3rd Cavendish Arts Science fellowship at Girton College (University of Cambridge)

Cavendish Arts Science is delighted to announce that applications for the third Cavendish Arts Science fellowship at Girton College, University of Cambridge have opened.

The Cavendish Laboratory has an extraordinary history of discovery and innovation in Physics since its opening in 1874. Research in the Cavendish has been instrumental in our understanding of the physical world, from creating theories of electromagnetism and discovering the electron to splitting the nucleus and developing X-ray crystallography to see inside the atom.

Today, fundamental questions addressed by research in the laboratory range from understanding space and the origin of the universe to exploring time, matter and energy in all its forms and at every scale, from the very large to the inconceivably small.

In 2024, the Cavendish Laboratory will be moving to its new state-of-the-art and purpose-built home, the Ray Dolby Centre.

They are looking for the third Cavendish Arts Science at Girton College Fellow. This unique collaborative opportunity is open to artists internationally and is not confined to any single aesthetic, theme, or medium. The Fellowship is financially supported. Artists with no previous experience of working with scientists or in a scientific environment are particularly encouraged to apply.

The Fellowship will last one year from October 2023 and will include a residency period at Girton College in Cambridge, typically of at least six months up to one year, with the potential for the period of residency to be split across two visits.

The artist will receive a stipend, accommodation and subsistence during the period of residency. A budget will be provided for the production of new work, and for travel.

The successful applicant will normally be elected Visiting Fellow Commoner in the Arts at Girton College and will

• Develop thought-provoking ideas through engagement with physicists and those in other fields
• Experiment with new approaches to their practice that are transformative and push boundaries
• Produce new work to be exhibited during the Fellowship and beyond
• Have opportunities to exhibit work in other contexts including the opening of the Cavendish Laboratory (Ray Dolby Centre) in 2024, and potentially those created through national and international partnerships.

Financial Support:

• A stipend of £10,000 GBP will be paid to the successful candidate
• Accommodation and meals will be provided by Girton College during the residency period in Cambridge.
• A production budget of £10,000 GBP will be made available to support the development of new work.
• A travel budget of up to £3,000 GBP (depending on where the artist is based) will be available to support the cost of travel to/from Cambridge during the Fellowship.

How to apply

• All applications should be submitted using the form
• The deadline for submissions is 23:59:59 (British Summer Time) on Sunday 21 May 2023.

Before you apply, please read the Frequently Asked Questions. 
If you have any other questions, please email them at [email protected]. Long-form answers in the application can be submitted as either written responses or audio recordings. If another format or way of working is preferred, please get in touch and they will do their best to accommodate you.

The annual Cavendish Arts Science Fellowship is delivered in partnership with Girton College. Previous Cavendish Arts Science Fellows include experimental filmmaker Logan Dandridge who brought specific interests in memory, non-linear time and Black experience to his dialogues with physicists, and artist and composer Ain Bailey our 2022-23 Fellow, who is currently in residence in Cambridge. Ain brings her interest in multi-channel sound, architectural acoustics and the constellation of sounds that form individual and community identities, to her encounters with physicists.