The Warburg Institute invites enquiries and applications for the award of the Fritz Saxl Doctoral Studentship for the period from October 2017 to September 2020.

Applications are welcome from candidates of any nationality. Applicants should possess, or be about to receive, an MA degree or equivalent. The Fritz Saxl Studentship will be awarded on the basis of outstanding academic performance, the quality of the research proposal and promise of scholarly excellence.

The Fritz Saxl Studentship has been established to support an outstanding PhD applicant who wishes to conduct their research at the Warburg Institute and has applied to register for a PhD at the Institute.  The successful applicant will have an outstanding research proposal and a genuine and demonstrable interest in being supervised by a member of the Warburg Institute faculty.  The award will be made for entry in Autumn 2017 and will include:

• The full payment of tuition fees at Home/EU levels (worth up to £6,240 per year at 2017/18 rates) for three years.
• A maintenance stipend worth £16,000 at 2017/18 rates for a period of three years.

The Warburg Institute is the premier institute in the world for the study of cultural history and the role of images in culture. It is cross-disciplinary and global. It is concerned with the histories of art and science, and their relationship with superstition, magic and popular beliefs. Its researches are historical, philological and anthropological. It is dedicated to the study of the survival and transmission of cultural forms – whether in literature, art, music or science – across borders and from the earliest times to the present. In setting out the historical, psychological, anthropological and political dimensions of art and culture, the work of Aby Warburg underlines the continuing relevance of the humanities today.

Studying at the Warburg Institute provides access to scholars and Fellows of the highest calibre in professional and research terms. Contact hours and consultation with academic staff is one of the most favourable to be found in any academic institution. There is also the advantage of access to the Warburg Library, one of the world’s finest, as well as the Photographic Collection and Warburg Institute Archive. Lectures are friendly and intimate, and there is a constant flow of academics of international standing through our doors, as well as regular scholarly conferences, seminars and events which attract the larger academic community.

The Warburg Institute offers doctoral research supervision in the following broad areas:

• Art History, visual and material culture
• Cultural and Intellectual History
• Humanism and the history of scholarship
• Renaissance philosophy and the history and transmission of ideas
• History of Science
• History of the Book
• Arabic and Islamic influences in Europe
• Folk Practice

Further information about the Institute, staff and research interests and current PhD topics can be found at http://warburg.sas.ac.uk/

Eligibility

Applicants for the Fritz Saxl Doctoral Studentship must have submitted an application for registration as a PhD student at the Warburg Institute to commence in October 2017.  The Fritz Saxl Doctoral Studentship is only open to new applicants for a PhD and not for continuing PhD students.

How to apply

There is no application form. Applications should be made by signed and dated letter addressed to Ms C E Charlton, Associate Director (Administration), The Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London WC1H 0AB.  Your letter of application should contain a clear and comprehensive statement setting out your reasons for applying for the Studentship and a copy of your research proposal should be supplied with the letter. You should also indicate clearly in your on line PhD application form that it is your intention to apply for the Fritz Saxl Studentship.

Candidates must submit their application for the award of a Fritz Saxl Studentship at the same time as they submit their application for registration as a PhD student at the Warburg Institute.  Applications must be submitted by no later than 23 June 2017.