LKAS PhD Studentship – Civic imaginaries of Glasgow

Information on the School/Research Group

This PhD is designed through a collaboration between the Division of Urban Studies and Social Policy with the School of Culture and Creative Arts. It will sit within the Division of Urban Studies and Social Policy and is associated with the Civic Imaginary Partnerships project, funded by UKRI Future Leaders and Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Fellowships. The Division of Urban Studies has a strong focus on place, especially interdisciplinary approaches to understanding place-based needs and policy, and arts-based methodologies. Within the School of Culture and Creative Arts, and through cognate projects at The Hunterian Art Gallery, there is extensive experience of working with creative practice methods in civic contexts. The successful applicant will be able to benefit from these contexts and research networks. The project offers potential for interdisciplinary collaboration, especially with local arts and civic organisations, the Advanced Research Centre at the University of Glasgow and the wider Civic Imaginary Partnerships project team and partners.

The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr. Michael Howcroft (UKRI Future Leaders Fellow, Urban Studies and Social Policy, School of Social and Political Sciences) and Dr. Dominic Paterson (Senior Lecturer, School of Culture and Creative Arts / Curator of Contemporary Art, The Hunterian).

Project details

We live in an age of inequality and disinformation that is eroding trust in democracy and participation in public life. Urgent solutions are needed to understand contemporary civic challenges and bolster the public sphere. A growing number of movements are proposing a return to civic solidarity and social responsibility. Many of these claim that the imagination is a realm wherein ideological battles can be won, and collective action can be sparked.

Narratives, images, and feelings through which civic imaginations are forged, shift across place and time, and creative works have informed political and social movements throughout history. Social change has also been fuelled by more informal cultural resources, ranging from folk practices to personal testimony, awaking people to shared perspectives expressing their hopes and fears for the future. A ‘civic turn’ within arts organisations, universities and museums has involved some reflection regarding their roles and contributions to the civic sphere and how civic spaces can be animated and enabled. However, many thinkers, especially on the left of the political spectrum in the Global North, berate a failure of progressive imagining, especially following the 2008 financial crisis. They identify a “deficit” of social or civic imagination and accuse neoliberalism of “polluting” our collective psyche.

We are looking for an enthusiastic PhD student to work alongside a wider UKRI funded fellowship that is exploring the concept, methods and policy applications of the civic imaginary.

The successful student will be encouraged to shape their project, identifying the particular focus, in consultation with the supervisory panel. Such aspects could include, for example:

• The ways in which grassroots or self-initiated organisations interact with more ‘official’ state institutions
• The ways in which emergent notions of the civic and the ‘civil’ (e.g., Pascal Gielen) are mobilised by individual and organisations in the practices
• The extension to which new civic imaginaries are specific to their localities, or share key characteristics 
• The ways in which artistic or other creative practices inform or shape civic imaginaries

The PhD project will include a focus on the ethics and responsibilities of organisations and/or practitioners who engage, invoke, or mobilise civic imaginaries. The research will explore these issues through a place-based case study (or studies) of their choosing, located within the Glasgow area. The case study could be contemporary or historical.

Aligned to the candidate’s interest and skillset, this project will have a qualitative methodological focus and may use methods such as arts workshops*, art/performance/artefact analysis, archive research, interviews, focus groups, and ethnographic observation. Quantitative methods (e.g. questionnaires) may also be used as appropriate.

The project will suit a wide range of applicants with prior training in human geography, urban studies, arts and performance studies, social policy, or other relevant subject areas. We particularly encourage submissions from individuals with lived experience relevant to the project.

*We understand “arts” in the widest sense and will consider proposals that foreground any artistic/creative mode or genre. That said, the supervisors’ expertise is in visual arts, community-based and socially engaged arts, theatre and performance, music and creative writing.

Eligibility

Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:

• Applicants will have a good Master’s degree (or overseas equivalent)
• Applicants will have a demonstratable interest in the topic area under investigation.
• Applicants can study part-time or full-time.
• Applicants must meet the requirements to be considered a ‘Home’ or ‘Rest of UK’ PhD student

Please note that all applicants must also meet the entry requirements for the Urban Studies, PhD. 

Application process

Applicants must apply via the Scholarships Application Portal (please see Scholarships Application Portal – Applicant Guide for information). The funding opportunity is ‘College of Social Sciences Postgraduate Research Funding > COSS-25-006‘), uploading the following documentation:

• LKAS PhD Scholarship application form (in Word format)
• Academic transcripts (All relevant Undergraduate and Master’s level degree transcripts (and translations, if not originally in English) – provisional transcripts are sufficient if you are yet to complete your degree).
• Contact details for two referees (where possible your referees should include an academic familiar with your work (within the last 5 years). Both referees can be academics but you may include a work referee, especially if you have been out of academia for more than 5 years). Please note, a CoSS PGR Funding Reference template will be sent to your referees for completion)*.
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) (academic where applicable)

*Please note that when you enter your referees contact details on the Scholarships Application Portal and send the reference request, your referees are expected to provide their references by the closing date of the Scholarship (below). It is strongly recommended you complete this as soon as possible, as late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Closing Date: 31 March 2025

Key contact

Dr Michael Howcroft