University of Lincoln RIF Studentships 2014
PROJECT DETAILS
Project Title
History in video games: representation and historical engagement in digital gaming
Project Reference
RIF2014S-02
Project Summary
The Lincoln School of Media at the University of Lincoln invites applications for a new
PhD Scholarship for enrolment in September 2014, working on the intersections
between video games and history. The specific focus of the PhD is the ways in which
video games allow us to play with history and the past, and the effects that this play
might have on popular understanding of history.
The candidate will be expected to work on the PhD full-time, working within the
School of Media, and will be supported by an interdisciplinary research team
comprising staff from Games Studies and History as well as Media Studies. They will
also join Lincoln’s new History and the Media research group, dedicated to the
representation and use of history in popular culture.
The Scholarship covers all Home/EU fees and includes a stipend in line with current
AHRC norms. The successful candidate will be expected to complete within 3.5
years. Applications are invited from candidates with a Masters degree and/or a BA
Hons degree (2:1 or above, or predicted) in Media, Cultural Studies, Film & TV,
History or in an appropriate discipline.
The depiction and representation of history in video games is a critically understudied
area both in the humanities and in games studies itself.
With the gaming industry forecast to generate $100 billion per year by 2017, and with
historical video games such as Assassin’s Creed or the Total War, Call of Duty, and
Civilization series regularly topping sales charts, it is clear that not only are video
games big business, but they are also a popular way of engaging with the past. This
popularity creates new questions in turn, which as yet remain unanswered: is it
possible to learn history from a video game? What kind of history would that be? And
if we do learn history from video games, how might that influence current attitudes to
the past, or the formation of identities in the present?
Despite the importance of these questions, scholarship has been slow to follow.
Although isolated studies do examine historical video games—notably Uricchio’s
2005 essay “Simulation, History and Computer Games”, or Kurt Squire’s 2004
doctoral study of learning history through Civilization IV—these attempts tend to
favour either an overtly pedagogical approach or questions of representation and
accuracy, not to mention the number of occasional articles which simply castigate
video games as bad history and inevitably inaccurate.
To explain why this is the case, however, is to recognise the need for specific and
bold investment: despite the importance of the topic, there are simply too few
scholars with the requisite training and skills to be able to examine these kinds of
issues from an appropriately interdisciplinary standpoint. Without rigorous training in
both historical representation/historiography and game studies, we are restricted to
applying outdated methodologies to new subjects which they no longer match,
inevitably producing outdated conclusions (such as that historical video games are
not history), which are self-evident in any case.
This PhD scholarship is therefore designed to deliver key objectives to overcome this
disciplinary impasse:

To offer a methodical study of history in video games, using appropriate
theories of representation alongside studies of gamification, ludology and
historiography, offering fresh approaches to a complex interdisciplinary
problem.

Operating under the aegis of the new History in the Media research group,
the PhD will offer cutting-edge research which builds on, and directly
contributes to, Lincoln’s success in challenging real issues of significance
beyond academia.
More broadly, the PhD studentship is designed to train a new scholar to take part in a
new generation of researchers who are able to cross traditional disciplinary lines,
supported by a supervisory team composed of experts in their respective fields.
Supervisory Team
1. Dr Andrew Elliott, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies, Lincoln School
of Media. http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/aelliott
2. Dr Dean Lockwood, Senior Lecturer, Lincoln School of Media.
http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/dlockwood
3. Dr Ben Kirman, Senior Lecturer, Lincoln School of Computer Science.
http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/bkirman
Informal Enquiries
For an informal discussion of the role, please contact Dr Andrew Elliott by email
aelliott@lincoln.ac.uk or by telephone 01522 837377. http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/aelliott
Eligibility
All Candidates must satisfy the College’s minimum doctoral entry criteria for
studentships of a Masters degree or equivalent. A minimum IELTS (Academic) score
of 7 (or equivalent) is essential for candidates for whom English is not their first
language. Funded Studentships are open to both UK/EU students unless otherwise
specified.
How to Apply
Please send a covering letter outlining your interest and proposed approach (up to 1
page A4) with an accompanying CV (including names of 2 academic referees) to
lengland@lincoln.ac.uk by close of day on 18th April 2014. Candidates will be notified
w/c 5th May of the outcome of the process and if invited to interview, these are
anticipated to take place w/c 26h May.