PhD Scholarship, Murdoch University

 “Life after digitisation: future-proofing WA’s vulnerable cultural heritage”

Background
The Linkage grant “Life after digitisation: future-proofing WA’s vulnerable cultural heritage”, funded by the Australian Research Council for 4 years (2022-2025), involves researchers from three Western Australian Universities, and one from the University of Queensland. The partners aim to digitise significant cultural collections held across Western Australia, including Aboriginal languages, the WA performing arts collection held by the Perth Theatre Trust, and selected cultural objects of significance from across the State. 

The Scholarship
The materials held by the Perth Theatre Trust (The Museum of Performing Arts collection, MOPA) include costumes, programmes, posters, pay bills, photographs, scripts, scores, recordings and other items from thousands of productions performed across WA since colonisation. The collection includes material from ballet, Shakespearean theatre, vaudeville, contemporary dance, opera, drama, stand-up comedy and more. This PhD Scholarship provides the right candidate with an opportunity to delve into the significant archives held by The Perth Theatre Trust (approx. 45,000 items) and to develop their own project, drawing on and utilising these important cultural artefacts. His Majesty’s Theatre, which houses the collection, has hosted performances by actors from across the globe, including: Dame Nellie Melba, Sir John Gielgud, Katharine Hepburn, Vivien Leigh, Sir Robert Helpmann and Geoffrey Rush and Anna Pavlova.

The successful candidate will work alongside the research team and as well as developing their own important research project, will contribute to the digitisation of this important Western Australian collection. We invite applications from potential candidates interested in performance and theatre studies, archival research, cultural heritage studies and digital humanities. The position is supported by a Murdoch University fee offset PhD scholarship and stipend for 3.5 years.

For more information on the MOPA collection 
Please see their website (https://www.mopa.ptt.wa.gov.au/about). 

For more information on the PhD Scholarship and the broader project
Please contact Professor Helena Grehan (h.grehan@murdoch.edu.au).