The University of Westminster and the Imperial War Museums (IWM) 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:
'Convinced Ambassadors of Empire?': exploring the visual record of Black Caribbean men and women serving in the UK during the Second World War.
This PhD will be the first to focus on the records in photographs and film held by Imperial War Museums of Black volunteers from the Caribbean in the UK during the Second World War. This material was commissioned largely (though not exclusively) by government departments, including the Colonial Office, the Ministry of Labour and Ministry of Supply, or by branches of the armed forces. It formed part of a wider propaganda campaign that showed Britain’s empire pulling together in a joint struggle, overlooking differences of race and ethnicity. Our understanding of this material is, however, very limited. There is clearly much to uncover and more nuanced stories to tell.
This project will be jointly supervised: At the University of Westminster by Dr Sara Dominici (Senior Lecturer in Photographic History and Visual Culture), Dr Ludivine Broch (Senior Lecturer in History), and Professor Pippa Catterall (Professor of History and Policy). At IWM by James Taylor (Principal Curator, Public History).
The student will be expected to spend time at both the University of Westminster and Imperial War Museums, as well as become part of the wider cohort of CDP funded students across the UK. The research will be primarily focused at IWM London.
The deadline for applications is Friday 23rd May 2025
Interviews will be held online on Wednesday 25th June 2025
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