Overview
The University of Cambridge is committed to widening participation in postgraduate studies. The University will be using positive action under the Equality Act 2010, where appropriate, to tackle the underrepresentation of certain groups in postgraduate study within the School of Arts and Humanities. See our eligibility criteria for more details.
Aspiring Researchers: AH is a six-week, paid, summer research programme for students whose socioeconomic background or other life circumstances may have made it more difficult for them to reach their full educational potential, or to consider undertaking postgraduate study and research. It is open to UK and Republic of Ireland residents who are studying/studied at a UK or Republic of Ireland university for their undergraduate degree and who have the potential to become the future of research in the arts and humanities.
Structure of the Programme
Up to 8 places are available for the summer 2026 programme, which will take place in from 6 July to 14 August 2026. During the programme, you will undertake research on your selected topic and receive guidance from a mentor (a current PhD student) as well as from your supervisor.
Meanwhile, you will live in college accommodation and participate in social activities which will introduce you to the university community. At the end, you will then have the opportunity to present your work at the end of programme conference, intended to boost your confidence and skills for future presentations you may prepare in postgraduate study.
Contact us
If you have a question, please contact us at AH-Research-Experience@csah.cam.ac.uk
What does Aspiring Researchers: AH offer?
Our summer research experience programme is designed to:
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Support you to develop your research skills;
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enhance your ability to make a competitive application for postgraduate courses and funding;
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inform you about highlight opportunities for postgraduate study and research careers in Arts and Humanities;
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give you the opportunity to engage with inspiring arts and humanities research staff and students at the University of Cambridge;
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allow you to experience life as a postgraduate researcher at the University of Cambridge.
Pay and benefits
Financial support
You will receive a payment equivalent to the rate of Real Living Wage (currently £13.45 per hour), for a 35-hour week.
Accommodation
Participants will be provided with single accommodation at Girton College for the duration of the programme, including weekends. Rooms will be allocated at random unless a student has specific needs (which you are invited to set out in the Accessibility section of the online form).
You are expected to live in this college accommodation for the duration of the programme and comply with college regulations. In exceptional circumstances, agreed with the programme organiser, you may arrange alternative accommodation for yourself, however the School will not be able to cover this cost.
Research topics and supervisors
This year we have supervision available in the following areas, and are looking for students to propose topics which fall within one of them (click on the research topics for further information):
Supervisor: Dr Ankur Barua
Hosting Department: Faculty of Divinity
Research Areas:
• Philosophy of Religion
• Religions of South Asia
• Religion and Conflict
• Religion and Postcolonial Studies
In your proposals, you may choose to address one or more of these questions:
In what ways has religion promoted patterns of violence or peace-making in South Asia?
What types of resources can religion supply vis-à-vis socioeconomic reconstruction in South Asia?
How may we understand, through a comparative lens, the intersections of Hinduism and Islam with social settings?
What forms of impact do South Asian socioreligious developments exercise on British diasporic locations?
Supervisor: Dr Alice Wickenden
Hosting Department: Faculty of English
Research Areas:
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Early modern literature
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Shakespeare
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Milton
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Book history; Library history
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Renaissance archival research
In your research proposal, please make sure you answer the following questions:
What is the main question (or questions) that you are hoping to answer in your work? Why?
What have you read that brought you to this question? (This could be primary or secondary.)
Where do you envisage starting with this research question? (i.e. if you want to write on Shakespeare, might you first need to spend some time reading more of his work; if you have found work by a particular scholar useful, is there more of their work you would like to read; are there particular theoretical angles you would like to explore?)
Supervisor: Dr Mona Hedayati
Hosting Department: Cambridge Digital Humanities
Research Areas:
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Sociology, Anthropology, Computation – Science & Technology Studies
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Practice-Based Research – Research-Creation
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Media Studies, Cultural Studies – Critical Data/Algorithm Studies
In your proposal, please explain:
Please specify the research question and position it within relevant debates in art and humanities while clarifying your position/interest/motivation.
Please identify key precedents or related work and specify the contribute of your project to the research intersection in question.
Please underline the intellectual/contextual urgency of the project and specify how it would advance knowledge in the relevant identified fields.
Applicant should:
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Be aware of the current debates in critical data/algorithm studies and the position of the field towards big tech paradigms.
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Be aware of the subfields and streams of science and technology studies and the general agenda of the field.
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Have a general understand of research-creation and its difference with its transnational counterparts (e.g., practice-based, led-, art-based research or artistic research).
Please also submit a research plan in your application.
Supervisor: Professor Hugues Azerad
Hosting Department: Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics
Research Areas:
• Comparative Literature
• Postcolonial Studies
• Pedagogies
• Poetry
• Film, political thought
• Migration studies (Migrants' crisis in particular)
In your proposal, please make sure you answer the following questions:
Your motivation to do research?
Why is your project important, to you, to research/society in general?
What is the corpus, choice of works, and why?
What are your own research questions you would wish to address in your project?
What preliminary reading have you done?
Is there a lot written on your topic?
How will you organise your research during your time in Cambridge?
Applicant should:
• have knowledge of the field, even if only general
• have knowledge of one language other than English if doing comparative work
• be able to engage critically with ideas and texts or films.
• have Intellectual curiosity, willingness to push boundaries