Doctoral study at SMG | Science Museum Group

The Science Museum Group hosts a large number of doctoral students engaged in research. Our students work in a variety of ways to develop knowledge, gain professional experience and contribute to a range of programmes and projects.

We coordinate the Science Museums and Archives Consortium (SMAC), consisting of the UK’s leading cultural institutions for the historical study of science: the Science Museum Group; the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers); the Royal Society; the BT Group Archives; and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

The consortium offers AHRC-funded collaborative doctoral partnership studentships with its members, in collaboration with universities. For more information about the Science Museums and Archives Consortium, including advice for prospective supervisors and students, see our SMAC page.

We also jointly supervise students through other routes, such as AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Awards funded via Doctoral Training Partnerships. We welcome enquiries about partnering on new Collaborative Doctoral Award applications.

Doctoral students at SMG

Students working with the Science Museum Group make an important contribution to the intellectual life and working practices of our museums. Research produced by students influences our museums’ displays, contributes to collections information and care, and helps us communicate with the public. Alongside their academic activities, students have taken part in public engagement activities and published in our open access SMG Journal.

You can see completed doctoral theses resulting from collaborative doctoral awards hosted by the Science Museum Group on our SMG Research Repository. Following completion of their doctorate, students have gone on to varied roles in universities and a wide range of heritage organisations, including our own museums.

If you are a student interested in pursuing doctoral study with the Science Museum Group, please get in touch with Laura Blair, Research Manager (Postgraduate and Skills) at laura.blair@sciencemuseum.ac.uk.

A list of current doctoral students can be found below:

Surya Bowyer—Collecting the boundaries of art in the Science Museum Group (Birkbeck, University of London)
Mary Clayton Kastenholz—The Department of Science and Art Revisited: The South Kensington Museum (1830-1909) (Victoria and Albert Museum, Warburg Institute)
Anna Clock—Listening in from the Museum (Royal Holloway, University of London)
Rosanna Evans—Instrumental learning? Object lessons in recapturing past science teaching (University of Leeds)
Dorothea Fox—Curating Climate Change: Collecting and Displaying Ecological Crisis in UK Museums (University of East Anglia)
Elena Ktori—Oram and the Deconstruction of Sound: The Philosophy and Aesthetics of British Post-War Electronic Music (University College London)
Katherine McNab—he Organic Movement & the Public Culture of Science, 1985-2025 (University of Nottingham)
Alice Naylor—Eye appeal is buy appeal’: The design, mediation and consumption of Kenwood’s kitchen appliances, 1947-2020 (University of Portsmouth)
Charlotte Pacey—Student Loneliness During and After the Pandemic: Curating Experiences and Breaking Silences (University of Sheffield)
Anaïs Walsdorf—Metallic Empire: Science, Energy, and Industrial Imperialism in the John Percy Collection, 1817–89 (University of Warwick)

Elizabeth Adams—Literary Cultures, Social Networks and the Railway Worker, 1840-1920 (University of Strathclyde)
Thomas Chambers—Photography by Train: New Leisure Experiences of Heritage in Britain, 1880s-1930s (University of Westminster)
Will Law— Decolonizing the Master’s Gift: British Rail, decolonisation, and the International Market 1948-1991 (University of Southampton)
Leena Lindell—Between Worlds: Kenneth Cantlie and locomotive engineering in Africa, the Americas and Asia (University of York)
Wendy O’Neill—Language stories from Seaton Branch Line: Sharing the Hidden Voices of Social and Cultural Change (University of Liverpool)
William Ramsden—Give him sympathy and a helping hand': Understanding the impact of occupational accidents and disability on English and Welsh railway staff and their families, 1897-1939 (University of Portsmouth)
Peter Randall—The “Wandering Tribes”: recovering the lost lives and landscapes of the railway navvies (University of York)
Chloe Shields—Eating On the Go: Cultures of Consumption and the Railway in Britain, 1840-1940 (University of Strathclyde)

Alexander Appleton—‘Manchester Goods’: Trading a global commodity (University of East Anglia)
Rebecca Derine—Where are the Women of Colour? Addressing Gaps and Silences in Science and Industry Museum Collections (University of Leeds)
Bethany Turner-Pemberton—Technically Fabric: Innovation in Textile Practice and Design in 20th-21st century Manchester (School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University)

Doctoral students at SMG

Current doctoral students

Science Museum

National Railway Museum

National Science and Media Museum

Science and Industry Museum

Locomotion

National Collections Centre

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