites typically document people’s memories of Changi and the attachment they still feel for it. This is also true of hundreds of other former British military establishments, including RAF bases, across the world. Within the context of prevailing and often contested colonial narratives and discourse, and working with the RAF Museum (RAFM), this project will assess new ways to establish heritage significance of these resilient traces in a postcolonial context.
Within the framework of a heritage discourse now focused on decolonising agendas, and confronting difficult and contested pasts, this project tackles the recent colonial legacies of militarism. Focusing on the post-WWII period, and former RAF Changi specifically, this project will develop intellectual and pragmatic frameworks for assessing the heritage significance of these colonial landscapes. The intellectual framework will comprise a review of relevant literature that draws together arguments around militarism and colonialism. This will inform the pragmatic framework that will result from testing novel methods to assess heritage significance in ways that are both scalable and practical locally. The project will also form the basis of a research agenda for investigating recent military colonial legacies elsewhere.
Key research questions to be addressed include:
- How extensive are RAF colonial legacies, in terms of the number of sites, their distribution, and their diversity of form?
- Is this heritage welcome or unwelcome locally, as colonial heritage? How do local authorities, heritage managers, and local communities engage with this heritage?
- What are the best methods for documenting the heritage significance of sites like former RAF Changi?
- How are legacies of the RAF in the Far East represented in museums?
- What is the lasting impact of the RAF in East Asia? This project will focus on material and other traces left behind at former RAF Changi (e.g. place names, oral histories, buildings) and their impact on both veterans and their descendants, on tourists, and on the local community.
The lead supervisor will be Prof John Schofield (Department of Archaeology, University of York) with the supervision team including Dr Megan Kelleher (RAF Museum).
Strong applicants will have a good first degree in an appropriate subject, as well as a Master’s degree (or be working towards one), usually at Distinction level, or professional experience relevant to the scope of the project. We are looking for a well-qualified student with a background in a relevant discipline, which might include any of the following: Archaeology, Geography, History, Heritage Studies, Museum Studies, Anthropology, or Sociology.
For more information about this project, please contact:
John Schofield (john.schofield@york.ac.uk)
Megan Kelleher (Megan.Kelleher@rafmuseum.org)
Requirements of the Studentship
This opportunity is being offered as a full time studentship but part time study may be an option subject to agreement with the supervision team.
WRoCAH students are required to undertake a bespoke training package and to complete a Researcher Employability Project of at least a month and a Knowledge Exchange Project.
All WRoCAH students must submit their thesis for examination within the funded period. This is a requirement of the Arts & Humanities Research Council, which provides the funding for WRoCAH, and is a condition of accepting a Studentship.
| Before applying for any WRoCAH Studentship, please first ensure that you have read the WRoCAH webpages about the WRoCAH training programme and requirements, as well as other funding opportunities |
How to apply
By 12 noon GMT on Wednesday 5 March 2025, applicants are required to submit to WRoCAH an Expression of Interest, which should include:
- A CV with details of academic qualifications
- A covering letter comprising a two-page statement to convey your motivation and enthusiasm for the project, and to demonstrate your suitability for your intended PhD studies with the University and Project Partner.
The covering letter should specifically highlight the following:
- Your interest in the project and details on why you have chosen that University and Project Partner.
- How you will apply your current skills, knowledge and experience to undertake a PhD and the approach you would take to develop the project.
- How the project fits into your career plans and ambitions.
- 17 March 2025: decision on short-listing
The short-list of candidates to be invited for an interview will be announced on Monday 17 March 2025.
Short-listed candidates must complete a PhD programme application before interview. If you are short-listed for an interview you will be sent details of how to apply for a place at the University of York. At that point you will need to submit the names and contact details of two referees, copies of transcripts of your academic qualifications and (if applicable) an IELTS certificate.
- 7-30 April 2025: interviews
Interviews will involve the academic supervisor, Project Partner supervisor and a member of the WRoCAH Studentships Committee. They will be conducted online.
The full application will need to be submitted by 12 noon GMT on Wednesday 5 March 2025. For more information, visit White Rose College of the Arts & Humanities