Eleven funded PhD projects are now available as part of the North Sea Heritage in Transitions (NHT), which launched last month.
The two project led by UHI Orkney are:
Sea Changes: Charting the contemporary archaeology of North Sea energy through the eyes of women artists
Drawing on art history, contemporary archaeology, visual and material anthropology, and the environmental humanities, this PhD will examine the contemporary industrial archaeology of marine energy infrastructure and material culture through the lens of contemporary women artists. It will explore the role that visual art responses to marine energy regimes can make to interdisciplinary critical debates about energy in a region currently undergoing transition (Gormley et al 2025), and the ways in which contemporary art can contribute to understandings of contemporary and industrial archaeology (McAra 2025; Thomas et al 2018; Thomas 2024). It will also engage with established and emerging contemporary women artists who are working in the North Sea region today and whose work explores marine energy.
Supervisors: Dr Antonia Thomas, Dr Catriona McAra, Dr Jen Clarke
Find out more here.
Creative Islands, Past, Present and Future: Heritage as a driving force for creative practice in the Northern Isles of Scotland
This PhD at UHI Orkney asks how heritage and creative practice can contribute to more sustainable futures for Scotland’s island communities. Combining approaches from art history, heritage studies, visual culture and anthropology, the project will investigate how artists, makers and creative practitioners engage with the heritage of the Northern Isles, and how contemporary creative practice contributes to understandings of place, identity and community wellbeing.
Supervisors: Prof Ingrid Mainland, Dr Antonia Thomas, Dr Siún Carden
Find out more here.
Two led by UHI Shetland, RGU and Aberdeen, which include Associate Professor Antonia Thomas and Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon, are:
Mermaids in the Basement: Scottish Folklore and Contemporary Street Art
Mermaids in the Basement explores the myriad ways in which Scottish literature has informed and reimagined contemporary street art and its audience identities. Drawing inspiration from KMG’s recent mural for Nuart Festival, Unseen, Unheard, Yet All Beside Us (2026), the selected doctoral candidate will advance the cause for gender diversification in street art. The resulting thesis will be the first art history of the North-East’s contribution to such heritage.
Supervisors: Dr Catriona McAra, Dr Shane Strachan, Dr Antonia Thomas
Find out more here.
Sacred Sites in Transition: Medieval Architecture and Pilgrimage in Orkney
How do medieval churches and sacred landscapes continue to serve as religious sites while also transitioning to important heritage attractions? This PhD explores how people experience, understand and care for the Orkney Islands’ medieval religious sites in the modern day. Situated within one of Britain’s richest medieval religious landscapes, the Orkney Islands offers an exceptional and unique environment for research. Focusing on St Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall and the St Magnus Way pilgrimage route, the project asks how historic buildings and landscapes can retain their religious significance while welcoming growing numbers of visitors from diverse backgrounds.
Supervisors: Dr Karl Kinsella, Dr Sarah Jane Gibbon, Mr Douglas Pritchard
Find out more here.
The deadline for application is August 29, 2026, and guidelines can be found at www.abdn.ac.uk/dhpa/disciplines/history-art/research/nht/
