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

51 Fellows

DRRL Visiting Fellowship

23 Fellows

PhD Bursary

4 Fellows

Thoits 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

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 facilitating my research that has given it such a flying start. The visit as a whole has given me what I hope will be enduring ties to many people and places in contemporary Durham.
Nigel Aston
DRRL Visiting Fellowship (University of Leicester, England)
My experience in Durham as the holder of a Barker Visiting Fellowship was stunning. As an historian of the long (perhaps too long?) 18th century, spending a month exploring the vast personal archives of the 2nd and 3rd Earl Grey and of the 1st Earl of Durham was a splendid opportunity. I am currently working on the Duke of Wellington as interim Prime Minister after the dismissal of Melbourne’s government in 1834: my research will benefit largely from my work on the Grey and Lambton papers. The staff at the Special Collections was wonderful: always ready to go the extra mile to meet my many requests. Moreover, leaving Palace Green Library after a day spent reading manuscripts to walk in the shades of Durham cathedral really felt like privilege. I am deeply grateful to Durham University and to Graham and Joanna Barker for making all this possible and to the staff in Durham for being always helpful and supportive. I had also the great opportunity to discover more about the activities of the research centres and departments that cover the various fields of modern history. I felt honoured when I was asked by the Centre for Nineteenth Century Studies to give a talk as part of the Catholicism in the Long Nineteenth Century seminar series, and I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Finally, getting to know the other fellows of my cohort, as well as their research interests, was a pleasure.
Ugo Bruschi
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of Bologna, Italy)
The Holland Visiting Fellowship was a transformative experience for me, as a researcher, and in terms of my own career development. It came at a crucial time, just as I had finished my PhD and my first postdoctoral teaching position. As a fellow at Durham I could pursue various threads of my second research project, using dedicated time in the Palace Green Library to understand how papers from their Sudan archives could be harnessed for my work on colonial South Asia. This time in the archive provided me with new theoretical perspectives that have shaped the funding applications I am currently making and broad outlines of my research I am constructing, as I move forward with the next stages of my research. The Durham community were also incredibly welcoming and generous with their time in integrating me into their research culture. In History, academics and postgraduate researchers invited me to meetings and events to discuss my research and learn about work taking place in the department. Other departments extended me the same privilege. I was able to attend papers given by the South Asia Forum and the Pedagogies of Dispossession research network and learn about life in the Durham colleges, which I valued as a chance to think about Durham as a site for further research. Thank you once again to the funders, the Durham Collections Fellowships committee, and Durham University itself for this terrific opportunity.
Ellen Smith
Holland Visiting Fellowship (University of Leicester, United Kingdom)
The Barker Fellowship at Durham University provided an invaluable space for advancing my research within a dynamic and collegial intellectual community. Following my work on the history of sexual violence, I became increasingly interested in how it intersects with other forms of discrimination—sexual and gender-based, racial, and social—within religious contexts. This led me to explore religious women’s movements and their role in the fight against sexual violence and gender discrimination. During my time at Durham, I deepened my research on the Catholic Women's League of England, which has a particularly rich history in this respect, and its connections with other Catholic Women's Leagues across the Commonwealth. The fellowship provided a stimulating environment to refine these ideas, which I recently presented at the National University of Singapore, focusing on the relationship between the Catholic Women's Leagues of England and Hong Kong in the context of the Boat People crisis. Durham’s strong commitment to catholic studies, along with its exceptional research environment, made it an ideal setting for these investigations.
Agnes Desmazieres
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Centre Sèvres-Facultés jésuites de Paris, French)
My Durham Research Library Fellowship was a fantastic experience. I collaborated with Durham faculty and other visiting researchers, and made great headway on my research projects in early modern British and Catholic history. In the Ushaw College library, I was able to trace how English Catholics were interpreting and responding to the political and religious conflicts that rent the European continent in the late eighteenth century. I now have invaluable epistolary and other evidence of the English Catholic communities divisions during this exciting time in history.
Dr Shaun Blanchard
DRRL Visiting Fellowship (Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University, USA)
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)
I was most grateful to receive a Holland Visiting Fellowship in the Spring of 2020. The research facilities it offered were just what I needed, giving me space and time to work undistractedly on a long projected study of Bishop Christopher Butler, whose family papers are in Durham University Library’s Special Collections, and bring it to near completion. I am expecting the Weldon Press to publish the study in late Spring or Summer this year.
Peter Phillips
Holland Visiting Fellowship
I had a particularly productive time in Durham, during which I carried out research in the Ushaw College, Cathedral, and University Libraries. This was made possible by the generous assistance of staff at each of these locations, who were swift to understand and accommodate the needs of readers. During my time in Durham, I was fortunate to organise an international conference in collaboration with the Classics Department, for which the beautiful surroundings of the city provided the perfect backdrop.
Simon Smets
Holland Visiting Fellowship (PhD University College London/Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Austira, Austria)
I would like to express my profound gratitude to the Barkers fellowship, to all the friendly and helpful librarians at the Palace Green, Bill Bryson and Ushaw libraries, to Professors James Kelly and Bennett Zon and to Barbara Jackson for the wonderful and inspiring research stay in Durham. Reading the 19th century letters and rare books has enabled me to gain a clearer picture of the intricacies of the history, culture and politics in Central Asia. The talks my fellow researchers gave at IAS and subsequent discussions were very inspiring for my work. It was a great opportunity to network and to meet colleagues from various departments of Durham University, such as Classics and Russian Studies. All in all, it was an unforgettable and highly fruitful experience.
Maria Rybakova
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Nazarbayev University, Kazakhstan)
I was successful in obtaining a Barker Fellowship which allowed me to spend a month researching in the fantastic libraries attached to Durham University. A wonderful month of not just intense research but also I was made very welcome by staff and students and was able take full part in university life. A very rewarding experience.
Professor Jack Cunningham
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of Lincoln, United Kingdom)