AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship: V&A East Storehouse: Exploring the impact of dynamic approaches to stored collections on museum identity, user engagement and collections management.

Award details

The V&A and KCL are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded Collaborative doctoral studentship from October 2025 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships (CDP) scheme

Focusing on V&A East Storehouse (opening in May 2025) the project will explore innovative ways of managing stored collections in the museum sector, investigating the impact of dynamic approaches to stored collections on collections management practices, user engagement and institutional identity.

The studentship will be jointly supervised by Dr Anna Woodham (Senior Lecturer, Museum and Heritage Studies, KCL), Dr Georgia Haseldine (Senior Curator, V&A East Storehouse), Dr Jennie Morgan (Senior Lecturer, Heritage, University of Stirling), with Kate Parsons (Director of Collections Care and Access) and Dr Serena Iervolino (Senior Lecturer, Critical Museology, KCL). The student will be expected to spend time at both KCL and the V&A as well as becoming part of the wider cohort of CDP students across the UK.

The studentship can be studied either full or part-time and is open to home and international applicants.

We encourage applications from a diverse range of people, from different backgrounds and career stages.

Students should have a master’s degree in a relevant subject or can demonstrate relevant equivalent experience (see ‘eligibility criteria’). 

Further Details

The V&A East Storehouse is a large scale (£50 million +) capital project due to open in May 2025 at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in East London. V&A East Storehouse will offer a new ‘immersive’ way of engaging with the V&A’s stored collections, allowing unprecedented public access, and designed with and for local audiences, in particular those young people aged 16-25.

The creation of dynamic stored collections has become a topic of increasing importance for museums across the world, however these collections remain an under-explored part of the visitor experience. Alongside this, the decision to vacate Blythe House, a building used as a store and archive by VAMG, The British Museum and The Science Museum Group has prompted a wave of large-scale capital projects to relocate stored collections, creating new opportunities to rethink and redefine the relationship between museums, audiences and stored collections.

The perception of stored collections is that they are an under-used resource, maintained at public expense, but with low public relevance (Keene at al, 2008). With some considering that it is “morally wrong to hold on to things you simply cannot show” (Khanna quoted in Brusius & Singh, 2018, pg.1), collections storage spaces can be viewed as “historically, epistemologically and semantically important” (Ibid, pg.2) but have received far less scholarly attention than museums’ public facing areas. Within this context, it is a timely opportunity to critically examine the development of museum collections storage. In particular what meaningful access to and engagement with stored collections means, how these collections can be used to support community driven experimentation and creativity, and what associated opportunities and challenges they present from institutional, staff, and user perspectives.

The studentship aims to critically consider what these changes mean for ways of working in and experiencing museums more generally. How do these changes align with or differ from institutional missions and visions and what associated infrastructures, skills/expertise, values, ethics and emotions/affect underpin these innovative models of storing collections? Although the exact research design will develop in the initial stages of the studentship, we anticipate it will involve a mixed-qualitative study of V&A East Storehouse and other relevant case-study examples with the aim of understanding multifaceted perspectives on the opportunities and challenges of new models of collections storage for museum staff, members of the public (including non-traditional users),and the museum sector more widely.

Indicative research questions include:

• What does a radically transparent and dynamic access model for stored collections look like and how has this concept evolved over the development of the Storehouse project?
• How does the vision of the V&A East Storehouse and other similar projects challenge established ways of managing, presenting and understanding collections?
• How can stored collections be utilised to encourage deeper engagement by local communities and diverse audiences?
• In the context of democratisation of museum spaces, how does the V&A, and museums undertaking similar projects, negotiate their own institutional histories to articulate a new identity through their stored collections?

Research with the Victoria and Albert Museum Group

This research studentship is one allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum Group by the AHRC. The successful student will be expected to spend time carrying out research and gaining relevant experience with the partner at V&A East Storehouse, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, as part of the studentship with the potential to carry out short periods of research with other relevant organisations in the UK/overseas (to be identified).

The successful candidate will be encouraged to participate in professional development events and activities organised for all Collaborative Doctoral Partnership students who are registered with different universities and studying with cultural and heritage organisations across the UK. These activities are organised by a coordination team based at the V&A and are designed to provide CDP researchers with the knowledge, networks and skills to thrive in their future careers. There is also the opportunity to complete an (up to) 6-month professional development placement as part of the studentship. 

Award value

CDP doctoral training grants fund full-time studentships for 48 months (4 years) or part-time equivalent.

Stipend: The award pays an annual stipend for all students, both home and international students. This stipend is tax free, and is the equivalent of an annual salary, enabling the student to pay living costs. The UKRI Minimum Doctoral Stipend for 2024/2025 is £20,780.

Tuition fees: The award pays tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home fee. Research Councils UK Indicative Fee Level for 2024/2025 is £5,006. Students with an ‘overseas’ fee status are welcome to apply and will be required to reside in the UK until completion of the PhD. KCL will make up the difference in fees for an international student.

