durham university history phd

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Classics & Ancient History PhD

Durham university, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, similar courses at different universities, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Subject areas

Ancient History Classics

Course type

Classics and Ancient History at Durham University belongs to the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and is one of the most vibrant Classics departments in the UK. Our academic staff specialise in a wide range of artistic, historical, literary, linguistic, cultural and philosophical aspects of the Graeco-Roman world. If you intend to study for the PhD and do not already hold a Master's degree (or equivalent), you will normally be required to register for one of our taught MA programmes, which are designed to function as research training degrees, and offer the best possible introduction to higher research in the Classics, and the research culture of our Department in particular. Classics students from universities such as Durham are highly valued by employers, who realise that, in studying for your degree, you have not only mastered the intricacies of Latin grammar, Augustan foreign policy or Aristotelian metaphysics, but have also acquired skills which are readily transferable in the jobs market. You have learned, for example, to think logically, to compile and evaluate evidence and to express yourself clearly and succinctly both orally and in writing. The aptitude of classicists for careers in computing is well-known, but our graduates have also found their way into careers as diverse as the civil service, gold dealing, insurance, journalism, law, accountancy, public relations and the theatre.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

To be confirmed

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

For this course (per year)

The standard minimum entry requirements to study a postgraduate programme at Durham University are normally: Achievement of an upper second class honours degree (2:1) from a UK university or an equivalent degree qualification from an overseas university.

MA in Incarceration Studies

University of hull, celtic archaeology ma, bangor university, classics and ancient history phd, university of liverpool, classics and ancient history mphil, classics and ancient history mres.

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History PhD Durham University

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PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Durham University

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Course summary

The PhD programme formally takes three years full-time (or six years part-time) of research and writing, though some students may complete the writing-up of their thesis during a fourth year. The PhD is examined by a thesis of up to 100,000 words and an oral examination (viva voce). A PhD thesis is a substantial piece of original, research which demonstrates the ability of the student to undertake independent academic work. Successful completion of a Masters-level qualification, in History or a related subject, with a merit or above is required for entry onto this programme. If you intend to study for the PhD and do not already hold a Master's degree (or equivalent), we will normally ask that you register for one of our MA programmes in the first instance. We will often recommend that you take a Taught Masters because it provides research training. In addition to advising on the direction, shape and content of the thesis and the methodology of the research, supervisors discuss research students' training needs with them and work out a programme of training to ensure that students are best placed to undertake their research. A range of general and specialist research training will be available for you individually and in groups, organised by the department; there are also more general research preparation courses organised centrally. Your individual training needs will be assessed at the start of your degree, and this process is repeated annually. Students have gone on to a wide variety of academic, academic-related, heritage and professional careers. Our MA graduates go on to a diverse range of careers, from professional services (law, civil service, accountancy), to teaching, business and entrepreneurial sectors.

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£ 24,500 per year

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Durham University, The Palatine Centre, Stockton Road, Durham, Durham, DH1 3LE, England

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Subject Guide: History: Theses and Dissertations

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Theses and Dissertations

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Accessing Theses and Dissertations

• Durham Theses and Dissertations
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Durham e-Theses contains the full-text of Durham University Higher Degree theses .

All theses passed after 1 October 2009 (with a small number of exceptins) are available, or will be available following an embargo determined by the author. Durham University Library has also digitised its extensive collection of PhD, MPhil and Research Masters dissertations from 1899 onwards.

EThOS - The UK’s national thesis service which aims to maximise the visibility and availability of the UK’s doctoral research theses. EThOS aims to provide a national aggregated record of all doctoral theses awarded by UK Higher Education institutions, and free access to the full text of as many theses as possible for use by all researchers to further their own research.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses - ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Each year hundreds of thousands of works are added. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637. If needed you can limit your results to institutions from countries in the UK.

ProQuest Dissertations and Theses  - ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT) Global is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, offering millions of works from thousands of universities. Each year hundreds of thousands of works are added. Full-text coverage spans from 1743 to the present, with citation coverage dating back to 1637.

