The placement with Franklin Furnace […] was a truly incredible experience. Because of my long-standing relationship with Franklin Furnace, I was trusted to work very independently, and was fully supported in my ideas.

Through the placement I have been able develop new interests and skills, as well as putting them into conversation with my research in a sector where there are lots of new exciting projects and important conversations taking place.

This internship was a brilliant insight into the value of public history within the media industry, really showing me the worth of shaping historical research into a format which is accessible, entertaining and thought-provoking for as wide an audience as possible.

The placement gave me a sense of the scale of the National Trust, and the myriad forms of archival and curatorial practices within it. Working collaboratively with PhD researchers from other disciplines was eye-opening, resulting in a team that encompassed a wide variety of skills, specialisms and research interests.

I feel privileged to have learned from her expertise, especially in learning to differentiate different types of materials from the Pacific. I also had the opportunity to join in several research and community visits.

On top of bringing me incredible professional experience and certainty about wanting to have a career as a museum professional whether it will be in a museum, an art gallery or a private cultural foundation, this placement was also a tremendous opportunity for me to reflect on my PhD journey and start anew when going back to my research.

I would whole-heartedly recommend any CHASE-researchers to consider a placement as a research assistant to a scholar you admire. I now feel much more prepared to complete my own journal articles going forward.

This blog post is my effort to pay forward the help I received from others by sharing some things I learnt during my time as a doctoral researcher.

The journal is well known as a leader in open access scholarship as well as for its exciting, interdisciplinary outlook.

I started my placement as the Research Networks Officer in June 2022 … One of the best parts about this placement was being able to work on the CHASE team, and to take part in the conversations surrounding humanities research. It provided me with hands-on experience of working on the admin side of academia, in the crucial work that goes into supporting groundbreaking research. It was also wonderful to meet with so many researchers in networks across the consortium, many of whom I’ve established professional connections with and with whom I hope to collaborate with in future instances.

By Saskia Barnard, CHASE funded doctoral researcher at Birkbeck, University of London

After an afternoon spent among Mirrlees’s papers (think vintage photographs, intimate letters, near-illegible handwriting), I began to draft a proposal for a CHASE placement. I didn’t have much of a plan beyond the desire to spend more time in the archive

Breakthroughs are often framed as unquestionably good. But what if the pursuit of breakthroughs for their own sake was bringing us towards a breaking point? This was the question we wanted to explore when we organised our Being Human Café on the Culture of Optimisation, as a part of Being Human Festival.

By Sarah Gray

This is a brief reflection of an encounter with government censorship and the direct application of research ethics that it necessitated. The encounter was unexpected and took me off guard. It went something like this: “Maybe skip that?” the delegate sheepishly suggested when confronted with a reference to the Chagos Archipelago in…

Blogpost by Lesley Carvello, CHASE funded doctoral researcher at University of Sussex.

The funded CHASE placement was a chance for me to gain professional experience that I would not have been able to get otherwise. As someone who had never worked in the arts sector before, it would have taken many unpaid internships to build up this level of experience

As a part-time placement, the editorial assistant role gave me the opportunity to improve my ability to multitask, as well as a break away from the time typically spent researching and writing for my PhD.

Erum is finishing up their year-long CHASE placement with Wasafiri, and writes about their experiences so far.

Amidst the flurry of their launch title hitting bookshelves this April, Weatherglass Books co-founder, Damian Lanigan, took the time to answer some questions about the origins of this unique publishing project and what the future holds for Weatherglass readers.

Now at the end of the placement, I can see that I have learned many things that will help me most-PhD: online curation, remote team working, leading zoom workshops and all that, as well as a sense of perspective.

By Sarah Middle and Jack Talor (OU, CHASE funded doctoral reseachers)

For the first time, the semi-annual conference for CHASE-funded students, Encounters, became a virtual event.