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.

 

We also extend our  gratitude to Lord Crewe's Charity, the Great British Sasakawa Foundation and the Sino-British Fellowship Trust for their generous contributions.

Named fellowships

The Barker Visiting Fellowships are intended to support research into any of the collections held in Durham, while the Lendrum Priory Library Fellowships 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.

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.

We are pleased to include in this programme, 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.

This year, we are also delighted to announce the Sino-British Fellowship Trust Visiting Fellowships which are intended to support research into any of the collections, and are reserved specifically for those based at Chinese institutions. We welcome applications from both academic and practitioner researchers at all stages in their career

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

17 Fellows

Barker Visiting Fellowship

57 Fellows

DRRL Visiting Fellowship

23 Fellows

PhD Bursary

4 Fellows

Thoits Visiting Fellowship

1 Fellow

Lendrum Visiting Fellowship

3 Fellows

Sasakawa Visiting Fellowship

1 Fellow

Lord Crewe Visiting Fellowship

2 Fellows

Sino British Fellowship

1 Fellow

Lord Crewe PhD Fellowship

0 Fellows

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

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)
'The opportunity to work intensively with the manuscript treasures of Durham special collections was invaluable. The collegial and friendly atmosphere generated in the cohort of fellows was an added bonus!'
Professor Gordon Pentland
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
Durham University’s Residential Research Fellowship was a delightful experience. For part of a new book I’m writing on the history of empires and resistance, I used the Sudan Collection, arguably the most important archive of the British Empire in the Sudan. It is an amazing collection. I highly recommend this fellowship program, which brings together different scholars and offers them a rare sense of community in one of England’s most beautiful university settings. It’s world-class, and I want to return!
James Le Sueur
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of Nebraska, USA)
My fellowship at Durham (Lendrum Priory Residential Research Library Fellowship) was transformative for my research as it enabled me to access the little-studied medieval collections of Ushaw College in situ and even discover a hitherto unknown original charter of King John (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-47698594)
Dr Benjamin Pohl
(University of Bristol, England)
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 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...
Ellen Smith
Holland Visiting Fellowship (University of Leicester, United Kingdom)
"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 Durham Research Library Fellowship in 2019 was immensely enjoyable and productive. It was a pleasure to spend my time engaging with primary sources and writing after a long period spent in administration. All the team at Durham were very supportive and made the logistics of the fellowship easy, and Durham was a wonderful place to spend four a half with my wife. This was a very productive time and I am greatly indebted to Durham for the fellowship.
David Trim
DRRL Visiting Fellowship (Seventh Day Adventists, USA)
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...
Agnes Desmazieres
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Centre Sèvres-Facultés jésuites de Paris, French)
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)