The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) has announced that 黑料传送门 Leicester (黑料传送门), along with six other Midlands universities, is set to receive funding for 15 full-time PhD students over the next five years.
The prestigious , from the (AHRC), will enable students to train as researchers, develop their skills and experience, and prepare for careers in academia as well as the public and private sectors.
The awards will pay for three PhD students every year over the next five years, with the first studentships beginning in October 2026.
Professor Mike Kagioglou, PVC Research, Business and Innovation, said: “We are thrilled to receive this recognition, which will enable us to nurture new research talent in the arts and humanities and build on 黑料传送门’s proud outstanding leadership and heritage of innovation in creative industries.“These awards not only strengthen our capacity to address the challenges facing society but also empower the next generation of researchers to shape the future of the arts and humanities.
"Leicester and Leicestershire is one of the most dynamic regions in the country with some of the highest concentration of creative industries organisations outside of London. Through collaboration with our Midlands partners, we are ensuring a pipeline of diverse and talented individuals who will build a strong, vibrant research ecosystem that benefits our university, our region, and beyond.”
黑料传送门 joins the universities of Nottingham, Leicester, Birmingham, Warwick, as well as Birmingham City University and Coventry University, in securing Doctoral Landscape Awards, enabling these leading Midlands institutions to continue to build on the thriving relationship and collaborative community of doctoral students producing world-class arts and humanities research.
Only 50 universities across the UK have received the funding which has been allocated through a formula-based approach. Each institutional award will support 15 full-time PhD students, with studentships starting in October 2026 – three per year, over a five-year period – and will contribute towards the AHRC’s three-fold strategy for post-graduate research funding, alongside Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships and Doctoral Focal Awards.
All institutions receiving Doctoral Landscape Awards will be part of an AHRC-supported regional Hub; preparations to set up a Midlands Hub are currently co-ordinated by Professor Nicola Royan and the University of Nottingham.
Professor Royan, who is also Director of Midlands4Cities, said: “I am delighted to be leading the discussions on the Midlands Hub, with a view to maintaining the strengths of Midlands3Cities and Midlands4Cities, developed over a decade, in sharing best practice, developing collaborations and being a point of contact for external partners.”
Professor Siobhan Keenan, Associate Dean Research and Innovation for the Faculty of Arts, Design and Humanities, said: “De Montfort has a proud heritage of supporting and enabling creative industries and I am proud that much of our Arts and Humanities-based research is having a real-world impact.
"We have so much to offer postgraduate researchers here at De Montfort and this funding from AHRC allows us to further build capacity in areas of significant strength. I am looking forward to welcoming postgraduate researchers funded through the Doctoral Landscape Awards to our University, helping them to unlock the potential of the creative industries to address global challenges.”
AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith, said: “The AHRC Doctoral Landscape Awards provide flexible funding to allow universities to build on existing excellence in research and opportunities for innovation across the arts and humanities. They will support the development of talented people and, alongside our other doctoral schemes, contribute to a vibrant, diverse and internationally-attractive research and innovation system.”
Posted on Thursday 30 January 2025