The Consortium, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, will be awarding up to 67 full PhD studentships each year from 2019 to 2025. Each studentship consists of payment of tuition fees and a maintenance allowance at the UK Research Council's national rate (currently £19,237 for the academic year 2024 to 2025) funded for a nominal 42 months of study. The package also includes:
Northumbria is ranked in the top 25 Universities in the UK for 'Research Power' in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, and was named 'Best University in the UK' in the Times Higher Education (THE) Awards 2022, ranked as both ‘Research University of the Year’ and ‘Modern University of the Year’ in the Daily Mail University Guide 2024, and ‘Modern University of the Year’ in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2025. Northumbria possesses world-class expertise across most of the (AHRC) subject range. For a list of subjects in which we can offer expert supervision, click on the 'Subject Contacts' tab below.
If you're visiting this page, it's probably because you have recently taken up a Northern Bridge studentship at Northumbria. Many congratulations on that! This page provides some basic information about becoming a Northern Bridge student at Northumbria. For general information about the Consortium, including useful documents, please visit the main .
As a Northern Bridge student, your experience of studying here will be similar in many ways to that of all our other PhD students. You will go through the same induction, have access to the same facilities, and your progress through the degree will be measured at the same milestones. You will be looked after by the PGR co-ordinator in your subject area, and you will be able to participate fully in Northumbria’s research culture.
There are, however, some key differences:
The standard length of a Northern Bridge PhD is 42 months (not 36)
You have the opportunity to undertake a placement of between 1 and 6 months during your programme, which might lengthen your period of study still further
You can access a range of funded training opportunities through Northern Bridge, some of them timetabled during our residential conferences
You may be working on a CDA-type project (involving a partner organization) or benefit from the input of an external advisor based at another university in our Consortium
The key thing is to take advantage of being at Northumbria AND being funded through Northern Bridge.
Key People
Your main contact will of course be your principal supervisor, but you should also be familiar with the PGR co-ordinator in your area. There will also be a Northern Bridge subject contact in your discipline (click on the relevant heading), who in most cases will be the relevant PGR director.
For any queries that relate to your registration at Northumbria, the receipt of your stipend, or claims for reimbursement of research expenses, please contact the Graduate School.
For any queries that relate to other Northern Bridge matters, please contact either your local Northern Bridge subject contact or the Northumbria NBC Academic Directors Dr Claudine van Hensbergen (23 September 2024 to 24 January 2025) or Professor Matthew Potter (from 27 January 2025).
Below is a list of the subjects in which we can offer expert supervision for 2024 entry, as well as the name of the Northern Bridge Consortium Subject Area Lead in that area.
If you are considering applying for a Northern Bridge studentship at Northumbria, please contact the relevant Subject Area Lead as soon as possible. The Subject Area Lead can help you find an appropriate supervisor for your project.
Architecture: History, Theory and Practice: Lesley McIntyre - NBC25/McINTRYE
Creative Writing: Victoria Bazin (Semester 1) and Clare Elliott (Semester 2) - NBC25/BAZIN
Criminal Law and Criminology: Daniel Briggs - NBC25/CIBRIGGS
Cultural and Museum Studies: Victoria Horne (Semester 1) and TBC (Semester 2) - NBC25/CMSHORNE
Cultural Geography: Paul Griffin - NBC25/CGGRIFFIN
Design: History, Theory and Practice: Phil Cash (Semester 1) and David Parkinson (Semester 2) - NBC25/CASH
Development Studies: Paul Griffin - NBC25/DSGRIFFIN
Drama and Theatre Studies: Cormac Power - NBC25/POWER
English Language and Literature: Victoria Bazin (Semester 1) and Clare Elliott (Semester 2) - NBC25/ELLIOTT
Film-based Media; History, Theory and Practice: Kate Egan - NBC25/FBEGAN
Information and Communication Technologies: Rebecca Strachan - NBC25/ICSTRACHAN
Law and Legal Studies: Claire Bessant (Semester 1) and TBC (Semester 2) - NBC25/BESSANT
Library and Information Studies: Rebecca Strachan - NBC25/LISTRACHAN
Linguistics: Mimi Huang - NBC25/HUANG
Media and Communication Studies: Kate Egan - NBC25/MCEGAN
Music: David Smith - NBC25/SMITH
Photography; History, Theory and Practice: Victoria Horne (Semester 1) and TBC (Semester 2) - NBC25/PHTPHORNE
The Staff-Led Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) opportunities for the NBC 2025 competition are listed below:
Dr Roger Domeneghetti, 51, with The Black Collective of Media in Sport (BCOMS)
A collaboration between 51 and the Black Collective of Media in Sport, this project proposes the first detailed scholarly exploration of the amount of diversity at all levels within British sports journalism, the experience of members of the workforce from minority backgrounds, and the understandings of this issue among the industry’s senior management. The PhD will bring new knowledge to (1) academic researchers in the fields of media and cultural studies, the sociology of sport, and sports journalism; (2) practitioners in the UK sports media, and; (3) sports journalism educators.