Open Access Theses and Dissertations -  OATD.org aims to be the best possible resource for finding open access graduate theses and dissertations published around the world. Metadata (information about the theses) comes from over 1100 colleges, universities, and research institutions.

DART-Europe E-Theses Portal - A partnership of research libraries and library consortia who are working together to improve global access to European research theses.

South African Theses and Dissertations - via the National ETD Portal. 

Australian Theses via TROVE  - a collaboration between the National Library of Australia and hundreds of Partner organisations around Australia.

OAIster - A union catalog of millions of records that represent open access resources. It includes more than 50 million records that represent digital resources from more than 2,000 contributors. Results can be limited to just theses and dissertations.

Theses Canada - Launched in 1965 at the request of the deans of Canadian graduate schools, is a collaborative program between Library and Archives Canada (LAC) and Canadian universities. It strives to acquire and preserve theses and dissertations from participating universities, provide free access to Canadian digital theses and dissertations in the collection, and to facilitate access to non-digital theses and dissertations in the collection

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• Last Updated: Apr 26, 2024 11:27 AM
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Funded PhD Opportunities

Collaborative doctoral partnerships.

Funding competitions includes opportunities for PhD students to work with partner organisations, which are not higher education institutions, but are, for instance, museums, galleries, archives, heritage organisations, businesses, or charities.

Anyone interested in developing a Collaborative Doctoral Award partnership should contact the Director of Postgraduate Research, Prof. Graeme Small .

Student-led applications are submitted in January, as part of the standard PhD application process .

Supervisor-led Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships have, in the past, included partnerships with Tyneside Cinema, the Bowes Museum, and Blackfriars Restaurant.

Click below to learn more about our current and forthcoming PhD projects

Current Opportunities

Constitution-making in Sudan

Nostalgia and the Transformation of Working-Class Heritage

The Transmission of Taste

Making Chocolate in the British Atlantic World: Foodways, Consumption, and Heritage

Oral History, the British Cultural Imaginary, and the Lives of the SOE’s Amateur Agents

The Growth and Decline of North-East Jewish Communities, 1881-2000

A Woman's Work: Photographic Histories of Northeast England Through the Lens of Daisy Edis and the J.R. Edis Studio

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Postgraduate Fees and Funding

A range of awards are available to support postgraduate students in the History Department at Durham.

If you wish to be considered for funding, you are encouraged to contact the Director of Postgraduate Studies, Prof. Graeme Small , who can put you in touch with potential academic supervisors and provide advice on completing your application form.

Funding Deadlines

Funding Opportunities

Applying for Funding

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• History, Department of (141)

ADAMOPOULOS, ANGELOS (2024) Delusions of Divinity or Political Realism? Understanding the Divine Right Kingship of King James VI and I, and 16th Century Political Thought Regarding Temporal Power. Masters thesis, Durham University.

ADAMSON, DANIEL,EDWARD (2022) Portrayals – in educational settings – of the relationship between Britain and the Holocaust. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

AHMED-KHALID-ABDALLA, TAMADOR (2010) The Lahawiyin: Identity and History in a Sudanese Arab Tribe. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

ALLAN, CHRISTOPHER,JAMES (2020) Coal as a Freight, Coal as a Fuel: A Study of the British Coal Trade: 1850 - 1913. Masters thesis, Durham University.

ARMSTRONG, MARGARET (2022) The Medical Services of the New Poor Law in County Durham: 1834-1910. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BACOLA, MEREDITH,ANNE (2012) Dissemination of a Legend: The Texts and Contexts of the Cult of St Guthlac. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BADER, KATHARINE,ALLAN (2022) A Culture of Inquiry: Scientific Thought and its Transmission in the Severn Valley, c. 1090–c. 1150. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BALL, THOMAS,JAMES (2013) From the Temporal to the Eternal: The Normative Philosophy of Anselm of Canterbury. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

