A Digital Living Archive for Aspex Portsmouth: From Preservation to Cultural Value

Funding

Funded (UK/EU and international students)

Project code

FMC50240125

Department

School of Film, Media, and Creative Technologies

Start dates

October 2025

Application deadline

17 January 2025

Applications are invited for a fully-funded collaborative four year PhD to commence in October 2025.

The PhD will be based in the Faculty of Creative and Cultural Industries in collaboration with Aspex Portsmouth and will be supervised by Dr Claire Bailey-Ross and Dr Argenis Ramirez Gomez from the University of Portsmouth and Joanne Bushnell and Dr Leo Burtin from Aspex.

Candidates applying for this project may be eligible to compete for one of a small number of bursaries available. Successful applicants will receive a bursary to cover tuition fees for a full-time PhD study and a stipend in line with the UKRI rate (£19,237 for 2024/25) . Bursary recipients will also receive a budget of £1,500 for project costs, consumables and conference attendance over the course of the PhD.

Costs for student visa and immigration health surcharge are not covered by this bursary. For further guidance and advice visit our international and EU students ‘Visa FAQs’ page.

The work on this project could involve:

Exploring the challenges and benefits of turning a fragmented visual arts archive into a dynamic, interactive digital space using creative technologies.
Assessing digital archival methodologies and speculative design strategies to determine how these approaches can support a meaningful, inclusive, and participatory digital archive.
Develop and assess methods for engaging with both paper and digital archival content, enabling users to reinterpret, contribute to, and co-curate the gallery's evolving narrative.

This project aims to investigate the transformation of visual arts archives into participatory digital spaces through creative technologies. Specifically, it will investigate the potential to augment living histories and emphasise the historic and future cultural value of the archive.

Through an extended case study of Aspex Portsmouth, this project will address the challenges faced by visual arts organisations in facilitating community participation with archival material. By combining digital humanities, archival studies, and creative technologies, this PhD seeks to establish an interactive, sustainable "living archive" that engages audiences in co-curating and expanding Aspex’s evolving impact.

This project will explore innovative methods for engaging with Aspex’s archive, including paper records and fragmented digital formats. These methods will allow access to archival content and creative reinterpretation, contribution to, and co-curation of the gallery’s history.

By analysing digital archival methodologies, this research will assess how creative, speculative, and imaginative design strategies can, or indeed should, facilitate a meaningful, open, inclusive and sustainable participatory digital archive. It will explore varying perspectives on the value of digital archives within the visual arts, specifically by deepening understanding of Aspex and examining its significance for past, present and future audiences.

In this project, innovative design becomes a catalyst for reimagining how oral, visual, and written histories within archives are created, curated, accessed, and, most importantly, used and reused. By prioritising community-centred approaches, the research will uncover current and future opportunities to reshape digital archives, making them accessible, inclusive, and responsive to evolving community needs.

Potential Research Questions

How might creative technologies enhance dynamic community engagement with digital living archives?
How might digital archives support the understanding of cultural value through participatory practices and community-driven curation of visual art?
How might interface design foster imaginative and interpretive engagement with Aspex Portsmouth’s legacy and impact its long-term sustainability?

Entry requirements

You'll need a good first degree from an internationally recognised university (minimum upper second class or equivalent, depending on your chosen course) and a Master’s degree in an appropriate subject. In exceptional cases, we may consider equivalent professional experience and/or
qualifications. English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS band 6.5 with no component score below 6.0.

Applicants should ideally have a relevant Master’s-level qualification or be able to demonstrate equivalent experience in a professional setting. Suitable disciplines are flexible, but might include Art History, Museum or Archival Studies, creative technologies or interaction design, and digital humanities. Applicants should possess skills in working with relevant digital and creative technologies, such as data visualisation, digital storytelling or coding for creative projects, are highly desirable, alongside experience in interdisciplinary methods and audience-centred design.

Applicants must be able to demonstrate an interest in the visual arts and gallery sectors and potential and enthusiasm for developing skills more widely in related areas, such as audience engagement, digital heritage, digital creative practice and other forms of creative technologies.

How to apply

We’d encourage you to contact Dr Claire Bailey-Ross (claire.bailey-ross@port.ac.uk) to discuss your interest before you apply, quoting the project code.

When you are ready to apply, you can use our online application form. Make sure you submit a personal statement outlining what would be your suggested response to the project brief and how your skills and experience meet the candidate requirements, proof of your degrees and grades, details of two referees, proof of your English language proficiency and an up-to-date CV. Our ‘How to Apply’ page offers further guidance on the PhD application process.

If you want to be considered for this funded PhD opportunity you must quote project code FMC50240125 when applying.Please note that email applications are not accepted.