For over 15 years I have had URSS students working on the Shirley project during the summer vacation. I am looking to recruit one or two URSS students for the summer vacation 2024, and interested students (who will probably graduate in June 2024, though particularly keen second years will be considered) are encouraged to contact me. Details of the scheme are here. Please note that the closing date is Sunday 4th February 2024.

The AHRC-funded "Shirley Project", based at Warwick, Anglia Ruskin and Durham Universities, is producing a 15-volume modernised edition for Oxford University Press of The Complete Works of James Shirley, as well as an old-spelling electronic edition (which has already been published). The General Editors are Eugene Giddens, Barbara Ravelhofer and myself. James Shirley was a (good) playwright, an admirer of Shakespeare if the allusions in his works are anything to go by and wrote successfully for the stage between c. 1628 and 1642. You can find out more about him in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.

The summer URSS internship would offer the chance to work with Professor Giddens and me on the project, based in Cambridge University Library for up to four weeks in August/September (though timing may be flexible). It would suit a student interested the works of Shakespeare's later contemporaries who is planning to continue their studies at MA level in this area, but students still making up their mind about further study would also be considered. Of the eight students who have worked with me on this scheme, all but one has gone on to further study in the field. Two of my four PhD students have held URSS studentships, though only one of them with me.

It would be an advantage to have done EN228: Seventeenth Century or EN353: Early Modern Drama (and enjoyed them) but, again, other experience in this area of study would be perfectly valid. Students on EN330: Eighteenth Century Literature who have a particular interest in the early part of the period or in book history are also encouraged to consider this opportunity. A keen eye for detail is the biggest requirement.

You can see some of my past URSS students' work here.