Bartlett, Keith John (1998) The development of the British army during the wars with France, 1793-1815. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BATES, LUCY-ANN (2012) Nationwide Fast and Thanksgiving Days in England, 1640-1660. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BEDFORD, KATHRYN,ANN (2012) Fictionalising the Past: Thirteenth-Century Re-imaginings of Recent Historical Individuals. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BENNETT, MARK,NEIL (2018) Race, Democracy and the American Civil War in the County of Yorkshire. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BENSON, MATTHEW,STERLING (2019) Taxation, Local Government and Social Control in Sudan and South Sudan, 1899-1956. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BERRIDGE, WILLIAM,JAMES (2011) Under the Shadow of the Regime: The Contradictions of Policing in Sudan, c.1924-1989. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BLACKMORE, ELIZABETH,NAOMI (2016) The ‘Angelic Quire’: Rethinking Female Voices in Anglican Sacred Music, c. 1889. Masters thesis, Durham University.

Brearley, J. D. (1974) Discipline and local government in the Diocese of Durham, 1660-72. Masters thesis, Durham University.

BREWER, BETHANY,ANNE (2023) Women and the Rwandan Gacaca Courts: Gender, Genocide and Justice. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BRITTON, STEPHANIE,CAROLINE (2018) 'The manner of life of Anselm, a man beloved of God': Saint Anselm’s legacy in historical and hagiographical writing connected to Christ Church, Canterbury and the abbey of Bec c.1080- c.1140. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BROAD, WILLIAM,ERNEST (2016) Northumberland at War. Masters thesis, Durham University.

BROWN, ALEXANDER,THOMAS (2012) Recession and Recovery: the Economic History of Rural Society in Durham, c.1400-1640. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BROWN, JOHN,WILLIAM (2010) Lead production on the northeast periphery: A study of the Bowes family estate, c.1550-1771. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BROWNE, ADRIAN,JAMES (2020) Classificatory violence: difference, discipline, and (de)gradation in Uganda’s northern Albertine Rift, c.1860 to c.1991. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BRUN, KATIE (2023) Contextualising Title Pages by Material Culture: Typography & List of Rarities A Case Study Don Saltero’s Coffeehouse Catalogues, 1729 – 1795. Masters thesis, Durham University.

BURKE, DAVID (2015) ATONING FOR KILLING: THE PRACTICE OF PENANCE AND THE PERCEPTION OF BLOODSHED AMONG THE EARLY MEDIEVAL IRISH, FIFTH TO NINTH CENTURY. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

BURN, ANDREW,JAMES (2014) Work and Society in Newcastle upon Tyne, c. 1600-1710. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CHOME, KILLIAN,NGALA (2021) Uses of Race: Moral debate and political action in Mombasa, 1895-1990. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CHRISTIAN, WILLIAM,WALKER (2022) UNIO MYSTICA AND THE AURORA CONSURGENS: MYSTICAL THEOLOGY IN A LATE MEDEIVAL ALCHEMICAL TREATISE. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CLARKE-NEISH, KELLY,MARIE (2021) THE (RE-)MAKING OF THE SOUTHERN NORTH SEA WORLD: Politics, trade and long-distance interactions between the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and Merovingian Gaul in the seventh century AD. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CORMACK, ZOE,TROY (2014) The Making and Remaking of Gogrial: Landscape, history and memory in South Sudan. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

COSS, DENISE (2012) First World War Memorials, Commemoration and Community in North East England, 1918-1939. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CRESSEY, MICHAEL,JAMES (2017) POLICY AND POWER: IDEAS, POLICYMAKING AND PRACTICE IN 1670S ENGLAND. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CROSBIE, BARBARA (2011) The Rising Generations: A Northern Perspective on Age Relations and the Contours of Cultural Change, England c.1740-1785. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CROSS, HARRY,RICHARD (2021) Banking and finance in Sudan, 1956 to 1970. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CUBILLAS GADEA, TOMAS,ALBERTO (2017) Parenting the Self: Welfare, Family, and Subjectivity in Nineteenth-Century France. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

CULLEN, CATRIONA,POPPY (2015) ‘Kenya is no doubt a special case’:British policy towards Kenya, 1960-1980. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DANDURAND, ELI,ALAIN (2015) A Purpose Lost: Cultural Consequences of the English Civil War for Congregationalist New England, 1630 - 1649. Masters thesis, Durham University.

