Nineteenth-Century Matters Fellowship 2026-27

Nineteenth-Century Matters 2026

Liverpool John Moores University

Outline

Nineteenth-Century Matters is an initiative jointly run by the British Association for Romantic Studies and the British Association for Victorian Studies. Now in its tenth year, it is aimed at postdoctoral researchers who have completed their PhD, but who are not currently employed in a full-time academic post. Nineteenth-Century Matters offers unaffiliated early career researchers a platform from which to pursue their research, while also organising an academic event on a theme related to nineteenth-century studies or a workshop focused on an aspect of professionalisation. The focus of their proposed research should be on the nineteenth century, rather than on Romanticism or Victorianism specifically. There is no requirement for this research to relate directly to Liverpool John Moores University’s (LJMU) institutional specialisms, but areas of interest across the long nineteenth century, might include: periodicals and print culture; the familiar essay and its writers; publications such as Punch magazine, its artists, contributors and illustrators, or The Strand; home and domestic cultures; literatures of migration and mobility; travel writing; nineteenth-century life-writing; nineteenth-century naturalism and ecocriticism; literature and medicine or psychology; afterlives and Neo-Victorianism.

For the coming year, the Nineteenth-Century Matters Fellowship will provide the successful applicant with affiliation at LJMU located in the Centre for Modern and Contemporary History and the Research Institute for Literature and Cultural History. The fellowship will run from October 2026 to September 2027. In addition to intellectual exchange and collaboration, the successful fellow will benefit from:

• Access to LJMU’s library resources, both physical and digital, for the duration of the fellowship. These include the university’s Special Collections and Archives (https://www.ljmu.ac.uk/library/special-collections-and-archives), which present many possible avenues for research in nineteenth-century studies. This includes an extensive variety of printed books, periodicals, pamphlets and ephemera. Particular collections that might be of relevance include the Punch and the Nineteenth Century Periodical Press collection; the Liddell Hart Collection of  Costume; Femorabilia, comics and magazines for girls and women from 1850; Co-operative News and Other Co-op Papers 1871 – 1994; Liverpool Nautical College, 1877 – 1975; Liverpool School of Art, 1837 – 2003; Marie Correlli, The Maureen Bell Collection.
• Access to collaborative research groups, as relevant, including: Home and Domestic Cultures, which brings together staff and students with interests ranging across the long nineteenth century in all things hearth and home; These and other groups at LJMU run a programme of research events that would offer the fellow opportunities for research dissemination, networking and professional development.
• Mentorship from Dr Clare Horrocks, Senior Lecturer in Cultural History, and Dr James Whitehead, Programme Leader for English Literature, who will offer advice on research, professional development and public engagement, and cover earlier and later nineteenth-century aspects of the project work respectively.
• Free registration to the BAVS 2027 conference and the BARS PGR & ECR 2027 conference.
• Access to room bookings to host in-person events.

There is no requirement for the Fellow to live in or near Liverpool during the fellowship and permanent accommodation will not be provided as part of the fellowship. The primary purpose of the fellowship is to enable the successful applicant to continue with an affiliation and remain part of the academic community. It is a non-stipendiary post, and the fellow will need to support themselves financially. The value of the fellowship is £1,500. These funds are intended to support the fellow’s research project as they deem appropriate (paying for travel to archives, accommodation, and other research-related costs) and to cover the organisation of a research or professionalisation event related to their own research and/or development interests. It is also expected that the fellow will acknowledge BARS, BAVS, and Liverpool John Moores University in any publications that arise from their position.

Application Process

Applicants should submit a CV with a proposal of their research topic and event (maximum of two pages), explaining how and why they would benefit from the fellowship. Applicants can propose research on any aspect of the nineteenth century, and we are keen to encourage interdisciplinary proposals which might include, but are not limited to: literature, history, geography, and library and information studies. Applications should be sent to Sarah Parker (s.l.parker@lboro.ac.uk), Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman (cleo.o.callaghan.yeoman@stir.ac.uk) and Clare Horrocks (C.L.Horrocks@ljmu.ac.uk).  The deadline for applications is Monday 11^th May 2026 (by midnight, BST).