Release Date 18 October 2013

The University of Reading, in partnership with two groupings of UK Universities, has won substantial arts and humanities funding for postgraduate research over the next five years.

The South, West and Wales Consortium, in which Reading is joined with seven other universities - Aberystwyth, Bath, Bath Spa, Bristol, Exeter, Cardiff and Southampton, has been awarded £14.2 million funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) over the next five years to deliver postgraduate supervision, training and skills development from 2014.

There will be a strong emphasis on collaboration between the members of the consortium and 19 external partner organisations. These include the National Trust, English Heritage, BBC Factual (Bristol), BBC Drama (Cardiff), National Welsh Opera, National Library of Wales, National Museum Wales, Arnolfini, Getty Research Institute, Bristol City Council, Humboldt University, Kyoto University, Zhejiang University, University of Texas at Austin, REACT (Research and Enterprise in Arts and Creative Technology) and Twofour.

The funding, which equates to 200 new studentships across the eight universities, will also offer joint supervision of students, sharing of resources from across the consortia, further activities such as student events, placements, conferences and the fostering of peer support networks.

Professor Hugo Tucker, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Science, said: "I am absolutely delighted to see the creation of this major new consortium for PhD funding and doctoral training in the South and South West, secured by a successful bid to the AHRC in stiff national competition. I very grateful to Professor Brad Hooker of our Philosophy Department for the key role he has played in leading Reading's participation in the construction of this winning consortium bid. 

"This marks a step change in the way we support, train and enable our PhD students. Not only will this enrich and broaden the experience of our PhD students, giving them greater choice and scope for interactions and opportunities across the whole consortium, it will also stimulate collaboration and innovation between the academic staff of the partner institutions, and revolutionise the way we think about our doctoral provision."

The Consortium is one of 11 new Doctoral Training Partnerships and seven Centres for Doctoral Training to have been awarded a total of £164 million funding from the AHRC.