My name is Sonia-Doris Andras and I am currenty a PhD student (confirmed in April 2014) at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London. I have been largely self-funded until now (with a number of smaller grants and funding for travel, software and conferences) and I have reached a point where I should start writing on my thesis, but my funds have largely run out. At this point, if I want to complete my degree and deliver a proper, if not distinguished thesis, I need to devote my time and energy to the writing part of my work.
Because of my circumstances and the nature of my research, I cannot hold even a normal part-time job that requires a constant stay in one location. I need to travel back and forth from Romania to the UK and hold extensive research trips, either with sensitive materials I own and cannot be transported back and forth and constant visits to Bucharest libraries and institutions.
My research deals with women’s fashion in interwar Bucharest as a key to identifying the social, political and economic inner-workings of interwar Romanian society as part of an endeavour to make a significant contribution to knowledge in a field that has little representation on the international academic scene.
I will use the money for: tuition fees, accommodation fees (rent, council tax, bills, etc.), living expenses, and transportation (commuting, flights, etc.). If the funding will be enough I may also use it for conferences, research trips and other expenses (unexpected expenses related in any way to my research and livelihood while I am a PhD candidate in London).
My research explores the fashion of the Romanian capital, Bucharest, during the Hohenzollern monarchy between the two World Wars (1919-1939). I chose this time frame because it was an era of significant economic, social and cultural changes and a major progress towards a modern state, particularly obvious in architecture, the arts and fashion.
