(Posting this a few months late!) I’m thrilled to announce that I’ve been awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded Research Studentship by London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP) for PhD research at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (CSSD) from October 2023. It’s for a project on Buddy Bradley that had started life in 2020 as independent research on the development of tap dance in Britain that was first presented as an online talk in March 2021.
My online research profiles
- CSSD PhD student profile
- LAHP PhD student profile
- Jazz Studies Cluster member at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham City University
- Black Women PhDs profile
PhD Studentship
AHRC-funded studentships are highly competitive awards and I’m super proud for making it through the intensive LAHP application process.
I’m so grateful to have the support of supervisors, family, friends and generous acquaintances on what has so far been a very challenging journey.
I’m looking forward to a fresh start as a full time research student at Central which is where Judi Dench, Laurence Olivier, French & Saunders and Graham Norton attended amongst a long list of performers.
Watch this space for news on my Buddy Bradley research.
The studentship provides a stipend at approximately £21,800 + London weighting (in 2026) per full time year for 3.5 years, covers the course fees and provides additional funding for research and training costs. I’m now a part time PhD candidate so the stipend is prorated.
What are LAHP and AHRC?
The London Arts Humanities Partnership (LAHP) is funded by the Arts Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research Innovation (UKRI) and is a doctoral training partnership (DTP) supporting PhD study in the Arts and Humanities (DTP1 2012-2019, DTP2 2021 2026). It brings together eight world-leading UK research organisations: King’s College London, London School of Economics Political Science, Queen Mary University of London, Royal Central School of Speech Drama, Royal College of Art, Royal College of Music, School of Advanced Study (University of London), and University College London.
LAHP is one of 10 AHRC Doctoral Training Partnerships, each of which are a consortia of research organisations that offer PhD studentships.
“AHRC funds outstanding original research across the whole range of the arts and humanities” and is one of 9 UKRI councils.
October 2026 update: The final AHRC LAHP funding round was in the academic year 2025/2026. From October 2026, the 10 AHRC Doctoral Training Partnerships are replaced by 7 hubs providing the AHRC Landscape Doctoral Awards (DLA) until September 2034 (the DLA is explained further below).
PhD Funding Opportunities
Check out my Google doc on funding opportunities for September 2024 entry. Note that deadlines for initial interest of AHRC-related opportunities vary between Dec 2023 and early 2024 and other funding options may be later.
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AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award
LAHP and the nine other AHRC Doctoral Training Partnerships 2 (CHASE, M4C, Northern Bridge, NWC, OOC, SGSAH, SWWDTP, Techne, WRoCAH) have ended across the UK but the Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA) is one of 2 new AHRC schemes to support doctoral funding from June 2026 to September 2034. (The other scheme is the Doctoral Focal Award.)
AHRC has made awards to 50 UK higher education institutions [HEI], providing funding for 15 studentships (three studentships per year for five years).
https://www.ukri.org/publications/ahrc-doctoral-landscape-award-allocations/ (Accessed 2 Nov 2026)
There are 50 UK HEIs that offer applications to DLAs across 7 hubs:
- East and West Midlands Doctoral Hub (7 HEIs): De Montfort University, University of Leicester, University of Nottingham (lead), Birmingham City University, Coventry University, University of Birmingham, University of Warwick
- Landscape South (9 HEIs): Universities of Brighton, Kent, Open University, Oxford, Oxford Brookes, Reading, Royal Holloway (lead), Southampton and Sussex
- London and East Anglia DLA Hub (LEAH) (15 HEIs): Birkbeck, University of London; King’s College London (lead); Queen Mary, University of London; Royal College of Art; SOAS, University of London; University College London; University of Cambridge; University of East Anglia; University of Essex; University of Hertfordshire; University of the Arts London; University of Westminster
- Northern Hub (10 HEIs): Universities of Durham, Lancaster, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan, Newcastle, Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam, and York
- Scottish AHRC Doctoral Landscape Award Hub (SGSAH) (7 HEIs): Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, St Andrews, Stirling and Strathclyde
- Cardiff University
- University of South Wales
Navigating the opportunities for funded PhD is a project in itself. I suggest subscribing to DramaHE mailing list to stay up to date on opportunities shared within academic circles.
