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This is a PhD in collaboration with the NLS, and is jointly funded by the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH), ÐßÐßÊÓƵ (QMU) and The University of Edinburgh (UoE). The project supervisors are Dr Chris Cassells (NLS), Dr Robert Munro (QMU) and Prof. Jonathan Murray (UoE).

Co-supervised from QMU and UoE, the PhD student will work in partnership with NLS to explore how EIFF has shaped, and been shaped by, Scottish, British and global film cultures and film festival landscapes since 1947. Focusing on NLS’s EIFF holdings, the student will investigate three central questions/problems: (1) festival networks — EIFF’s local and trans/national relationships with funders, distributors, critics, programmers, filmmakers and other festivals; (2) curatorial logics — successive artistic directorships’ serial (re)articulations of EIFF’s identity and mission; (3) archival gaps — quantifying and responding to absences within the NLS archive and how these shape understandings of the Festival.

Throughout the project the student will have regular onsite work placements with NLS in Edinburgh and will gain appropriate training through the supervision of curatorial staff in addition to the support provided by two academic co-supervisors. The student will also be part of the postgraduate training network organised by SGSAH and will take part in the annual SGSAH Summer School and other events.

The successful candidate will have a 1st/ 2.1 Honours Undergraduate degree, and/or a Master’s degree in a relevant discipline (e.g., Film, Media or Culture Studies, Festive Studies, Creative and Cultural Industries, Library & Information Studies, Archives and Records Management) and/or equivalent research experience.

Desirable applicant prior knowledge and skills:

• Applied, historical and theoretical forms of curiosity about film culture, specifically, how films are curated, exhibited and programmed within festival contexts, and an interest in historical processes of film festival documentation and cataloguing.
• Strategic ability to identify and build relevant working relationships, effective communication with relevant project partners and audiences, and effective liaison with key stakeholders.
• Evidence of existing relevant skills and experience in qualitative and/or quantitative research and a willingness to learn and apply skills from both approaches.
• Dynamism and enthusiasm to drive ideas forward, set goals and work to deadlines.

Your application for this funded studentship should detail relevant interdisciplinary literature you might draw upon if recruited, as well as outlining your proposed research design for pursuing and achieving the project research aims outlined above.

Application deadline: 6 May 2026

Expected interview date: 12 May 2026

PhD start date: 21 September 2026

Applicants should meet the standard entry criteria for the QMU PhD Programme as follows:

• A degree in an appropriate subject, or have a qualification or experience accepted as equivalent.
• A Bachelor’s degree with an excellent or very good classification (i.e., first or upper second-class honours in the UK or international equivalent) or a good Master’s degree.
• International applicants for whom English is a second language must also evidence competence in written and spoken English by submitting a valid IELTS certificate (valid for 2 years from date of test) with an average score of 6.5 (with no element scoring below 6.0); or evidence of successful completion of a Master’s degree in the UK; or evidence of successful completion of a non-UK Master’s degree taught and assessed in English.

An overview of the QMU PhD course is provided via the PhD course page, which also contains guidance on applying for the PhD .

Applicants can apply for this funded studentship through QMU’s Admissions portal (Accessed via the 'Apply Now' button at the bottom of this section). Applicants should select ‘Graduate School’ through the course search, and then select "PhD Centre for Applied Social Sciences (ARCS Funded)"

The application process includes completion of an application form and submission of supporting documentation, including the short research proposal.

The online application form allows you to save your progress, and you will be able to complete your PhD application in multiple stages, if required.

Following submission of your completed application, you will receive a QMU applicant ID number. Please quote this in any correspondence you have with QMU.

Please pay close attention to the spelling of your email address within the online form, as this is how we will contact you about your application.

Please ensure you select the appropriate course to indicate you are applying for the studentship.

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As part of your application, you will need to write a personal statement that sets out your experience, suitability for doctoral study, and motivation for applying to study on the QMU PhD programme.

As part of your application, you will need to provide:

• your PhD research proposal;
• copies of your degree certificate(s) and transcript(s);
• confirmation of your English language ability (if required); and
• copies of two letters of reference (including at least one academic reference).

You will be able to upload these supporting documents as part of the application process. This is an important part of the admissions process: without seeing supporting documents tutors will not have enough information to make a decision on your application.

Research Proposal

All applicants to the QMU PhD programme must provide a proposal for research that has academic merit and is capable of generating new knowledge. We will use your research proposal to check how well you understand the research process.

Your PhD research proposal should:

• be around 1000 words long;
• summarise what the research is about;
• summarise your academic (and, where relevant, professional) background and the skills you will bring to the project;
• set out why the research is important, making reference to current literature;
• identify provisional research questions; and
• suggest how the research questions can be investigated.

Please note that the research proposal must be written in your own words and should NOT include text that has been copied from books or articles. This is considered plagiarism and will lead to the automatic rejection of your application. In some cases, academic reviewers may submit research proposals to Turnitin in order to verify the legitimacy of the proposed research.

Evidencing English Language Ability

If English is not your first language, you will need to provide an IELTS certificate or have completed a degree which was delivered and assessed in English.

Only valid IELTS certificates are accepted as evidence of English language capability. You need a score of 6.5 (with no less than 6.0 in each element). IELTS certificates are valid for two years after the test date.

If you completed a degree, at a non-UK institution, that was delivered and assessed in English, then you will need to provide a formal letter from the institution, on headed paper, stating that your degree was delivered and assessed in English.

If your documents are in any language other than English then they will need to be accompanied by a formal certified translation into English, by either the awarding institution or a sworn translator.

Qualifications

Please upload copies of your degree certificates and transcripts for any undergraduate or Masters degrees that you have completed or are about to complete.

Two references (at least one of which is an academic one) are required.

Referees must provide your reference in the form of a formal letter on headed paper. Please note that we may contact your referee to verify the reference letter prior to it being accepted.

Referee contact details should include a professional email account. Please do not provide personal email addresses for referees (such as Gmail, Hotmail or Yahoo), as these will not be accepted.

The deadline for applying to this funded position is 6 May 2026.

Interviews will be held on the 12 May 2026 (please note this date and ensure you will be available to attend an online interview on this date)