Research collaboration

Research underpins all core purposes of the British Library. We play a key role in the UK research community and work with national and international partners to support and stimulate research of all kinds.

We lead and support research projects, supervise a range of collaborative PhDs, research placements and fellowships, and run a regular programme of training events. Our staff have extensive research expertise and we contribute actively to the development of research policy.

In addition to exploring these pages, you might find the following areas of the British Library’s website of interest:

Our Reference team can answer subject-specific research enquiries.

Find out how we contribute to Learning and higher education.

Read about our International collaborations.

How we collaborate

Doctoral research

We support postgraduate research through our Reading Rooms and online resources, through collaborative projects, and through research training events.

Projects and partnerships

We actively lead on and support research.

Research expertise

Our research, professional and methodological expertise covers all disciplines and spans traditional and digital scholarship in all its forms.

Training and events

We convene and support research events and training activities throughout the year.

Policy

As the national library of the United Kingdom, we are an integral part of the national research infrastructure and have an active approach to research and higher education policy.

News

A celebration of the Jamaican writer James Berry at the British Library

13 August 2018

Join us for a conference and an evening event at the British Library on 5 October.

Apply for a 2019/20 Chevening Fellowship at the British Library

10 August 2018

The application window is now open for two 12 month fellowships at the British Library for international experts. Deadline: 6 November 2018.

Front page of the Iblichnāmā (1870). British Library, VT 1766

South Asia Series research talks at the British Library

21 May 2018

A great line-up of talks based on the Library's ‘Two Centuries of Indian Print’ project and the South Asia Collection

Case studies

More Case studies

…I think one of the underlying principles of the Fellowship… is that you might just be surprised by what you can find [at the BL].…

Exploring the potential for innovative sociological research with the British Sociological Association.

…The benefit to our personal and professional development has been great … having the space to explore our own capabilities outside of a strictly academic environment.…

Developing access to the Evolving English collection.

…A PhD can be a lonely journey, but collaborative PhDs are certainly not that.…

Investigating constructions of identity in the works and archive of the writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

…The BL Newspaper collections are vast and in many cases also rare and unique in their content and collection histories. …

Junaid-Ul-Hassan is a Chevening Fellow working at the British Library on a project titled ‘News and Media in South Asia: Past and Present’.

…King George III’s Topographical Collection is a truly amazing collection in the British Library…

Maps, the Italian Grand Tour and the King’s Topographical Collection

…The British Library is home to countless experts whose passion makes navigating its enormous collections a pleasure.…

Izzy's PhD research placement was an exploration of the life of Karl Marx.

Research collaboration events

James Berry Memorial Conference

Fri 5 Oct 2018

Celebrate the life and work of the Jamaican poet and writer James Berry

MA in Early Modern English Literature: Text & Transmission

Fri 1 Sep 2017 - Sun 30 Sep 2018

The British Library is working in partnership with King’s College London to teach an MA in English literature, entitled Early Modern English Literature: Text and Transmission.

Blog posts

The Parts of a Playbill

Monday, August 13, 2018

Beatrice Ashton-Lelliott is a PhD researcher at the University of Portsmouth studying the presentation of nineteenth-century magicians in biographies, literature, and the popular press. She is currently a research placement student on the British Library’s In the Spotlight project, cleaning...

Visualising the Endangered Archives Programme project data on Africa, Part 2. Data visualisation tools

Wednesday, August 8, 2018

Sarah FitzGerald is a linguistics PhD researcher at the University of Sussex investigating the origins and development of Cameroon Pidgin English. She is currently a research placement student in the British Library’s Digital Scholarship Team, using data from the Endangered...

Visualising the Endangered Archives Programme project data on Africa, Part 1. The project

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

Sarah FitzGerald is a linguistics PhD researcher at the University of Sussex investigating the origins and development of Cameroon Pidgin English. She is currently a research placement student in the British Library’s Digital Scholarship Team, using data from the Endangered...

Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval

Friday, July 20, 2018

This a guest post is by Carol Butler, who is doing a collaborative PhD research project with the Centre for Human Computer Interaction Design at City University of London and the British Library on the topic of new technologies challenging...