We invite applications for a fully-funded PhD studentship; the studentship is associated with the ESRC-funded 'European, Ethnic and Expatriate' project, which pursues a longitudinal comparison of German and British social networking and associational formations in modern-day Asia. The studentship will run for three years, starting 8 October 2013, and will be based at Northumbria University, in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences.

The specific PhD topic of the studentship is open to discussion with the lead supervisor. The topic must be within the field of History, although, provided that clear interdisciplinary links to History are made, it may fall more broadly within the Social Sciences. The ESRC project with which the studentship is linked investigates the role ethnic and cultural organisations play in British and German expatriate social networking in Asia to shed light on the function of ethnicity among expatriates. Within this wider research context the studentship topic may examine themes that fall within any of the following broad areas: returning British or German expats/sojourners from Asia and their experience of the return 'home' (historic or contemporary); ethnic associations among migrants from Asia in Britain or Germany (historic or contemporary); the history of elite social networking connected to Asia, for instance through organisations such as the China Association.

Applications must be submitted by Thursday, 8 August 2013 to tanja.bueltmann@northumbria.ac.uk. For full details about the application process and forms, please visit the website linked below.