Details
The School of English at the University of Sheffield is pleased to advertise three PhD projects funded by the Champernowne Trust and the bequest of Sheffield theatre director Geoffrey Ost. Successful applicants will receive an award to cover 3.5 years of home student fees + £5K research expenses per project. Each project will work on The Irene Champernowne Archive. This is a large collection of documents and artefacts related to the life and work of Irene Champernowne (1901 - 1976), a pioneering British psychotherapist influenced by the theories of Carl Jung who championed creativity and the arts as important aids for recovery from mental illness. The archive is housed by Special Collections and more information on the archive is available here.
The projects will start in September 2026. Applicants are invited to apply for one or more of the projects outlined below (each project will support one PhD student). To apply, please complete the application form by 5pm on 31st January 2026. Applicants should have a good first degree (2:1 or equivalent); a Masters level qualification and have English as their first language or an overall IELTS grade of 7.5 with a minimum score of 7.0 in each component. The form also requests applicants provide:
- An indication of which project they are applying for
- Details of past and current research qualifications
- A statement of research interests and their relevance to the project applied for
- Names of two academic references
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application by 31st March 2026. Any questions about the application process should be directed to the School’s Director of Research, Emma Moore (e.moore@sheffield.ac.uk). Any questions about the individual projects should be directed to the supervisors of those projects.
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Project 3. ‘Mother and Healer’: Irene Champernowne, Rudolf Laban and the Development of Art Therapy in Britain
Rudolf Laban was an Austro-Hungarian choreographer and movement specialist who developed the discipline of dance analysis through a specialist notation system known as Labanotation. His interest in pioneering modern dance, and recognising the close relationship between movement and mental health, shaped his work in advancing dance therapy as a way of expressing emotions that would otherwise be difficult to verbalise. He is well known in the UK not only through his theoretical and practical work but also through the establishment of the Trinity Laban Conservatoire, formerly known as the Laban Centre for Movement and Dance, in New Cross, South East London. This educational and therapeutic space initiated Laban’s long-standing legacy in Britain and offered other artists and psychologists the opportunity to engage fully with movement therapy. One of his close collaborators, whom he called ‘mother and healer’, but also ‘friend and co-fighter’ was Irene Champernowne, a pioneering British psychotherapist who founded the Withymead Centre in Devon, ‘a Jungian community for the healing arts’ (Stevens, 1986).
The principal aim of this PhD research is to actively and creatively engage with the Champernowne archive, held by the University of Sheffield Library Special Collections and Archives section, in order to explore Champernowne’s close relationship with Laban. Topics of interest might include, but are not limited to:
- Irene Champernowne’s contribution to and role in the development of Laban’s Art of Movement Guild;
- The influence, use and impact of Laban’s techniques in the art therapy workshops at Withymead;
- Irene Champernowne’s crucial contribution to the early development of British Art Therapy through the establishment of Withymead as an experimental centre for psychotherapy through the arts, with particular focus on movement and dance therapy.
This PhD project would contribute extensively and decisively to knowledge in the fields of art therapy, dance and movement and psychoanalysis, ensuring a better understanding of the role of Irene Champernowne in the early development of art therapy in Britain, and firmly placing early British art therapy training within the wider scope of European practice.
Supervisors: Dr Carmen Levick; Prof Frances Babbage