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*****Apologies for cross posting******

 

An AHRC-funded Collaborative PhD Award with the University of Manchester
and the Science Museum/BT Archives

 

'Research is the Door to Tomorrow': The Post Office Research Station,
Dollis Hill, c.1935-1970 

 

** Re-advertisement: closing date 20 June 2014 **

 

Have you completed or are you close to completing a Master's degree in
History of Science and Technology, Modern History or a related field?
Are you interested in twentieth century history and the role that
technological R&D played in it? Do you enjoy investigating the personal
stories and histories behind major developments? Would you relish the
opportunity to work within a national museum? Then this could be the
project for you! 

 

Applications are invited for an AHRC-funded PhD studentship on the
mid-twentieth century history of the UK's Post Office Research Station
at Dollis Hill, London. The studentship will commence in September 2014,
and is tenable for three years' full-time study.

 

Owned and managed by the General Post Office, the UK's largest state
bureaucracy in the twentieth century, Dollis Hill was one of the
government's most important research establishments in electrical
engineering, telecommunications and computing.  By the late 1930s, it
had an international reputation in an extensive network of
telecommunications research, testing and manufacturing facilities
encompassing other state civil and military establishments, research
associations and industry. With privileged access to the rich
collections of the Science Museum and BT Archives this project will
explore the institution's organisational development, its technical work
and its changing relationship with the state and other institutions from
the mid-1930s through WW2, the post-war years and the Cold War up to the
1960s.It will also consider the social history of the station, exploring
the hierarchies within the organisation, informal and formal methods for
building and sharing knowledge and the day-to-day experiences of life at
Dollis Hill.

 

There is significant scope for the student undertaking this project to
develop their own thematic and empirical interests, but among the
relevant topics that might be covered are: the mobilisation of Dollis
Hill for war work on radio and electronic computers for codebreaking
during WW2; the development of submarine cable and repeater technology,
culminating in the transatlantic submarine telephone cable in 1956; the
development of microwave radio relay transmitters and the
establishment's work on the Goonhilly satellite ground station; and the
beginnings of fibre optics. 

 

Cutting across all these topics, the project will analyse Dollis Hill as
a deep reservoir of skilled practice: its labs and workshops maintained
huge expertise on materials and production processes - initially valves
and crystals, later semiconductors and transistors. It will also explore
the ways in which Dollis Hill was central to the British state's role as
a provider of communications infrastructure both for public use, for
governmental and national security purposes and as international
interests came into play. 

 

The rich sources for the project include the BT Archives with their
extensive Post Office records, the telecommunications collections of the
Science Museum and the National Archives at Kew. There is also
significant scope for oral history work with former Dollis Hill
employees.

 

This PhD studentship will be held at the University of Manchester's
Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, which is
internationally recognised for its work on the history of modern and
contemporary science, technology and medicine (see
http://www.chstm.manchester.ac.uk/). It will cover university fees at
UK/EU rates, and provide a living allowance subject to the AHRC's
residency requirements. The supervisors are Dr Jeff Hughes (CHSTM,
Manchester) and Dr Tilly Blyth (Science Museum, London).  

 

The studentship is the second of three linked PhDs mapping Post Office
research in the twentieth century under the overall title '"Research is
the door to tomorrow": the networks and culture of the Post Office
Research Stations, Dollis Hill and Martlesham, c. 1910-1983'. The first
(on early 20th century Post Office research, based at the University of
Leeds) commenced in September 2013.  This, and the third (on Dollis
Hill's later career and that of its successor institution, Martlesham
Heath, based at UCL) will commence in September 2014. The project is
supported by the Science Museum's Collaborative Doctoral Partnership
scheme, in conjunction with BT Archives.

 

Candidates should have a strong Master's degree in History of Science,
Technology and Medicine, Science Studies or a related subject.
Application is by sending 1) a CV  2) a sample of writing and 3) a
covering letter outlining reasons for application to
[log in to unmask] by 20 June 2014. 

 

Potential applicants may contact Dr Jeff Hughes
([log in to unmask]) for further information and informal
discussion.

 

 

Dr Tilly Blyth

Keeper of Technologies and Engineering

Science Museum

Exhibition Road

London SW7 2DD

 


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