School of Arts

3 years full-time fees will be paid by the University.

 Bursary: £7,000 pa (with no inflation increase).

 Deadline: The closing date for applications is 22 December 2015.

 Interview date: Interviews will be held in week beginning 4 January 2016.

 Start date:  April 2016

 Eligibility: Home/EU

To mark its 150th Anniversary, Oxford Brookes University is pleased to offer this 3 year full-time PhD Studentship in the opera research unit OBERTO within the School of Arts, starting in April 2016.

The successful applicant will receive an annual bursary of £7,000 for three years (with no inflation increase), and fees will be paid by the University. The candidate will need to demonstrate that they have sufficient additional means to complete the programme successfully in full-time study.

Topic of research: Opera and Politics

Opera and politics have been intimately connected since the birth of the art-form. Political agendas may be present in the way in which operas are conceived, staged and received, whilst opera’s place in society is invariably political, as demonstrated by omnipresent debates about the funding of opera and about accessibility. The field of opera and politics is a growing one but countless topics in this area, both historical and contemporary, remain to be explored.

This project will allow the recipient of the doctoral award to investigate the issue from one of many potential angles, including (but not restricted to):

Politics as represented on the operatic stage

• The politicised reception of opera
• Opera and society: gender, race, national identity and class
• The politics of opera staging
• The contemporary politics of opera: new audiences; stereotypes; funding
• Opera and politics on film

The recipient of this doctoral award will be supervised by Dr Alexandra Wilson (Reader in Music), whose work in this area includes: the politicised reception of Puccini’s operas; operatic politics in early twentieth-century Italy and Britain; opera onstage and in film; and contemporary debates about cultural categorisation, accessibility and opera stereotypes.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to alexandra.wilson@brookes.ac.uk and further information about Dr Wilson’s research interests can be found at: http://arts.brookes.ac.uk/staff/alexandrawilson.html

The recipient of this award would be expected to contribute proactively to the activities of the OBERTO opera research unit. Further information about OBERTO can be found athttps://obertobrookes.com/

If you would like to apply you should request an application pack fromtdestudentships@brookes.ac.uk, quoting ‘Opera and Politics’ in the subject line. Fully completed applications must be sent to the same email address by 22 December 2015.

Please be advised that the selection process may involve an interview in the week commencing January 4 2016, and the successful candidate would be expected to commence the research degree programme in April 2016.