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English and Humanities

Application options include:

Course Overview

Birkbeck offers committed, enthusiastic and dynamic research-based teaching in English and humanities, with a constantly evolving curriculum sensitive to developments in contemporary culture.

We actively foster the creation of a lively graduate intellectual community and our students' professional development. A large number of our recent PhD graduates have successfully obtained permanent academic posts in leading universities in Britain, the United States and other countries.

An MPhil/PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation. At Birkbeck, you are initially registered on an MPhil and you upgrade to a PhD after satisfactory progress in the first year or two. You need to find a suitable academic supervisor at Birkbeck, who can offer the requisite expertise to guide and support you through your research. Find out more about undertaking a research degree at Birkbeck .

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, English Language and Literature at Birkbeck achieved 100% both for its research environment and the impact of our research with 72% of research recognised as world-leading. We welcome applications for research in all areas of English, cultural studies and related areas, including: Old English, Old Norse, medieval literature and culture, the Renaissance and early modern periods, the Enlightenment, Romantic and Victorian studies, the modern and contemporary periods, literary and cultural theory, gender studies, theatre studies, poetics and creative writing (including practice-based research ).

Key information

English and humanities mphil/phd: 7 years part-time, on campus, starting 2024-25.

• October 2024
• January 2025

English and Humanities MPhil/PhD: 4 years full-time, on campus, starting 2024-25

Find another course:

• Birkbeck was ranked 2nd in the UK for its English Language and Literature research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
• With more than 100 students undertaking research for MPhil/PhDs in English and humanities, Birkbeck has a large and thriving postgraduate community - the largest body of graduate students in English studies in the University of London. Supervision is available in literature from Old Icelandic to contemporary writing, and we are also well regarded for our work on interdisciplinary research topics in cultural history and theory.
• We place great emphasis on ensuring that graduate supervision is thorough, professionally conducted and leads to the successful completion of a thesis. We offer a dedicated research skills course at the start of the degree with the option of a paleography course for those working on early periods. As well as observing strict guidelines on supervision, a senior member of staff acts as director of graduate studies and co-ordinates the monitoring of our students' progress.
• A termly graduate forum allows students formally to discuss issues of graduate provision and resources with staff.

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.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, the requirement for this programme is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 7.0, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement,  we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services  to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our  English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country .

Visa and funding requirements

If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
• Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

International students who require a Student visa should apply for our full-time courses as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

For full information, read our visa information for international students page .

Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country .

Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

English and Humanities MPhil/PhD: 7 years part-time or 4 years full-time, on campus, starting in academic year 2024-25

Academic year 2024–25, starting october 2024, january 2025, april 2025.

Part-time home students: £2,539 per year Full-time home students: £4,786 per year Part-time international students : £7,525 per year Full-time international students: £14,885 per year

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases. For more information, please see the College Fees Policy .

If you’ve studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a discount on the tuition fee of this course.

Fees and finance

PhD students resident in England can apply for government loans of over £26,000 to cover the cost of tuition fees, maintenance and other study-related costs.

Flexible finance: pay your fees in monthly instalments at no extra cost . Enrol early to spread your costs and reduce your monthly payments.

We offer a range of studentships and funding options to support your research.

Discover the financial support available to you to help with your studies at Birkbeck.

International scholarships

We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. Discover if you are eligible for a scholarship .

Our research culture

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 National Archives, the Fawcett Library and Women's Library are easily accessible.

Birkbeck has a  thriving research culture in En glish and humanities. 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. You are expected to participate in our research events, including attending lectures, research skills sessions and other classes/workshops as appropriate.

We are well known for our leading international research and are home to highly active research centres, including the  Centre for Contemporary Theatre , the  Centre for Contemporary Literature , the  Centre for Nineteenth-Century Studies  and the  Contemporary Poetics Research Centre ; we initiated the  London Renaissance Seminar  and the  Birkbeck Centre for Medical Humanities ; and we run a number of other research seminars, and frequent national conferences and symposia.

Our provision is complemented by the work of the  Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities , and by other interdisciplinary activities. Students can apply for funds for giving papers at conferences, for student-led events and for extraordinary research expenses from school postgraduate funds.

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.

Training and methodology

Students are required to attend seminars on research skills and seminars on theory throughout the first two terms in the first year of study. Subsequent attendance is optional. You are also required to participate in some of the seminars or other activities put on by the College, or other institute of the University of London in each year you are a registered student.

We do not lay down a specific timetable for meetings with your supervisor, although all supervisors will agree a personal timetable of consultation with their students. But we do expect as a minimum that all full-time research students will meet with their supervisors three times a term, and part-time students twice a term. If no formal timetable of meetings has been arranged, it is up to you to take the initiative in arranging supervisory meetings.

In a similar way, the school requires all full-time students to submit at least two substantial pieces of written work in every academic year and part-time students to submit at least one.

The MPhil thesis is not more than 60,000 words; the PhD thesis is not more than 100,000 words. Both the MPhil and the PhD are assessed by a viva voce examination. The thesis requirements for a practice-based project vary according to the nature of the research and can be discussed with the admissions tutors.

In addition, all students will be required to submit annually to our Graduate Panel a detailed written report on their progress through the year. Supervisors will in turn be responsible for submitting to the panel annual reports on students' progress; every student will be interviewed annually by a member of staff who is not their supervisor after the reports have been received.

Supervision

Your supervisor's responsibilities include:

• advising you on the formulation and following through of your research and advising you about work already published in your area
• discussing with you questions of approach and methodology
• guiding you in the use of primary and secondary literature, as well as historical, archive and other source materials
• commenting in detail and in a reasonable time upon the written work that you submit
• advising you on how to acquire skills and techniques necessary for your research (for example, learning another language, or editorial or bibliographical skills)
• advising you where to go or whom to consult if you have difficulties which your supervisor cannot herself or himself resolve
• putting you in touch with students and teachers with whom you may share research interests
• keeping you informed about how far your work meets the standards required by the University and about University regulations and requirements regarding the organisation and submission of your thesis
• providing pastoral advice and support
• writing references as and when these may be requested.

You in turn have a responsibility, in addition to those more formal responsibilities specified above, to keep your supervisor informed at all times about the progress of your work, and to take part in academic life in your area of research.

Every research student is appointed a primary supervisor who is the person, or one of the persons, best suited to give the advice and direction that he or she needs. Sometimes students will be supervised jointly by more than one person, although there will always be one principal supervisor responsible for formal and administrative arrangements. In the case of joint supervision, both your supervisors should specify clearly the ways in which the sharing will operate.

During the course of your degree, your supervisor may be absent for a prolonged period. You will be assigned a deputy supervisor who will look after your work in the same way as the supervisor until she/he returns. Your supervisor should give you good warning about planned absences and organise alternative supervision.

Although a student's principal point of contact at Birkbeck is his or her supervisor(s), the department as a whole has responsibility for each student's academic progress and well-being. It exercises this responsibility through its Graduate Panel, which monitors the progress of all research students and approves transfers from MPhil to PhD status. The annual interview you have with a staff member is an opportunity for you to report on, and discuss, your satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your research progress, your supervision and other aspects of the school's provision for graduate study.

Teaching opportunities

We offer research students the opportunity to teach on our undergraduate courses. This is subject to financial and other limits, and to completion of a course on teaching in higher education.

Research students who have progressed satisfactorily with their study can apply annually and will be put on a list of available teachers, subject to a satisfactory interview with the graduate teaching panel.

Follow these steps to apply to an MPhil/PhD research degree at Birkbeck: 

1. Check that you meet the entry requirements, including English language requirements, as described on this page.

2. Find a potential supervisor for your MPhil/PhD research. You can look at the Find a Supervisor area on this page for an overview, or  search our Experts’ Database  or  browse our staff pages  for more in-depth information. You may also find it helpful to  view the research projects of our current students . 

3. Contact the academic member of staff - or the department they teach in - for an informal discussion about your research interests and to establish if they are willing and able to supervise your research. (Please note: finding a potential supervisor does not guarantee admission to the research degree, as this decision is made using your whole application.)  Find out more about the supervisory relationship and how your supervisor will support your research .

4. Draft a research proposal. This needs to demonstrate your knowledge of the field, the specific research questions you wish to pursue, and how your ideas will lead to the creation of new knowledge and understanding.  Find out more about writing a research proposal . 

5. Apply directly to Birkbeck, using the online application link on this page. All research students are initially registered on an MPhil and then upgrade to a PhD after making sufficient progress.

Find out more about the application process, writing a research proposal and the timeframe .

Application deadlines and interviews

You can apply at any time during the year.

Students who wish to be considered for funding, both full College Studentships and Arts Research Scholarships, need to apply by the end of January 2022 for entry in October 2022.

Apply for your course

Apply for your course using the apply now button in the key information section .

Finding a supervisor

A critical factor when applying for postgraduate study in English and humanities is the correlation between the applicant’s intellectual and research interests and those of one or more potential supervisors.

Find out more about the research interests of our academic staff:

• Professor Anthony Bale, MA, MA, DPhil : medieval English literature; medieval popular culture and popular religion; affect and emotions; book history, marginalia and histories of reading; medieval Jewish history, Jewish-Christian relations and the history of anti-Semitism; medieval pilgrimage culture, the Holy Land, travel writing and Mandeville.
• Professor Heike Bauer, MA, PhD : nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature and culture; gender studies; history of sexuality; sexology and literary culture 1800-1950; modern discourses and representations of hate; translation and cross-cultural exchange; women's writing; contemporary lesbian and queer theory and literature.
• Julia Bell, BA, MA : creative writing; publishing.
• Mike Bintley, MA, PhD : early medieval literature and culture, especially Old English and Old Norse; textual and material culture; literature and archaeology; environmental humanities, ecotheory, and ecocriticism; studies of landscape and environment; studies of settlement and urbanism; cognitive approaches to texts and material culture; medieval reception of Classical literature and culture.
• Professor Joe Brooker, BA, MA, PhD : Irish writing; modernism; contemporary British culture.
• Carolyn Burdett, BA, MA, DPhil :  fin-de-siècle  literature, culture and society; Victorian emotions; the Victorian novel; nineteenth-century feminism; science (especially Darwinian evolution and psychology) and literature.
• Luisa Calè, Letters Degree Rome, PhD, DPhil : Romantic period literature, culture and public sphere; visual culture and theory; cultures of collecting; visual forms and sites of textual transmission; translation; reader response.
• Daragh Carville, BA, MA : creative writing: writing for the stage; screenwriting.
• Stephen Clucas, BA, PhD : sixteenth- and seventeenth-century English and European intellectual history; the history of Renaissance magic; Renaissance philosophy; Renaissance mythography; sixteenth- and seventeenth-century philosophical poetry.
• Isabel Davis, BA, MA, PhD : late medieval and Renaissance literature and culture; sexual domestic ethics.
• Caroline Edwards, BA, MA, PhD : twentieth- and twenty-first-century literature; critical theory; utopianism; women‘s writing; modernism; postmodernism; Marxist aesthetics; science fiction.
• David Eldridge : creative writing.
• Professor Martin Paul Eve, BA, MA, PhD : literature; technology; publishing; contemporary American fiction; digital humanities.
• Peter Fifield, BA, MA, PhD : modern literature; illness in modernism; Samuel Beckett; ethics; modernist archives; neuroscience.
• Professor Alison Finlay, BA, BPhil, DPhil : Old Icelandic sagas and skaldic poetry; Old English poetry.
• Richard Hamblyn, BA, MA, PhD : creative writing; environmental writing and history.
• Anna Hartnell, BA, MA, PhD : twentieth- and twenty-first-century American literature and culture, with a special focus on race, nation and religion; postcolonial and diasporic literatures; literary and cultural responses to 'the contemporary', particularly perceived moments of rupture and crisis.
• Seda Ilter, BA, MA, PhD : contemporary theatre and performance; media culture; mediatised theatre; new writing for performance; text and textuality in theatre; dramaturgy; aesthetics and politics of representation; adaptation.
• Professor Esther Leslie, BA, MA, DPhil : critical theory and the Frankfurt School, especially Walter Benjamin; European modernism and avant-garde; Marxism; science, technology and material culture; animation; situationist theory and psychogeography.
• Professor Roger Luckhurst, BA, MA, PhD : late nineteenth-century literature and pseudo-science; modernism; science fiction; literary theory; contemporary literature and culture.
• David McAllister, BA, MA, PhD : early to mid-nineteenth-century literature and culture; the Victorian novel; Victorian non-fiction prose writing; death in Romantic and Victorian literature and culture; Victorian discourses of masculinity.
• Victoria Mills, BA, MA, MA, PhD : Victorian literature and culture; the Victorian novel; gender, especially Victorian masculinities; material and visual cultures; cultures of collecting; photography and fiction; classical reception; travel writing.
• Ana Parejo Vadillo, PhD : Victorian and  fin-de-siècle  London;  fin-de-siècle  literature; Victorian travel and technologies; any aspect of Victorian poetry; women and Victorian cities; the country and the city; omnibuses; railways; Amy Levy, Alice Meynell, Michael Field, Christina Rossetti, Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons; decadent and aestheticist writing by both men and women.
• Emily Senior, BA, MA, PhD : eighteenth-century and Romantic literature and culture; Atlantic literatures; travel and exploration; colonialism and intercultural encounter; literature, science and medicine.
• Professor Robert Swain, BSc : theatre directing; training of directors, producers, writers, actors and new writers.
• Professor Fintan Walsh, MPhil, PhD : modern and contemporary theatre; queer theatre and performance; medical humanities and psychosocial issues.
• Luke Williams, BA, MA : creative writing; the novel; the avant-garde, theories of 'The Contemporary'; colonial and postcolonial literature; the document in fiction; collaborative writing.
• Professor Joanne Winning, MA, PhD : modernisms, especially female and lesbian modernism; critical and cultural theory in the twentieth century; theories of gender and sexuality; lesbian subjectivities and cultural production; psychoanalysis and its theories; twentieth-century and contemporary Australian and Scottish literature and culture; relations between illness, language and the clinical encounter; medical humanities.
• Professor Susan Wiseman, BA, PhD : literature and culture 1500-1700, particularly the English Civil War; gender and writing (including women's writing); Renaissance drama; early modern colonial encounters.
• Agnes Woolley, BA, MA, PhD : postcolonial literature and film; diaspora; migration; transnational literature and culture; refugee arts.
• Gillian Woods, MA, MST, DPhil : Renaissance theatre and drama; post-Reformation religion; visual arts; nostalgia; representations of space.

