What are the fellowships?

The Durham Collections Fellowships scheme is delighted to invite applications from researchers for Visiting Fellowships of one month in duration.

The aim of the Durham Collections Fellowships is to enable and foster research across the historic collections of Durham, notably Palace Green Library, the Museum of Archaeology, the Oriental Museum, the Library of Ushaw Historic House, Chapels and Gardens (formerly Ushaw College, the former Roman Catholic seminary just outside the City), and the medieval Priory Library and the archives and object collections of Durham Cathedral. The resources available to scholars include not only libraries and archives, but also collections of visual and material culture, and architectural assets. The purpose of the Visiting Fellowships is to support research into these globally significant collections.

Durham University would like to express our sincere thanks to Graham and Joanna Barker, Chris and Margaret Lendrum, and Peter and Tina Holland, for their generous support of fellowship schemes at Durham Collections Fellowships.

Named fellowships

The Barker Visiting Fellowships are intended to support research into any of the collections held in Durham and there are a number of Lendrum Priory Library Fellowships available
specifically to support work on the surviving contents of Durham Cathedral’s medieval priory library. This collection is currently the focus of a large-scale digitisation project, Durham
Priory Library Recreated www.durhampriory.ac.uk. 

The Lendrum Fellowships are intended to support research into any of the collections but there is a preference for applicants wishing to use the historic book collections of Durham. This is interpreted broadly to include consultation of individual books, study of specific collections, research into the material forms of books, histories of book circulation and collecting, plus consideration of the readers of books. We welcome applications from both academic and practitioner researchers at all stages in their career.

We are also delighted to announce the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Fellowship, which is to support applicants based in Japan to come to Durham to work on any of the collections.

The Lord Crewe’s Charity Fellowships are open to any applicant wishing to work on the Bamburgh Library Collection. The remit is wide, from those wishing to research it as a collection, to those planning to consult an individual item, and also includes the material culture of the books.

Fellows will be encouraged to work collaboratively with academic subject specialists, librarians, archivists and curators to realise the collections ‘ research potential, and to develop innovative research agendas. They will also be encouraged to participate in the life of the University, particularly its broad range of seminar series.

All Fellowships

Holland Visiting Fellowship

26 Fellows

Lendrum Priory Visiting Fellowship

16 Fellows

Barker Visiting Fellowship

53 Fellows

DRRL Visiting Fellowship

23 Fellows

PhD Bursary

4 Fellows

Thoits Visiting Fellowship

1 Fellow

Lendrum Book Visiting Fellowship

2 Fellows

Sasakawa Visiting Fellowship

0 Fellows

Lord Crewe Visiting Fellowship

1 Fellow

Other research fellowships

The Spanish Gallery Collection research fellowships

Two fellowships are available to undertake research into the collection of the Spanish Gallery in Bishop Auckland.

The fellowships are affiliated with the Zurbarán Centre and Durham Collections Fellowships. Generously funded by the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica (CEEH), each fellowship includes a monthly stipend of £2,100. An allowance for research-related travel will be available on request. The fellows will be part of the University‘s research community and have privileged access to the Spanish Gallery.

