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 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)
My fellowship was a great experience and the working conditions were ideal. I was allotted a host college and made welcome everywhere. As well as working productively in the archives I met an expert on the material I was using, and attended seminars and events. Durham is the perfect thinking environment, and has the cafés to complement it - highly recommended.
Robert Poole
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of Central Lancashire, United Kingdom)
I express my gratitude to Durham University for offering me the Residential Research Library fellowship. My experience at Durham was very enriching. Along with the great academic exposure, I got the chance to explore the rich cultural heritage of a beautiful Romanesque city. It is substantially important to mention that the visiting fellows are given access to all the resources. From navigating through the rich archives and rare collections to exploring the latest research in the Bill Bryson library, everything was hassle-free. The functionaries at all the places are very welcoming. Overall, my stay at Durham has been very fruitful...
Veenat Arora
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Panjab University, India)
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 nature of my research required that I call up a very large number of rare books, which the staff of the library was extremely helpful with throughout my time in Durham. Lord William Howard’s personal library is a treasure trove for anyone interested to study Elizabethan and Caroline Catholic culture in England
Earle Havens
Holland Visiting Fellowship (John Hopkins University, USA)
While a Visiting Fellow at the DRRL I worked on two early modern topics relating to central and eastern Europe. I was able to study the English reception of the works of an Augsburg-born Jesuit, the different editions of the translation being available at Ushaw. I was also able to consult the collections in Durham Cathedral Library to explore the life of a chaplain to King Charles I, who was active in Transylvania in the mid-seventeenth century. The collection includes Hungarian-language original documents, testifying to the global reach of the collections in Durham. The whole research experience was hugely enjoyable,...
Dr Toth Zsombor
DRRL Visiting Fellowship (Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary)
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)
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)
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)
My time in Durham as a researcher under the Research Fellowship scheme was both congenial and very fruitful. It provided me with access to significant and essential materials that facilitated my project in transformative ways. The library and archives staff were exemplary in their welcome and generous assistance. Living in Durham for one month was also a most pleasant experience. My thanks to all who support the scheme and I commend it to any who are considering making an application.
Rev Dr Robert Fennell
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Atlantic School of Theology in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada)