I require a convinving proposal for their PhD (DPhil) programme. Would ideally prefer an Oxbridge PhD level graduate to work on this.
I would like to focus on London’s Routemaster Bus.
My initial thoughts were perhaps how its adoption changed public transport provision in London and the possible social changes that were possible as a result (be careful about claiming it ’caused’ anything directly though), or how it was a result of a change in public transport thinking in the capital. Another angle might be how the engineering of the vehicle ’caused’, or was caused by, an evolution in public transport needs or thinking, or why the London Transport decided to update their road stock. There will be a political influence behind the scenes too I suspect.
In addition:
am yet to identifiy a hypothesis and precise title but some of the themes which come to mind are:
Impact of the Routemaster bus on Britain’s national identity and popular culture
Emotional response to the Routemaster – how can we measure this and what gave it its national and global status beyond its utility as a mode of transportation
The impact of the Routemaster on economic and social cohesion in London 1959 to 1992
The rise and fall – what were the factors that led to a departure from the Routemaster in terms of styling and utility. How did this impact London’s culture. How did the ‘New Bus for London’ feature in all of this.
The research proposal can only be a max of 100 words
Further information can be offered upon confirmation of the job.
