Graduates form the vibrant heart of our community, undertaking cutting-edge scholarship that shapes the direction of slavery studies, past and present. Our current PhD clusters are focusing on the consequences of slavery for individuals today and how children can fall through the net of protections that have been designed to prevent their exploitation.
The work of our postgraduate students informs the policies and practices of government, the museum sector, and education as they undertake life-changing research on issues relating to historical and contemporary slavery and exploitation. In 2018, our former student Dr Alicia Kidd was named as one of the Top 100 Corporate Influencers in Modern Slavery. The employability of our postgraduates is something we are especially proud of, with our former students securing prestigious roles with Non-Government Organisations, Museums, Universities and other parts of the Education Sector.
Our postgraduate opportunities include a number of Masters and PhD programmes. Students can also take an MRes (Masters by research) or MA by Thesis in partnership with the Department of History. Please click on these links to access more information.
For those interested in following our PhD programme, we welcome applications from all disciplines, which to date have included History, Criminology, Law, Education, Anthropology, Modern Languages, and Heritage Studies. Each graduate is supervised by two experienced scholars, and since we specialise in interdisciplinary research, one of these scholars is usually a permanent member of academic staff at the Institute and the other a leading scholar from a related discipline on the main university campus. This ensures that all our students receive the level of support they need.
Students are guaranteed their own dedicated desk space within the Institute to allow them to make maximum use of our on-site research library and its considerable resources. The postgraduates run their own Graduate Seminar Programme, organise internal and external events, and are provided with opportunities to engage with leading scholars from home and abroad.
Find out more about postgraduate study at the University of Hull.
More information on the current cost of studying for a PhD at the University of Hull.
Information on University PhD scholarships can be found here.
Decisions about applicants are made in the first instance on an individual basis by the academics who will be supervising them. If we are able to provide supervision, you will then need to apply through the usual University channels.
If you are interested in Postgraduate Study please contact Dr Judith Spicksley attaching a cv and a proposal of c. 800 words in length of the research you intend to carry out.