When applying please include the code “NBC25/DOMENEGHETTI”.
‘Where do we belong?’ Using innovative methods to explore working-class identities through Sunderland’s past, present, and future
Dr John Clayton, 51, with Redhills
In a context of uneven post-industrial development, Brexit, stigmatisation and recent unrest, this project explores working-class identities and belonging in Sunderland and the surrounding area. By examining memories of industrial life and emergent identities, connections between emplaced pasts and possible futures will be explored through partnership with Redhills (Durham Miners’ Association) and innovative public-facing methods including oral histories, photography and soundscapes. The project will capture the multi-sensorial character of complex space-times, allow the student to consider belonging as an affective orientation to time and place, and provide nuanced understandings of post-industrial places today and into the future.
When applying please include the code “NBC25/CLAYTON”.
Co-Designing Digital Tools for Physical Activity: Enhancing Engagement in Disadvantaged Communities Through Inclusive Design
Dr Daniel Harrison, 51, with Rise North East
This project, in collaboration with Rise North East, aims to increase physical activity among underrepresented groups in disadvantaged communities in the North East by applying inclusive design principles to sports technologies. Current technologies emphasise performance over inclusivity, failing to meet diverse needs. Our focus will be on inclusivity, broadened participation, and sustained engagement in sports. We will conduct ethnographic research to understand community dynamics and current technology use, then co-design and test digital tools within these communities. Outcomes will include design recommendations and a toolkit to promote equitable access to physical activity and address the digital divide, ensuring long-term impact.
When applying please include the code “NBC25/HARRISON”.
The role of women’s organisations in social dialogue for gender just transitions in global food supply chains
Prof. Katy Jenkins, 51, with the Ethical Trading Initiative, and Women Working Worldwide
In partnership with Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) and Women Working Worldwide (WWW), this research explores the involvement of diverse women’s organisations in collective organising and social dialogue to promote gender just transitions in global food supply chains. Through archival research, stakeholder interviews, oral history interviews and participatory photography with women workers in the tea production and supply chain, the research brings together development studies, labour geographies, and historical geographies, to develop a multi-scalar understanding of the challenges in achieving gender just transitions, and the role of women’s organisations in social dialogue processes aiming to secure workers’ rights and affect change. The successful candidate will be based in 51's Centre for Global Development.
When applying please include the code “NBC25/JENKINS”.
The Tudor Organ: Practice-led Research on its Changing Repertoire and Use over Time
Prof. David J. Smith, 51, with the Royal College of Organists, and Newcastle Cathedral
The studentship involves practice-led research in music performance using an organ reconstructed from a surviving fragment, now owned by the Royal College of Organists (RCO), which will be housed in Newcastle Cathedral during the project. No complete instruments survive from the period, and there remain pressing questions surrounding use of organs in F and their repertoire. They remained in use after the Reformation, so the focus is changing use over time. The project will generate new knowledge for performances at Newcastle Cathedral and dissemination of its results fit into the RCO’s core objective of performance enhanced by scholarship.
When applying please include the code “NBC25/SMITH”.
The Carl Rosa Opera Company (1873-1960): Provincial Experiences and Performance Practices of a British Touring Opera Troupe
Dr Francesca Vella, 51, with the Carl Rosa Trust Ltd
This project explores touring opera in late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Britain, using the Carl Rosa Opera Company (1873-1960) as a case study. Drawing on the vast and critically underexamined Carl Rosa Trust collection at Liverpool Central Library, it will produce the first academic study of the longest-running opera troupe to have toured the UK, contextualising its activities in the broader landscape of touring opera, in Britain and beyond. This CDA offers a unique opportunity to combine cutting-edge historical work on cultural regionalism with bid-writing and engagement activities aimed at reshaping public understandings of opera’s use and relevance in UK regions today.
When applying please include the code “NBC25/VELLA”.
How to Apply
We strongly encourage you to make contact with the named supervisor to discuss the project at an early stage.
You must first complete Northumbria's online postgraduate application form. On the application form under 'Studentship / Partnership Reference' and 'Who is your sponsor / funding body?' please include the relevant code NBC25 / plus the name of the supervisor of your project.
Your application should discuss your academic and/or professional experience, and describe how this has prepared you to undertake this project. The ‘Research Proposal’ should be based on the advertised project and should set out what your proposed approach to the project will be. If your application is successful and you are invited to interview, the project supervisor may ask for additional material to be submitted (such as, for Creative Practice projects, a sample of creative work). Please contact the project supervisor if you have questions about your application.
Interviews will take place following the close of the application window, and following acceptance, the Studentship will start in October 2025.
For further details on the project and for deadlines please visit
The following four Staff-Led CDAs successfully recruited, and commenced in October 2024:
Dr Donna Chambers, Northumbria University, with D6: Culture in Transit
Rooted in decolonial curatorial theory and practice, this PhD interrogates the idea of the Anthropocene by critically examining interconnections between colonialism, climate crisis and mass human migration. It will do this through building collaborative relationships with impacted international visual artists. Working with Northumbria and partners, D6: Culture in Transit, a Newcastle-based visual arts organisation with international reach, the candidate will: work with international visual artists to co-produce multi-faceted interpretations of the nexus between colonialism, climate crisis and mass human migration; interrogate and reflect on the extent to which such artistic interventions can contribute to social justice through decolonial curatorial practices.
Dr Leona Skelton, Northumbria University, with Calder and Colne Rivers Trust (CCRT)
Calder and Colne Rivers Trust (CCRT) must urgently balance the environmental and heritage needs of Yorkshire’s heavily modified, post-industrial River Calder. This archival PhD project analyses the Calder’s past management because historic priorities have shaped the development and management of today’s Calder catchment. The research will inform environmental policy by sharing archival evidence of the legacies of historic river management in the present and future with CCRT, Yorkshire Water (YW), the Environment Agency (EA) and local councils. By incorporating this PhD project’s conclusions, CCRT’s new management plans will better accommodate competing needs of heritage, people and environment in the future.
Prof. Nic Whitton, 51, with the International Centre for Life (Life)
Thinking creatively and managing setbacks are crucial for all young people. Playful digital tinkering in family groups can help develop creativity and build resilience by reducing fear of failure. However, play can unintentionally exclude families from disadvantaged backgrounds, and we need more evidence of how to support children to learn from their mistakes. In collaboration with the International Centre for Life, a science visitor centre in Newcastle, the research will explore how to maximise inclusivity in playful design, how best to facilitate learning through failure, and provide evidence of the impacts of this approach on fear of failure and creativity.
Dr Helen Williams, Northumbria Univesity, with Tyne & Wear Archives
Thomas Bewick (1753-1828) is widely recognised as a producer of fine prints who pioneered new techniques of wood engraving. But the shop that he co-ran with Ralph Beilby (1744–1817) was also a major intervention in the commercial history of Newcastle, helping to service a city which became a premier print centre outside of the metropolis. The Bewick-Beilby archive is held at Tyne & Wear Archives, where a collection of papers remains unlisted in the archive catalogue. This project will make accessible this underused resource to future scholarship while producing new knowledge on eighteenth-century Newcastle as the printing centre of the North.
The standard application process allows an applicant to propose their own project. This may be either a traditional academic project or a Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA), which involves developing a project in partnership with an external organisation. Student-led CDAs are handled differently from CDAs that have been proposed by academic members of staff. The latter have an earlier application deadline and are assessed outside the main competition (see ‘Staff-Led CDA Opportunities’). Students proposing their own CDA projects will be assessed alongside all other applicants in the main competition. Further details are in the Guidance Notes.
The Northern Bridge Consortium runs a two-stage application process.
Stage One: Postgraduate Application
Applicants to both the standard PhD and student-led Collaborative Doctoral Award routes must complete Northumbria's online postgraduate application form and submit it by 4pm on Tuesday 7 January 2025. Please write the code found next to the name of the relevant Subject Area Leadin the application form under 'Proposed project title/Studentship title and advert reference number. This field can be found in the 'Research Proposal' section.
Outcomes from the stage one application process will be released week commencing Monday 13 January 2025. Successful candidates will then be supported by their proposed supervisor in submitting a nomination form (provided to successful applicants by the NBC Subject Area Lead at Northumbria) by the deadline of 4pm on Tuesday 24 February 2025.
Please consult the when completing the form. Completed nomination forms will be submitted by your supervisor through the 51 Graduate School to the Northern Bridge Consortium.
The results of the competition are expected to be announced from Thursday 10 April 2025.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to apply both for the Research Development Fund Studentship scheme in addition to Northern Bridge scheme, and the process is dependent on the faculty you are applying to. For our faculties of Business and Law, Engineering and Environment and Health and Life Sciences, you will need to submit a separate application as these are distinct projects. For our faculty of Arts, Deign and Social Sciences, a request can be made via email to pgr.admissions@northumbria.ac.uk for your NBC application to be submitted into the RDF competition. Advert references reflect the relevant faculty with the abbreviations ADSS, BL, EE, HLS. (e.g. RDF25/HLS…) For any queries around this process, contact Admissions.
Further Notes and Guidance
You must have identified an academic member of staff who has agreed to supervise your project before you submit your Stage 1 application
Your Subject Area Lead can help you find a supervisor
We strongly encourage you to contact your Subject Area Lead as soon as possible to discuss your project
In submitting your Stage 1 application, please include the following details in your research proposal:
We advise you to send a draft of this application to your supervisor before submitting your Stage 1 application
If selected for Stage 2, your supervisor and Subject Area Lead will support you to develop the Stage 2 application
You will be asked to submit references at Stage 1. Please note that your supervisor may ask for revised references from your Referees at Stage 2.
Students already enrolled on a PhD programme at Northumbria are eligible to apply providing they will not have passed the halfway point of their programme before transferring to a Northern Bridge award in October 2025.
If you wish to apply, please alert your supervisor and your Subject Area Lead as soon as possible.
You will be asked to submit to your Subject Area Lead: a 2-page CV, a supporting statement from the principal supervisor, and Project Approval paperwork OR a 750-word research proposal. You must submit this at the latest by 4pm on 7 January 2025. You will be notified if you are selected to progress to Stage 2.
There will be two workshops taking place via MS Teams in the course of the 2024-25 application cycle for NBC Applicants and their Supervisors to receive a briefing from the Academic Director at Northumbria University and have a Q&A session. You do not need to book and can access them via the following links:
NBC Stage 1 - Application Workshop (Applicants and
Supervisors). The same workshop is offered on two dates to facilitate attendance.
The Applicant Workshops are currently scheduled for:
Information on how to join these workshops will shortly be added to the NB site:
NBC Stage 2 - Nomination Workshop (Applicants and Supervisors)
Dates for this workshop will be shared in due course with nominated applicants
As of 2020/21, all international students are eligible to apply for Northern Bridge Consortium studentships, including EU and non-EU citizens. Please see the Northern Bridge Consortium for further information
Candidates must be applying to commence a programme of doctoral study in the 2025/26 academic year, which starts 1 October 2025.
For all general enquiries (i.e. not subject specific), including on eligibility, email Dr Claudine van Hensbergen or Professor Matthew Potter, the Northumbria Consortium Directors for 2024-25.
Further information can be found on the .
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