King’s College London (Department of History) is offering a fully funded, full-time PhD studentship in Early Modern Global History, attached to the ERC-funded project New Christian Materiality 1450–1750 (MATERIA). The successful doctoral researcher will join an active research team examining the material culture and commercial worlds of New Christian intercontinental traders of Jewish origin across the early modern Atlantic and/or Indian Ocean worlds.
Author: Dr Niaz Chowdhury (LinkedIn)
Designation: Lecturer (Computer Science)
Affiliation: Ulster University (Birmingham), UK
Key facts at a glance
- University / Faculty: King’s College London — Arts & Humanities
- Location: London
- Project: MATERIA
- Contact: Professor Francisco Bethencourt (email: francisco.bethencourt@kcl.ac.uk )
- Study mode: Full-time
- Funding: £22,780 annual stipend (UKRI 2025/26 rate) + tuition fees covered (home or international, as applicable)
- Duration: 3 years (1 June 2026 – 31 May 2029)
- Deadline: 20 February 2026
- Listing reference: Materia
- How to apply: Click here
What the research is about
MATERIA investigates how New Christians—often highly mobile, commercially connected traders—helped shape early modern global exchange through things: objects, commodities, artefacts, and material practices. Rather than treating trade as only an economic system, the project foregrounds how expertise was made and circulated, how markets took form, how tastes for art and luxury developed, and how consumption patterns evolved across interconnected oceanic worlds.
You’ll develop an original doctoral project aligned to these themes, with a geographical focus in either the Atlantic or the Indian Ocean, depending on your interests and language/archival strengths.
What you’ll do as the funded PhD researcher
This is a doctoral role with a clear expectation of both independent scholarship and collaborative contribution within a larger ERC team environment. Core responsibilities include:
- Doctoral research aligned to the project’s aims, producing an original PhD thesis.
- Collaborative research: engaging with shared questions, participating in project meetings, and contributing to the wider research agenda.
- Academic communication: presenting findings to scholarly and public audiences, and writing clearly for specialist contexts.
- Professional development: building methodological, archival, and subject expertise through training and ongoing development.
Who this studentship is a strong fit for
This opportunity is particularly well-suited if you’re interested in one (or more) of the following:
- Global / connected histories (circulation, networks, mobility, diasporas)
- Material culture and consumption (objects, taste, luxury, art markets, collecting)
- History of commerce and markets (expertise, trust, intermediaries, commodities)
- Atlantic and Indian Ocean worlds (ports, trading nodes, cross-cultural exchange)
- Early modern religious and ethnic identities (including New Christian experiences and their social/economic implications)
Because the project centres on early modern intercontinental trade and materiality, applicants who can bring archival readiness, language skills, or a clear plan for source-driven research are likely to be particularly competitive.
Funding details (including international applicants)
A major advantage here is that the studentship covers:
- Full tuition fees at the applicable rate (home or international)
- An annual stipend of £22,780 (UKRI 2025/26 recommended rate)
This makes it a genuinely accessible route for UK, EU, and international candidates to pursue a PhD in London without relying on additional tuition funding.
How to prepare a strong application (practical checklist)
While exact application steps are provided in the official listing, a strong PhD studentship application typically includes:
- A sharp research proposal
- Clear research question(s) and scope (Atlantic or Indian Ocean)
- A strong link to MATERIA themes (materiality, markets, taste, consumption, expertise)
- A credible sources and methods plan
- What archives, collections, datasets, or material sources you will use
- How you’ll analyse objects/commodities and connect micro-evidence to global history
- A short “fit statement” for the project
- Explain how your background and interests complement the team’s direction and how you’ll contribute to the collaborative workstream
- A CV that signals research readiness
- Dissertation/thesis experience, archival training, languages, publications/presentations (if any)
- References
- Choose referees who can speak to research independence, writing quality, and historical method.
Timeline reminder
- Deadline: 20 February 2026
- Start date / funding period: 1 June 2026 – 31 May 2029
If you’re aiming to apply, prioritise getting a clean proposal + methods + sources plan ready early—those three elements usually make or break funded PhD competitions.