DE-VRIES, JENNEKE,DANIELLE,ELINE (2019) ‘Nothing but Mayors and Sheriefs, and the deare yeere, and the great frost.’ A study of written historical culture in late medieval towns in the Low Countries and England. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DIAS, ANA,PATRICIA,CORDEIRO,DE (2019) Painting the Apocalypse in Medieval Iberia: the Creation and Use of the Beatus IIa. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DOBIE, ALISDAIR,JOHN (2011) Accounting, Management and Control at Durham Cathedral Priory c. 1250-c. 1420. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DOHERTY, ROBERT,PATRICK (2017) “Drawing lines on a map”: English Regionalism and Regional Identity in Post-war Yorkshire and Humberside. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DRURY, CHRISTIAN,JAMES (2023) “Semi-Professional Polar Explorers”: Empire, Modernity, and Temporality in British Arctic Travel Narratives, 1875-1940. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DUMITRU, RAZVAN,IOAN (2023) Ploughmen's Society. A Prosopography of an Agrarian Community from Transylvania on the Eve of Modernity. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DUNTHORNE, JUDITH,RACHEL (2012) Anselm of Canterbury and the Development of Theological Thought, c. 1070-1141. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

DURKEE, DANA,ANN (2017) Social Mobility and the Worsted Weavers of Norwich, c.1450-1530. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

FINN, FINOLA (2018) Melancholy and the nonconforming godly in England, c. 1640-1700. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

GIDRON, YOTAM (2020) The Nuer Messianic Jewish Movement: Authority and Authenticity in Ethiopia’s Western Frontierlands. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

GILBERT, SARAH (2019) Medical Recipes in non-Medical Manuscripts Written or Known in England Up To A.D. 1100. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

GOOCH, MEGAN,LAURA (2012) Money and Power in the Viking Kingdom of York, c.895 – 954. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

GREEN, ANDREW,DAVID,MACFARLANE (2023) Resistance and Rebellion against King Charles VII of France (1422-1461): A Study of Noble Networks and French Politics in the Fifteenth Century. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

GREEN, ROSALIND,CECILIA,GOLDIE (2017) Perfectissimus: The Carthusians in England, c.1178-c.1220. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

GREENHALL, MATTHEW,RICHARD (2011) The Evolution of the British Economy: Anglo-Scottish Trade and Political Union, an Inter-Regional Perspective, 1580-1750. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

GUO, YUNDI (2023) A Very Socialist German Culture?: The GDR’s Use of German Classical Music Heritage for Domestic and International Legitimacy under Honecker (1971-1989). Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

HARGREAVES, BARBARA,MARY (2016) The Agony of Passing: Monastic Death Ritual in Twelfth-Century England. Masters thesis, Durham University.

HARGREAVES, BARBARA,MARY (2021) NOT ‘FOR MEDICINAL USE ONLY’ HEALTHCARE NARRATIVES IN SAINTS’ LIVES FROM TWELFTH-CENTURY ENGLAND. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

HARKES, RACHAEL,CLARE (2021) Joining a Fraternity in Late Medieval England: The Case of the Palmers’ Guild of Ludlow, c. 1250-1551. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

HARRIS, LYDIA,MICHELLE (2017) Evacuating the Womb: Abortion and Contraception in the High Middle Ages, circa 1050-1300. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

HARRISON, EDWARD,GRAHAM (2018) The English School of Chess: A Nation on Display, 1834-1904. Masters thesis, Durham University.

HARRISON, SPENCER,JOHN,HARRY (2023) Thomas Hobbes and the phenomena of civil war: A textual exposition of Hobbes’s commitment to the empirical and historical existence of the state of nature. Masters thesis, Durham University.

HAUGHTON, PHILIPPA,LUCY (2015) The Formation of Professional Identity in the British Advertising Industry, 1920-1954. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

HEPWORTH, JACK,WILLIAM (2017) “As long as Ireland is unfree, the only attitude for Irishmen and Irishwomen is an attitude of revolt”: The Armalite, the ballot box, and the shifting politics of Irish republicanism, c.1970-c.1994. Masters thesis, Durham University.

HISCOCKS, DAVID,RICHARD (2015) Old Comrades: A study of the formation of ex-military communities in Tyne and Wear since the Great War. Masters thesis, Durham University.

HUANG, CHIH-HSIN (2022) The Stage Controversy: Jeremy Collier and the Moral Reform of Politics, 1688–1722. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

HUMALAJOKI, REETTA,ELINA (2016) Debating Termination: Rhetoric and Responses to U.S. American Indian Policy, 1947-1970. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

IBBOTT, NICOLA,ALEXANDRA (2020) The Witch-Queen of Avaldsnes: An Analysis of the Portrayals of Gunnhildr konungamóðir. Masters thesis, Durham University.

INGRAM, ANDERS (2009) English literature on the Ottoman Turks in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

IRVINE, JAMIE,WILLIAM (2023) CAUSAL ORIGINS OF THE ‘RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF THE MIDDLE AGES': CLUNY, TIRON, AND THE NEW ORDERS, 910-1156. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

JAMES, STEPHEN (2013) Growth and Transition in the Cleveland Iron and Steel Industry, 1850 to 1914. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

JAMES, WILLIAM,GABE (2022) A Local Phenomenon: An Analysis of Regular Architecture in the Localities of England 1660-1770. Masters thesis, Durham University.

JORDAN, ALEXANDRA,ELIZABETH (2021) The influence of Carolingian political initiatives and correctio in ninth-century Brittany and the march: a study of the hagiographical dossiers of saints Machutus, Maglorius and Melanius and their political and ecclesiastical contexts. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

KEARNS, THOMAS,ROBERT,ARIS (2020) Religious Thought and Reform in late tenth-century England: The Evidence of the Blickling and Vercelli Books. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

KENT, CATHERINE,LAURA (2016) Beyond the defensible threshold: the house-building culture of Berwick-upon-Tweed and the East March, 1550-1603. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

KEWLEY, JONATHAN,DENNIS,RICHARD (2017) Variation in the Architecture and Design of Gravemarkers in Great Britain and British North America 1600 1800. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

KINDERSLEY, NICOLA,DAWN (2016) The fifth column? An intellectual history of Southern Sudanese communities in Khartoum, 1969-2005. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

KRICK-PRIDGEON, KATHERINE,ANNE (2018) ‘Nothing for the godly to fear’: Use of Sarum Influence on the 1549 Book of Common Prayer. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

LAMBERT, THOMAS,BENEDICT (2009) Protection, Feud and Royal Power: Violence and its Regulation in English Law, c. 850 – c. 1250. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

LEONARD, FERGAL (2023) Society, governance, and politics in the Elizabethan west march, c.1570 – 1603. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

LIU, GERALD (2012) Agricultural wage labour in fifteenth-century England. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

LONG, CARRIE,IRENE,ELIZABETH (2024) ‘Yours Humbly, Sincerely, and Obediently’? The Social Agency of Lone Women’s Petitions c.1789-1850. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

LOTH-HILL, MAKSYMILIAN,GERARD,ROMAN (2024) The Politics of History and Culture in Stalinist Poland: Museology and the Construction of a ‘Usable Past’, 1945-1956. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

LOWMAN, THOMAS,JAMES (2020) Beyond Idi Amin: Causes and Drivers of Political Violence in Uganda, 1971-1979. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MacLeod, Angus Hamilton (1958) The life and teaching of Robert Hall, 1764-1831. Masters thesis, Durham University.

MACNAUGHTON, LINDSAY,HANNAH (2021) Staging and Collecting French History: John and Joséphine Bowes, c.1845-1885. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MARCHISIO, GIULIO (2012) Battleships and Dividends: The Rise of Private Armaments Firms in Great Britain and Italy, c. 1860-1914. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

Marcombe, David (1973) The Dean and Chapter of Durham, 1558-1603. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MARLOW, KATHARINE,HARRIET (2021) The Collective Self-Representation of Ethnicity in Anglo-Saxon England (886-1066) and Medieval Iceland (1100-1264). Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MCCABE, NEWBY (2024) ‘The real women’s party’: The social, cultural, and educational life of Labour Women between the wars. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MCCOOK, SARAH,LOUISE (2023) Reasonable Latitude: Learning and Adaptability in British Army Despatch Riders During the Second World War. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MCNALLY, MARK (2014) The marketing techniques of William Hogarth (1697-1764), artist and engraver. Masters thesis, Durham University.

MEER, MARCUS (2019) Cities, Citizens, and their Signs: Heraldic Communication and Urban Visual Culture in Late Medieval England and Germany. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MELLER, PAUL,JONATHAN (2010) The Development of Modern Propaganda in Britain, 1854-1902. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MIEJLUK, ANTONIA,NANCY (2022) Soviet Snapshooters: Amateur Photography and Self-Fashioning in Interwar Russia. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MONTGOMERY, ALISON (2011) (The) man, his body, and his society: masculinity and the male experience in English and Scottish medicine c.1640-c.1780. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MORGAN, HARRIET,LYNNE (2017) Intellectuals and the Politics of the French Socialist Party since 2002. Masters thesis, Durham University.

MOSS, NATALIE,CHARLOTTE (2016) 'The dilemma of councillors': The history of local government in Kenya, c. 1945 - 2010. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MULHERN, JOSEPH,MARTIN (2018) After 1833: British Entanglement with Brazilian Slavery. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

MURRELL, CALLUM,DAVID (2021) Law, Politics, and Political Discourse in Sixteenth-Century Manorial Norfolk. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

NELSON, JAMES,EDWYN,LE,MESSURIER (2016) AN UNWELCOME EMPIRE: JAPANESE IMPERIALISM AS THE YELLOW PERIL IN BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES IN AND AROUND THE SINO-JAPANESE AND RUSSO-JAPANESE WARS. Masters thesis, Durham University.

NEWTON, RUSSELL,SCOTT,HENRY (2017) The Social Production of Gentility and Capital in Early Modern England: The Newtons of Lincolnshire. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

NORMAN, MATHEW,RONALD (2022) Portrait Drawing in Three Generations of the Bacon Family. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

O'LEARY, DEVIN,JAMES (2016) In the Spirit of Salvation: William of St. Thierry’s Theological Treatment of Salvation in light of his Pneumatology. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

PERNA, ANTONIA,PATRICIA (2021) Young Citizens: Children and Childhood in French Revolutionary Politics and Culture. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

POPE, BENJAMIN, JOHN (2016) Relations between Townspeople and Rural Nobles in late medieval Germany: A Study of Nuremberg in the 1440s. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

PRESTIDGE, JESSICA,DAWN (2017) Margaret Thatcher's politics: the cultural and ideological forces of domestic femininity. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

RAITZ, KIRSTYN,ARIANNA (2020) Prostitution, Space and Urban Life in Eighteenth-Century London and Paris. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

REYNOLDS, KATHLEEN,MARIE (2018) Sickness in Correspondence: gentry letter writing and the subject of health in eighteenth-century Yorkshire, County Durham, and Northumberland. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

RICKABY, MARGARET,CAROLINE (2011) Girard d'Athee and the Men from the Touraine Their Roles under King John. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

RIORDAN, JAMES (2018) Power, Ideology and ‘country politics’: Episodes from Derbyshire, c.1660-1760. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

ROBINSON, LAWRENCE (2019) The Merchant Community of Newcastle upon Tyne, 1660-1750. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

RODGER, THOMAS,MATTHEW (2017) Bishops in parliament: the Lords Spiritual, c. 1903-1974. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

ROZIER, CHARLIE,COLIN (2014) The Importance of Writing Institutional History in the Anglo-Norman Realm, c.1060-c.1142, with special reference to Eadmer’s Historia Novorum, Symeon of Durham’s Libellus de exordio, and the Historia Ecclesiastica of Orderic Vitalis. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

SCHNEIDER, CHRISTIAN (2016) Pope Clement VIII and Confessional Conflict: International Papal Politics and Diplomacy (1598–1605). Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

SHOVLIN, IAN,DAVID (2018) Overseas Violence and the Seven Years' War: Alleged Atrocities Committed by Non-Europeans as a Subject for Public Discussion in British News Commentary, 1754-1764. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

SKELTON, LEONA,JAYNE (2012) Environmental Regulation in Edinburgh and York, c.1560-c.1700 With Reference to Several Smaller Scottish Burghs and Northern English Towns. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

SMITH, CAROLINE,ELIZABETH,HARRIE (2020) Aspects of archaeology, history, landscape, material culture and structures of bishops’ houses in the English dioceses of Carlisle and Durham, and the Scots dioceses of Glasgow and St Andrews c1450-1660. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

SMITH, NICHOLAS,JAMES,CROSBY (2010) Servicium Debitum and Scutage in Twelfth Century England With Comparisons to the Regno of Southern Italy. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

SNAITH, RHIANNON,ELIZABETH (2021) The Politics of Noble Reputation in Late Medieval England 1377-1437. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

STEED, ABIGAIL,FRANCES,GEORGINA (2019) 'Vengeance is mine': The Vengeance of Heaven and Earth in Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman Society, c. 900 - c. 1150. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

Stephen, Daniel Augustine Vonque (1963) A history of the settlement of liberated Africans in the colony of Sierra Leone during the first half of the 19th century. Masters thesis, Durham University.

STEVENSON, GEORGE,STUART,MICHAEL (2016) ‘The Women’s Liberation Movement and the Intractable Problem of Class, c. 1968 – c. 1979’. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

STEWART, CIARA,ELIZABETH (2021) Irish Women and Political Petitioning, c. 1870-1918. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

TAFFE, JAMES,JOHN (2022) Reconstructing the queen’s household, 1485-1547: a study in royal service. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

TAVERNESE, CLAUDIA,ALBINA (2018) Picasso's Red Period: Politics, Peace, and Public Perception, 1937–73. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

TOWNLEY, GARETH,LEWIS (2018) What do the religious beliefs of the Harleys of Brampton Bryan, Herefordshire, tell us about the nature of early Stuart puritanism? Masters thesis, Durham University.

TURNER, GARETH,DAVID (2015) English Banking in the Eighteenth Century: Bankers, merchants and the creation of the English financial system. Masters thesis, Durham University.

TURNER, JAMES (2020) Illegitimacy and Power: 12th Century Anglo-Norman and Angevin Illegitimate Family Members within Aristocratic Society. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

TURNOCK, JONATHAN,ANDREW (2018) Landscapes of Patronage, Power and Salvation: A Contextual Study of Architectural Stone Sculpture in Northern England, c. 1070-c. 1155. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

TURNOCK, JONATHAN,ANDREW (2015) Reconsidering the reign of King Stephen: a contextual study of sculpture created in Gloucestershire between 1135 and 1154. Masters thesis, Durham University.

TYMVIOU, MARINA (2018) Charlotte of Lusignan and Caterina Cornaro: The Politics of Queenship and Identity in Cyprus and Italy 1458 - 1861. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

UDY, BENJAMIN,JOSIAH,DAVID (2013) Ecstatic Spirituality in Kigezi, Ruanda and Western Tanganyika c.1933 – 1940: Censorship, Control and the Ruanda Mission. Masters thesis, Durham University.

VARNER, LINDSAY,ANN (2015) A Community of Quakers in seventeenth century County Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

VAUGHAN, CHRISTOPHER (2011) Negotiating the state at its margins: Colonial authority in Condominium Darfur 1916-1956. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

WAIN, GEMMA,LOUISE (2013) Nec ancilla nec domina: Representations of Eve in the Twelfth Century. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

WARD, REBECCA,ROSE (2010) An Alternative Approach to Child Rescue: child emigration societies in Birmingham and Manchester, 1870-1914. Masters thesis, Durham University.

WEBER, SAMUEL (2019) Pining for Stability: The Borromeo Family and the Crisis of the Spanish Monarchy, 1610-1680. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

WELFORD, JUDITH (2010) Functional Goods and Fancies: The Production and Consumption of Consumer Goods in Northumberland, Newcastle upon Tyne and Durham c. 1680-1780. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

Wells, Anthony Roland (1968) German public opinion and Hitler's policies, 1933-1939. Masters thesis, Durham University.

WICKLUND, RYAN,KNOWLTON (2022) AGRICULTURAL DECISION-MAKING AND MANAGERIAL RESPONSE AT DURHAM CATHEDRAL PRIORY DURING THE LONG FOURTEENTH CENTURY, c.1300-1453. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

WOLFSON, SARA,JOY (2010) Aristocratic Women of the Household and Court of Queen Henrietta Maria, 1625-1659. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

WORKING, LAUREN,NOEMIE (2015) Savagery and the State: Incivility and America in Jacobean Political Discourse. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

WRIGHT, MATTHEW,ANTHONY (2017) The Pearson Commission, Aid Diplomacy and the Rise of the World Bank, 1966-1970. Doctoral thesis, Durham University.

YOO, YOUNGHO (2020) Philo-Semites, Anti-Semites and France’s Jewish Communities in the late Third Republic (c.1900-1940). Masters thesis, Durham University.

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Last Modified: Summer 2013 | Disclaimer | Trading name | Powered by EPrints 3

Ph.D. in Art, Art History and Visual Studies

General info.

• Faculty working with students: 20
• Students: 26
• Part time study available: No
• Application Terms: Fall
• Application Deadline: December 14

Stanley Abe Director of Graduate Studies Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies Duke University Box 90766 Durham, NC 27708-0764

Phone: (919) 684-2224

Email:  [email protected]

Website:  https://aahvs.duke.edu

Program Description

The program, which is designed for a small group of students, emphasizes the study of art, architecture and visual culture within a theoretical and historical frame. The Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies offers an interdisciplinary program of graduate study leading to the Ph.D. (No M.A. is offered. Please find more information on the Digital Art History/Computational Media M.A. tracks).

We invite applications from dedicated students interested in careers in research, criticism, teaching, and museum work. Admission is highly competitive and limited to an average of four new students per year. The Department makes every effort to offer full funding to all admitted candidates. Students are trained for teaching by serving as graders and teaching assistants.

Duke University is now in the forefront of academic institutions supporting interdisciplinary and theoretical initiatives in the humanities. Art History and Visual Studies have a unique contribution to make to these efforts and all members of the faculty are engaged in innovative teaching or research projects involving faculty from other departments and programs. All members of the graduate faculty team-teach courses or have courses cross-listed in other departments (African and African-American Studies, Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Classical Studies, Economics, Literature, Germanic Languages and Literature, Religion) or programs (Documentary Studies, Women's Studies, International Comparative Studies, Medieval and Renaissance Studies). Students have a minor field outside the department.

The department works cooperatively with the art history program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as well as with the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh.

Program Statistics

• Art, Art History and Visual Studies: PhD Admissions and Enrollment Statistics
• Art, Art History and Visual Studies: PhD Completion Rate Statistics
• Art, Art History and Visual Studies: PhD Time to Degree Statistics
• Art, Art History and Visual Studies: PhD Career Outcomes Statistics

Application Information

Application Terms:  Fall

Application Deadline:  December 14

Graduate School Application Requirements See the  Application Instructions  page for important details about each Graduate School requirement.

• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts required with application submission; official transcripts required upon admission
• Letters of Recommendation: 3 Required
• Statement of Purpose: Required (see department guidance below)
• Résumé: Required
• GRE Scores: GRE General - Optional
• English Language Exam: TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test required* for applicants whose first language is not English * test waiver may apply for some applicants
• GPA: Undergraduate GPA calculated on 4.0 scale required

Department-Specific Application Requirements (submitted through online application)

Writing Sample A 10-page writing sample is required with your application.

We strongly encourage you to review additional department-specific application guidance from the program to which you are applying:  Departmental Application Guidance

List of Graduate School Programs and Degrees