Tate hosts a growing number of doctoral students engaged in research at Tate. Students work at Tate in a variety of ways, gaining professional experience and contributing their ideas and knowledge to Tate’s programmes and projects.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Tate Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme offers fully funded studentships for study towards a Doctoral degree. Successful candidates are jointly supervised by subject specialists at both their Higher Education Institute (HEI) and at one of the 25 museums, libraries, archives or heritage organisations that make up the CDP Consortium.

Tate has up to three AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentships to allocate over 2024/25. We are currently inviting university academics (if relevant, in collaboration with named doctoral candidates) to co-develop a collaborative doctoral research project with Tate colleagues in response to the themes below.

Submit a collaboration request to us

University academics (working within a UK university) should send their academic profile and their area of collaborative interest in relation to the proposed project theme to studentships@tate.org.uk. Emails should include the following in the subject line: ‘Collaboration request: [insert doctoral theme]’. Prospective doctoral candidates should seek support from a university academic prior to submitting a collaboration request.

If the collaboration request is deemed feasible and mutually beneficial, conversations will be taken forward and a full proposal co-developed. Please note that not all collaboration requests will be taken forward.

  • The deadline for submitting a collaboration request in response to a theme is Monday 4th November
  • The deadline for submitting a full collaborative proposal is Monday 25th November

The cinematic and the performative in Edvard Munch’s practice (Dr Natalia Sidlina, Curator, International Art, Tate Modern)

Tate Modern is planning an ambitious exhibition of works by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, which will examine the artist’s interest in the cinematic and the performative. We will consider Munch’s use of theatre, staged settings, cinematographic compositions and image sequences as a narrative means of engaging with the wider public. This project would present an opportunity for a cross-disciplinary research proposal bridging art-historical modernity and contemporary performativity. We welcome research ideas that scrutinise existing theoretical models and offer new approaches to understanding creative outputs in the cinematic and theatrical.

Art from the North, 1979–90 (Dr Leanne Green, Head of Exhibitions and Displays, Tate Liverpool)

What were the key artistic developments in Northern England in the 1980s and how do they relate to the social, economic and political conditions of the period? 

To what extent did the opening of Tate Liverpool in 1988 contribute to artistic and economic regeneration in the region? 

This PhD studentship will critically examine artistic developments in Northern England in the 1980s. The 1980s represented a pivotal era in the North, characterised by profound political, social and economic transformations. Against this backdrop, art flourished in diverse ways through practices grounded in feminism, post-colonialism and socialism. This studentship is an opportunity to consider the contexts in which art outside London was produced. This will examine the ideological and aesthetic discourses that emerged, and the themes, material approaches and practices that were cultivated during this period. In doing so, it will contribute to art historical research that is non-hierarchical and decentralised from the capital. Crucially, the research is not intended to be parochial – Northern England has strong, complex historic international ties through migration and trading, as such it should take a trans-national methodological approach that is rooted in the local.

Portraits of Indian sitters by Indian and British artists between c.1757–1857 (Alice Insley, Curator, British Art c.1730–1850, Tate Britain)

We would like to explore the role of portraiture in the context of British East India Company rule in the subcontinent. A particular area of interest is portraits of Indian sitters, by both Indian artists and British artists working in India, and created for both Indian and British patrons, from 1757 to 1857. This might include looking at the circulation, reproduction and reception of these portraits, what they express about the sitter and/or the patron, their relationship to both Indian and European artistic traditions, and/or how such images speak to the shifting relationship between India and Britain during these years.

Turner Prize Touring: Impact, Influence and Legacy (Heather Sturdy, Head of National Partnerships, Tate)

Every other year since 2011 the Turner Prize has been hosted by a venue outside of London, in partnership with Tate. This research project will explore the impact, influence and legacy of these partnerships, including the economical, political and cultural implications for the host venue and city. It will consider mapping the relevant connections and relationships across the United Kingdom. It will also explore how the identity of each venue and their audiences for contemporary visual art have evolved since hosting the prize. This research project could grow or be influenced by cultural policy, cultural value, place-based analyses or sociological approaches.

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Current Opportunities

Current studentships

Past Studentships

See a list of projects by past collaborative doctoral students at Tate, ordered chronologically by year of commencement.

Further information about Collaborative Doctoral Partnership studentships is available on the Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships website.

To discuss possible research collaborations or projects with Tate, please email studentships@tate.org.uk.

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