PhD Studentship: Western Classical Music in Global History: Performance and Musical Trade in the Caribbean in the Long Nineteenth Century

We are inviting applications for a fully funded PhD place, which will be supervised by Dr Joanne Cormac of the University of Nottingham's Music Department, for three years, starting on 1 October 2025, or as soon as possible thereafter. 

The PhD project will explore the performance and reception of Western Classical music in Jamaica and/or Barbados in the long nineteenth century. British colonisers imported Western Classical music to the Caribbean, while enslaved musicians often performed for the entertainment of their enslavers. This PhD project asks how public and private music-making, compositional practice, and conceptions of Western Classical music in the Caribbean were shaped by economic and cultural imperialism, by colonial structures of power and knowledge, exploitative practices, and trade within the British Empire. The PhD will draw on recently digitised colonial newspapers, diaries, and colonial papers to generate substantial new knowledge of the contributions of enslaved and colonised people to the development of Western Classical music. This will involve establishing details of the music performed and for what purpose, who had access to what kinds of music, and the relationship between musical instruments and sheet music to broader patterns of colonial trade. The PhD project challenges insular, Eurocentric narratives of its history and asks how the development of Western Classical Music is shaped by broader global histories of imperialism, colonialism, and enslavement.

The successful candidate will join Dr Joanne Cormac’s broader project: The Cultural Legacies of the British Empire: Classical Music’s Colonial History (1750-1900). The candidate will benefit from working as part of a lively interdisciplinary team, but the PhD studentship will also be a discrete project that the candidate will be able to shape themselves with support from Dr Cormac. Being part of the team will offer exciting opportunities for the student to contribute to the project’s work with the heritage sector and education, especially its work with project partners, including the Legacy Makers community group, the Royal College of Music Museum, English Heritage, and the British Library.

The award is for full-time study for three years. It will cover University of Nottingham home or international fees for three years plus an incremental stipend for each of the three years starting at £20,780 in Year 1. Travel expenses for project specific activity are available up to £9,000 across the three years.

Applicants should have a first degree and an MA in a relevant discipline, such as Music or History, as well as a good understanding of Caribbean history. We encourage the widest range of potential students to study for the studentship and are committed to welcoming students from different backgrounds to apply. We particularly welcome applications from people of Global Majority backgrounds as they are currently underrepresented at this level. Informal inquiries can be sent to joanne.cormac@nottingham.ac.uk.

Funding applications (consisting of a covering letter, research proposal, and CV) should be submitted by email to Joanne Cormac joanne.cormac@nottingham.ac.uk by 5 pm on 27th May 2025. The covering letter (no more than 1 side of A4) should outline the applicant’s motivation and relevant experience. Please also include the name of two referees. The project proposal should be 1,000-3,000 words. The description above outlines the project’s research questions and context, while leaving much scope for the student to focus on particular themes and issues. The proposal should include details of how the candidate proposes to shape the project, including the research questions, issues, location(s), timeframe (within the long nineteenth-century) they intend to focus on, and the methodologies they propose to adopt. For further information on how to write a research proposal please see: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/how-to-apply/research-proposal.aspx

Interviews of shortlisted candidates will be conducted online in mid-June 2025.

Applicants for funding are also required to have applied for the PhD in Music full-time study for three years starting on 1st October 2025, by the funding application deadline of 27th May 2025 at 5.00pm. Applicants WILL NOT be able to take up their funded place if they haven’t also applied for a place on the PhD Music course. Please follow the link below to apply:

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pgstudy/how-to-apply/apply-online.aspx    

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