European Research Council ‘PromPrint’ PhD Studentship

‘PromPrint’ PhD Studentship in Arts and Humanities (2026)

What you get

This studentship is available to start in October 2026 and will include:

• A maintenance allowance for 3 years at UKRI levels (currently at £20,780 for 2025-6)
• UK PhD fees for 3 years
• £3,500 in research and fieldwork costs

Type of award

Postgraduate Research

PhD project

PromPrint is a research project funded by the European Research Council which uses digital tools and quantitative analyses to uncover the rejects of legal deposit: the printed texts excluded from the ostensibly universal archive promised by copyright libraries. Taking a case study approach based in UK copyright libraries between 1836 and 1914, the project asks questions including: which textual forms and genres do deposit libraries reject? How and why does this change over time? More broadly, the research seeks to drive forward our understanding of how literature is canonized and forgotten, collected and destroyed.

The PhD research focuses on the relationship between obscenity and deposit. Pornography was a publishing phenomenon in nineteenth-century Britain, with attempts to establish ‘the obscene . . . as a single category of print’ covering not just porn but also sexological treatises and other medical texts, as Sarah Bull notes. Against this backdrop, key questions for the researcher include:

• How did deposit libraries preserve or suppress obscene texts in this period?
• What is the relationship between deposit and individual library protocols for managing problematic books, such as special shelfmarks and locations for controversial materials (e.g., ‘Private Case’ at the British Museum Library, ‘Arc’ at Cambridge, ‘Phi’ at Oxford)?
• In what ways did deposit contribute to the definition of obscenity itself?
• What is lost when copyright libraries exclude obscene materials from national library holdings?

PhD proposals should address the applicant’s proposed approach to this topic and any previous research in subdisciplines relevant to the project, such as bibliography, book history, digital humanities, and Victorian studies. While the project is hosted by the English Department at Sussex and the Sussex Digital Humanities Lab (SHL Digital), we are open to applications from researchers in all humanities disciplines.

Eligibility

Successful candidates will have a strong academic background and/or evidence of prior experiential learning relevant to research and/or the proposed study. All application forms will be reviewed by a panel in the relevant schools to establish a shortlist.

Eligible applicants will already have completed a relevant Master’s or have relevant work experience and will not have already begun their PhD.

Candidates must qualify for Home PhD fees - international applicants are not eligible to apply.

We welcome applications regardless of age, disability, religion, sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation.  We encourage individuals who have had worked in relevant sectors, are changing disciplines or career paths or returning from career breaks, e.g. caring responsibilities, to apply.

Number of scholarships available

1

Deadline

How to apply

You must apply for a PhD place at Sussex on our online portal. You should upload :

• A research proposal/[personal statement written in a way that can be understood by a non–specialist audience.  For guidance on preparing your proposal, please see here. 
• Your CV.
• Degree certificates and transcripts. 
• 2 references, including a minimum of 1 from any institution studied at within the last 5 years.

You should select PhD in English, list Dr Hannah Field as supervisor and mention Promprint ERC Scholarship in the Funding/Finance section. (There will be flexibility to register for a different programme if appropriate).

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to interview, with the final decision made by an interview panel led by Dr Field.

Contact us

Enquiries about the studentship can be addressed to PromPrint’s Principal Investigator Dr Hannah Field at h.field@sussex.ac.uk.

Enquiries about the online application process can be addressed to mah-pgr@sussex.ac.uk

Timetable

Timetable

• October 2025: applications open
• 16 December 2025: deadline for applying for a Sussex PhD place
• Early March 2026: applications reviewed
• Mid March 2026 : interviews
• Awards confirmed by April 2026
• September 2026: start of PhD