Graduate Scholarships

This collaborative doctoral project focuses on growing up queer (broadly defined) in Britain across – or during a substantial part of – the period 1790 and 1914. During this long nineteenth century the country was ‘modernising’, conceptions of childhood and child-rearing were shifting, and understanding of sexual and gender identity were consolidating in new ways. The study will draw queer history directly into conversation with histories of domesticity, family, childhood, class and religion to develop a contextualised understanding of ‘queer’ adults’ reflections on their formative years, including how they saw the influences of those years playing out in their adulthood. It also seeks to discern if, when and how nascently ‘queer’ children were identified as a problem in the home, and looks at how that problem was understood and dealt with.

It is these complex and shifting dynamics, likely enlarged through a series of case studies and evidence from a range of life writing, that will be at the core of this project. It will cast fresh light on queer lives and childhoods and on how formative experiences of home shaped adult attitudes, conceptions of self and indeed homemaking. More broadly it will illuminate familial and domestic lives in new ways and show how they changed in different parts of the country and at and between different historical moments.

The project could take a broad sweep of different material, discourses and testimonies from across the period or focus on particular genres and/or a small number of individuals. In either case the following are likely to be relevant to a greater or lesser degree: material culture and architecture collections at the Museum of the Home and the nearby Museum of Childhood; life writing and correspondence; literature; advice and medical literature on childhood and childhood sexuality; sexological, psychoanalytic and sociological texts and case studies;  and court room press reports and transcripts.  Anchored in such material the successful candidate might focus on research questions such as the following:

• How did ‘queer’ people describe and conceptualise their homes and family of origin – in general and in specific relation to their adult relationships, sexual behaviour and domestic lives? How did this change across the period?
• What impact, more broadly, was home and family life understood to have on adult behaviour? How and why did this change?
• What difference did class, gender, race, religion and locality make to these experiences and understandings?
• How were race, gender and sexuality enfolded in personal and professional conceptualisations of queer childhood?
• To what extent did ‘queer’ adults, many of whom married and had children of their own, reflect upon their own parenting?
• When and how were nascently ‘queer’ children identified as a problem in the home? How was this problem understood and dealt with?

As with all doctoral projects, the research may develop in unforeseen directions and there is scope for the student to explore their own interests within the broad remit set out above and in discussion with the supervisory and curatorial teams.

The study will result in a standard DPhil thesis and will feed into key areas of programming, collecting and displays at the Museum of the Home.

The successful candidate will be supervised by Professor Matt Cook, Jonathan Cooper Chair of the History of Sexualities at Mansfield College, and Dr Christina de Bellaigue at the University of Oxford and by Aurelien Enjalbert and Louis Platman at the Museum of Home.

At Oxford the student will be based at Mansfield College. They will benefit from the doctoral training programme, research networks (including the Centre for Women’s, Gender and Queer History) and the resources of the Bodleian Library. They will also gain mentored teaching experience and have the opportunity to contribute  to the organisation of the new annual Queer and Trans History Now conference at Mansfield. The student will have desk space at the Museum of Home during the duration of their DPhil, embedding them in the working environment of the museum and allowing them to gain professional insight into curatorial practice, collections care and developing and delivering learning programmes.

The successful candidate will be eligible to participate in events organised for all Collaborative Doctoral Partnership students who are registered with different universities and studying with cultural and heritage organisations across the UK.

This fully-funded studentship is available from October 2024. The award will cover course fees for the duration of DPhil fee liability, and a living cost stipend at the annual UKRI rate (£19,237 in 2024-25)

As a collaborative award, the successful candidate will be expected to spend time at both Mansfield College and the Museum of the Home. They will be eligible to receive additional travel and related expenses during the course of the project courtesy of the Museum of the Home (worth up to £1,000 per year for 4 years). There are also internal funds at the University of Oxford available specifically to the DPhil community.

Applications should be submitted by Friday 3 May (midday, UK time) via this link on the University of Oxford website.

Note that low income applicants can apply for a waiver of the application fee.

We invite applications from candidates from all backgrounds and ethnicities. Applicants should meet the entry requirements for the DPhil in History at the University of Oxford and will ideally have some experience or a keen interest in the intersections of queer and public history.

Your application should include:

• Completed graduate application form including CV information
• A personal statement (max 600 words) demonstrating your interests and aptitude for exploiting the distinctive opportunity the studentship provides.
• A research proposal (500-1000 words) outlining your anticipated research focus,  questions and methods within the remit set out above.
• A sample of academic writing (max 4,000 words) – for example,  an MA / MSt essay or part of a dissertation.
• Three references (academic preferred).

For an informal discussion about the opportunity and how you might frame your approach to the CDP project, please contact Professor Matt Cook by email at matthew.cook@mansfield.ox.ac.uk or Aurelian Enjalbert by email at AEnjalbert@museumofthehome.org.uk in the first instance.

Interviews are provisionally scheduled  in Oxford for Friday 24 May.

The College – jointly with the Studienstiftung, and the Department of Politics and International Relations – awards a scholarship at Mansfield in memory of Adam von Trott who studied at the College in 1929. Adam von Trott zu Solz, a diplomat in the German Foreign Office, was a central figure in the group around Claus von Stauffenberg that planned to kill Hitler; he was put to death by the Nazi regime in Berlin on 26 August 1944.

The award comprises contributions from the Studienstiftung, the Adam von Trott Memorial Fund, the Politics Department, and Mansfield College, up to the value of the full EU fee and advised maintenance for two years of study. Mansfield guarantees two years’ of accommodation at standard charges covered by the maintenance allowance.

Eligible applicants should apply for the MPhil course through the usual university admissions process. While you’ll be considered automatically for the scholarship, you’re welcome to note your interest in the scholarship on your application.

Please contact admissions@mansfield.ox.ac.uk if you have any questions about the scholarship.

The new Scholarships have been named for the former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Kofi Annan (1938-2018), who officially opened the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at Mansfield in June 2018. It was our privilege to welcome Mr Annan to College in 2018, and our aim is to reflect and respect that memory in naming this Scholarship in his honour.

This is a fully-funded scholarship, covering tuition fees, accommodation costs and a living expenses stipend.  In addition to their studies, the graduates participate in a tailor-made leadership programme to give them additional practical skills and opportunities. It is expected that many of the students will come from countries and backgrounds that mean that the scholarship is particularly life changing, both for the Scholar themselves and in terms of the potential impact of their work after their studies are completed.

Applications are made jointly through the Department and the Weidenfeld-Hoffman Trust, and involve an interview as part of the selection process.

Please click below for further details and deadlines.

The Weidenfeld-Hoffmann Scholarships and Leadership Programme

The annual value of the Scholarship is £5,000 maintenance a year, paid termly in  instalments, for up to two years within fee liability.

Applicants for the DPhil/MPhil for 2024 entry need not apply separately for this award. All eligible candidates will be considered by the Faculty of Theology and Religion.

Current students who wish to apply for the award should send the following to admissions@mansfield.ox.ac.uk by 1 April 2024:

• A letter of application, briefly indicating the funding you have available for the coming year
• A CV
• The name of two referees who may be contacted if you are shortlisted for the award

The annual studentship covers the full cost of course fees for one year and provides a maintenance grant at the standard research council rate for accommodation and living expenses.

No separate application is required.  You will be considered automatically if accepted onto your chosen MSt by the Faculty of English and applied to the course by the January application deadline.  Award-holders will become members of Mansfield College.

The scholarship covers the full cost of course fees and a study support grant to put towards the cost of attending each of the two summer residences.

Applicants for the MSc for 2024 entry need not apply separately for this award.  All eligible candidates will automatically be considered by the Law Faculty.

The scholarship covers the full cost of tuition fees and accommodation, and provides a living expenses stipend.

No separate application to Mansfield is required. Candidates must apply for their chosen course by the earliest deadline (December/January) detailed on the Department’s course outline.   Those eligible for consideration will be contacted by University Fees and Funding with an invitation to complete an AfOx Scholarship questionnaire, and if subsequently shortlisted, take part in an interview virtually (via Zoom).  If you have any questions related to scholarships, please contact afoxscholarships@ndm.ox.ac.uk.

£10,000

There is no separate application procedure – applicants will be considered automatically if they are accepted for the course of their choice by the Faculty, and applied to the course by the January application deadline.  Award-holders will become members of Mansfield College.

£10,000.  The award is offset against fees and any other costs (accommodation, dining etc). Any remaining funds will then be paid to the award holder by the College.

There is no separate application procedure – applicants will be considered automatically if they are accepted for the BCL by the Faculty and applied to the course by the January application deadline.  Award-holders will become members of Mansfield College.

To champion and promote the professional development and research careers of women in STEM subjects, Mansfield has partnered with the UKRI to establish the UKRI-Mansfield Jocelyn Bell Burnell Scholarship, named in honour of our current Professorial Fellow in Physics, whose discovery of pulsars as a doctoral student changed the way we think about the cosmos.  This graduate scholarship is open to women undertaking MPLS courses as determined by the STFC (Science and Technologies Research Council).

Value of the award:

The UKRI-Mansfield Jocelyn Bell Burnell Scholarship covers full tuition fees and living expenses at the standard UKRI-set rate.

How to apply:

There’s no separate application process for the above award and you don’t have to make Mansfield your preferred college on your application.  You should, though, indicate your willingness on the University application form to take up your place at another College if funding is offered.  If offered the scholarship, you will be expected to undertake your course at Mansfield.

Open to any graduate applicants who apply to a doctoral degree with the English Faculty in Theatre Studies, including drama, theatre history and/or aesthetics of any period. The Fellowship comprises £6,000 per year for the period of fee liability (3 years).

Value of the Award:

£6,000 per year for the period of fee liability (3 years).

How to apply:

There is no separate application procedure – candidates will be considered automatically if they are accepted onto the doctoral degree programme by the Faculty and applied to the course by the January application deadline.  You should, though, indicate on your University application form your willingness take up your place at another College if funding is offered.  If we offer you the Fellowship, we will expect you to study for your doctorate at Mansfield College.

Thanks to generous donor support, we have worked in partnership with the Black Academic Futures programme since 2021 to offer scholarships to Black or Mixed Black UK graduates pursuing either a taught or research postgraduate degree at Oxford.

Value of the Award:

Each scholarship will cover your course fees in full and will provide you with a grant for accommodation and living costs at the UK research council rate.  Awards are made for the full duration of your fee liability.

How to apply:

All you have to do is submit your completed graduate course application, including ethnicity information, by either the December or January deadline (whichever is relevant for your course) and you will automatically be considered. You do not need to submit any additional documents and there is no separate scholarship application form for these awards. For further information please visit the University’s Academic Futures Scholarship page.