This PhD project offers an exciting opportunity to investigate archives and corporate memory, and their exploitation within an increasingly digital corporate environment. The student will be able to develop their qualitative and quantitative research skills, generate real world impact in businesses and archives, and contribute to archive and business theory and practice.
Loughborough University is a top-ten rated university in England for research intensity (REF2014). In choosing Loughborough for your research, you’ll work alongside academics who are leaders in their field. You will benefit from comprehensive support and guidance from our Doctoral College, including tailored careers advice, helping you succeed in your research and future career.
Find out more: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/supporting-you/research/
Full Project Detail
This PhD project draws on themes of digital business, digital heritage, corporate memory and digital resilience to focus on business archives in the corporate world and their exploitation as business assets. The research will examine the role of business archive assets in facilitating corporate memory and maximising the value for companies of their records and archives through, e.g. marketing, improving business resilience, or developing community engagement. The benefits of preserving historical material for businesses have been expounded by TNA (2009), the Business Archives Council (2019) and the Scottish Council on Archives (2010). However, the practice of business archives, and the methods of preserving and exploiting them, has not been systematically investigated.
The project will investigate business archives as business assets, and the significance and exploitation of these by businesses in an increasingly digital environment. The research will explore potential challenges, opportunities and impacts of digital media and materials, and their preservation and accessibility in the long term in businesses. The implications for businesses, such as finance, staffing and technical requirements, of developing and implementing methods to manage this will be explored. It will investigate current archival and records management practices in the sector, identifying cases of good practice, and the impact they have in companies and on business performance and resilience. Relatively little is known about the nature of memory formation in the context of the business world and the role of business archives in this - this PhD project will explore these issues.
Candidates should have a demonstrable interest in business management, digital heritage, digital preservation, archives, information management or a related field.
Start date of studentship: 01 October 2019
Supervisors:
- Primary supervisor: Dr Clare Ravenwood
- Secondary supervisor: Professor Graham Matthews
Entry requirements
UK Masters degree (with average programme mark of no less than 65%) or International equivalent. English Language requirement of IELTS band 7.0 or above with not less than 7.0 in each component.
Funding information
The studentship provides a tax-free stipend of £14,777 per annum for the duration of the studentship plus tuition fees at the UK/EU rate. International (non-EU) students may apply; however, the total value of the studentship will be used to cover the cost of the International tuition fee.