Related courses

• Comparative Literature (MPhil/PhD)

PhD/MPhil English

Postgraduate research degree

Our English PhD/MPhil programme allows you to study in a vibrant academic environment in London where you can emerge as an independent scholar producing original research.

Key information

English Postgraduate research degrees PhD/MPhil course Overview

The PhD/MPhil in English provides you with academic and professional opportunities to develop as an independent, creative and original scholar. Your research will allow you to work at the forefront of the discipline.

You will be based in the international, forward-looking Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries which has a vibrant research culture.

You will work closely with a supervisory team, whose areas of expertise correspond with your chosen research topic.

You are equipped to think critically about literary scholarship, deliver advanced new research and gain confidence as a self-directed researcher and professional.

You will conduct research in an exciting, cosmopolitan research environment in central London.

You will be able to access the University of London’s world-class research collections, attend research seminars and lecture series. You will also benefit from London’s exceptional cultural and research facilities.

You will initially register as a PhD/MPhil student. After the completion of an initial of registration, you will be eligible to submit an application for upgrading to PhD status.

Progression to PhD registration is not automatic, but contingent on the satisfactory outcome of a review process.

Subject to successful upgrade, your doctoral studies will conclude with the submission of a PhD thesis of 75,000-100,000 words. Your thesis will make an original contribution to the field, satisfy peer review and merit publication.

You will attend a viva voce examination in front of at least two examiners, at least one of whom will be external to City.

For full details about City’s PhD/MPhil programme structure, please see the Guide for Research Students.

Your progress and training needs are regularly assessed during your studies, and you will participate in a range of activities during the programme.

You are ordinarily permitted a maximum of four years to complete the full-time programme. Up to seven years are permitted to complete the part-time programme.

Full-time students are expected to dedicate themselves fully to their research, while part-time students should expect to spend at least the equivalent of two days per week on their research.

Requirements

Entry requirements.

Applicants should normally:

• Hold a 2.1 Honours BA qualification or equivalent
• Hold an MA qualification with Merit or an equivalent qualification
• Have studied English, Comparative Literature, Theatre and Drama, Film and Media Studies, Creative Writing, Humanities, Publishing or other relevant subject
• Non-traditional applicants may be considered if they can demonstrate substantial research experience or evidence of relevant professional experience or publication.

English requirements

If your first language is not English, you will be expected to demonstrate Level 7.5 proficiency in the IELTS English language test.

Visa requirements

If you are not from the European Economic Area / Switzerland and you are coming to study in the UK, you may need to apply for a visa or entry clearance to come to the UK to study.

For more information see our English language proficiency requirements at City.

The way that you apply may vary depending on the length of your course. There are different rules for :

• Students on courses of more than six months
• Students on courses of less than six months
• Students on a pre-sessional English language course.

For more information see our main Visa page .

Fees and funding

Full-time Home/UK: £5,110 per year

Part-time Home/UK: £2,560 per year

Full-time International: £13,630 per year

Part-time International: £6,810 per year

Fees for doctoral candidates are charged annually and cover registration, supervision and examination.

Fees are subject to review each year and may vary during your period of registration. Where applicable, fees for City's programmes will be subject to inflationary increases in each academic year of study commencing in September . Our policy for these increases is set out in our terms and conditions of study .

Support for PhD study

Prospective students are encouraged to explore doctoral Grants and funding opportunities such as:

• Research Council studentship awards , if available.

Our bursaries are non-repayable sums of money granted by the University, usually based on need.

Our loans are repayable sums of money granted by the University or other body.

Our scholarships are when the University pays towards your Study fees. You may also be eligible for further funding.

Postgraduate Doctoral Loans

The Government has introduced a new Postgraduate Doctoral Loans scheme which can provide a loan of up to £25,000.

This will be over three years to support study for a doctoral degree.

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan can help with course fees and living costs while you study. It can be used alongside any other forms of support you may be able to receive.

For more information, please see our Postgraduate Doctoral Loans page .

Additional expenses

Some of our degrees may involve additional expenses which are not covered by your tuition fees. Find out more about additional expenses .

Academic support

City has a well-established structure and processes to support your research .

Supervision

Each research student has a supervision team composed of at least two research-active members of staff. Your supervisors will direct your research activities, monitor progress, provide detailed feedback on written work and advise on your professional development.

You are encouraged to develop your skills in key areas of researcher training. You will agree a training programme annually with the Senior Tutor for Research or your supervisors. In your first year, you will engage with the generic and subject-specific training offered at the Doctoral College and at departmental levels.

In subsequent years, you will attend specialist training sessions offered by the Doctoral College and the University of London’s School of Advanced Study. PhD students who teach benefit from access to specialist training.

City’s Doctoral College offers institution-wide research-related activities to contribute to researcher development.

Research Environment

Research students constitute an important and active part of our research culture.

We run a regular series of interdisciplinary research seminars for all members of staff and research students.

Our research students have an established seminar programme of presenting their work to each other in an informal and supportive atmosphere. Students also benefit from access to London’s world-class research and cultural facilities.

How to apply

The admission of research students is dependent upon many factors, one of which is the expertise of  our academics currently available in the Department.

Potential applicants should therefore check the current research interests of staff members before making an informal enquiry. If appropriate supervisory expertise is available, potential applicants should initially approach Senior Tutor for Research, Troy Chen , before submitting a formal application.

We accept applications on an ongoing basis for entry normally in September/ October. To apply, you should submit the following documents:

• The Online Research Degree Application Form
• A research proposal of no more than 2000 words (excluding bibliography) that succinctly outlines the aims and scope of the proposed project, your methodological approach and the project’s original contribution to knowledge
• Copies of degree certificates and transcripts
• Two academic references or contact details for two academic referees
• Proof of English language proficiency (if applicable)

You can see further guidance here on  how to prepare your research proposal .

Please note that we will not consider incomplete applications.

For more information, please see the application process at City .

• Full-time 30 th Sep 2024
• Part-time 30 th Sep 2024
• 30 th Sep 2024

For further application enquiries please contact our PGR enquiries team .

Find a supervisor

See our full list of academic staff and potential supervisors in Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries.

Dr Dominic Davies

Senior Lecturer in English and BA English Programme Director

• Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries

Senior Lecturer in Media (Education & Research)

Our students

See more of our current students within the Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries.

Caroline Winter-Jones

Research Student

Useful links

• Doctoral College
• School of Communication & Creativity
• Student wellbeing
• Terms and conditions

Contact details

School of communication & creativity.

[email protected]

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Site search, key information.

Duration: 4 years full time or 5 years part time

Institution code: R72

Campus: Egham and Central London

UK fees * : £4,786

International/EU fees ** : £23,400

The Department of English at Royal Holloway offers expertise across the full chronological and specialist range of English literary study, forging a reputation as one of the most dynamic departments of English in the UK.

PhD students enjoy a varied and lively research culture based in both our London and Egham campuses. The Centre for Victorian Studies hosts popular lectures by international scholars, usually held in the Royal Holloway Picture Gallery, a superb and renowned collection of 19th-century paintings, while readings and performances from our Creative Writing students and internationally recognised staff are a regular feature of our cultural life. These are just examples of what there is to choose from to enrich your time at Royal Holloway and to bring intellectual engagement and community with your fellow researchers.

Research facilities and environment

There is considerable opportunity for research students to work together at Royal Holloway.

Both the Poetics Research Centre and the Centre for Victorian Studies run lively event series.

Doctoral students participate in and lead a variety of research seminars, including the Contemporary Innovative Poetry Research Seminar, the Shakespeare Reading Group, the Nineteenth-Century Reading Group, the London 19th Century Studies seminar, and the Finnegans Wake Research Seminar.

Encouragement and support is given to students who wish to present their work at or run conferences.

The Doctoral School runs numerous events and is an important source of information for the Postgraduate Research community at Royal Holloway.

Creative writing and practice-based students also find numerous platforms to disseminate their work. The School of Humanities runs a series of seminars, workshops and lectures for practice-based students. Discipline-specific research training is available through  departmental, School and College programmes .

• Dissertation not more than 100,000 words
• Viva voce examination.

Practice-based PhD:

• 60,000–90,000 words of creative writing;
• 20,000–60,000 words of critical writing.
• Viva voce examination

Poetry and Poetic Practice

• 45–60 pages of poetry or equivalent practice-based output;

MA by research:

• Dissertation of not more than 40,000 words, plus (at the discretion of the examiners) a viva voce examination.

Entry requirements

We typically expect students beginning an MPhil or an MPhil leading to a PhD degree to hold at least a 2:1 or equivalent for their undergraduate degree and at least a merit or equivalent at Master’s level. There are minimum English language requirements for overseas students in line with general admission policies to the college.

English language requirements

All teaching at Royal Holloway (apart from some language courses) is in English. You will therefore need to have good enough written and spoken English to cope with your studies right from the start of your course.

The scores we require

• IELTS: 6.5 overall. Writing 7.0. No other subscore lower than 5.5.
• Pearson Test of English: 61 overall. Writing 69. No other subscore lower than 51.
• Trinity College London Integrated Skills in English (ISE): ISE III.
• Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) grade C.
• TOEFL ib: 88 overall, with Reading 18 Listening 17 Speaking 20 Writing 26.

Country-specific requirements

For more information about country-specific entry requirements for your country please see  here .

