MERL Fellowships
MERL Fellowships are open to scholars wishing to undertake collections-related research here at the Museum. The scheme aims to foster and facilitate research that will enhance and extend understanding and knowledge of the countryside, food, and farming, with an emphasis on exploiting the Museum's outstanding collections. These connect to a broad spectrum of disciplines including agriculture, design, archaeology, anthropology, material culture studies, social policy, plant and animal sciences, and social, economic, and disciplinary history.
Successful proposals attract a stipend of up to £10,000 for a period of twelve months or less. Applications for shorter periods of research are welcome but would attract a commensurately smaller stipend. The funding can be used to offset teaching and administration costs, and other research-related expenses. Appropriate facilities are provided and Fellows are encouraged to participate in the academic programmes of the Museum.
To find out more about the Gwyn E. Jones MERL Fellowships for the current academic year please read on. For details of previous projects ot to find out more about how to apply please use the following links.
Gwyn E. Jones MERL Fellowships 2011-12
In 2011 the Museum was pleased to be able to award two Gwyn E. Jones MERL Fellowships. Work on both of these projects is now underway.
The first of these was awarded to Professor Keith Grieves for a research project entitled 'Open spaces after the Great War: reafforestation, remembrance and recreation.' Keith is Professor of History and Education at Kingston University, London. His work to date has included detailed examination of the planning processes that underpinned the placement of rural war memorial structures. His Fellowship will explore ideas of countryside access in the aftermath of the First World War, with a particular emphasis on forestry and on the use of woodland for both recreation and remembrance. As well as disseminating the results of this project in a monograph and in peer-reviewed journals, Keith is keen that the project will help faciliate the Museum's development of educational resources and interpretative materials centred on the Great War.
The Museum also welcomes its first overseas Fellow, Dr Joseph Hodge, who is Associate Professor of History at West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia. His interests lie in the history of science and development work in the fields of ecology and agriculture, with a particular focus on the post-colonial period. Joseph's Fellowship work will examine a cohort of scientists and technical experts who worked on tropical agriculture in the British colonial empire, and who went on to subsequent careers in international research and overseas development. The University of Reading represents an important intersection in these areas and this project will explore the work of many figures with strong connections to the University. Indeed, during the 1960s and 1970s the efforts of figures such as Gwyn E. Jones (in whose honour this Fellowship is named) led to the emergence of the University as a leading centre for the study of agricultural extension and rural change. Projected outcomes of Joseph's work include the completion of a book and a scholarly symposium based here at the Museum.
MERL Fellowship 2010-11
In 2010 the MERL Fellowship was awarded to Dr John Martin for his investigation into ‘The impact of the weather on the agricultural sector: case studies of the drought of 1975-76 , 1963 winter and the bleak midwinter 1947.’ John is Reader in Agrarian History at De Montfort University, Leicester. To date, his main research interests have centred on the impact of government policies on British agriculture and the countryside since the 1930s. His publications include The Development of Modern Agriculture: British farming since 1931 (2000), The Encyclopaedia of Traditional British Rural Sports (co-editor, 2005), The Frontline of Freedom: British farming in the Second World War (co-editor, 2007). His numerous articles include 'George Odlum, The Ministry of Agriculture and "Farmer Hudson"', Agricultural History Review (2007) and The Commercialisation of British Turkey Production, Rural History (2009). He has also contributed 54 articles to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
West Berkshire MERL Fellowship 2009-10
In 2009 the West Berkshire MERL Fellowship was awarded to Dr Hilary Crowe. Hilary trained as a chartered accountant and had an established career in finance before returning to academic life. Her PhD examined agriculture in Westmorland during the first half of the twentieth century. This Fellowship formed a major strand of her post-doctoral research into the financial performance of upland agriculture during the post-war period. Hilary's original thesis made extensive use of the Farm Management Survey whose primary returns are held here at the Museum. These papers comprise several thousand sets of farm accounts from across England and Wales over a 50-year period, enabling local and regional differences in profitability to be uncovered. Hilary has published a number of papers including 'Keeping the wheels of the farm in motion': Labour shortage in the uplands in the Great War', Rural History (2008) and 'Profitable Ploughing of the Uplands?' The food production campaign in the Great War', Agricultural History Review (2007).
Sir John Higgs MERL Fellowship 2008-09
In 2008 the Sir John Higgs MERL Fellowship was awarded to Dr Clare Griffiths, Senior Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Sheffield. Clare has a background in rural and agricultural history, with particular interests in agricultural policy and rural politics. Her books include Labour and the Countryside: the politics of rural Britain 1918-1939 (2007). Her Fellowship work focused on the photographic collections of the Museum, as well as other print-media sources, and sought to examine the changing image of farmers and farming during the course of the twentieth century. The project led to a number of outcomes including a MERL Seminar on 19 May 2009 entitled 'Heroes of the reconstruction? Images of farmers and farming in war and peace', and a temporary exhibition at the Museum entitled Farming for the New Britain: images of farmers in war and peace (2010), which was guest-curated by Clare. The content of this display will also form the basis of an online exhibition in due course.
MERL Fellowships prior to 2008
David Viner, former museum director and now freelance consultant on farm wagons.
Richard Tranter, Centre for Agricultural Strategy, University of Reading, on how the Interwar agricultural recession affected the Berkshire Downs.
Professor Andrew Godley, University of Reading Business School on the development of the chicken industry. He was subsequently awarded £500,000 from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to continue his research into the chicken industry. Click on the following link to download a paper about his MERL Fellowship project.
The Chicken, the Factory Farm and the Supermarket.
Dr Richard Bonser, Centre for Biomimetics, School of Construction Management and Engineering, University of Reading, on the biomimetics of the chicken.
Dr Nicola Verdon, now of Sheffield-Hallam University, on women in agriculture between the wars.
Applying to the scheme
To get an idea of the application process please download the original call for applications for the 2011-12 scheme click using the following link. This includes a short biography of Gwyn E. Jones, in whose memory the Fellowship is now endowed. Please note that this call for applications has now closed. The next call for applications will be announced in early 2012.
MERL Fellowship 2011-12 (pdf. 140KB)