We are thrilled to welcome applications for the second and final rond of PhD studentships through the Wheeler Programme. Generously funded by Warwick alumnus and co-founder of Lonely Planet, Tony Wheeler, this programme is set to strengthen the Global History and Culture Centre's engagement with the history of travel and travel writing.

The Wheeler Programme

Over five years (2024-29), the Wheeler programme will fund four fully-funded PhD studentships. In addition, support will be available for undergraduate field-trips, conferences, and research travel to help students at all levels explore their interests in the history of travel.

Following the appointment of the first two Wheeler-PhD scholars, Alfisha Sabri and Anna Bruins, in October 2024, the second round has now opened for applications. This round is set to fund two talented researchers proposing a project primarily historical in nature, engaging with travel and travel writing as a historical practice and/or source for historical research. Candidates who adopt a global historical perspective and have the ability to work with sources in more than one language are particularly encouraged to apply.

For this second round, we'd particularly welcome projects that engage with the history of tourist guidebooks such as Lonely Planet. Other potential areas of focus include, but are not limited to:

• Travel advice literature, from merchant manuals to commercial guidebooks
• Travel, gender, and intersectionality
• Travel and travel writing from the Global South
• Vicarious travel, from armchair geography to VR
• Underrepresented histories of travel and global inequalities
• Travel, sustainability, and the environment

Successful candidates will engage in the intellectual life of the department through participation in the activities of its research centres. Wheeler programme scholars will also actively communicate their research through conference presentations, publications, and public engagement.

Travel, global history and the GHCC

The Wheeler Programme strengthens the GHCC's existing research in global history, the history of science and technology, environmental history, histories of race and empire, gender history, the history of material culture, and postcolonial studies.

Our staff, with expertise spanning the globe, will help this new cohort of history of travel experts contextualize travel as a global phenomenon and as a historical practice. More information on the existing research of GHCC members is found here.

Full information about the application process, eligibility and award details can be found on the Department’s website here.

For further information, please contact Dr Guido van Meersbergen (Director of the Global History and Culture Centre) or Professor Beat Kümin (Postgraduate Research Director). Applications are open until January 16th, 2025.

Current Wheeler scholars

Anna BruinsLink opens in a new window - "testimonial"

Alfisha SabriLink opens in a new window - "testimonial"

Workshop: ‘The Traveller’s Tale: Global Forms and Circulations’

Held at the Warwick Venice Centre on November 29 and 30, 2024. Organised by the University of Warwick’s Global History and Culture Centre, Marco Polo International Programme & Wheeler History of Travel Writing. More info hereLink opens in a new window.

Pictures from the group in Venice: