Pension scheme
Flexible working
Discounts & tickets

V&A PhD Placement - Henry Cole’s Travel Diaries: knowledge, acquisitions and networks

Salary Unpaid PhD Placement
Location Cromwell Road, London
{Mergefield Value}
{Mergefield Value}

This is a Temporary, Part Time vacancy that will close in {x} days at {xx:xx} BST.

The Role

About the V&A PhD Placement Scheme

The V&A has created a range of PhD placements based in collections departments, archives, the National Art Library, research, and collections care and access to support the professional development of PhD researchers across the UK and internationally. In addition to on-the-job experience and mentoring from supervisors, PhD placement students will have access to the Museum’s wider range of workshops, talks and postgraduate training opportunities, alongside a training package designed for the PhD placement cohort. Depending on the project, placements may combine onsite and remote work, with the exact working pattern agreed between the student and placement supervisors.

Eligibility: V&A doctoral placements are unpaid and only open to students currently studying on a funded PhD programme. International applicants welcome . All successful applicants will be required to attend an induction day on 30 September 2026.

Purpose of the Placement

The V&A holds several handwritten travel journals and associated materials compiled by Henry Cole (1808–1882), ranging from tours of Britain in the 1830s to purchasing trips to France, Italy, Germany and Spain for the South Kensington Museum in the 1860s and 1870s. This placement forms part of an ongoing effort to transcribe, research, and contextualise these journals, increasing the visibility and accessibility of important resources for the study of the museum’s institutional and collection history. Previous placement holders have worked on Cole’s travel diaries to Palermo, Vienna, Spain, Belgium, and Germany.

This placement will focus on the transcription of Cole’s early diaries of his travels through the UK, as well as contributing to the transcription of travel diaries to Switzerland and Italy held at the RCA. Building on previous research, the placement researcher will also contribute to a broader investigation of recurring themes across the diaries, including objects acquired during Cole’s travels and reproductions commissioned through photography, casting, and electrotyping. The placement may also include opportunities to contribute to a planned workshop in 2027 and share research through seminars, blog posts, or Collection Management System (CMS) provenance updates.

The V&A

The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects, books and archives that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.  

Our mission is to be recognised as the world's leading museum of art, design and performance, and to enrich people's lives by promoting research, knowledge and enjoyment of the designed world to the widest possible audience. We strive to make the V&A matter to more people and in that context we work to the following six strategic objectives:

  • To create a world class visitor and learning experience across all V&A sites and collections.
  • Focus and deepen the relevance of our collections to the UK creative and knowledge economy.
  • Expand the V&A's international reach, reputation and impact.
  • To operate with financial and organisational initiative and efficiency.
  • Showcase the best of digital design and deliver an outstanding digital experience.
  • Diversify and increase private and commercial funding sources.

Benefit 1

Benefit 2

Benefit 3

Benefit 4

Benefit 5

Benefit 6

Benefits

Generous pension scheme

29 days plus bank holidays

Flexible working​

Tickets to V&A exhibitions

Subsidised staff canteen

25% discount in V&A shops

Give as you earn scheme

Bicycle loan

Interest-free season ticket

Interest-free rental deposit loan

Free safety checks and small repairs to your bike with Doctor Bike

Wide range of training and professional development opportunities

Employee Assistance Programme

Staff diversity networks

ED&I at The V&A

At the V&A, we are committed to equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) for all and strive to go above and beyond public duty placed upon us by the Equality Act 2010.  As such, we are delighted to share that we are a Disability Confident Employer Level 2. The V&A makes the following commitments to all applications:  

  • The Disability Confident Employer scheme offers guaranteed interviews – Interviewing applicants with a disability who successfully evidence the essential criteria on a person specification and consider them on their abilities;  
  • Providing an inclusive and accessible recruitment process.  
  • Making reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process so disabled job applicants have the best opportunity to demonstrate that they can do the job.  
  • Supporting employees and adjustments during employment.  

In some circumstances, such as when we receive a high volume of applications that meet the minimum criteria, we may not be able to guarantee an interview under the scheme. In these cases, we will interview only the highest-scoring applicants, from both people with disabilities and people without a disability.

Job Descriptions are currently uploaded as PDF's, if for any reason you require the documents in Word Format, please email careers@vam.ac.uk with your request.

Alternatively, please sign in with...

Published

Not Published

Closing

in X days

{Expiry}