Mapping and Interpreting 90 years of Illustrating and Writing Childhood in the Collection of Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books

Northumbria University and Seven Stories: The National Centre for Children's Books
This project will focus on changing historical cultural constructions of childhood in books for children, creative responses to these constructions, and contemporary children's understanding of them. The context is a major, unique primary resource incorporating material from c.1930 to date, including original artwork and writing by key adult creators such as Edward Ardizzone and Judith Kerr. It will map and respond to key changes in the illustration and writing of childhood in children's books through cultural analysis and creative practice, exploring changing materials, techniques and technologies, and the interaction and collaboration between those involved in the production process.‌

In a change to previous years, all forms are now in PDF format. We have adapted these to allow space for the permitted word counts. We do please ask you to use these forms: they enable us to export the data you provide into the format needed by the NBC automatically, not manually, and avoid past issues with Mac compatibility.

Part 1 - Project Proposal Application

Please ensure that all relevant sections of this form have been completed and the form is submitted to northernbridge.admin@newcastle.ac.uk by 16:00 on Tuesday 2 November 2021. Nominations received after the deadline will not be considered under any circumstances.

Part 2 - Student Details

Please also complete and submit Part 2 with the above nomination only if a student has already been provisionally recruited to the proposed project. Otherwise, Part 2 should be completed once a student has been recruited, and submitted to northernbridge.admin@newcastle.ac.uk by Monday 14 March 2022.

The selected student should complete and attach a completed Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form with Part 2. The NBC is required to submit anonymised statistics to the AHRC on EDI characteristics for all applicants. The NBC Administrator at Newcastle will be able to identify who the Equal Opportunities Monitoring Form belongs to but all information reported to the AHRC and to the Studentships Committee will be anonymised, and the forms will not be viewed by other members of NBC staff.

Tuesday 2 November 2021
Deadline for the submission of Collaborative Doctoral Award (Project-led) applications.
Academics, NBC partners, and other non-HE organisations submit their proposals to the NBC using the Part 1 Nomination Form.

Wednesday 3 November 2021
NBC administrators at Newcastle log and prepare the assessment documentation.

Thursday 4 November 2021
All nominations and initial documentation are made available to the relevant Subject Area Leads and their panels, and to the CDA Studentship Committee members via OneDrive.

Thursday 4 November to Wednesday 24 November 2021
The assessment period.

Wednesday 24 November 2021
Deadline for the submission of all assessor's scores and comments for the CDA (Project-led) awards.

Thursday 25 November 2021
NBC Administrators at Newcastle collate and prepare a ranked list and circulate to CDA Studentship Committee members.

Monday 29 November 2021
The CDA Studentship Committee (NBC Academic Directors and CDA Champions) meet to moderate and agree the outcome of the Collaborative Doctoral Award (Project-led) competition.

Tuesday 30 November 2021
Collaborative Doctoral Award (Project-led) results announced.

NBC administrators at Newcastle will notify all applicants of the outcome of their application, copying in the administrator at the relevant NBC partner institution.

NBC Administrators at Newcastle will update the NBC website and advertise successful projects here. Any further advertising is devolved to schools and subject areas.

Supervisors and partner organisations then begin their recruitment campaigns.

Schools and departments can choose their own deadlines for the internal receipt of applications from prospective students, and any supporting documentation they require, (bearing in mind the 14 March 2021 deadline for sending final nominations to NBC), and are encouraged to use NBC marking and assessment criteria for selection, which can be found in the Competition Guidance.

Monday 14 March 2022
Deadline for the submission of Collaborative Doctoral Awards (Project-led) Nomination Forms (i.e. the successful candidates) to the NBC.
Collaborative Doctoral Awards (Project-led) are not reassessed, but will be ratified by the Studentships Committee.

FROM Monday 4 April 2022
Studentship offer letters issued to successful applicants by the relevant department in the student's home institution.

For further information about these Collaborative Doctoral Awards and to submit an expression of interest, you will be required to review the "Student Specification" on your project of interest and contact the named lead by the stated date. You may be required to submit accompanying documentation, which will be detailed in the specification.

Please note that the successful projects will be announced on Tuesday 30 November 2021, and will only be available to view from that date.

Prospective applicants to the CDA scheme are required to meet the AHRC's eligibility criteria and submit a postgraduate application form to the relevant institution as outlined in the Competition Guidance. 

Please submit any queries to your local contact at the institution you are based. We'll list FAQs here.

How are the applications assessed?

We ask applicants to state the proposal's primary subject area. Applications are assessed by the academic Subject Area Lead in each NBC partner institution, so an application in Archaeology for example would be independently assessed by the Archaeology Subject Leads at Newcastle, Durham and Queen's University Belfast. The assessment results are collated by the NBC administrator at Newcastle, then moderated by a committee comprising the Northern Bridge Academic Directors from each partner institution to ensure consistency of marking, etc. The final results are then ranked.

Are there any research priorities or steers?

No, the only stipulation is that the proposal falls within the AHRC subject area remit. We will shortly publish the studentship competition Marking and Assessment Criteria, which will guide you as to what the assessors are looking for in terms of quality.

Can the supervisory team comprise colleagues from NBC partner institutions?

Yes, cross-institutional supervision is permitted but is not a requirement and does not effect eligibility. A supervisory team based solely at the host institution will not be penalised for that reason. The composition of the proposed supervisory team must comply with the host institution’s Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research Students (or equivalent). In most cases that will usually mean the primary and secondary, or joint-primary, supervisors will be members of academic staff at the host institution. Additional supervisors may be appointed from an NBC partner institution, or any other HE or non-HE organisation if appropriate to the research proposal, and if permitted by the host institution. Please note, however, there is no financial remuneration for external supervisors and advisors via the NBC. A financial arrangement, if any, will be at discretion of the host institution, and cannot be funded by the NBC by any means.

What is the value of the award?

• Tuition fees paid at a rate equivalent to the Home UK fee. Successful international candidates should be prepared to fund the difference between the Home and International tuition fee rate by alternative means. Under no circumstances can this be funded by the NBC. An applicant’s host institution may offer an additional scholarship to the value of this difference, but this is not guaranteed. Applicants should check with their host institution for further guidance. 

• A minimum stipend per year for living costs, which is paid in regular instalments. Awards increase every year, typically with inflation. As an indicator, the level for 2021/2022 is £15,609. CDA award-holders will receive an additional £550 per annum to help fund collaboration with the non-HE partner (for travel, accommodation, etc.)

• Award-holders are eligible to apply to a fund reserved to support primary research costs to include, for example, conference attendance, fieldwork, language training, overseas research visits and placements with a non-academic partner.

• Please note award-holders will not have a personal research account on which to draw.

• The duration of the award is 3.5 years.

Are there recommended partner institutions that NBC would like the proposers to use?

No. We do have a number of strategic partners, but applicants should not feel limited to this list. Previous and current collaborations include projects with a number of diverse organisations:

Research Analysts Department, FCDO and the Rift Valley Institute; Historic Environment Scotland; National Trust; The Literary and Philosophical Society; Changing Lives (CL) Women’s Services; The YMCA Newcastle; National Library of Wales; Berlin Wall Foundation; BALTIC; National Museums, NI; Open Clasp; Northumberland Wildlife Trust; Blackfriars Restaurant; Public Record Office of Northern Ireland.