Postgraduate

ESRC Studentship

The deadline for this studentship has closed. This page is for information only.

Making Landscapes: Collaborations between Art and Forestry

A 1+3 (MRes and PhD) ESRC Collaborative Governmental studentship in association with the Scottish Government and the Forestry Commission

Based in: Department of Anthropology, University of Aberdeen

Supervisors: Dr Jo Vergunst and Prof Tim Ingold

Start date: 1 October 2008

Building on the Department of Anthropology’s strengths in the study of culture, creativity and perception, this studentship will be an anthropological investigation of how art comes to be made in forests in Scotland. The student will work closely with the Scottish Government and the Forestry Commission, who are keen to explore with artists and providers of art the reasons why they choose forests, the responses of forest managers to art in their forests and how the trend of forest art may be encouraged. This project will be part of a network of ESRC Collaborative Governmental studentships and the student will carry out a work placement with the Scottish Government and Forestry Commission.

The studentship provides the opportunity to:

find out how artists relate to forests, from thinking of trees as components of a representational landscape to engaging with them as active participants in the creative process.
investigate how the practices and objectives of environmental art are affected by the placing of the work in a forest landscape, having regard for the particular temporal, weather-dependent and place-forming qualities of wood and trees.
explore how art in forests can open up possibilities for collaboration between forest managers, arts organisations and local communities.
communicate policy-relevant findings about the engagement of artists, foresters and communities with forest art to the Scottish Government and Forestry Commission.

Many possibilities exist for ethnographic fieldwork in Scotland and the successful applicant may wish to take advantage of contacts with Deveron Arts in Huntly, Aberdeenshire.

More information on postgraduate life in the Department of Anthropology is here.

The award and eligibility

The studentship includes fees and a maintenance grant of £14,940 per year. Further funding for fieldwork may be available. Due to ESRC funding rules the full award is only available to UK nationals and EU nationals who have been been resident in the UK for three years. Further eligibility details are available from the ESRC.

Qualifications

The qualifications for entry to the MRes degree course include an Honours degree (upper second or above), or the equivalent level and class of qualification for non-UK applicants. Applications from students with training in subjects other than Anthropology are welcome if their academic background and ability are sufficient to enable them to proceed directly to postgraduate research training in Anthropology. Continuation onto the PhD is dependant on satisfactory performance in the MRes.

How to apply

The deadline for applications is Wednesday 18 June 2008.

Applicants should fill in the University of Aberdeen’s Postgraduate Application Form. For ‘Intended Source of Funding’ in Section 2, please enter ‘ESRC Collaborative Governmental studentship – Art and Forestry’. Your ‘Personal Statement’ in Section 12 should be a 1-2 page statement of academic interests, research intentions and how you would approach the topic of this studentship. A CV and two references are also required. Application forms can be completed on-line or in hard copy. The postal address to send the forms to is:

Postgraduate Admissions Office
University Office,
University of Aberdeen,
King’s College,
Aberdeen, AB24 3FX

Tel: +44 (0)1224 273506

E-mail: pgadmissions@abdn.ac.uk

Anyone who has already applied for postgraduate study in the Department of Anthropology (e.g. as part of a CASS funding application) should simply send the 'Personal Statement' described above to Dr Vergunst by email.

Dr Jo Vergunst is available for informal discussion about any aspect of this studentship by email or telephone:
email j.vergunst@abdn.ac.uk
tel. +44 (0)1224 272738.