About the Project
This fully funded PhD project is part of the North-Sea Heritage in Transitions (NHT) AHRC Doctoral Focal Award between the University of Aberdeen, University of the Highlands and Islands, and Robert Gordon University, which addresses the role of art history, visual arts and creative practice in a region undergoing cultural transition. NHT supports place-based doctoral research to strengthen and empower a regionally-significant cultural workforce for a national and international creative economy.
The PhD will be hosted by the University of Aberdeen under the lead supervision of Dr Karl Kinsella (University of Aberdeen), with Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon (UHI Orkney) and Douglas Pritchard (Scott Sutherland School of Architecture, Robert Gordon University) as co-supervisors. The successful applicant will be part of an interdisciplinary cohort of North-Sea Heritage in Transitions students based in Aberdeen, Orkney and Shetland.
How do medieval churches and sacred landscapes continue to serve as religious sites while also transitioning to important heritage attractions? This PhD explores how people experience, understand and care for the Orkney Islands’ medieval religious sites in the modern day. Situated within one of Britain’s richest medieval religious landscapes, the Orkney Islands offers an exceptional and unique environment for research. Focusing on St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall and the St Magnus Way pilgrimage route, the project asks how historic buildings and landscapes can retain their religious significance while welcoming growing numbers of visitors from diverse backgrounds. The Orkney Islands offer an exceptional environment for medieval research. Their rich religious, architectural and archaeological heritage, together with the remarkable survival of St Magnus Cathedral and an extensive body of documentary and material evidence, provide outstanding opportunities for original research and meaningful collaboration with heritage partners.
The student will investigate the art, architecture and material culture of the Cathedral in tandem with the St. Magnus Way, which is a modern 58-mile route that brings pilgrims to the cathedral. The project aims to better understand how these places have changed from the Middle Ages to the present while accommodating the differing expectations of visitors. There will be opportunities to study medieval architecture, sculpture, furnishings and surviving decorative fragments, while also exploring how pilgrimage and heritage continue to shape people’s experience of these places today. Depending on the student’s interests, the research may also incorporate digital methods such as photography, 3D recording, mapping or drone survey to help document and interpret Orkney’s medieval heritage. There are exceptional opportunities to work with largely unpublished medieval and early modern materials that remain in St Magnus cathedral and elsewhere. Existing datasets and scans will be made available to the student, all of which offer exciting possibilities for research on the medieval and modern religious landscapes in the Orkney islands.
The project is supported by an interdisciplinary supervisory team with expertise in medieval art and architectural history, archaeology and heritage studies, giving the successful candidate the flexibility to develop their own research interests within the project's broader themes. Working closely with heritage partners including St Magnus Cathedral, the St Magnus Way and Historic Environment Scotland, the student will help develop new ways of sharing research with the public through interpretation materials, digital resources, heritage trails and educational content for visitors, volunteers and local communities.
The project brings together expertise in art and architectural history, archaeology, and heritage studies through a supervisory team based at the University of Aberdeen and the University of the Highlands and Islands. It is ideally suited to applicants with interests in medieval art, architecture, archaeology, heritage, religion or public history who have a passion for meaningful engagement beyond the university.
North-Sea Heritage in Transitions Training Programme
Each studentship will benefit from NHT’s bespoke training programme developed by the three partner institutions and in collaboration with international project partner, the University of Stavanger. Further information on the training on offer can be found on our website.
Candidate Background
Applicants should hold a first-class or upper second-class degree and/or master's degree in a relevant discipline including art & architectural history, archaeology, heritage and museum studies, theology and the history of religions or any similar degree. Experience working in the tourism industries such as museum, galleries and historic properties is desirable but not required.
Enquiries are encouraged, for further information please contact Dr Karl Kinsella (karl.kinsella@abdn.ac.uk).
Promoting equality, diversity and inclusion is core to the AHRC North-Sea Heritage in Transitions Doctoral Focal Award. We actively encourage applications from diverse career paths, backgrounds, and all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status, amongst other protected characteristics.
We also invite applications from those returning from a career break, professional practice or other roles. We typically require a minimum 2:1 in your first degree (or equivalent), but exceptions can be made where applicants can demonstrate excellence in alternative ways, including, but not limited to, performance in master’s courses, professional placements, internships or employment experience – this will be considered on a case-by-case basis, and is dependent upon approval from the relevant host institution. We offer flexible study arrangements such as part-time study (minimum 50%), however this does depend on the nature of the project/research so will be assessed individually.
Application Procedure
The full application procedure can be found on our website.
Please ensure you follow the application procedure carefully, as we cannot consider incomplete or incorrectly submitted applications.
This project ID is NHT_UOA_KK
Funding Notes
This fully funded, 42-month PhD project is offered through the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) North Sea Heritage in Transitions Doctoral Focal Award.
The studentship provides an additional six months for placements, work experience, or writing up. It is open to UK and international applicants, but international recruitment via AHRC funding is capped at 30%.
Funding covers tuition fees, a tax-free stipend at the applicable UKRI rate (£21,383 for the 2026/27 academic year), and access to a Research Training Support Grant for research activities.
Please note we cannot fund visa costs or healthcare surcharges for international students.
References
- Bailey, Hannah M., Karl Kinsella, and Daniel Thomas. Architectural Representation in Medieval Textual and Material Culture. Leeds, 2023.
- Crawford, E. Barbara, ed. St. Magnus Cathedral: Orkney’s Twelfth-Century Renaissance. Edinburgh, 2002.
- Gibbon, Sarah Jane, and James Moore. “‘He fared to Caithness, and was there worthily received of all’: Visualising the Impact of the Cult of St Magnus in Caithness.” In Connections and the Church in Late Norse Scotland, edited by Caitlin Ellis and Tom Fairfax, 17–50. Aberdeen, 2026.
- Gibbon, Sarah Jane, and James Moore. “Storyways: Visualising Saintly Impact in a North Atlantic Maritime Landscape.” Open Archaeology 5, no. 1 (2019): 235–262. https://doi.org/10.1515/opar-2019-0016.
- Moore, James, and Sarah Jane Gibbon. “They Are Preserved Forever: Visualising the Memorialisation of Archipelagic Religious and Community Identities.” Religions 12, no. 11 (2021): 999. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110999.
- Nash, Roderick Frazier. Wilderness & the American Mind. 4th ed. New Haven, 2014.
- Tuan, Yi-Fu. Topophilia: A Study of Environmental Perception, Attitudes and Values. New Jersey, 1974.
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