PhDStudentship
Collections-Based Research Programme
Project title: Changes in farm business structure in England, 1936-56
Department/School: School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
Supervisors: Richard Tranter, Director, Centre for Agricultural Strategy and Dr Alison Bailey, Senior Lecturer in Farm Management
Project Overview:
The Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) is the foremost repository for English agricultural and rural history archival material. It has important collections on rural organizations, recordsand images and the Ministry of Agriculture’s Farm Management Survey (FMS) archive from 1936. This archive holds around 2,500 farm returns for every year, each with some 250 physical, social and financial variables, geographically identified to 10 km squares. The FMS was set up to collect physical and financial data from representative farms to aid the State in: framing public policy towards agriculture; improving the financial position of the industry; providing information for advisory purposes; and enabling research into the rural economy. Most businesses in the FMS remained in it for a long time making longitudinal studies feasible and worthwhile. Thus, it is possible to see how businesses changed over time.
The project will study agricultural and farm business change over 1936-56, a period of rapid and fundamental developments in the industry affecting not just the resource base, but methods of production and consumer demand. The approachtaken could be historical, economic, behavioural or sociological. However, as the database lends itself to the use of GIS techniques, geographers could also find it useful as could those interested in environmental change at the regional level. This proposed research will fill a gap between that looking at inter-war agriculture characterised by the recession and that of the post-war industry challenged to expand food production.
Some key research questions that could be addressed are: how did farm businesses adapt financially during the period?; what were noticeable movements in resource allocation and land use patterns?; how did the established tradition of inheritance and succession change in the period?; and what was the environmental legacy resulting from agricultural change?
We invite applications from appropriately qualified candidates in history, economics, sociology, agriculture and geography. Applicants should indicate their proposed scope, methodology and lines of enquiry in relation to the collection and any relevant skills, knowledge and experience. We would expect the successful applicant to have significant input into the final shape of the PhD project.
Reading’s School of Agriculture, Policy and Development is world leading in its teaching and research, maintaining a reputation developed since the 1800s. We address food production, the sustainability of agro-ecosystems, food security, adaptation and mitigation to climate change, food chains and health, animal welfare and behaviour, poverty alleviation, international development, and consumer behaviour and choice. Our School comprises about 150 staff, and is located in a state of the art building on the Whiteknights campus whichhouses our Divisions of Biodiversity, Crops and Agro-ecosystems; Economic and Social Sciences; and Food Production and Quality; and theGraduate Institute of International Development and Applied Economics (GIIDAE). Many of our specialist research centres are also located here or on ourfarms nearby. The School is also a significant contributor to the University-wide centres for Food Security, Climate Change, Food Chain and Health, and Poverty, Exclusion and Access.
Eligibility:
- Applicants should hold or expect to gain a minimum of a 2:1 Bachelor’s degree in a relevant subject e.g. history, economics, sociology, agriculture, geography.
- Some knowledge of agriculture or rural life in England would be useful.
- Due to restrictions on the funding, thisfees onlystudentship is only open to candidates from the UK/EU.
Funding Details:
- Start date: October 2013
- Duration: 3 years; part-time applicants are also invited
- Value of award: a fees only studentship is available, in addition to a backing grant of £1000 per annum for equipment/placement/outreach support (or part-time equivalent).
- One off bursary of £3000 in first year
Placement: Positive enquiries are underway with the National Trust and students will be guaranteed a placement at MERL if this does not transpire.
How to apply: To apply for this studentship please submit an application for a PhD in Agriculture to the University. Go to: apply online.
Please quote the reference CBR-6 in the ‘Scholarships applied for’ box which appears within the Funding Section of your online application.
Application Deadline: 31st July 2013
Contact information
- For further details about this project:
please contact Richard Tranter - or 0118 378 8155 - For further details about the PhD Collections-Based Research Programmeplease contact Professor Alison Donnell –
- Museum of English Rural Life:
- School of Agriculture, Policy and Development: