The V&A, Royal Holloway, University of London and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew are pleased to announce the availability of a fully-funded Collaborative Doctoral Studentship from October 2025 under the AHRC’s  Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships scheme. The project considers the emergence and significance of 'biocultural' collections - containing both specimens and artefacts - during the long nineteenth century. The student will investigate the collection and display of plants and their products in museum contexts; explore the ways that botanical objects were used to present ‘object lessons’ in the commercial geography of trade and empire; and consider the linkages between the economic botany collections at RBG Kew and plant-based collections at the V&A including the food collection once on display at the Bethnal Green Museum.

Closing date: 16 May 2025