English Literature - Postgraduate Research Opportunities

English Literature PhD/MA by Research (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)

By pursuing research in English Literature at Birmingham, you will be joining a vibrant and dynamic research community thanks to the Department’s diverse research interests and approaches.

The Department of English Literature is one of the leading departments for the postgraduate study of English Literature and Culture in the UK, offering expert teaching and research supervision across the full chronological range, from Old English to the present day. We have a commitment to a rich diversity of theoretical, historical and intellectual approaches to our subjects.

The MA by Research programme requires you to prepare a dissertation of up to 40,000 words on a topic of your choice, for which an academic staff member will provide expert supervision.

The PhD – the most advanced research degree – leads to a dissertation of up to 80,000 words on a subject of your choice and under the expert supervision of an academic member of staff.

Research interests of staff include:

Research in the Department of English Literature takes place across medieval, early modern, eighteenth century, nineteenth century, and modern and contemporary literature and culture. The diverse research interests and approaches of the department ensure a vibrant and dynamic research community. A summary of our key research areas, and staff working within those, can be found below.

• Medieval literature
• Early modern literature
• Eighteenth century literature
• Nineteenth century literature
• Modern and contemporary literature and culture

For full research interests of staff, please read our staff profiles or visit the 'Research' tab on the course page.

Funding Notes

Please visit the College of Arts and Law funding page for information on possible funding opportunities: View Website. You can find out about all the scholarships that are available on our Postgraduate Funding Database. If you find a scholarship that you are interested in, we would recommend you check the application guidelines as these can differ between funding schemes. For some of them, you can apply for funding as soon as you have submitted an application for the course. If you would like to start in 2024, applications for the AHRC Midlands4Cities Scholarship opened on 16 October 2023 and closes on 10 January 2024.