Organisation name: Schools of Empire Project, hosted by Rugby School and St Paul’s School
Organisation’s website: www.schoolsofempireproject.org
Location of placement: Rugby, Warwickshire, and Hammersmith, London
To Apply: To apply, please send a CV and 300-word statement of interest to training@oocdtp.ac.uk by Friday 26th September 2025.
Placement Description:
Schools of Empire: Class and Colonialism, c.1750–c.1945 is a research project to study the role that Class and Colonialism played in the history of Rugby and other British schools. Hosted by the History Departments at Rugby School and St Paul’s School, the direction of the Schools of Empire project is overseen by an independent academic advisory board.
Drawing on the rich resources of the school archives at Rugby School and St Paul’s School, one of the central aims of the project is to facilitate and support independent research. Over the course of the project, internships will be offered to support doctoral researchers interested in exploring the historical intersection between schools, class and colonialism.
There is freedom to develop research interests and creative responses to the Project, but successful applicants may wish to explore one or more of the following themes:
- Race, class, empire, and student literary culture
- Chapel life and empire
- Colonial networks
- Pedagogy, curricula, masculinity, and empire
- Prototypes of power: the idea of the British public school in colonial settings
- Exploration, natural history, and empire: natural history and art collections c. 1800-1945
- Subjects of empire: overseas students in British school settings c. 1800-1945
Given the geographical and chronological breadth of the collections, applicants would be encouraged to focus on any aspect and on any period c.1750-1945, provided the research project make some use of either the Rugby School or St Paul’s archive collections, or both. Interdisciplinary approaches are welcome, and researchers may have the opportunity to carry out archival research at other schools within the Schools of Empire Network.
The doctoral researchers will explore the archival collections of the schools in digital and physical format, pursuing original research. These grants will last up to 12 weeks. Suggested outcomes, alongside original research, include (but are not limited to): delivering papers to student history societies, articles in school publications, blog posts and podcasts on the project website. Creative responses (film-making, performance, online exhibition curatorship) are also welcome. The anticipated archival time on site is no more than 3-5 days in total; most of the internship will be conducted remotely using digital resources gathered at source. Interns will be supported with additional funding from the Schools of Empire Project to cover travel and associated expenses such as accommodation (budgeted at £800 per intern).
Skills, knowledge or experience needed:
An interest in history, archives and museum exhibitions. Opportunity is available to candidates who have completed at least one year of doctoral research.
Timeframe:
Up to twelve weeks in length, taken at any time in the academic year between September and July by mutual agreement.
To Apply:
To apply, please send a CV and 300-word statement of interest to training@oocdtp.ac.uk by Friday 26th September 2025.
