York Art Gallery Postgraduate Research Fellowship
The History of Art Department and the Friends of the York Art Gallery (FYAG) are pleased to announce a jointly funded, one-year postgraduate fellowship.
Applications for 2026/27 are open until Tuesday 1 September 2026, 12pm BST.
Based at the York Art Gallery (YAG) and supervised by a curator at the YAG and a faculty member from the University of York’s Department of History of Art, the fellowship is intended for candidates with a strong interest in curatorial work, excellent research and communication skills and a proactive mindset. Ideally, the successful candidate’s research—at either MA or PhD level—will relate to the ‘Face to Face’ project, and MA candidates would be encouraged to focus their dissertation on the York Art Gallery’s collection as well.
The fellowship will be for nine months (typically September-May, coterminous with the University teaching year). It will entail a mixture of on-site and remote working, with the schedule agreed in consultation with the student to meet the needs of the project.
York Art Gallery is currently planning to rehang its Upper North Gallery with a semi-permanent display titled ‘Face to Face’, which will foreground its extensive and internationally famous collection of portraits. Encompassing a wide range of dates, places of origin and styles, the exhibition will include highlights of the collection, such as the Portrait of Monsignor Agucchi (1603–1604) attributed to either Domenichino or Annibale Carracci; Albert de Ligne, Prince of Barbançon and Arenberg (1625–1635) by Anthony van Dyck; Lady Helen, Later Viscountess of d’Aberdon (1904) by John Singer Sargent; and Marilyn Monroe (1967) by Andy Warhol.
John Gilbert (1817–1897), Rembrandt in His Studio (1869). York Museums Trust, YORAG : 351
The new display will also explore portraits and self-portraits of artists and their studios through works such as Rembrandt in His Studio (1869) by John Gilbert; The Artist at Work (1838) by Mary Ellen Best; and Hogarth’s Studio in 1739 (1863) by Edward Matthew Ward. In addition to paintings, works of sculpture and ceramics that fit the theme of portraiture will also be included.
The ‘Face to Face’ rehang is an opportunity for a student to support the research, development, delivery and promotion of this display, while gaining valuable curatorial experience.
York Art Gallery Postgraduate Research Fellowship contact details
History of Art Student Services Team
Eligibility
Open to International (including EU), International (non-EU) and UK (home) students.
Open to students in the Department of History of Art.
Open to full-time MA and PhD students of History of Art in the Department of History of Art at the University of York. Part-time students may apply on the understanding that, if successful, they will change their registration to full-time for the 2026/27 academic year.
Eligible courses: MA in History of Art, MA in History of Art (Art Curating), MA in History of Art (Fashion History), PhD in History of Art.
Students are welcome to apply for multiple studentship opportunities, on the understanding that they are unlikely to be appointed to more than one placement.
How to apply
Application deadline: Tuesday 1 September 2026, 12pm BST
Please submit your CV and a personal statement of no more than 800 words which explains your interest in, and suitability for, this partnership opportunity.
Please email your CV and personal statement to history-of-art@york.ac.uk by the deadline, with ‘FYAG Fellowship Application’ as the subject.
Shortlisted candidates will be interviewed in the week beginning 7 September 2026.
Terms and conditions
In preparation for the interview, applicants will be asked to propose a research project relating to one or more of the portraits in York Art Gallery’s collection. Elements of the successful candidate’s research will be incorporated into the interpretation of the display.
The research will be supervised by a curator at York Art Gallery, with additional support from a designated supervisor in the Department of History of Art at the University of York.
The successful candidate will work closely with the curatorial team during their placement, engaging in a wide range of activities including exhibition installations, cataloguing, digitisation, collections care, conservation, object handling, social media, and public engagement activities, as required. Additionally, they have the opportunity to give talks and tours relating to the ‘Face to Face’ display.
As part of the fellowship, the successful candidate will also engage with the Friends of York Art Gallery. This includes delivering an oral report at the annual meeting, as well as an ‘Artwork of the Month’ talk. The candidate will also be invited to deliver a lecture on their project at the end of their fellowship.
About York Art Gallery
York Art Gallery is part of York Museums Trust, a registered charity which also manages The Yorkshire Museum and York Castle Museum. As such, the gallery works alongside colleagues in learning, volunteering, marketing, enterprise and digital media. York Art Gallery is a major regional art gallery which works in partnership with a range of local, regional and national partners including the Art Fund, Tate and the National Gallery.
The collections
York Art Gallery’s collections are an outstandingly rich resource with over 1000 oil paintings, 15,000 works on paper, 100 sculptures, 5500 studio ceramics and archival material. Consequently, there are still lots of new discoveries to be made, in a supportive and inspiring environment. York Art Gallery reopened in summer 2015 after a major £8,000,000 development project with 60 per cent more display space in which to present major exhibitions, new gardens, exciting learning programmes and also the Centre of Ceramic Art (CoCA). The Gallery has won numerous awards including Family-Friendly Museum of the Year Award 2016, was shortlisted for the Art Fund’s Museum of the Year Award 2016, and most recently won a special commendation at the European Museum of the Year Awards.
