Future archives: Representing intentional communities in Wales as blueprints for cooperative, equitable and resilient cultures

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship

Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales / Cardiff Metropolitan University

A sunny garden scene with tall corn plants in the foreground and a small round thatched hut set among trees and shrubs behind.

Cardiff Met and Amgueddfa Cymru are pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded studentship from October 2026 under the AHRC’s Collaborative Doctoral Partnership Scheme.

This project seeks to investigate and document intentional communities in Wales. These communities embody lifestyles distinct from mainstream consumer culture and are under-represented in museum collections. Documenting their lives, beliefs, and practices offers an opportunity to inspire wider reflection on environmental responsibility and communal living, while diversifying national collections.

The project will deliver:

  • An audio-visual and material collection, forming a foundation for future research and creative responses.
  • Original doctoral research employing a more-than-human approach to explore the entanglements between community and landscape.
  • An ethical framework for co-creating collections, relevant to museums, archives, and cultural organisations.
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    The AHRC award pays tuition fees up to the value of the full-time home UKRI rate for PhD degrees and full maintenance for all students. The National Minimum Doctoral Stipend for 2025/26 is £21,805 (rising in alignment with UKRI) plus a CDP maintenance payment of £600/year.

    The successful student will be expected to spend time at both Cardiff Metropolitan University and St Fagans National Museum of History (Amgueddfa Cymru)

    The ability to speak Welsh is not required for this studentship. The applicant would be supported by Cardiff Metropolitan University to obtain an enhanced DBS check. The student would not be employed as a member of staff at Amgueddfa Cymru.

    Closing date: Applications must be submitted by 5pm BST on Monday 1 June 2026.

    How to apply: Please make an online application for this project here