The conference ‘Forms and Feelings of Kinship in the Contemporary World’, funded by the Humanities Research Centre, took place on 27^th April 2024 at the Wolfson Research Exchange. This event provided a platform for an interdisciplinary dialogue between screen studies and kinship studies, bringing together researchers from both anthropology and film and media studies. Professor Janet Carsten from the University of Edinburgh gave the keynote address, titled ‘Creative Kinship: Extending Familial and Moral Imaginaries’, proposing that cinema can open up an expansive and imaginative terrain to explore kinship issues. In accordance with this topic, the conference was organised into three panels: ‘Creatures and Landscapes’ examined how we can make kin from both non-human and ecological perspectives; ‘Queer Families and Communities’ addressed the new visions of queer families and communities in terms of today’s geopolitics; ‘Kinship and Genre’ obtained a critical viewpoint to reconsider the representations of familial relationships in mainstream films. Professor Alastair Phillips, Professor Catherine Constable, Professor Karl Schoonover, and Dr James Taylor chaired the keynote address and panels. Additionally, Dom Thornton gave a paper on the ‘fast family’ of the Fast and Furious franchise.

The AHRC-funded Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training PartnershipLink opens in a new window (M4C) brings together eight leading universities across the Midlands to support the professional and personal development of the next generation of arts and humanities doctoral researchers. M4C is a collaboration between the University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University, University of Warwick, Coventry University, University of Leicester, De Montfort University, Nottingham Trent University and The University of Nottingham.   

For 2024 entry Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partnership is offering up to 70 fully funded PhD studentships for eligible students in the arts and humanities through the Open Competition and 13 Collaborative Doctoral Awards (CDA).   

Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick is one of the UK’s leading departments in the field of film and television research and teaching. It ranked number 1 in Media and Film Studies by The Guardian University Guide 2024. We are inviting applications from students whose research interests connect with our broadly defined fields of expertise in:   

• Film and television history  
• Film and television aesthetics  
• Film theory and philosophy  
• European cinemas  
• World cinemas  
• Queer cinema and television  
• Human rights and social justice  
• Documentary  
• Stardom  
• Early cinema  
• Experimental and art cinemas 
• Ecocinema   

For further information on staff’s individual areas of expertise, please visit: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/scapvc/film/staff/Link opens in a new window 

Expressions of interest should reach Film and Television Studies at Warwick no later than 30 November 2023. All applications will be subject to internal approval. For enquiries and further information, please contact Dr Tiago de Luca at t.de-luca@warwick.ac.ukLink opens in a new window   

The deadline for M4C funding applications is 10 January 2024 (noon UK time) by which time applicants must have applied for a place to study at Warwick and have ensured that two academic references are submitted via the Midlands4Cities online reference form.

For full details of eligibility, funding, research supervision areas and CDA projects, and for dates of M4C application writing workshops, please visit: https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/Link opens in a new window  

Details of funding for PhD researchers