AHRC Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership
Nottingham Trent University is proud to be a part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership (M4C).
M4C studentships
M4C supports arts and humanities students with funded studentships, as well as placements, supervision and training opportunities. Last year M4C awarded studentships to both UK and international applicants and 13 Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDA) through a linked competition with partner organisations in the cultural, creative and heritage sector.
The scheme brings together eight leading universities across the Midlands to support the professional and personal development of the next generation of arts and humanities doctoral researchers:

- Birmingham City University
- Coventry University
- De Montfort University
- Nottingham Trent University
- The University of Nottingham
- University of Birmingham
- University of Leicester
- University of Warwick
Visit the M4C website to find out more details about the training partnership. The next application round opens in October 2023.
What is the Open Doctoral Award?
The eight universities of Midlands4Cities provide doctoral researchers with access to world-class supervisory expertise and support across the breadth of arts and humanities subjects. The Open Doctoral Award invites you to design and agree a research project with academic supervisors within the M4C partnership.
- Your supervisory team should include at least two academic supervisors.
- You can draw on supervisory expertise from across the eight universities that comprise M4C.
- Where relevant, your supervisory team may also include a member from a non-university partner organisation, for example from the cultural, creative or heritage sector.
Nottingham Trent University offers supervisory expertise in the following areas, departments, research centres, and research groups:
Art and Design
Artistic Research Centre
Centre for Business and Insolvency Law
Centre for Research in History, Heritage and Memory Studies
Centre for Rights and Justice
Centre for the Study of Inequality, Culture and Difference
Communication, Cultural and Media Studies
Critical Poetics Research Group
Design Research Centre
English Language and Literature
History
Imaging and Sensing for Archaeology, Art History and Conservation (ISAAC)
Law
Modern Languages and Linguistics
Periodicals and Print Culture Research Group
Philosophy
Postcolonial Studies Centre
Collaborative Doctoral Award
These awards are jointly developed and co-supervised between Nottingham Trent University and an external partner organisation. CDAs offer diverse and unique research projects that support the work of the partner organisation.
We have two CDA projects available. Find out more below and apply here:
A Poetical Science: Exploring Art, Feminism and Technology through Contemporary Curatorial Practice
This practice-based research project explores the intersections of art, technology and feminism, inspired by Ada Lovelace’s legacy and Nottingham’s industrial textile history. In collaboration with Nottingham Contemporary and Nottingham Trent University, the research highlights historical contributions of women artists working with technology and situated within global artistic production.
Bathroom to Bedroom: interpreting early modern bodily functions
Recent work in Early Modern studies aims to pay critical attention to material cultures. But there remains a taboo surrounding the representations of bodily processes / hygiene / sewage etc. This work will relocate the critical focus on the literary representations of bodies and bodily processes as they appear in the work of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.
'I wanted to do a PhD that had ‘real world’ impact. The Collaborative Doctoral Awards offered by Midlands4Cities, in partnership with organisations that have pre-determined research needs, felt like it was the best of both worlds' - Laura Ewart
Information for doctoral applicants
NTU Doctoral School
The NTU Doctoral School provides a multi-disciplinary home for all our researchers, here to support you throughout your entire doctoral degree. Explore our research community.
Support for Researchers
Details about training support, Worktribe and other professional development opportunities for our researchers.
PhD fees and funding
Find out more about the fees and funding options available for research study at Nottingham Trent University.