Contesting Conquests – HDR Scholarship Opportunity

This PhD project is part of a larger Australia Research Council DECRA Fellowship project ‘Contesting Conquests: Pre-Modern Attempts to Come to Terms with the Past’, led by Dr Matthew Firth.

This scholarship is for a candidate wishing to pursue a PhD in history, with a relevant undergraduate or masters degree in history or a cognate discipline.

The larger project looks at how societies experience and remember the trauma of conquest and colonisation, taking an especial interest in England’s early medieval histories of invasion (pre-1066) and how these were received and transmitted in the historiography of the later Middle Ages and early modern period.

The scholarship opportunity is to conduct a PhD project that either:

• examines the distinctive contributions to English historiography of twelfth-century historians. This HDR project would consider:
  • what social contexts and authorial interests encouraged the unprecedented volume of history writing that was produced in this period
  • what role these histories had in shaping common perceptions and subsequent accounts of England’s pre-Conquest past

OR

• examines the links between narrative genres, such as hagiography, and traditions of history writing in the medieval or early modern period. This HDR project would consider:
  • the extent to which the chosen narrative genre can be (or was) considered a form of history writing
  • how these texts shaped narratives of England’s pre-Conquest past and so be located within wider networks of medieval history writing 

The recipient of this scholarship will be able to design the scope of their project within these frameworks.

The scholarship includes:

• a stipend valued at $35,010.00 per annum (2025 rate) tax free
• The scholarship will be awarded for 3 years
• a Research Training Program Fee Offset Scholarship to cover tuition fees for Australian Citizens, NZ Citizens and Permanent Residents.
• International applicants may be considered

To be eligible for the award of this scholarship the pplicant must:

• Be an Australian citizen; or New Zealand citizen; or have been granted permanent resident status (to also receive a Research Training Program Fee Offset Scholarship)
• An international citizen (pursuant to international student fees)
• meet PhD admission requirements including: have an Australian Honours degree Class 1 or 2A or equivalent qualification (at least AQF Level 8), including a research component of at least 6 months’ full-time study achieving Distinction (75%) OR including evidence of equivalent research experience, such as a substantial first-author refereed publication or track record as an investigator on a competitive grant; and
• be available to commence as a full-time PhD student at Flinders University in semester 2, 2025.