English (PhD - MPhil)

Institution Birkbeck, University of London
Method At the institution
Location London
Type Masters
Course fee By request

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English (PhD - MPhil)

Objectives The School of English and Humanities at Birkbeck offers committed, enthusiastic and dynamic research-based teaching, with a constantly evolving curriculum sensitive to developments in contemporary culture. We actively foster the creation of a graduate intellectual community and our students’ professional development. A large number of our recent PhDs have successfully obtained permanent academic posts in leading universities in Britain, the United States and other countries. We have an excellent record in securing postgraduate studentships from the major funding bodies.
Entry requirements Entry requirements A good honours degree and preferably an MA in literary, historical or other disciplines of cultural studies. Prior to interview you will need to submit a research proposal of 2000 words.
Academic title English (PhD / MPhil)
Course description Staff research areas
We welcome applications for research in all areas of English and cultural studies, including: Old English, Old Norse, medieval literature and culture, the Renaissance and early modern periods, the Enlightenment, Romantic and Victorian studies, the modern and post-modern periods, literary and cultural theory, gender studies, and theatre studies.

Study resources
Birkbeck is at the geographical centre of London’s research library complex, a short distance from the British Library, the University of London Library, the Warburg Institute, the Institute of Historical Research and the Wellcome Institute. The Public Record Office is easily accessible. The University of London Library has an outstanding collection of literary periodicals of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and the Fawcett Library is a major source for women’s unity and gender history. The poetry library at London’s South Bank Centre on the River Thames is rich in twentieth-century poetry.

The School of English and Humanities at Birkbeck has a thriving research culture. It holds a seminar in critical theory, numerous reading groups and a regular programme of major visiting speakers. All postgraduate students follow courses in research skills and other forms of graduate training.

The School is well known for its leading international research. It hosts the Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies and the Contemporary Poetics Research Centre; it initiated the London Renaissance Seminar and runs a number of other research seminars, including the London Beckett Seminar and the Early Modern Philosophy and the Scientific Imagination Seminar. There are also frequent national conferences and symposia.

The School's provision is complemented by the work of the recently established Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities.

The School was rated ‘best 5*’ for research of international distinction and ‘excellent’ for its teaching by recent national assessment procedures – in both cases, the highest possible categories obtainable. We have long experience in the supervision of both full-time and part-time research students and currently have over 100 research students, half of whom are full-time.