SCUDD

The Standing Conference of University Drama Departments

The Glynne Wickham Scholarship

SCUDD are delighted to be able to offer £3500 worth of awards in each academic year to postgraduate students in SCUDD departments/units to facilitate giving papers or equivalent presentations at conferences or symposia. The scholarship was instigated as part of the celebrations of SCUDD’s 30th anniversary, and appropriately named after the late Professor Glynne Wickham (see biography below), one of the founders of the academic discipline of Theatre Studies.

Eligibility

We welcome applications from those registered for PG studies from SCUDD member departments.
  • Staff registered for MPhil/PhDs and MA by Research are supported
  • PhD candidates are eligible until graduation
All applications must be accompanied by:
  • Proof of Acceptance for the conference that is applied for.
  • An abstract, which should include information about the fit of the applicant’s paper with the conference theme. (ie: on the same page, include the abstract that has been accepted and add a short paragraph justification how your application fits the conference).
  • Supervisor statement of support (this will be sought automatically when you submit the form, and submitted directly by your supervisor. You need only supply their email address on the form).
  • If successful, you will later need to prove attendance at the conference.
Newly eligible
  • ECRs that are also registered for PhDs.
  • Note that the supporting statement comes from PhD supervisor.
Ineligible: Candidates cannot be supported twice in a period of 18 months, due to our aim to offer broad support for the PG community. That means no application will be considered for a conference that falls within 18 months of the date of the conference for which you were first successful.

Funds

Funding is available up to the amount of £220 (£330 for international events) per application. Funding will only be available to cover travel at second class rail fare, air fare, coach fare, for accommodation and for registration and will only be made available upon presentation of appropriate receipts.

Successful applicants must also gain a letter from the conference organiser (or request that they email gws@scudd.org.uk) to confirm that you gave your paper/presentation.

Funds will only be made available in GBP. Funds will be released upon receipt of confirmation from the conference organiser and appropriate receipts. Funds will only be paid in GBP sterling and by cheque.

Application Procedure

Apply online, including your abstract and a short commentary about the value of this particular conference for your current stage of research. Ensure your supervisor’s details are correct and that you have alerted them about the need for a reference and have given them plenty of tie to complete the reference before the appropriate deadline (1 March, 1 June or 1 November)

 

Scholarship Application Form

Deadline

There are three deadlines across the year: please ensure that you submit in advance of this deadline, and notify supervisors in advance too, so that their support can reach us for the following dates:

  • November 1st
  • March 1st
  • June 1st

Final submission dates of receipts within 1 month of the event

Processing of Applications

Staff and student members of the SCUDD postgraduate sub-committee will consider each application. Recommendations will be made and acted upon by the treasurer.

If you have any enquiries, please email gws@scudd.org.uk.

Procedure for payments

Applicants should forward claims using the GWS claim form with full details of expenditure to the SCUDD treasurer within 1 month of the event.

GWS subcommittee

Subcommittee terms:

  • Members typically serve for 3 years.
  • Subcommittee members are able to serve for two terms of 3 years.
  • There needs to be a minimum of three responses per application.
  • Subcommittee members comment on suitability for award (not on academic merit in areas they have marginal expertise). Acceptance at conference is merit in that area.
  • Comments relate to the stage the student is at, the research potential and the fit with the conference.
  • We support the wide range of research across drama, dance and performance.
  • We aim to support from a range of institutions.

 

Current members as of July 2017:

Chair: AM Walsh (till Nov 2018)

Amy Skinner (from SCUDD committee)

Tanya Dean (Ulster)

Tom Cornford (CSSD)

Kate Newey (Exeter)

Swati Arora (Exeter)

Cami Rowe (Goldsmiths)

Claire Hampton (Wolverhampton)

 

PG:
Jivitesh Vashisht (Leeds, English)

Linford Butler (Manchester)

Sarah Little (Leeds/ PCI)

 

 

Glynne Wickham (1922 - 2004)

Glynne Wickham, Professor Emeritus of drama at the University of Bristol, died aged 81 in February 2004. A blue plaque in the foyer of the Bristol drama department’s theatre, renamed the Glynne Wickham Studio Theatre in his honour, offers a tribute to “Glynne Wickham, who inspired the study of drama in British universities”.

Glynne Wickham is remembered for having virtually single-handedly created the academic discipline of drama. He was appointed in 1948 to the department of drama at Bristol – the first in the UK – and in 1951 he convened a symposium on “the responsibility of universities to the theatre” to endorse the policy of studying drama in the context of theatre. A 1954 symposium on “the relationship between universities and radio, film, and television” looked ahead to developments in media studies. He laid the foundations for the university’s theatre collection in 1951 (now holding museum status and an internationally significant archive). In 1955, he was made head of department and in 1960 he became the UK’s first chair of drama.

Glynne helped to set up a playwriting fellowship in the drama department at Bristol and John Arden was among the young playwrights attracted to this post. Harold Pinter’s first play, The Room, had its world premiere in the department’s studio in 1957. Glynne was also responsible for the department publishing New Theatre Magazine (1959-73) and served as president of the ‘Society for Theatre Research’ from 1976 to 1999. In 1970, Sam Wanamaker sought his advice on the setting up of a Globe theatre in London.

Glynne published extensively: Shakespeare’s Dramatic Heritage (1969), The Medieval Theatre (1974), English Moral Interludes (1975), A History of the Theatre (1985), and, most recently, English Professional Theatre, 1530-1660 (2001), a documentary history (of which he was editor and co-author)

As part of its 30th anniversary celebrations, SCUDD established its postgraduate scholarship. In tribute to the legacy and achievement of Glynne Wickham, this has been named the Glynne Wickham Scholarship. It is wholely appropriate that Glynne’s name continues in this way to promote research within the discipline.