Find out more information and apply

Barbara Jones Denison is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Shippensburg University, where she was the director of the interdisciplinary Organizational Development and Leadership graduate program, department chair of Sociology and Anthropology, and director of the undergraduate online degree completion program. With a 1985 PhD in sociology from Northwestern University, Denison has worked professionally within sociology as well as a number of interdisciplinary contexts. She recently published “Giving Up the Good for the Better: Dorothy Day’s Ethic of Direct Action” in A Research Agenda for Organizational Ethics (2023). Having been active in a number of international, national, and regional sociology and...
Barbara Denison
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Shippensburg University, USA)
I am incredibly grateful for the Barkers Fellowship and the generous support they have provided through their funding of the Visiting Fellowship. Their generosity has had a profound impact on my professional development and research endeavors. The Fellowship has not only provided me with financial assistance but also invaluable opportunities for collaboration and knowledge exchange. Through the Barkers Fellowship, I have been able to engage with leading experts in my field and broaden my intellectual horizons. Moreover, the Barkers Fellowship has fostered a sense of community and connection among scholars. It has facilitated networking opportunities and created a platform for...
Raad Khair Allah
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of Warwick, England)
The Durham Collections Fellowship offered me the opportunity to spend three weeks working on the most important archive on Sudan outside Sudan itself while enjoying a few lovely days in the county, which is a marvelous place to visit. Without this stay, I would never have been able to assemble the material that I now have, which will form the basis for a series of microhistories of the Greek diaspora in Sudan—hopefully a small book to be published in the coming years.
Alexandros Tsakos
Lendrum Book Visiting Fellowship (University of Bergen, Norway)
“I am an historian of medieval philosophy who was awarded a Lord Crewe Fellowship to work on the topic of theology as a science in Durand of St. Pourçain’s commentary on the Sentences. The subject seems obscure, but it is of great historical importance because it was out of debates over whether theology counts as an Aristotelian demonstrative science that developments in epistemology and cognitive psychology took place in the fourteenth century that would lay the foundations for the modern scientific method. The volume on which I was working is housed in the Bamburgh Rare Books Library at Durham, which...
Peter Eardley
Lord Crewe Visiting Fellowship (University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada)
I am grateful for the opportunity to spend an inspiring research month in Durham and make a great use of an astonishing collections of Durham libraries, especially Palace Green and Ushaw College. Early modern old prints as well as an impressive range of current scholarship’s books on the shelves enabled me to explore a great number of sources crucial for my research in just one month. I was really impressed by the library holdings, professional services as well as its facilities. I am grateful also for the chance to consult the matter of my project with Durham University staff and...
Martina Kastnerova
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic and Slovakia)
"The Residential Research Fellowship at Durham University provided me with vital, extended access to important collections that uncovered, and helped explain how and why, Catholic kin networks engaged in settler colonialism and the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved people in a bid to secure their own safety from anti-Catholic legislation. The collections proved that these networks were vast, global, and connected to theological and cultural change brought about by the Catholic Reformation as much by Protestant ones. Most importantly, the advice that I received from staff at Durham and Ushaw College with expert familiarity with these collections meant that I developed...
Dr Helen Kilburn
DRRL Visiting Fellowship (University of Manchester, England)
My DRRL Visiting Fellowship allowed me the time and scope – and, crucially, the financial support – I required in order to initiate a new research project on English northern cathedral communities in the eighteenth century. At every stage of my Fellowship, I had prompt organisational support and tie-ins with other resident Fellows and permanent members of the History and Theology Departments. No less supportive were the staff at Ushaw College and the opportunity for membership of St Chad ‘s College SCR added a much-valued additional dimension of academic collegiality. Above all, it was the helpfulness of library staff in...
Nigel Aston
DRRL Visiting Fellowship (University of Leicester, England)
The fellowship was excellent – the resources at Ushaw were exceptional and really helpful to my work.
Dr Karly Kehoe
Holland Visiting Fellowship (St Mary ‘s University, Canada)
Durham Barker Fellowship has been an unforgettable experience, from beginning to end. The fellowship enabled me to consult invaluable archival materials in an inspiring environment and to further my research. My work was facilitated by the library staff, who were very kind and helpful throughout my stay. Apart from enabling me to conduct my research project (Monsters on Durham’s Riverbanks: Bertram Colgrave’s Notebooks on OE and ME Poems), the fellowship also gave me the opportunity to meet the other fellows as well as members of Durham University. The exchange of ideas which ensued was incredibly enjoyable and productive.
Ivana Bicak
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Bilkent University, Turkey)
The Durham Residential Library Fellowship provided crucial support for my research. I was able to benefit from the Library’s extensive rare books collections to advance my project. The Library staff were incredibly helpful and patiently answered my questions.
Luke Roman
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Memorial University Newfoundland, Canada)