About Friends of York Art Gallery
The gallery has a highly supportive and active Friends group which has part-funded this scholarship and which is keen to learn more about York Art Gallery’s collections. Watch a video about the group.
The student view
York Art Gallery MA Scholar Placement, Abigail Jubb
What did you work on?
My research project was on the Tillotson Hyde Collection of Drawings and Illustrations, a collection of some 1500 works on paper produced between the early nineteenth and mid-twentieth century by over 500 artists and amateurs. Diverse in content and quality, the collection includes artists’ drawings, preparatory sketches and “commercial” artwork. In particular, my research focused on the collection’s social cartoons and caricatures. The outcomes of my project include provenance and object led research, the proposal and preparation of an exhibition on the project, gallery talks and events for the Friends of York Art Gallery programme and the publication of a report on the Friends of York Art Gallery website.
You can find out more about my research project by reading my report, The Tillotson Hyde Collection of Drawings and Illustrations: Research project Report.
What experiences would you say have been most useful or unexpected?
Besides conducting provenance and object-based research on the collection, I proposed and prepared an exhibition of its artworks. This involved curatorial tasks such as creating objects lists, making loan requests, preparing an exhibition proposal and interpretation plan, and researching and drafting interpretation labels. My exhibition proposal proposed the exhibition of costume and textiles objects alongside the works on paper from the Tillotson Hyde collection, which expanded my experience of working with collections. This experience was particularly useful as it gave me an understanding of what goes into curating an exhibition, which will certainly help me to pursue my professional interest in curating, and has encouraged my interest in working with institutions with interdisciplinary collections.
My experiences at York Art Gallery also, unexpectedly, extended outside my research project! I assisted on the installation of the ‘Paul Nash and the Uncanny Landscape’ exhibition, designed and delivered public engagement events for the Friends of York Art Gallery’s program, assisted with the learning team’s Sketchbook Circle and contributed research to the visitor experience team’s Instagram project, Sartorial Saturdays, which informed a gallery talk I gave on dress details in the Gallery’s permanent collection of portraits. These experiences have expanded my insight into and interest in the diverse heritage sector.
Who do you work with, and how does the institution make use of you?
In short, the Friends of York Art Gallery made use of my art historical knowledge and research skills to further knowledge of York Art Gallery’s collections, providing me with a platform through which to share this at public-facing events.
Primarily, I worked with the Curator of Art, Jennifer Alexander, and Curatorial Assistant, Fiona Green; we had regular supervision meetings to discuss my research project and proposed outcomes, where I learned from their knowledge and expertise. I also met with the Friends of York Art Gallery Committee to discuss my research and the design and delivery of three gallery and two seminar sessions, which were part of their programme of events. These outreach events engaged members of the Friends, and the public, in my research project, and enabled me to use their feedback to plan my research project and its public-facing outcomes.
Besides York Art Gallery’s curatorial team and the Friends of York Art Gallery, I also worked with the Gallery’s visitor experience and learning teams, and the Assistant Curator of costume and textiles when contributing to projects.
What do you value most about your experience with the institution?
Through my experience at York Art Gallery, I feel that I have gained skills in collections research, management, care and interpretation, which have equipped me for a future career in curating. Since completing my research project I have been offered a paid collections internship with Ripon Museums and a paid internship with the Hull Yorkshire’s Maritime City project; prospective employers continue to be interested in my experience at York Art Gallery and the transferable skills and knowledge I gained there.
How has your work with York Art Gallery enhanced your studies at York?
While I approached this partnership as separate from my studies, due to my differing research interests (I specialised in fashion), my experiences at York Art Gallery still enhanced my studies in unexpected ways. In particular, working on the research project developed my provenance and object-led research skills, which were instructive to my Master’s dissertation project. I also found that the public engagement events I delivered at York Art Gallery encouraged my confidence when public speaking, which helped me when presenting academic work.
Do you feel it has been helpful with career planning or improved your job prospects, and if yes, how?
The projects I worked on at York Art Gallery have given me an insight into the diversity of the museums and galleries sector, which has helped me consider what a career in this sector could involve. Personally, this research-focused partnership has furthered my interest in academic research and curating. I am now pursuing further academic study and curatorial roles, and I feel that, to date, the highly transferable skills and knowledge I gained at York Art Gallery have been hugely helpful in my pursuits!
Would you recommend it to future students?
I would recommend this partnership to future students who are interested in provenance and object-led research, public engagement and working with collections. It is an instructive opportunity to gain practical experience working with collections and to gain knowledge and skills in collections research, management and care, all of which will be invaluable to students’ future employability in the museums and galleries sector.
Read about the experiences of previous recipients of the Friends of York Art Gallery Research Scholarship: