Wolfson DPhil Student Awarded Summer Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship

Wolfson DPhil student Smriti Verma has been awarded the 2026 Summer Interdisciplinary Research Fellowship at the University of York’s Arts & Humanities Research Hub, Heslington Hall. The one- month visiting fellowship is based at the Centre of Modern Studies(CModS) and provides a £1,000 award, dedicated workspace, and opportunities to engage with York’s research community.

Smriti’s project, Autofictional Affordances and Critical Feminist Engagement in Deborah Levy, Rachel Cusk and Xiaolu Guo, 2000-2024, explores feminist approaches to contemporary women’s life-writing and autofiction in the UK. During the fellowship, she will investigate connections between modernist women’s life-writing and contemporary autofiction while working with the Julia Pascal Archive at the Borthwick Institute.

As part of the fellowship, Smriti will also develop a chapter, participate in relevant CModS activities, and present her work through a work-in-progress paper or an informal reading-group session.

This year’s programme marks the opening of the University’s Arts & Humanities Research Hub at Heslington Hall and the inauguration of a researcher-exchange scheme with the University of Oxford’s Centre for Life Writing (OCLW).

Wolfson congratulates Smriti on this well-deserved achievement and wishes her every success with her fellowship.