Other: The successful candidate is eligible to receive an additional travel, and related expenses grant during the course of the project courtesy of the V&A of £1250 over the duration of the 4 years project (pro-rated for part time).

There is also a CDP maintenance payment of £600 per year.

Further details can be found on the UKRI website.

Eligibility criteria

• This studentship is open to both Home and International applicants.
• To be classed as a home student, candidates must meet the following criteria:
  • Be a UK or Irish National (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have settled status, or
  • Have pre-settled status (meeting residency requirements), or
  • Have indefinite leave to remain or enter

• Further guidance can be found here based on revisions to Training Grant Terms and Conditions for projects starting in October 2025 - Policy statement: review of the training grant conditions – UKRI.
• International students are eligible to receive the full award for maintenance as are home students.
• We want to encourage the widest range of potential students to study for a CDP studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from people of Global Majority backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented at this level in this area.
• Students should have a master’s degree in a relevant subject (for example but not limited to: Museum, Heritage or Art Gallery Studies, Heritage Management, Arts Management, Anthropology) or can demonstrate relevant equivalent experience. By this we mean you have practical, professional experience in a role relevant to this subject where you have demonstrated independent research, critical thinking and contributed to your professional field, for example by producing research or policy papers, talks, public facing outputs and/or working group participation. All applicants will need to have an undergraduate degree to apply.
• Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the museum sector, and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas.
• As a collaborative award, students will be expected to spend time at both King’s College London (Strand Campus) and, as the research progresses, at the V&A East Storehouse.

NB: All applicants must meet UKRI terms and conditions for funding. See: https://www.ukri.org/funding/information-for-award-holders/grant-terms-and-conditions/

Application process

Applicants should apply via the King's Apply portal.

Select either Culture, Media and Creative Industries MPhil/PhD (Full-time) or (Part time) and complete the online application form.

On the form, please clearly mark your application “CMCI V&A Collaborative Doctoral Partnership project” at the top of the Research Proposal box and enter “CMCIV&ACDP25” in the funding section of your application.

Applicants will be required to give the details of one referee who is able to provide a relevant reference to support their application. Once the application is submitted, the referee will be contacted by the KCL Admissions Team and will have 7 days to complete their reference. If your reference is not submitted within this time, this may impact your eligibility for consideration.

Applicants are not required to include a full research proposal, but should upload as part of their application, a Personal Statement in the form of a Word document of up to 800 words (maximum) containing the following information:

• A statement explaining how their background and experiences makes them a suitable candidate for this project.
• Their reasons for applying.
• Which aspects of the project particularly drew their interest and how they might explore these through the studentship.

Please ensure all necessary application documents, including documents for all qualifications at Bachelors level and above, are attached at the point of application. If your application is reviewed and found to be incomplete, this may impact your eligibility for consideration.

Shortlisted applicants will be notified by email of the arrangements for the online interviews. All applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application via the KCL Apply portal.

Application Timeline

• Online Q&A session 15^th April 2025 13.30-14.30 (UK time). To register, see details below.
• Application closing date – 20^th May (by 11.59am UK time)
• Reference deadline – 27^th May. Following the application deadline, it is a requirement that references are provided within 7 days. Please contact your referee to request they submit their reference within this time frame. Applications that are not complete 7 days after the deadline may not be considered.
• Interviews – 2^nd July (online)

Reasonable adjustments and support for applicants

For informal enquiries or to discuss reasonable adjustments, please contact Dr Anna Woodham (anna.woodham@kcl.ac.uk) or Dr Georgia Haseldine (g.haseldine@vam.ac.uk).

Support or adjustments may include (but are not limited to):

• Opportunity to ask questions about the project and the application process via an online Q&A session on Tuesday 15th April at 13.30-14.30 (UK time). Click here to register. If you would like to submit your questions in advance, please send them to anna.woodham@kcl.ac.uk by Monday 14th April.
• Opportunity to speak with contacts within King’s College London and/or V&A (e.g. Neurodiversity, Racial Diversity and LGBTIAQ+ networks, mental health support, support for carers, and more).
• Access to interview questions and insight into the interview process.
• All interviews will be held online, however there is the opportunity to visit KCL’s Strand Campus. To book a virtual or in person campus tour of KCL (Strand campus) please click here (note the tours are open to all prospective KCL students).
• Opportunity to speak with active CDP students to ask questions regarding student experience as part of the CDP scheme.

We also ask all applicants to complete a voluntary EDI monitoring form here. All responses are anonymous.

Contact Details

For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Anna Woodham (anna.woodham@kcl.ac.uk), Senior Lecturer Museum & Heritage Studies, Culture, Media and Creative Industries (CMCI) or at V&A Dr Georgia Haseldine (g.haseldine@vam.ac.uk).