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.

You can read more about our activities in our 2017-18 Research Report.

(An older edition of the Research Report, covering the academic year 2016-17, is available here).

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

PhD studentship available: North American Indigenous Languages

4 July 2019

We are looking for candidates for a collaborative PhD research project with the University of Hull. Apply by 5 August for an October 2019 start.

New edition of British Library Research Report published

20 May 2019

The 2017-18 Research Report is now available, covering the impressive range of collaborative research at the British Library.

Help

Proposing a new research collaboration with the British Library

How to propose a new research collaboration with the British Library.

Case studies

More Case studies

…I have most enjoyed the collaborative atmosphere of learning at the Library.…

AHRC Innovation Placement Fellow

Collaborative Doctoral Student British Library

…You get to know how people work in an institution like this... it's something I would like to do as well.…

Exploring the working life of a twentieth-century scientist through the archive of John Maynard Smith.

Alastair Horne British Library Mobile Fiction CDP

…Working with the British Library has enabled me to get my research out there beyond academia.…

How smartphones are changing storytelling: Alastair Horne, PhD student.

…I have particularly enjoyed developing new knowledge of the Library’s web archiving work.…

Exploring the challenges and opportunities of collecting interactive web-based works.

…Data visualisation tools allowed me to present a new perspective on the EAP projects in Africa…

Data visualisation tools allowed me to present a new perspective on the EAP projects in Africa.

Parthasarathi Bhaumik Chevening Fellow British Library

…The British Library holds not only the 'official' history of South Asia, but also its 'histories', which are personal, pluralistic, and intimate.…

Nationalism, Partition, and Independence in South Asia, 1900-1950.

Research collaboration events

Feed the Mind 2018

Mon 8 Apr - Mon 17 Jun 2019

From early America to contemporary oral history interviews, this series of inspiring talks explores the diversity of collaborative research taking place at the British Library.

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

Finliandets: the magazine of the Imperial Russian Finland Guard Regiment in Exile

Friday, July 5, 2019

The British Library holds a range of fascinating Russian-language periodicals published by Russian émigrés across the globe. The newspapers, magazines and journals published by the Russian community abroad during the interwar period is particularly rich. A new wave of Russian...

Imaginary Cities Exhibition at the British Library

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Until 14 July 2019 Entrance Hall Gallery, British Library Our new art exhibition, Imaginary Cities, by British Library Labs artist in residence, Michael Takeo Magruder, has been drawing a steady stream of curious visitors since its opening on the 5th...

Michael Ryle and the development of the House of Commons select committee system

Tuesday, June 25, 2019

Forty years ago today the House of Commons debated proposals to restructure its select committee system. See this blog by Emmeline Ledgerwood to find out more.

Naskhi-divani: a little-recognized sultanate script

Monday, June 24, 2019

Today's guest blog is by Vivek Gupta, a historian of Islamic and South Asian art who is completing his PhD thesis “Wonder Reoriented: Manuscripts and Experience in Islamicate Societies of South Asia (ca. 1450–1600),” at SOAS University of London, History...