Please say a little bit about yourself, e.g. where did you study, when did you start?

I am a Stuart Hall/CHASE-funded PhD student in the Department of Music at SOAS. I completed my MA in Music at SOAS in 2021 and began my PhD in 2022. My MA thesis focused on how displaced people use music to create a sense of home away from their homelands, drawing on my family's relationship with music performance during forced migration and resettlement.

Please introduce your research and give a brief overview

My PhD research explores popular music within the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora and the culture and community it cultivates. As a musician of Tamil origin displaced by the Sri Lankan civil war, I am interested in other music-makers with similar histories who are now part of the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora. By collaborating with musicians in London and Toronto—two key hubs for Sri Lankan Tamil populations—I aim to generate new insights into how music can build communities, challenge traditional notions of territory, and create new conceptions of home.

What did you do prior to beginning your PhD (e.g. education, career, freelance work etc) and how did your previous experience lead you to a PhD?

I have been a professional musician for over 20 years and continue to perform with pop music artists worldwide. When COVID-19 put my career on hold in 2020, I decided to pursue an online MA during lockdown. My MA in Music was a truly enriching undertaking that allowed me to connect my lived experience as a performer with ethnomusicological scholarship. Engaging with literature, my lecturers, and fellow students inspired me to consider further academic pursuits. Ultimately, growing curiosity around what was to become my PhD topic led me to take the leap into PhD research.

What does it mean to you to be a Stuart Hall scholar?

Stuart Hall's work has profoundly influenced my thinking, and I am deeply honoured to be supported by the foundation that bears his name. This support goes beyond the financial and practical aspects of the scholarship; being part of the foundation's community of scholars provides a valuable space to think, collaborate, and grow together.

What are the key considerations when applying for a SHF studentship? (e.g. top tips)

I applied for Stuart Hall Foundation/CHASE funding for the first year of my PhD but was unsuccessful. However, this experience helped me approach the application process more effectively in my second year. If I had any advice to pass on it would be:

• Refine, refine, refine your questions. Spending time on this gave me a clearer direction for writing my proposal, and lack of clarity was a weak point in my initial application.

• Write for readers outside of your field. While you must include detailed language and literature specific to your field, framing these in an accessible and engaging way for readers outside your field can significantly improve your chances of success. This also has the added benefit of producing a more readable, interesting, and impactful proposal.

• Write yourself into the application. Remember that funding is awarded to you as an individual to carry out your research, not to the project alone. It is crucial that funders see your personal experience, skills, and approach to the project, in addition to your knowledge of the topic and your plan for conducting the research.

Dishan’s Stuart Hall Foundation profile