One Project Studentship will be offered for 26/27 entitled:
Blueprint for the Screen Industries: Where are creative workers living, working and playing in the UK today?
Media City Salford, Digbeth Loc. Birmingham, Kings Cross, London and more recently the United Nations Accelerator City (Liverpool) are seen as successful examples of investment and development in creative and screen industries inside and adjacent to major cities. Such initiatives are enacted with the promise to transform urban and former industrialised areas into places for media, technology and culture. What kinds of conditions, regional and national policy contexts and stakeholder partnerships are required to allow them to succeed? For the UK film, television, gaming and immersive media sectors, how have these initiatives affected where creative workers live, work, and thrive? What are the push and pull factors affecting such regional creative clusters and their relation to both national and global media production systems, and the towns and regions adjacent to them? What kinds of regional creative ecosystems do such initiatives build and impact on and how can they be made sustainable? What kinds of evidence, and what kinds of research might underpin resilient these creative economies, particularly in the context of growing automation and Artificial Intelligence?
This project proposal has been co-designed with the BBC, who sits on the Creative Bridges Advisory Board and who invites the successful PhD candidate to undertake a sustained period of research on these key issues for the growth, development and sustainability of the screen industry in the UK. Research that focusses in on the conditions through which regional clusters emerge, and the experiences of the creative workers within them helps the industry partner better understand their role as a stakeholder. The project will enhance understanding of national, regional and demographic workforce mobility and diversity. Critically, it is research that will provide reliable evidence to contribute to policy discussion on sustainable and equitable regional and national creative economies in the UK screen industries.
The project will be based at the University of Leeds and co-supervised at the University of Warwick. You will have access to the BBC partner as an advisor to the project and both universities’ PhD training, development, and support. The PhD could be a traditional format or Practice-as-Research. The latter could take various forms of applied research such as (but not limited to) a critical video essay; a moving image and/or audio documentary or experimental film; curated screenings; an exhibition of creative works or artefacts; a digital installation alongside a written element.
The PhD could be Research-led or Practice-as-Research. If Practice as Research this could take various forms of applied research but not limited to: a critical video essay; a moving image and/or audio documentary or experimental film; curated screenings; an exhibition of creative works or artefacts; a digital installation. The balance between written and practical elements in this PhD will depend on the form that the applied practice takes.
Information about the Award
A maintenance grant (£20,780 in Session 2026/27 for full-time study, part-time will be pro-rata at 50%). This amount increases in line with the Research Council rate.
The award will be provided for 3.5 years, for full time study and pro rata for part time study. The award will be made for one year in the first instance and renewable subject to satisfactory academic progress.
You can apply for both a Project Studentship and a Themed Studentship in the same round, but they should be two distinct applications.
Conditions of the Award
The following conditions must be adhered to:
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Applicants must not have already been awarded or be currently studying for a doctoral degree.
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Awards must be taken up by 1st October 2026
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All students are expected to take part in our training programme which consists of an annual summer school at Leeds and an annual winter school at Warwick.
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Applicants must live within a reasonable distance of the University of Leeds whilst in receipt of this studentship.
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Please be aware that any expenses related to the relocation of international students to the UK (visa, insurance, NHS fees, flights etc) would be their responsibility and is not covered by this award.
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You can apply for both a Project Studentship and a Themed Studentship in the same round, but they should be two distinct applications.