Arts Faculty News

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships 2026 – expressions of interest invited for fellowships hosted in the Faculty of Arts

The Faculty of Arts at the University of Warwick encourages outstanding postdoctoral scholars to apply to the Leverhulme Trust’s Early Career Fellowships scheme, for Fellowships starting in the 2026/27 academic year. The scheme offers three-year Fellowships for early career researchers within four years of submission of their PhD, and Fellows are expected to complete a significant piece of original, publishable research during their tenure.

The Faculty is running an internal selection process to identify a small number of truly excellent candidates to put forward to the Leverhulme Trust.

Prospective applicants must submit an Expression of Interest containing the following information to the Faculty of Arts Research Strategy, Funding and Contracts team (artsprojsupport@warwick.ac.uk) by 5pm on Friday 21 November 2025:

· A short description of their proposed project (maximum 2 A4 pages).

· A copy of their CV (maximum 2 A4 pages).

· The names of three referees. Please note that referees will not be asked to provide a statement at this stage.

· Applicants may indicate interest in being hosted by a particular Department, School or Centre in the Faculty, or interest in working with a particular academic mentor, as part of their EOI. However, they should note that in the first instance the selection process will be led at Faculty level in order to identify the strongest candidates.

Candidates should consult the Guidance for Applicants on the Leverhulme Trust’s website prior to submitting an Expression of Interest.

The University will support successful candidates in the development of full applications, the deadline for which is 19 February 2026. For any queries about the scheme or internal process, please contact Alan Ashton-Smith (Alan.Ashton-Smith@warwick.ac.uk).

A previously unknown miniature portrait of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton – Shakespeare’s patron and possible lover – has been discovered in a private collection.

The owners contacted art historian Dr Elizabeth Goldring, honorary reader at the University of Warwick, after reading her book Nicholas Hilliard: Life of an Artist, as they suspected the tiny portrait in their collection might be the work of the renowned miniaturist, and also wished to identify the sitter.

The painting has now been confirmed as a work by Nicholas Hilliard (c.1547-1619), Queen Elizabeth I’s favourite portraitist, with the subject identified as Henry Wriothesley (1573-1624). The miniature’s style indicates it was painted in the early 1590s.

“The Earl’s pearl earring, bracelets, beautifully embroidered clothing and long hair held close to his heart may present an initial impression of a woman, but this is a faithful representation of Wriothesley’s appearance,” explains Dr Goldring. “A noted patron of the arts, Wriothesley was celebrated by his contemporaries for his androgynous beauty and his love of poetry and drama. He was known, too, for his vanity and for the great pride he took in his appearance, especially his long hair.”

Shakespeare dedicated two lengthy erotic poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, to the Earl of Southampton, and Wriothesley has long been conjectured to be the beautiful, androgynous ‘fair youth’ to whom many of Shakespeare’s sonnets are addressed, with some scholars suggesting that the youth was Shakespeare’s lover. Intriguingly, a small but significant detail on the reverse of this miniature offers a fascinating potential clue to the nature of Wriothesley’s personal relationship with Shakespeare.

“Miniatures were inherently private artworks that were frequently exchanged as love tokens,” said Dr Goldring. “This miniature is pasted onto a playing card, which is customary for the time. The reverse of this playing card was originally a red heart, but most unusually, the heart has been deliberately obliterated and painted over with a black arrow. It could, arguably, be a spade - but I think it more strongly resembles a spear, the symbol that appears in Shakespeare’s coat of arms.

“It’s impossible to say when this deliberate defacement took place, but it was certainly done with a purpose. One tantalising interpretation might be that Shakespeare was the original recipient of the miniature but returned it to the Earl at some point - perhaps around the time of Southampton’s marriage in 1598 - with his personal mark firmly obscuring the heart. Such a scenario would help to explain why and how the miniature remained in a branch of the Southampton family for hundreds of years.”

Dr Goldring, in partnership with art historian Emma Rutherford and literary scholar Professor Sir Jonathan Bate, has spent the last 8 months authenticating and researching the exquisite oval artwork, measuring just two and a quarter inches in height.

The discovery of the miniature adds a striking new dimension to the mystery of Shakespeare’s muse – and sheds fresh light on one of the most enigmatic relationships in literary history.

A University of Warwick epigraphy expert has collaborated with Google DeepMind to evaluate ‘Aeneas’, an AI model that reimagines Roman inscriptions.

Co-authoring a paper published in the world's leading multidisciplinary science journal Nature today, Alison Cooley, Professor of Classics and Ancient History at the University of Warwick, has played a key verification role in developing the first artificial intelligence (AI) model for contextualising ancient inscriptions.

"How did Sir Walter Raleigh invent the potato?” In this 10-Minute Talk, Rebecca Earle FBA takes up Philomena Cunk’s question to explore the global history of the potato and explain why we should care. Speaker: Professor Rebecca Earle FBA

The University of Warwick and the University of Leeds have together secured one of only 10 prestigious Doctoral Focal Awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). The Award will fund 20 PhD scholarships focused on the creative economy, with a specific emphasis on sustainability and diversity in the screen industries.

Led at Warwick by Dr David Wright, Director of Graduate Studies in the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies with Dr Sanjay Sharma (Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies) and overall by Professor Joanne Garde-Hansen, Head of the School of Media and Communication with Professor Anamik Saha (Professor of Race and Media) at Leeds, the Creative Bridges partnership will run from 2026 until 2033. It will train a new generation of interdisciplinary researcher-practitioners to work alongside – and within – the film, television, games and immersive media sectors.

As the screen industries increasingly look beyond London for talent, for research capacity and fresh perspectives, Creative Bridges draws on the established screen media clusters in Yorkshire and the Midlands to connect academic and industry expertise.

Through active collaborations with organisations from across the film, television, gaming and immersive media sectors, the programme will offer a model for how universities and creative industries can work together more effectively across both regional and disciplinary boundaries.

Throughout the programme there will be a specific focus on two of the sector’s most pressing challenges – sustainability and diversity. Aligning with the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy (2025) that identifies the Creative Industries as one of eight sectors driving future growth, the programme highlights the need to expand and diversify the talent pipeline and spotlights projects that exemplify the drive to net zero.

Creative Bridges will provide partners and researchers in our regions with the space, time and resources to reflect on how to meet these ambitions. The programme also aims to build on AHRC’s investments in redefining doctoral training in the arts and humanities, producing researchers who can make an impact beyond academia.

Professor Rachel Moseley, Vice Provost and Chair of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Warwick, said: “Creative Bridges is a bold and timely reimagining of doctoral research in the arts and humanities. By connecting regions, sectors and disciplines, this partnership will enable doctoral students to engage directly with the pressing strategic challenges facing today’s screen industries, from building a more inclusive workforce to driving environmental sustainability.

With strong regional ties to the creative economy and deep links across industry, both Warwick and Leeds are well placed to support this shift. We are proud to be creating new opportunities for UK-based talent to work in collaboration with screen industry partners, contributing fresh thinking and vital research capacity where it’s most needed.”

Professor Joanne Garde-Hansen, Head of the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leeds said: “Creative Bridges is an exciting opportunity to connect two of the UK’s most dynamic creative regions – Yorkshire and the Midlands – and to co-create a future-facing research training environment with industry partners. Our goal is to rethink how we train researchers for, and with, the creative industries, and to ensure that the next generation of scholars are equipped to respond to the critical challenges of sustainability and diversity in screen culture.

“The award also responds directly to concerns raised by AHRC Executive Chair Professor Christopher Smith earlier this year about the lack of AHRC-funded PhDs focused on the creative industries. With Creative Bridges, Warwick and Leeds are not only addressing that gap – they are reasserting the vital role of arts and humanities research in shaping the future of screen-based cultures.”

Professor Andrew Thorpe, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures at the University of Leeds, said: "This award underlines the University’s commitment to working across disciplines and sectors to support research that makes a real-world difference, in this case contributing specifically to diversity and sustainability initiatives and to the UK’s creative sectors. The screen industries are a vital part of the UK’s creative economy, and I am delighted that this partnership will give Leeds-based researchers the opportunity to help shape their future."

The AHRC’S Professor Christopher Smith said: “Introducing Focal Awards allows us to support cohorts of students in centres for excellence for strategically valuable areas such as health and the creative economy. In the future this approach will allow us, in consultation with the sector, to provide support where it is needed to disciplines across the arts and humanities, vital skills and digital humanities. But the scope for individual projects is wide and autonomy for researchers remains as important as ever.

“The Focal Awards exemplify AHRC’s approach to doctoral training and our ambition for a sustainable portfolio providing support for training, investigator-led research, strategic direction and building the infrastructure necessary for people and ideas for the future of arts and humanities.”

Sonny Hanley, Director of ITV Academy, one of the partner organisations for Creative Bridges, said: “For ITV Academy, working with the Universities of Leeds and Warwick through Creative Bridges allows us to shape the questions and the challenges we would like the next generation of researchers to focus on. In a rapidly changing media environment, we can work collaboratively on diverse cutting-edge projects that will benefit who we are and what we do, and ensure we are ready for the future.”

Recruitment is due to begin in Autumn 2025.

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For more information please contact:

Ann Baylis, Media & Communications Officer

ann.baylis@warwick.ac.uk/ 07876 876 937

General and out of hours press office number +44 (0)7392 125605 (please call as emails are not checked out of office hours)