Many of our PhD graduates have gone on to successful academic careers in tertiary and secondary education. Others have obtained posts at the British Library, Shakespeare’s Globe and a wide variety of museum, curation and arts management projects. Some practice-based graduates now work in Creative Writing posts in academic institutions, and many have published successful (and in many cases award-winning) novels and books of poetry.

Fees & funding

Home (UK) students tuition fee per year*: £4,786

EU and international students tuition fee per year**: £23,400

Other essential costs***: There are no individual costs greater than £50 per item.

…How do I pay for it? Find out more about   funding options,   including loans, grants,   scholarships   and bursaries. 

* and ** These tuition fees apply to students enrolled on a full-time basis in the academic year 2024/25.

* Please note that for research courses, we adopt the minimum fee level recommended by the UK Research Councils for the Home   tuition fee. Each year, the fee level is adjusted in line with inflation (currently, the measure used is the Treasury GDP deflator). Fees displayed here are therefore subject to change and are usually confirmed in the spring of the year of entry.   For more information on the Research Council Indicative Fee please see the   UKRI website.

** This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2024/25.   

Royal Holloway reserves the right to increase all postgraduate tuition fees annually, based on the UK’s Retail Price Index (RPI). Please therefore be aware that tuition fees can rise during your degree (if longer than one year’s duration), and that this also means that the overall cost of studying the course part-time will be slightly higher than studying it full-time in one year. For further information, please see our  terms and conditions .

***   These estimated costs relate to studying this particular degree at Royal Holloway during the 2024/25 academic year and are included as a guide. Costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing, have not been included. 

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English Literature PhD

Course detail, entry requirements.

• Fees & funding
• Study & career progression

The London School of Film, Media and Design offers a PhD in English Literature by individual research within the areas of expertise of the School’s teaching staff. We offer expert supervision by established researchers and seeks to grow a community of outstanding doctoral researchers in the field of English Literature. We are currently seeking applications for PhDs in the following broad areas:

• adaptation studies
• genre studies
• genre theory
• popular fiction
• modern and contemporary literature
• literary theory
• literature and philosophy
• literature and photography
• feminist literary theory
• literature, architecture and questions of spatiality

See a list of potential PhD supervisors and read about their expertise, in the 'Supervisors' section lower down the page. 

Select your desired study option, then pick a start date to see relevant course information:

Start date:

If your desired start date is not available, try selecting a different study option.

Why study English Literature with us?

What our students say…

The staff members that I encountered were warm, welcoming and supportive of my studies. The relatively small size of the University’s postgraduate school created a close family/communal environment for both staff and students. This provided a good support system as I could quickly grow acquainted with the postgraduate team and other Doctoral research candidates.

Research Centres

We have seven Research Centres, staffed by experts with an enviable record of publications, conferences, media and public engagement work.

World-leading Research

The University of West London has been recognised by the Government's Research Excellence Framework (REF) for its exceptional research work.

The London School of Film, Media and Design offers expert supervision by established researchers and seeks to grow a community of outstanding doctoral researchers in the field of English Literature. 

About PhD study

This course is available for you to study either on a full-time or part-time basis and you have the flexibility to switch should you need to.

A PhD is founded on independent research.  You will undertake a systematic and in-depth exploration of your chosen topic to produce a substantial body of knowledge and make an original and important contribution to the subject area.  

The support provided by your supervisory team will be vital to your student experience and scholarly advancement.  You and your supervisors will have regular one-to-one meetings which will provide you with opportunities to develop your research topic and discuss your progress.

Our research record

View our  academic journal 'New Vistas'   to see the work of students and academics who are making an impact both locally and globally through their research findings.

Based in the heart of Ealing, west London, you can make use of the excellent transport links to travel to the the capital or further afield - ideal for attending research meetings and networking events.

Got a question?

If you would like guidance or more information about studying for a research degree, you can contact Professor Garin Dowd .

To enable you to enhance your professional profile, we support you throughout your research degree by:

• providing research seminars
• organising doctoral events and activities
• facilitating networking and collaboration opportunities
• encouraging and supporting publication and dissemination of your research
• offering opportunities to gain teaching expertise and experience.

We provide structured research training, expert supervision, and an environment where you can discuss your research with other PhD students and researchers.

We run seminars in research methods from the Graduate Centre, as well as an ongoing series of events and activities organised by Schools and Colleges. Specialist help with academic English for students for whom English is not their first language is available.

Our facilities include a fully equipped TV Studio containing a lighting grid with DMX lighting control, green and white screens, Ross Crossover Vision Mixer for live editing and audio and video recorder / playback devices.

Media Resource Centre

Our Media Resource Centre is available to all London School of Film Media and Design students for free. We hold a variety of cameras, lights, sound equipment and recording devices. Students can also loan equipment demonstrated in class.

The Paul Hamlyn Library

The Paul Hamlyn Library provides an extensive range of books, journals and digital resources, PC and Mac workstations and a variety of study spaces. Find out more about what the  Paul Hamlyn Library has to offer .

We contribute to national and international initiatives and promote collaboration and networking opportunities. We also encourage and support you to publish and disseminate your research in academic journals and via presenting papers at conferences.

We run an annual conference for doctoral students, where you are encouraged to present a paper about your research. As well as being an opportunity to discuss your work with other students, the conference is a chance to gain valuable experience in presenting your research and participating in open discussions with academic peers.

You will also find other opportunities such as postgraduate student seminars and forums within your specific subject area.

Once you start a PhD course at UWL, you become part of our research community. You will have access to a postgraduate common room, located at our Ealing campus on St Mary’s Road, where you will meet fellow researchers from other subject disciplines offering scope for collaborations or simply to discuss ideas, allowing you to be part of a vibrant research environment.

• Requirements: UK
• Requirements: International

The minimum entry requirements for a research degree are:

• a good first degree (First Class or Upper Second Class), or equivalent qualification in a relevant field
• a Masters Degree (MA, MSc, MBA or MRes) with Merit, or equivalent postgraduate or research experience.

We look for students with:

• a passion for their chosen subject.

You will also have a well thought through and persuasive proposal.

• Competence in written and spoken English is a pre-requisite for entrance to this programme. An IELTS (International English Language Testing System) score of 6.5 (with no element under 6.0).

Fees & funding

• Funding: UK
• Funding: International

The fee above is the cost per year of your course.

If your course runs for two years or more, you will need to pay the fee for each academic year at the start of that year. If your course runs for less than two years, the cost above is for your full course and you will need to pay the full fee upfront.

Government regulation does affect tuition fees and the fees listed for courses starting in the 2025/26 academic year are subject to change.

If no fee is shown above then the fees for this course are not available yet. Please check again later for updates.

Funding your studies

Funding for postgraduate students usually comes from one or more of a range of key sources:

• research councils
• charities and trust funds, including those funded by the UK government
• higher Education institutions
• overseas governments (international students only)
• professional and career development loans
• self-funding (including family funds).

Find out more about funding opportunities. Examples of most of these types of funding are included on the postgraduate studentships website , (with the exception of funding you may be able to obtain from your employer and self-funding).

Bursaries and scholarships

We offer generous bursaries and scholarships to make sure your aspirations are your only limit. See our PhD scholarships , scholarships and bursaries .

For any overseas students, your first port of call should be grant-awarding bodies in your own country (eg The Ministry / Department of Education) and your local (or nearest) office of the British Council.

The British Council manage a small number of international studentship grants in some countries and should be able to tell you what other awards may be available to you - they also produce the Sources of funding for international students guide.

Supervisors

Professor Garin Dowd

I am a Professor of Film, Literature and Media, and my current research focuses on representations of space, location and spatial relations in the novel and in film. I am a member of the European Network for Cinema and Media Studies (NECS), the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) and the Samuel Beckett Society.

Professor Jeremy Strong

Dr Jonathon Crewe

Dr Junko Theresa Mikuriya

Dr Marcus Nicholls

Study & career progression

Studying for a PhD enables you to develop an area of specialism that will give you an edge whether you are planning to work in industry or to develop expertise to teach in academia.

During your PhD, you will also be learning transferable core skills that apply to jobs both in and out of academia, including:

• written and oral communication
• research and information management
• public speaking   
• project management
• critical Thinking
• collaboration
• analysis and problem-solving
• conflict resolution
• negotiation.

By the end of your research degree you will be able to articulately apply these skills to enhance your career path.

How to apply

• How to apply: UK
• How to apply: International

To apply for one of our research courses, click the green 'apply now' link shown below to complete an online application form. You will need to attach the following documentation to your online application form:

• research proposal outline (5000 words maximum)
• transcript of your highest qualification.

The research proposal outline, or statement of research interests, enables us to assess your suitability for higher degree work including:

• viability of the topic as a research study
• the most appropriate supervisor(s) to be appointed.

Click here  for more information on applying for a PhD.

Apply for this course

Next steps after making your application.

We aim to make a decision on your application as quickly as we can. If we need any more information about your qualifications, we will be in touch.

In the meantime, come and visit us and find out more about what studying at UWL is like. Sign up for an  open day  or join a campus tour .

• Applying for an undergraduate course
• Applying for a postgraduate course
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Visit us and see for yourself

Talk to our tutors and find out about our courses and facilities at our next open day or join a campus tour.

We're here to help

Any questions about a course or studying at UWL? We're here to help - call us on 0800 036 8888 (option 2, Monday – Friday 10am-4pm) or email us on [email protected].

To apply for one of our research courses, click the green 'apply now' link shown below to complete an online application form.  You will need to attach the following documentation to your online application form:

• research proposal outline

Related courses

PhD Creative Writing

PhD Film Studies

PhD Psychology

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Important notes for applicants

* Modern universities  - defined as higher education institutions that were granted university status in, and subsequent to, 1992.

** The National Student Survey 2023 and 2024 -   Average of answers to all questions by registered student population. Excludes specialist institutions.

Testimonials - our students or former students provided all of our testimonials - often a student from the course but sometimes another student. For example, the testimonial often comes from another UWL student when the course is new.

Optional modules - where optional modules are offered they will run subject to staff availability and viable student numbers opting to take the module.

Videos - all videos on our course pages were accurate at the time of filming. In some cases a new Course Leader has joined the University since the video was filmed.

Availability of placements - if you choose a course with placement/internship route we would like to advise you that if a placement/internship opportunity does not arise when you are expected to undertake the placement then the University will automatically transfer you to the non-internship route, this is to ensure you are still successful in being awarded a degree.

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MPhil/PhD English, Comparative Literature or Linguistics

Content navigation menu, why study mphil/phd english, comparative literature or linguistics at goldsmiths.

We offer MPhil and PhD research programmes in English (including American Studies), Comparative Literature or Linguistics for full-time or part-time study.

• The Department of English and Creative Writing consists of scholars and creative writers whose work is acknowledged and cited internationally.
• We offer a stimulating environment for undertaking postgraduate research in English Literature (including American Literature and literary theory), World Literature, Comparative Literature, Linguistics, and Creative Writing.
• We particularly encourage cross- and interdisciplinary research in emerging fields of study and creative practice.
• As well as working with scholars and writers of international standing, you will have the opportunity to play an active role in a vibrant research environment which includes the Richard Hoggart Lectures in Literature and Culture, the annual Goldsmiths Prize for bold and innovative fiction, and specialist seminars and colloquia offered by the Goldsmiths Writers' Centre, the Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies, the Decadence Research Centre, the Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought, and the Centre for Comparative Literature, the Goldsmiths Literature Seminars (GLITS), the Goldsmiths Linguistics Seminars (GoldLingS), and the e-journal, GLITS-e. 

North American applicants especially should note that the British system does not include preparatory taught classes or examinations as part of the MPhil/PhD programme, except for an initial course in research methods.

Assessment is by thesis and viva voce.

Find out more about our  specialisms and expertise .

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Uttara Natarajan .

3-4 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time

Entry requirements

A taught Masters in a relevant subject of at least high merit standard. We normally also expect an undergraduate degree of at least 2:1 standard. You might be considered if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is unrelated, but you have relevant experience and can work at postgraduate level.

Home - full-time: £4786 Home - part-time: £2393 International - full-time: £17690

English and Creative Writing

What our students say

The university offers a wealth of resources and support to help students reach their academic goals.

View profile

You should normally have (or expect to be awarded) a taught Masters in a relevant subject area, of at least high merit standard. We normally also expect an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard.

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about  the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or  equivalent English language qualification ) of  7.0 with a 7.0 in writing and no element lower than 6.5  to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of  courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study .

How to apply

Apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system.

If you are interested in applying, please send your academic CV, along with a preliminary research proposal, to  [email protected] . These will then be seen by the programme convenor, who will be able to advise on supervisor availability in the department, and whether you should submit a formal application.

The actual topic of your research has to be agreed with your proposed supervisor, who will be a member of staff active in your general field of research, before you start at Goldsmiths. The choice of topic may be influenced by the current research in the department or the requirements of an external funding body.

For your application you'll need to have: 

• Details of  your education history , including the dates of all exams/assessments
• The  email address of your referee  who we can request a reference from, or alternatively an electronic copy of your academic reference
• Contact details of a second referee
• A  personal statement – t his can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online.  Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement
• If available, an electronic copy of your educational transcript (this is particularly important if you have studied outside of the UK, but isn’t mandatory)
• Details of your  research proposal

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password. 

If you wish to study on a part-time basis, you should also indicate how many hours a week you intend to devote to research, whether this will be at evenings or weekends, and for how many hours each day.

Research proposals

Along with your application and academic reference, you should also upload a research proposal at the point of application. 

This should be in the form of a statement of the proposed area of research and should include: 

• Delineation of the research topic
• Why it has been chosen
• An initial hypothesis (if applicable)
• A brief list of major secondary sources

When to apply  

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place conditional on you achieving a particular qualification.  

If you're applying for external funding from one of the Research Councils, make sure you submit your application by the deadline they've specified. 

Selection process 

If the subject you are applying to research is in an unrelated field, you may be considered subject to qualifying interview/submission of sample essays.

Find out more about applying.

Fees and funding

Annual tuition fees.

These are the PG fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

• Home - full-time: £4786
• Home - part-time: £2393
• International - full-time: £17690

If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office , who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment .

Funding opportunities

English and creative writing mphil/phd fee waiver.

Applications are open to all students on English and Creative Writing MPhil/PhD programmes

Use the Goldsmiths scholarships finder below to find out what other funding you may be eligible for. 

Paying your fees

Find out about paying your tuition fees .

If you are a UK student you may be eligible for a  postgraduate loan .

Meanwhile our Careers Service  can also offer advice on finding work during your studies.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our  study costs page .

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. 

Where this degree can take you

Our graduates have gone on to pursue careers in:

• Public relations
• Advertising
• The civil service
• Business/Industry

Carrying out a research degree will help you develop:

• Transferable skills, including enhanced communication and discussion skills in written and oral contexts
• The ability to analyse and evaluate different textual materials
• The ability to organise information, and to assimilate and evaluate competing arguments

Research training programme

Training in research methods and skills is provided both by the Department and Goldsmiths' Graduate School.

This begins with an intensive week-long induction in the first week of enrolment and continues later in the first term with a series of seminars focussing on the specific challenges of literary and linguistic research projects.

We will also inform you about any research training seminars or study-days offered elsewhere in the University of London (for exmaple, by the Institute of English Studies or the Institute of Modern Languages Research, School of Advanced Study) or beyond, such as at the British Library.

The specific training requirements of your project will be assessed, and guidance provided on specialist seminars and conferences to attend, which can be supported where possible by assistance from departmental funds.

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Course type

Qualification, university name, phd degrees in english literature.

32 degrees at 28 universities in the UK.

Customise your search

Select the start date, qualification, and how you want to study

About Postgraduate English Literature

A PhD in English literature in the UK offers an in-depth academic programme tailored for individuals dedicated to deepening their exploration of literary analysis, history and cultures. Graduates of this programme are well-suited for diverse professional paths, including roles as academic scholars, published authors, literary analysts and researchers in literary studies, contributing substantially to the field of literary criticism and theory.

For advanced academic pursuits in English literature, there are more than 30 PhD options in the UK. These programmes appeal to candidates with a strong foundation in English literature, demonstrated through a master's degree or equivalent in humanities disciplines. The focus of these programmes is to develop critical analysis, research expertise and literary analysis.

What to Expect

English literature PhD programmes involve a significant focus on independent research, encouraging students to delve into specialised areas such as specific literary periods, genres, works of individual authors, or theoretical frameworks.

The core of the programme is the doctoral dissertation, a comprehensive original research project that makes a significant contribution to the study of literature. Evaluation is predominantly based on the doctoral thesis, with candidates also engaging in academic seminars and conferences, contributing to scholarly publications, integral for developing their academic profiles and networking opportunities.

Graduates of these PhD programmes emerge as experts in English literature, equipped with the skills to critically analyse and interpret literary works, contextualise literature within their cultural and historical milieus and contribute new perspectives to literary discourse. Graduates are prepared for impactful academic and research roles in publishing, cultural institutions and various sectors where advanced analytical and interpretative skills are valued.

Related subjects:

• PhD English Literature
• PhD Shakespeare

• Course title (A-Z)
• Course title (Z-A)
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• Price: low - high

English Literature, American Studies & Creative Writing PhD

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English Literature MPhil, PhD

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English Literature PhD

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By choosing to embark on postgraduate research study in English Literature at Glasgow, you will be joining a thriving, dynamic, and Read more...

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University of Surrey

Why choose this programme We perform innovative and world-leading research across literature, writing and linguistics. We’re part of the Read more...

• 4 years Full time degree: £4,712 per year (UK)
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• 3 years Part time degree: £2,392 per year (UK)
• 3.5 years Part time degree: £2,392 per year (UK)

University of West London

The London School of Film, Media and Design offers a PhD in English Literature by individual research within the areas of expertise of Read more...

• 4 years Full time degree: £3,995 per year (UK)
• 6 years Part time degree: £2,000 per year (UK)

Aberystwyth University

PhD English Literature The English Department provides an excellent environment for postgraduate study, research, and creative work. The Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,712 per year (UK)

English Literature PhDs and MPhils (Distance Learning)

University of portsmouth.

If you want to take your expertise in the written word into a postgraduate research degree in English Literature, Portsmouth is the perfect Read more...

• 6 years Distance without attendance degree: £2,393 per year (UK)
• 3 years Distance without attendance degree: £2,393 per year (UK)

PhD in Creative Writing and English Literature

Manchester metropolitan university.

Discover your research degree study options, including areas of expertise for our academic supervisors. Our research degrees will help you Read more...

• 3 years Distance without attendance degree
• 6 years Distance without attendance degree
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• 6 years Part time degree: £4,786 per year (UK)

English literature PhD

University of brighton.

The University of Brighton offers an active, supportive and stimulating environment for English literature PhD study in a range of literary Read more...

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English Literature and Language MPhil/PhD

University of worcester.

We welcome applications to undertake research towards MPhil and PhD degrees in English Literature and Language. Research at Worcester has Read more...

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In the heart of Shakespeare’s Stratford, with access to the theatres of the Royal Shakespeare Company and extraordinarily rich libraries Read more...

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Swansea university.

A PhD or MPhil in English Literature enables you to undertake a substantial independent research project, which should be of a Read more...

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If you take this English Literature you will experience One-to-one teaching and supervision by established writers and academics. The Read more...

English Literature PhDs and MPhils

1-20 of 32 courses

Course type:

• Distance learning PhD
• Full time PhD
• Part time PhD

Qualification:

Universities:.

• Cardiff University
• University of Buckingham
• The University of Edinburgh
• University of Sussex
• University of Reading
• University of Lincoln
• Lancaster University
• Queen's University Belfast
• University of Liverpool
• University of Bristol

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Research degrees (mphil/phd) cultural, literary and postcolonial studies.

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Key information

Home student fees (full-time) : £4,860 per year Home student fees (part-time) : £2,430 per year Overseas student fees (full-time) : £22,490 per year Overseas student fees (part-time) : £11,245 per year

Please note that fees go up each year.   See  research fees  for further details.

We normally require a 2.1 bachelor's degree (or its equivalent) plus a Masters degree in appropriate subject area plus one reference. In exceptional cases we may accept applicants who do not meet these criteria if they show evidence of a strong Masters degree and/or appropriate level of relevant work experience. International applicants should also see  Doctoral School English language requirements

Course overview

The SOAS Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS) welcomes applications from MPhil/PhD students wishing to undertake research in the disciplines of Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Studies.

The Centre has developed its own MPhil training programme which will enable research students to be registered in the Centre rather than in specific regional Departments or those of other disciplines. The Centre places its emphasis on the acquisition of critical theoretical skills and in-depth regional, linguistic and cultural knowledge with specific reference to Asia, Africa and the Middle East, but also to literatures written in European languages.

Prospective research students will have the unique opportunity to work on an exceptionally wide range of topics, theoretical and critical, supervised according to the expertise of a wide range of academic staff across the Faculty and SOAS.

A research degree in Comparative Literature (Asia/Africa/the Near and Middle East), Cultural Studies (Asia/Africa/The Middle East) or Postcolonial Studies (Asia/Africa/The Near and Middle East) normally takes three years, or up to a maximum of four years should periods of fieldwork/research and material collection be required. Part-time registration is also possible.

Why Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies at SOAS?

• SOAS is specialist in the studies of Africa, the Middle East, South Asia and South East Asia
• SOAS is ranked 1st in London in the Complete University Guide 2021 for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and 6th in the UK
• Ranked 8th in the UK in the Complete University Guide 2021 for South Asian Studies

In the first year, students prepare for research by following an MPhil training programme convened by the Chair of the Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies. Students will also be strongly encouraged to attend the core theory courses in the three disciplines, the other elements being agreed between the student, the Research Tutor (a member of the CCLPS Steering Committee) and the supervisor(s). Optional elements may consist of specialist disciplinary, language or regional culture courses, attendance of which can be agreed between the student and the supervisory committee.

MPhil students are required to attend the CCLPS Weekly Research Training Seminar and a generic research methods course offered within the Faculty of Languages and Cultures, convened by the Associate Dean for Research. The generic research methods training includes courses offered by the Academic Development Directorate (ADD) and the SOAS Library .

Doctoral School website also offers information on research training across London higher education institutions.

MPhil/PhD students are in addition expected to attend regularly the Centre’s seminar series, lectures, conferences and the CCLPS Postgraduate Annual Conference which started in June 2012 and is annually organised by the CCLPS PhD community. All details of CCLPS events will be available on the CCLPS pages . Third and Final Year CCLPS PhD students are asked to present their research projects in the CCLPS seminars and lecture series as that constitute an important element of their professional training.

Upgrade procedure

MPhil students submit an upgrade chapter (of about 10,000-12,000 words excluding bibliography), typically including the following elements:

• research rationale and context of proposed research
• literature review
• main research questions
• theoretical and methodological framework & considerations
• proposed research methods
• rthical issues (where applicable)
• outlining structure of PhD dissertation
• schedule of research and writing
• bibliography

Adjustments to one or more of these sections, including additions or deletions where appropriate, are possible by prior arrangement between the students and lead supervisors.

This upgrade proposal is assessed by the student’s research committee, based on a 20-30 minute oral presentation, followed by a discussion, also open to other staff and student members of the Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies. On successful completion of the upgrade chapter, students are formally upgraded to PhD and proceed to the second year. (If the assessors consider there to be shortcomings in the upgrade proposal, students will be asked to revise it to their satisfaction before the upgrade to PhD status can be confirmed.) Students are not normally permitted to proceed to the second year until the upgrade process has been completed.

Students studying part-time take the MPhil training seminar in the first year and write the upgrade paper in the second year. The length of time for field or research and material collection, and writing up, is adjusted accordingly.

Degrees are awarded by SOAS University of London and are subject to SOAS University of London regulations.

CCLPS weekly research training seminar

In addition to generic methods training, MPhil/PhD students in the CCLPS are required to attend a weekly Research Training Seminar in the disciplines of Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Studies as well as in interdisciplinary methods and methodologies in term one and two. The aim of the training programme is to provide a thorough grounding in theory, methods, regional, cultural, linguistic and any special disciplinary expertise that may be required for the research.

The focus of the CCLPS MPhil/PhD Research Training Seminar will be on the disciplines of Comparative Literature, Cultural Studies and Postcolonial Studies, and in relation to the literary, critical and cultural practices of Asian and African traditions. The programme of training will also be supported by regular CCLPS Lecture and seminar series, conferences and workshops and the CCLPS Annual Postgraduate Conference.

CCLPS training sessions

The CCLPS training sessions are designed to offer:

• analysis of and a grounding in theoretical premises and critical paradigms underlying the three disciplines and their intertwined trajectories and interdisciplinarity
• a critical exploration of European and non-European critical traditions
• a critical grounding in the crossing of Humanities and Social Sciences critical methods and methodologies
• practical analytic exercises and selective in-depth analysis of certain texts as well as cultural phenomena and institutions, particularly in relation to the field of Cultural Studies
• modes of engagement with critical scholarship and ways of constructing theoretical frames
• a critical grounding in the new theories on ‘World Literature'
• critical contexts in which students are able to identify and pursue figures, schools, theories they deem relevant to their work - the training sessions are not designed to offer general surveys
• exercises in the application of certain analytic tools and critical methods, particularly in relation to adopting a comparative method of study, a postcolonial approach to research and cultural studies strategic interdisciplinarity
• training in fieldwork and collection and analysis of data
• training in methods used for media and film studies
• training in practices of reading the corpus of the thesis or its primary material
• training in presentation, dissemination, communication of research and ways of using feedback on one’s project as students are asked to present on their 'literature review' in term 1 and on 'ways of reading their corpus' in terms 2
• the CCLPS Research Training Seminar also offers the opportunity for first year students to meet and greet their senior CCLPS PhD students and exchange views and  experiences of the CCLPS postgraduate community.

The CCLPS weekly Research Training Seminar aims at grounding our new MPhil/PhD students in various theory and practice based methodology so that the agency of non-European traditions may be identified and exercised, strengthened by the unique range of research activities and regional expertise offered at SOAS. This is also the envisioned path through which students may be able not only to place their work in a discipline, but also to plan future contributions in this discipline, while expanding the spheres of their respective fields.

Important notice

The information on the website reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. The modules are indicative options of the content students can expect and are/have been previously taught as part of these programmes. However, this information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change.

Teaching and learning

Research will be guided throughout by a research committee of three core CCLPS members, consisting of one primary supervisor (core CCLPS Faculty of Languages and Cultures member) and two supporting supervisors in an advisory capacity (CCLPS core or SOAS members). Depending on the nature of the research joint supervision is sometimes recommended, under the direction of two supervisors.

SOAS Library

SOAS Library is one of the world's most important academic libraries for the study of Africa, Asia and the Middle East, attracting scholars from all over the world. The Library houses over 1.2 million volumes, together with significant archival holdings, special collections and a growing network of electronic resources.

Scholarships

Fees and funding

Fees for 2023/24 entrants per academic year.

Please note that fees go up each year.

• See  research fees  for further details.

Graduates of the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics leave SOAS not only with linguistic and cultural expertise, but also with skills in written and oral communication, analysis and problem solving.

Recent graduates have been hired by:

• Africa Matters
• Amnesty International
• Arab British Chamber of Commerce
• BBC World Service
• British High Commission
• Council for British Research in the Levant
• Department for International Development
• Embassy of Jordan
• Ernst & Young
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
• Middle East Eye
• Saïd Foundation
• TalkAbout Speech Therapy
• The Black Curriculum
• The Telegraph
• United Nations Development Programme
• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
• Wall Street Journal

Find out about our  Careers Service

Dr Yair Wallach

Social and cultural history of modern Palestine/Israel; material, visual and urban culture; history of textuality; race and antisemitism; migration and settler colonialism in Jewish history

SOAS Voices

Decolonising Bloomsbury: A guided walking tour through London’s colonial legacy

Dr Alia Amir, Research Associate at the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics, takes us on a 'decolonising walk' through Bloomsbury, London and reflects on some of the historical landmarks while challenging us to confront colonial histories and envision a more just future.

I’m a full-time SOAS student in my fifties. Here’s why I came back to university

Sian shares her motivations for returning to university full-time to learn Persian and her experiences of settling in so far.

How to learn a language effectively: Advice from SOAS teachers

Teachers from the SOAS Language Centre share their favourite tips for learning a language and sticking to it, from building confidence and setting goals to getting creative in your everyday practice.

Why Studio Ghibli is so popular and how it exports Japanese culture

Masami, a BA East Asian Studies student, delves into factors contributing to Studio Ghibli's international success and how the films may influence global perceptions of Japan.

World Kiswahili Day: Here is how we celebrate Swahili every day at SOAS

For World Kiswahili Day, Dr Ida Hadjivayanis shares some of the Swahili activities at SOAS in the past year.

Why I chose to study a language while working full-time

Language Centre student Bianca Belli discusses how she balances learning Japanese while working full-time, her plans for her newfound skills and shares the Japanese word she would teach a friend.

Leverhulme Research Leadership Award: Mapping Sumatra’s manuscript cultures

This project’s interdisciplinary team investigates manuscript libraries from the Indonesian island of Sumatra, the first landing point, geographically and historically, of Islam in South East Asia, to better understand the intellectual and writing traditions of the region.

British Academy writing workshop: Amplifying women's voices in Hausa cultural studies

This 4-day British Academy Writing Workshop and 6-months of mentorship sought to amplify the voices of academic women writing about Hausa cultural studies in Northern Nigeria by providing support in revising research in preparation for publication.

British Academy Writing Workshop ‘De-centering knowledge and training opportunities: Supporting the development of the next generation of researchers in African linguistics’

As part of this project we will run two writing workshops in Kenya for Early Career Researchers in linguistics to work with experienced editors, improve writing skills and strengthen scholarly networks.

Variation in Swahili: contact, change and identity

Variation in Swahili: contact, change and identity investigates different ways in which Swahili is spoken, how its varieties are influenced by other languages, and what this means for speakers and their identities.

RISE UP: Revitalising Languages and Safeguarding Cultural Diversity

Transnational practices: film culture and politics in china (1949–1989).

Examining transnational film practices in China against the backdrop of the shifting global order from 1949 to 1989.

Chemical Capital: The life and times of a North Korean industrial town from colonial fiefdom to socialist icon

A biography a town and the diverse people that made it, from Korean workers to Russian engineers and Japanese scientists.

Re/presenting Islam on Campus

Exploring how Islam and Muslims are represented and perceived on UK university campuses.

Creative Multilingualism in World Literatures

Exploring multilingualism’s revolutionary potential and creative force in language, literature, thought and the visual arts.

Multilingual Locals and Significant Geographies

Countering the identification of world literature with English by highlighting the multilingualism and the many factors that contribute to regional and transnational literary fields.

The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to World Literature

A far-reaching and sustained study of key authors, texts, and topics from around the world and throughout history.

Prominent Possessors

Investigating the phenomenon of "prominent internal possessors" from a theoretical and cross-linguistic perspective.

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UCL English

English MPhil/PhD

One of the highest-ranking English departments in the UK, UCL English provides excellent opportunities for PhD students to study in the heart of literary London, with access to vast quantities of resources and research materials, and a high number of academic staff working on a diverse range of specialist research topics.

Key information

Programme starts.

September 2021

Modes and duration

Application dates, tuition fees (2021/22).

Note on fees: The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees .

Entry requirements

An undergraduate degree in English Literature or a related subject is a pre-requisite for this programme, and a UK Master's degree in a relevant discipline, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard will normally be required. Research degree students are expected to start in September, but may request to start in January if there are exceptional reasons to do so. Applicants who wish to be considered for AHRC/ LAHP funding must have submitted a complete application by 8 January 2021.

English language requirements

If your education has not been conducted in the English language, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency.

The English language level for this programme is: Good

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

International students

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website .

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below.

Select your country: Select a country Afghanistan Albania Algeria Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Cambodia Cameroon Canada Caribbean / West Indies Chile China Colombia Congo (DR) Costa Rica Croatia Cuba Cyprus (Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities) Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Guatemala Guyana Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Malta Mauritius Mexico Moldova Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Myanmar (Burma) Namibia Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Swaziland/Eswatini Sweden Switzerland Syria Taiwan Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Trinidad & Tobago Tunisia Turkey (including Turkish sector of Cyprus) Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates (UAE) United States of America Uruguay Uzbekistan Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

The department has specialists in every period of English and American literature, as well as English language, with an outstanding record of world-leading research (REF 2014).

There is a full programme of research seminars (at which papers are given by invited speakers and graduate students), a research methods workshops, and career development events. Several students from the department have participated as visiting scholars at Yale as part of the UCL-Yale Collaborative Partnership. Students have automatic access to an incomparable range of archives and libraries, including Senate House Library and the British Library, both of which are nearby.

Please note that all doctoral students at UCL are considered to be on an MPhil programme until they ‘upgrade’ to PhD status in the second year of their studies. The English department does not offer a standalone research master's programme and nor is it possible to be admitted as a PhD student directly.

Research areas

We offer expertise in a wide range of topics within the field of English literature and language. Some areas in which the department would particularly welcome applications are:

• Old and Middle English literature and manuscript studies
• Relations between English and insular and continental French writings from the thirteenth to the fifteenth centuries
• Post-medieval bibliography and palaeography
• History of the book, textual and editorial theory and practice in all periods
• Shakespeare studies, including Shakespeare’s London
• The literature of the Elizabethan court
• Women writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
• Classicism in seventeenth and eighteenth-century literary culture
• Literature and science in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
• Revolutionary Writings in the Romantic period
• Homosexuality and literary history
• Literature and technology in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century literature
• Victorian and Edwardian writings on sexuality and adolescence
• Contemporary poetry
• Postmodern fiction
• London in literature/urban literature
• English grammar
• English language
• The history of the English language
• Corpus linguistics

You can read about our staff research interests here .

About this degree

Additional costs.

Additional costs may include expenses such as books, stationery, printing or photocopying, and conference registration fees.

For more information on additional costs for prospective students please go to our estimated cost of essential expenditure at Accommodation and living costs .

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk . Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support & Wellbeing team .

AHRC grants are available for UK/EU English PhD applicants who are applying to start a research degree in 2021. Applications are made directly to the London Arts and Humanities Partnership, who administer the awarding of AHRC funding at UCL. AHRC funding covers all fees, as well as providing a stipend for living expenses, for three years. If you have any questions about the application process please contact Jose Prego .

Wolfson Postgraduate Scholarships are available for UK/EU PhD students starting in 2021 in the areas of language, history and literature, which provide full funding including living expenses for three years.

UCL's Graduate Research Scholarship covers UK/EU fees and provides a living allowance for Home/EU students. There is also a competitive overseas equivalent, the Overseas Research Scholarship.

Scholarships relevant to this department are displayed below.

UCL Research Opportunity Scholarship

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website .

Employability

As one of the highest-ranked English departments in the UK, UCL English graduates are particularly well regarded by employers (within academia and in the wider world), with many former UCL English students going on to academic jobs in top universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, and here at UCL.

The department offers graduates the opportunity to teach tutorials and seminars. PhD students organise a one-day conference each year and many of the papers delivered go on to be published in Moveable Type , the department's graduate-led online journal. There are regular Graduate Research Seminars, where current students present their work to academic audiences.

There are countless opportunities for UCL research students to work with a range of leading experts in literary fields, and all students have access to the excellent  UCL Careers service . We maintain strong relationships with our alumni, who are happy to advise current students on their future career plans. UCL English has its own Graduate Common Room where students can meet informally. The comparatively small size of the postgraduate research cohort fosters a sense of community amongst the PhD students, and there are many departmental events where current students have the opportunity to interact with fellow researchers.

Why study this degree at UCL?

As one of the most respected academic institutions in the world, UCL is an excellent place to study for a PhD. As well as access to the UCL and University of London libraries, studying in central London allows students access to the widest possible range of material for study.

The comparatively small size of the department creates a friendly and inclusive research environment, with close contact between staff and students. An excellent research methods course faciliates the development of key skills.

Collaborative research partnerships include:

• UCL Centre for Early Modern Exchanges
• Colonial Film: Moving Images of the British Empire (in conjunction with Birkbeck, the British Film Institute, the Imperial War Museum, and the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum)
• Centre for Editing Lives and Letters
• The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Department: English Language & Literature

What our students and staff say

"At the moment I am trying to gather together everything that I have ever known for the 18th century volume of the Oxford English Literary History. " Professor John Mullan English MPhil/PhD Professor of English

Application and next steps

Applications.

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found in our How to apply section .

Application deadlines

We recommend that applicants look at our list of staff on the UCL English website before submitting an application. Whilst potential supervisors are unable to accept a PhD student without a formal application form, we attach great importance to the match between supervisors and students, so please check that we have a member of teaching staff who could potentially supervise your project before applying. Applicants who are interested in applying for AHRC funding via the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) must submit completed applications (including references) by 8 January 2021 (you will also need to complete a LAHP application for: see www.lahp.ac.uk for details).

For more information see our Applications page.

UCL is regulated by the Office for Students .

Page last modified on 9 November 2021

Contact information

• Mr Jose Prego
• [email protected]
• +4420 7679 3134

Department website

English Language & Literature

Stay in touch!

• Register interest in your chosen subjects
• Receive notice of graduate open days, events and more

Open days, fairs and visits

More ways to meet UCL

Visit UCL's IRIS research portal to learn more about our researchers' activities, research groups, research centres and interdisciplinary networks.

IRIS department: English

IRIS Portal

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More information, subject area.

English --> English

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Prospectus disclaimer

King's College London

English research mphil/phd.

Key information

Joint PhDs available: Exciting opportunities to gain a joint PhD with Hong Kong University (HKU), the National University of Singapore (NUS) or Humboldt University in Berlin.

King’s is one of the oldest English departments in the country and is home to a lively and supportive group of academics and students engaged in the exploration of literary cultures from the 7th to the 21st centuries. Academics in the department have cross-period interests in visual and material cultures; literature, medicine and science; gender and sexuality; colonial, postcolonial and transnational cultures; creative writing, life writing and performance; text, history, politics.

All members of staff are actively involved in research: most have gained an international reputation for the quality of their scholarship and are frequently called on to contribute their specialist knowledge to newspapers and other media. Staff in the department regularly attract large-scale research grants from the European Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Leverhulme Trust.

PhD students are at the heart of our Department and its research culture. We have over 100 doctoral students from all over the world working on a wide range of projects. Many are AHRC-funded and some are working on collaborative doctoral projects with our cultural partner institutions. Together with our community of postdoctoral fellows, our early career researchers both organise and participate in our thriving seminar and conference culture.

Research at the Department has been recognised in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, with 90 per cent overall rating for either ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) research and 100 per cent at 4* and 3* for research environment. Current number of academic staff : 57 Current number of research students : 122

Recent publications:

• Clare Birchall, Radical Secrecy: The Ends of Transparency in Datafied America
• Adelene Buckland, Victorian Material Culture: Raw Materials
• Jon Day, Novel Sensations: Modernist Fiction and the Problem of Qualia
• Lara Feigel, Look! We Have Come Through! Living With D.H. Lawrence
• Carl Kears, MS Junius 11 and its Poetry
• Lucy Munro, Shakespeare in the Theatre: The King's Men
• Luke Roberts, Glacial Decoys
• Edward Sugden, Crossings in Nineteenth-Century American Culture: Junctures of Time, Space, Self and Politics
• Benjamin Wood , The Young Accomplice: A Novel

Current and recent research projects:

• India and the Indian Ocean in the Early Decolonial Period: Archipelagic Imaginaries, 1950s-1970s
• REDACT: Researching Europe, Digitalisation, and Conspiracy Theories (ESRC funded)
• Stories from Rwanda: Agency, Editing and New Audiences (AHRC funded)
• The Automation Imaginary, from 1822 to the Present (Leverhulme Trust funded)
• Underwater Lives: Humans, Species, Oceans (Leverhulme Trust funded)

Current doctoral projects:

• Elite Female Servants in Early Modern English Drama: Gender, Race and Status in Service
• Branding Bondage: Racialised Slavery in the Mediterranean on the Early Modern English Stage (1560 - 1640)
• The Myths I Became
• The New Carthaginians / The Codex of Basquiat: Writing through his Paintings as an African Diasporic Poet
• Pretending and Performing Gypsy Identity in Early Modern England
• Enacting Scripts of Mourning: Mourning Rituals in the Performing Arts in the Interwar Period, 1918-1939
• Modernist Up-topias: Imaginations of Height and Flight In Literature, Film, and Culture
• 'Dark Practices and Cunning Devices': The Materiality of Secrecy and Written Cultures of Security in Elizabethan England
• Women, Archaeology and the Provincial Press
• Changing Emotions in Early Modern Drama: Individual Agency and Social Frameworks

Joint PhDs available: Exciting opportunities to gain a joint PhD with either the National University of Singapore or Hong Kong University or Humboldt.

• How to apply
• Fees or Funding

UK Tuition Fees 2023/24

Full time tuition fees:

£5,820 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£5,820 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)

Part time tuition fees:

£2,910 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£2,910 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)

International Tuition Fees 2023/24

£22,900 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£22,900 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)

£11,450 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£11,450 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)

UK Tuition Fees 2024/25

£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)

£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)

International Tuition Fees 2024/25

£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)

£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)

£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)

These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.

Study environment

Base campus

Strand Campus

Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.

We place great emphasis on pastoral care and are a friendly and welcoming department. Our home in the new Virginia Woolf Building offers many spaces for postgraduate students to work and socialise. Studying in London means students have access to a huge range of libraries from the Maughan Library at King’s to the Senate House Library at the University of London and the British Library. In addition, archives and special collections abound: for instance The Women’s Library at LSE.

The department hosts a number of vibrant research seminars series and symposia open to all graduate students. In addition, there is a student-led graduate seminar series called ‘The Abstract’  and an online journal which allow students to present, discuss and publish their work. We also organise an annual graduate conference attended by students and staff in the department which provides a friendly and supportive forum in which research students can give papers on their work. Students are encouraged to organise their own events, with Departmental and College support.

Postgraduate training

There is a range of induction events and training provided for students by the Graduate School, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the English Department.

A significant number of our students are AHRC-funded through the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) which also provides doctoral training to all students. All students take the ‘Doctoral Seminar’ in their first year. This is a series of informal, staff-led seminars on research skills in which students can share and gain feedback on their own work.

We run a series of ‘Skills Lunches’, which are informal lunch meetings with staff, covering specific topics, including Upgrading, Attending Conferences, Applying for Funding and Post-Doctoral Awards, etc. Topics for these sessions are generally suggested by the students themselves, so are particularly responsive to student needs.

We have an Early Career Staff Mentor who runs more formal workshops of varying kinds, particularly connected to career development and the professions (for example, ‘Applying for Jobs’ and ‘How to Write an Academic CV’). Furthermore, individual research groups within the department also provide various forms of trainings, including ‘Work in Progress’ sessions, in which students raise research/methodology questions related to their own projects. Through our Graduate Teaching Assistantship Scheme, doctoral students are given the opportunity to teach in the department (usually in their second year of study) and are trained and supported as they do so.

• Entry requirements

Accommodation

Discover your accommodation options and explore our residences.

Connect with a King’s Advisor

Want to know more about studying at King's? We're here to help.

Learning in London

King's is right in the heart of the capital.

Imperial College London Imperial College London

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• Postgraduate doctoral
• Application process
• Choose a course

Looking for funding?

Use our scholarships search tool to look for available scholarships. Also explore our latest funded PhD vacancies .

A PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) is the most common type of doctoral degree and the highest level of academic qualification you can achieve. 

It normally takes between three and four years of full-time work to complete. It is also possible to undertake a PhD part time, over five to six years.

The main activity of a PhD is to carry out an original research project under the direction of one or more supervisors, to be written up as a thesis.

Different routes to achieving a PhD

There are a number of ways to achieving a PhD at Imperial:

• by undertaking a course of study based on your own research proposal
• by joining a research project that comes with funding attached (known as a studentship)
• by combining it with Master's study in an integrated route that typically lasts four years

Pursuing your own research idea

To search for PhD opportunities based on your own research proposal you first need to identify a research group within Imperial whose area of expertise best matches your idea.

Use the links below to search the different PhD opportunities within our academic departments, centres and institutes. This includes information about current studentships and often guidance on finding a supervisor.

Our interdisciplinary approach means our expertise often spans departmental boundaries – and so do our courses – so you may find opportunities in an unexpected area of the university.

Faculty of Engineering

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• Earth Science and Engineering
• Electrical and Electronic Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

Faculty of Medicine

• Department of Brain Sciences
• Department of Immunology and Inflammation
• Department of Infectious Disease
• Department of Metabolism, Digestion and Reproduction
• Department of Surgery and Cancer
• National Heart and Lung Institute
• School of Public Health

Faculty of Natural Sciences

• Life Sciences
• Mathematics
• Centre for Environmental Policy

Imperial College Business School

• Doctoral programme

Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication

• PhD in Arabic, German, Italian, Russian and Spanish Studies
• PhD in science communication studies

Global Challenge institutes

We have six Global Challenge institutes, which were created to address some of society's biggest challenges.

If you have an idea for a PhD that falls within the remit of one of our Global Challenge institutes please contact them directly to discuss before making a formal application.

• Data Science Institute
• Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment
• Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering
• Institute for Security Science and Technology
• Institute of Global Health Innovation

Energy Futures Lab  does not offer PhD programmes, but does deliver the  MSc in Sustainable Energy Futures .

Joint Academy of Doctoral Studies | Imperial College London-Technical University of Munich

We have recently formed  a strategic partnership in education, research and innovation  with the Technical University of Munich, one of Germany’s most international and entrepreneurial universities, producing highly ranked research, like Imperial, in science, engineering and medicine.

As part of the partnership, Imperial and TUM have launched a 'Joint Academy of Doctoral Studies' with the aim of co-developing cross-disciplinary clusters of PhD students who will have access to world-leading academic supervisors and state-of-the art facilities at both institutions.

The first round of the programme will focus on the theme of 'Artificial Intelligence, Healthcare and Robotics'.

Find out more about the Joint Academy of Doctoral Studies and apply

PhD in Literature

London Global Gateway

The London Global Gateway promotes activities that advance the mission and raise the profile of the University in London and around the world.

O'Connell House Dublin Ireland

The Keough-Notre Dame Study Centre every summer offers the Irish Seminar at the O’Connell House in Dublin.

Rome Global Gateway

The Rome Global Gateway is one block from the Colosseum. The Gateway also fosters research and graduate education.

Study literature, acquire and practice languages, learn a profession, find opportunities: follow your passion! Apply to an innovative, transnational and transdisciplinary program.

Literary Future

National literature is losing its significance; this is the era of world literature, and everyone should hasten its development. Goethe, On World Literature, 1827.

Please note: the Ph.D in Literature Program at the University of Notre Dame is no longer admitting new students.

Skip to Content

2024 Fountain Symposium Participants

Note: Dr. Gehad is included here as discoverer and co-first-editor of the papyrus. He will not be able to join us in Boulder for the symposium.

Global main menu

• Queen Mary University of London
• News stories

Professor Sophie Harman's new book exposes global women's health crisis

Professor Sophie Harman's insightful new book, ‘ Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health’ delves into the critical and often overlooked issues surrounding women's health worldwide.

In Sick of It , Professor Harman confronts the alarming reality that, despite well-documented causes of disease and significant funding from governments and philanthropists, women across the globe continue to die from preventable health issues. The book sheds light on how women's health is caught in the crossfire of political conflicts, such as the repeal of abortion rights and the attacks on Ukrainian maternity hospitals, alongside less publicised issues like healthwashing and the exploitation of vulnerable patients and women health workers.

Harman explores a wide range of urgent questions, including the impact of populism, the role of big data, and the chronic undervaluation of women's work. Through her comprehensive analysis, she offers practical solutions to this crisis, advocating for increased activism and political engagement to drive meaningful change.

The book has received critical acclaim, described as "a powerful call to confront the reasons why politics is jeopardising women’s health across the world" by her publisher. The Observer named it Book of the Week and praised Harman for delivering "her devastating diagnosis with a powerful prescription for change." The Sunday Independent called it "an important, timely and often fascinating book," while Elinor Cleghorn, author of Unwell Women , labelled it "a powerful and inspiring must-read."

In addition to these accolades, Professor Harman's work has been recognised by several prominent authors. Gina Rippon, author of The Gendered Brain , describes it as "radical and thought-provoking," urging readers to take action. Lucy Easthope, author of When The Dust Settles , calls it "a very powerful read," and Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan, author of Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing , finds it "illuminating, accessible and important." Stella Duffy, OBE, commends Harman for gathering "both the disturbing and heartbreaking facts and the vital possibilities open to all of us for action and engagement."

In addition to her book's release, Professor Harman recently joined Anita Rani on BBC Woman's Hour to discuss the pressing issues outlined in Sick of It . During the interview, Harman elaborated on the importance of confronting the political obstacles to women's health and emphasised the need for global solidarity in the fight for women's rights and health equity.

Professor Harman, a renowned expert in global health politics, continues to inspire through her research and advocacy. Her latest work is an essential read for policymakers, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in advancing women's health rights worldwide.

‘Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women’s Health’ is available in Ebook, Hardback, and Audiobook downloadable formats from publisher Virago .

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Admissions Overview

2025-26 admissions theme: environmental humanities.

The Department of English currently has a themed admissions process. This means that the cohort of students admitted each year shares a particular area of research or methodology. Previous themes have included Black studies, Pre-1900 literature, and Poetry and poetics. This year’s theme is described below. Such a themed approach to PhD admissions has pluses and minuses: it allows the department to focus course offerings and programming, but strong applicants may be excluded by the particularity of a given year’s theme. We have nonetheless decided to continue with themed admissions at present. Note that the department anticipates that each theme is broadly salient and will be realized in varied ways. All themes are conceived as inclusive of multiple time periods and subfields.

For the 2025-2026 graduate admissions cycle, the University of Chicago English Department is prioritizing applications focusing on literature and culture in relation to environment, ecology, and space. Possible areas of interest include (but are not limited to) the environmental humanities; built environments and literature; geography and urbanization; the atmosphere and setting of literary and artistic works and circles; ecopoetics; the poetics and politics of space.  We encourage applications from students wishing to work in all historical periods, and on texts from and about any region of the world. We welcome hybrid scholars working in creative and critical modes or across media, or doing public humanities and public-facing work that foregrounds environmental and spatial concerns.   For more information on faculty and current graduate students in this area, please visit the  department website .

You may indicate up to five Areas of Study in which you are interested, in ranked order.  

Admissions Themes

 Year 2 (2025–26): Environmental, ecological, and/or spatial matters, including eco-aesthetics, built environments and literature, geography and urbanization, and environmental e/affects. Prospective students might also consider connections to the Committee on Environment, Geography and Urbanization.

Year 3 (2026–27): Transnational literature, migration, and movement, including decolonial literatures, speculative fictions, the movement of cultural meaning, and translation.

Request More Information Here  

Request More Information

Students applying to the PhD program in English Language and Literature at the University of Chicago must complete an online application and upload the following to that application:

• Scanned transcripts from all college-level, degree-track programs. [Note: For Spring 2020 transcripts, ‘Pass’ grades and letter grades will be regarded as equivalent as we evaluate applications for admission to our PhD program.]
• 3-4 confidential letters of recommendation (recommenders may upload directly or you may use a service like Interfolio).
• A 15-20 page writing sample (double-spaced; page count does not include bibliography)
• A statement of academic purpose, 1-3 pages, single-spaced

The online application for the 2024-25 academic year will open in October. 

The application deadline for Autumn 2024 will be: December 14, 2023  

Learn more here

English Proficiency

Applicants for whom English is not a primary language may be required to submit current scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language ( TOEFL ) or the International English Language Testing System ( IELTS ). Current scores are no more than two years old at the time of application submission. A complete description of the English proficiency policy may be found at  this website , and questions about the English proficiency requirement should be directed to  [email protected] .

For more information on English proficiency requirements refer to the  UChicagoGRAD webpage .

Frequently Asked Questions

Information for applicants impacted by covid-19.

The English Department as well as other Graduate programs at the University of Chicago share a desire to identify the most promising students for admission, and assess a wide variety of factors on a holistic basis. Faculty and admissions committees are aware of the disruptions impacting not just academic coursework and grading systems, but also research, travel, internships, employment, and many other activities. In light of the unprecedented challenges associated with COVID-19 facing individuals, institutions, and organizations, UChicago will evaluate applicants with these significant impacts in mind.

The University fully expects that admissions committees will evaluate all applicants with this in mind during future admissions cycles, including respecting decisions, whether made by institutions or individual students, to grade courses in Spring 2020 on a Pass/No Pass or other basis.

Does the Department of English accept applications by mail? No. The department, with the rest of the Humanities Division graduate programs, only accepts  online applications .

GRE & GPA

Does the Department of English require the GRE exam? No.  The department does not require  any  GRE exam scores.

Does the Department of English Admissions Committee have cutoff levels for GPAs? No. The Admissions Committee does not have specific cutoff levels for GPAs, nor does the Department report average GPAs. Please note that the Admissions Committee generally considers your writing sample, statement of purpose, and recommendation letters to be of most relevance.

Questions about Application Materials

My writing sample is over 20 pages long. Will my application still be considered?

Your application will still be considered if your writing sample is over the recommended upper limit of 20 pages. This recommended limit is not absolutely fixed, but we strongly suggest that applicants try to adhere to it as closely as possible. If you are unable to reduce the paper you want to use as a writing sample in your PhD application to 20 pages, please consider providing an 20-page excerpt from that paper and supplying a brief (one-page or less) abstract that contextualizes the function and place of the excerpted section within the paper as a whole. Place the explanation and writing on one pdf.

What is the deadline for uploading all application materials?  

All application materials  must  be uploaded on the application  by the application deadline  to guarantee inclusion with your application. We cannot guarantee that materials uploaded after the deadline will be included in the review process as your application may have already been reviewed by the committee. We strongly prefer that faculty recommendations be uploaded by the application deadline. If this is impossible, recommenders should contact Humanities Admissions at [email protected] .

Do page counts refer to single- or double-spaced pages?

 The writing sample should be 15-20 pages double-spaced. The statement of academic purpose (also referred to as the Candidate or Personal Statement, or the "Statement of Intent") should be 1-3 pages single-spaced. Additional PhD application information can be found on the  Division of Humanities Admissions  webpage.

Master's Degree

Does the Department of English offer a master's degree? No. The Department of English does not offer a terminal MA degree. We recommend that students interested in master's-level work consider applying to the  Master of Arts Program in the Humanities  (MAPH). MAPH provides students with strong pedagogical support, including writing colloquia, a core course, and master's thesis workshops.

Department of English students can earn an MA while on the PhD track, providing they do not already hold an MA in English.

Does the PhD program have different requirements for students who already hold a master's degree in English? The admissions committee will review the transcripts of students entering the program with an MA in English to evaluate if any of their previous graduate course work will be counted as fulfilling requirements in our program. Typically, students who enter the program with an MA in English must take at least one year of course work, plus an additional two courses in their second year of the program. (By contrast, students who enter the program with a BA degree are required to take two full years of courses.)

• University of Chicago Admissions FAQ
• Division of the Humanities Admissions

Miscellaneous

Should I contact faculty with whom I would like to study before applying?  

It is not necessary or advantageous to contact individual faculty regarding your application. 

Once I've submitted my application, how can I check that my materials were received?  

Once your application is submitted, you can log in to the submission site to track the receipt of your application. As the Admissions Office receives your application materials, they will update your checklist.

Does the Department of English fund all admitted students?

All incoming doctoral students receive a comprehensive funding package to support them in their scholarly and pedagogical training and are eligible to be registered for up to 9 years. The funding package includes:

• An academic year stipend (and teaching remuneration)
• Full tuition aid
• Health insurance premium aid

How many applicants does the PhD program receive per year and how many of these applicants are admitted? In recent years, we have received around 500 applications a year and have admitted anywhere from 2% to 5% of those applicants into our PhD program.

I would like to apply for a joint degree program at the University of Chicago. How can I go about doing this? Please refer to the  Division of the Humanities  page regarding joint degree information. 

I am currently enrolled in a PhD program at another University and would like to transfer to the University of Chicago. How can I do this? The PhD program in English does not accept transfer students. For admission, you must apply as would any other prospective student, regardless of your academic background. The admission committee will assess your academic progress and see what graduate courses, if any, may be counted toward your PhD course work at University of Chicago.

How many times a year do you accept PhD applicants?  We only accept new PhD students in the fall. The application portal opens in early October and closes mid-December. We recommend that you check the Division of the Humanities page . 

I am an international applicant. Where can I find more information about resources available for international students at the University of Chicago? For more information about international student resources at UChicago see the Division of the Humanities Resources for International Students .

How can I fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement? Graduate students must prove they are proficient in one language other than English to meet the Department's requirement. There are a number of ways in which students can fulfill the Foreign Language Requirement:

• For students who want to study a new language: Taking (a) two quarters of classes in a language here (100 level or above) or (b) six weeks in an intensive summer course in a language here (100 level or above) and receiving grades of A or A- in those courses.
• For students who want to continue training in a language they’ve already begun studying: Taking (a) two quarters of classes in that language at the level the placement exam indicates) or (b) six weeks in an intensive summer course in a language here, also at the level where the placement exam indicates) and receiving grades of A or A- in those courses.
• Subject to review by Director of Graduate Studies: Taking (or getting credit for) two years of a language in an undergraduate or another graduate program.
• Receiving at least a B grade in a one-quarter graduate literature course, or a 200-level undergraduate literature course, in the literature of one language, taken at this University. Texts must be read in the language, and the student must have taken classes in this language previously.
• Receiving an A or A- grade in the one-quarter graduate course, German 33300: German for Research Purposes (or similar courses in other languages, should those be developed), providing that the student selects a set of literary and critical texts (as described in no. 4, above) to use as “sources from their own field of study” in fulfilling the course requirements. It is the student’s responsibility to see that the course instructor understands this requirement and communicates to the Director of Graduate Studies that the student has met it.
• Subject to review by Director of Graduate Studies: Taking other intensive summer language courses elsewhere funded by a FLAS grant.
• Taking one of the following course sequences in Computer Sciences (either during the year or in the summer) and receiving at least a B grade in both quarters: (1) CS 10100 and 10200, Introduction to the World Wide Web 1 & 2; (2) CS 10500 and 10600, Fundamentals of Computer Programming 1 & 2; (3) CS 12100 and 12200 Computer Science with Applications 1 & 2; or (4) CS 15100/16100 and 15200/16200 (Honors) Introduction to Computer Science 1 & 2.

Can prospective students schedule campus visits? For information about campus tours, please visit  UChicagoGRAD . The Department of English hosts an Open House each year, solely for prospective students who have  already  been admitted to the PhD program. If other prospective students have questions about the program, they should e-mail department staff at  [email protected] .

• Humanities Division Financial Aid
• Humanities Division Financial Aid For Prospective Students

Nyall R. London Jr. , MD , PhD

Skull base surgery, rhinology, sinus, and skull base surgery, rhinology and sinus surgery, otolaryngology.

• Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Faculty

4.9 of 5 stars

14 insurances accepted, primary academic title.

Associate Professor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery

Dr. Nyall London’s clinical practice focuses on inflammatory sinonasal disease, skull base disorders, and malignancies of the skull base, sinonasal cavity, and oral cavity. This includes chronic rhinosinusitis and rhinitis, skull base defects such as encephalocele or cerebrospinal fluid leak, as well as malignancies including squamous cell carcinoma, olfactory neuroblastoma (esthesioneuroblastoma), and nasopharyngeal carcinomaborn.

Dr. London has published over 100 peer-reviewed research articles, reviews, and book chapters. This includes co-first author publications in Nature, Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine , and Nature Cell Biology . He directs a laboratory at the National Cancer Institute/National Institutes of Health focused on therapeutic advances and mechanisms of sinonasal tumorigenesis.

He received his bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Brigham Young University followed by his M.D. Ph.D. from The University of Utah. Dr. London then completed his residency in Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Johns Hopkins. He then completed a fellowship at The Ohio State University in open and endoscopic skull base surgery under the direction of Dr. Ricardo Carrau.

Centers and Institutes

• Comprehensive Brain Tumor Center
• Sinus Center
• Nyall London, M.D., Ph.D. | Sinus and Skull Base Surgeon
• Immunotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer Treatment
• Case Presentation: Sinonasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma
• Esthesioneuroblastoma: Angie‚Äôs Story

Additional Academic Titles

Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery

Selected Publications

Expression of Programmed Cell Death Ligand 1 and Associated Lymphocyte Infiltration in Olfactory Neuroblastoma . London NR Jr, Rooper LM, Bishop JA, Xu H, Bernhardt LJ, Ishii M, Hann CL, Taube JM, Izumchenko E, Gaykalova DA, Gallia GL. World Neurosurg. 135: 187-e193, 2020.

The genomics and epigenetics of olfactory neuroblastoma: A systematic review . Kaur RP, Izumchenko E, Blakaj DM, Mladkova N, Lechner M, Beaumont TL, Floudas CS, Gallia GL, London NR Jr. Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol. 6(4): 721-728, 2021.

Clinical outcomes, Kadish-INSICA staging and therapeutic targeting of somatostatin receptor 2 in olfactory neuroblastoma . Lechner M, Takahashi Y, Turri-Zanoni M, Liu J, Counsell N, Hermsen M, Kaur RP, Zhao T, Ramanathan M Jr, Schartinger VH, Emanuel O, Helman S, Varghese J, Dudas J, Riechelmann H, Sprung S, Haybaeck J, Howard D, Engel NW, Stewart S, Brooks L, Pickles JC, Jacques TS, Fenton TR, Williams L, Vaz FM, O'Flynn P, Stimpson P, Wang S, Hannan SA, Unadkat S, Hughes J, Dwivedi R, Forde CT, Randhawa P, Gane S, Joseph J, Andrews PJ, Royle G, Franchi A, Maragliano R, Battocchio S, Bewicke-Copley H, Pipinikas C, Webster A, Thirlwell C, Ho D, Teschendorff A, Zhu T, Steele CD, Pillay N, Vanhaesebroeck B, Mohyeldin A, Fernandez-Miranda J, Park KW, Le QT, West RB, Saade R, Manes RP, Omay SB, Vining EM, Judson BL, Yarbrough WG, Sansovini M, Silvia N, Grassi I, Bongiovanni A, Capper D, Schüller U, Thavaraj S, Sandison A, Surda P, Hopkins C, Ferrari M, Mattavelli D, Rampinelli V, Facchetti F, Nicolai P, Bossi P, Henriquez OA, Magliocca K, Solares CA, Wise SK, Llorente JL, Patel ZM, Nayak JV, Hwang PH, Lacy PD, Woods R, O'Neill JP, Jay A, Carnell D, Forster MD, Ishii M, London NR Jr, Bell DM, Gallia GL, Castelnuovo P, Severi S, Lund VJ, Hanna EY. Eur J Cancer. 162: 221-236, 2022.

Combinatorial Natural Killer Cell-based Immunotherapy Approaches Selectively Target Chordoma Cancer Stem Cells. Hoke ATK, Padget MR, Fabian KP, Nandal A, Gallia GL, Bilusic M, Soon-Shiong P, Hodge JW, London NR Jr. Cancer Res Commun. 1(3): 127-139, 2021.

Evaluation of the Incidence of Human Papillomavirus-Associated Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Sinonasal Tract Among US Adults. London NR Jr, Windon MJ, Amanian A, Zamuner FT, Bishop J, Fakhry C, Rooper LM.JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Feb 1;6(2):e2255971. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.55971.PMID: 36787144

• Top Doctor 2023, Bethesda Magazine, 6/1/23
• Frank Coulson, Jr. Award for Clinical Excellence, Johns Hopkins Medicine, 1/1/18
• Duane Sewell Resident Award for Exemplary Professionalism and Humanitarianism, Johns Hopkins Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, 1/1/18
• 6420 Rockledge Drive, Suite 4920 , Bethesda , MD 20817
• phone: 443-997-6467
• fax: 301-530-2650

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Johns hopkins university school of medicine, university of utah school of medicine, board certifications.

• First Health
• Geisinger Health Plan
• HealthSmart/Accel
• Johns Hopkins Health Plans
• Pennsylvania's Preferred Health Networks (PPHN)
• Point Comfort Underwriters
• Private Healthcare Systems (PHCS)
• UnitedHealthcare
• Veteran Affairs Community Care Network (Optum-VACCN)

The Patient Rating score is an average of all responses to physician related questions on the national CG-CAHPS Medical Practice patient experience survey through Press Ganey. Responses are measured on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the best score. Comments are also gathered from our CG-CAHPS Medical Practice Survey through Press Ganey and displayed in their entirety. Patients are de-identified for confidentiality and patient privacy.

Great visit!

Excellent Dr. I would absolutely recommend this doctor to anyone in need. Top in his field.

Excellent doctor

Complex issue needed more thorough explanation.

Dr. London provided outstanding service.

Both he and his resident were very thorough in examining my history and current concerns and providing a regimen of care.

Always prepared, easy to talk to.

Dr London was great. I am confident he can help me.

Dr. Nyall London is always very thorough and attentive, and kind, and that is no surprise. He saved my life helping me getting rid of a nasal tumor and has always been available for help when I needed him. He's special being.

Dr London is very knowledgeable and professional. Very patiently explained the situation.

Dr. London has taken good care of my problem, effects of adenoid carcinoma, soon after surgery

Dr. London was very thorough with my exam and any questions I had. I trust his words and his care

Dr London is always kind and caring, as well as extremely competent in his practice.

Knowledge, attentive, friendly, easy to talk to

Very cognizant of my time.

Dr London is the best

Dr Nyall London was very good. Listened to me attentively

Dr. London is professional and a great provider.

Dr. London is the best provider helping me with my cancer treatment.

Extraordinary bedside manner and expertise

I think Dr London is a wonderful Doctor

Very knowledgeable and personable and able to help me think through options.

Resident doctor was very good.

Dr London is excellent, listen, explain and does a thorough exam of my tonsil and throat following my radiation treatment.

Dr London is very thorough and won't stop investigating until the cause of my symptoms has been determined. He's friendly and speaks to me in terms I understand and explains why he's doing what he's doing.

Took interest and was interested in my situation

Dr. London & Dr. Nellis are the best! Couldn't ask for better.

Dr London is awesome! I always feel confident leaving the visit.

Very kind, knowledgeable, great listener, and very caring.

Dr London is always professional, kind and understanding.

The doctor seemed very competent and experienced. I felt very well taken care of. My health problems were taken seriously and the treatment suggested seems effective and reasonable so far.

Patient and nice

Easy to talk to, knowledgeable, made you comfortable to talk to.

I saw colleague of provider who took good time and carefully listened to my issues and concerns and thoroughly discussed situation.Provider then came into room and reviewed our discussion.

I would highly recommend Dr. London for anyone having a sinus problem. He listens carefully and try to understand a patient's problem very sincerely. I am so happy that Dr. London did my surgery; excellent procedure and improved my condition right away. I am so fortunate that I met Dr. London as my ENT doctor. He is my hero.

Very kind and very caring

Dr. London is very professional and takes to listen to my questiions.

Dr. London is an expert in his field . He was so kind and answered all of my questions.

I'm so thankful to fin Dr London. My sinus problems are gone.

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Modernizing the Data Infrastructure for Clinical Research to Meet Evolving Demands for Evidence

• 1 Verily Life Sciences, South San Francisco, California
• 2 Center for Biostatistics & Qualitative Methodology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 3 Bakar Computational Health Sciences Institute, University of California, San Francisco
• 4 Center for Data-Driven Insights and Innovation, University of California Health, Oakland
• 5 Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
• 6 Departments of Surgery and Radiology and Institute for Health Policy Studies, University of California, San Francisco
• 7 Anesthesiology and Critical Care, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia
• 8 Biogen, Boston, Massachusetts
• 9 Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland
• 10 Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
• 11 National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research Programme, London, United Kingdom
• 12 Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC), London, United Kingdom
• 13 Highlander Health, Dallas, Texas

Importance   The ways in which we access, acquire, and use data in clinical trials have evolved very little over time, resulting in a fragmented and inefficient system that limits the amount and quality of evidence that can be generated.

Observations   Clinical trial design has advanced steadily over several decades. Yet the infrastructure for clinical trial data collection remains expensive and labor intensive and limits the amount of evidence that can be collected to inform whether and how interventions work for different patient populations. Meanwhile, there is increasing demand for evidence from randomized clinical trials to inform regulatory decisions, payment decisions, and clinical care. Although substantial public and industry investment in advancing electronic health record interoperability, data standardization, and the technology systems used for data capture have resulted in significant progress on various aspects of data generation, there is now a need to combine the results of these efforts and apply them more directly to the clinical trial data infrastructure.

Conclusions and Relevance   We describe a vision for a modernized infrastructure that is centered around 2 related concepts. First, allowing the collection and rigorous evaluation of multiple data sources and types and, second, enabling the possibility to reuse health data for multiple purposes. We address the need for multidisciplinary collaboration and suggest ways to measure progress toward this goal.

Read More About

Franklin JB , Marra C , Abebe KZ, et al. Modernizing the Data Infrastructure for Clinical Research to Meet Evolving Demands for Evidence. JAMA. Published online August 05, 2024. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.0268

Manage citations:

© 2024

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Books by Rachel Kushner and Richard Powers Are Among Booker Prize Nominees

There are six American novels in the running for the prestigious British literary award, but only two by U.K. authors.

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By Alex Marshall

Reporting from London

Six novels by U.S. authors, including Percival Everett, Rachel Kushner and Richard Powers, are among the 13 titles nominated for this year’s Booker Prize, the award’s organizers announced on Tuesday.

Everett’s book “ James ” is a retelling of Mark Twain’s “Huckleberry Finn” from the perspective of an enslaved runaway; Kushner’s “ Creation Lake ,” is a forthcoming novel about a spy who infiltrates an environmental activist group; and Powers’s “ Playground ,” another forthcoming title, imagines a plan to send floating cities into the Pacific Ocean.

The Booker Prize is one of the most coveted literary awards, given each year to a novel written in English and published in Britain or Ireland. Recent winners include Margaret Atwood’s “The Testaments” and Douglas Stuart’s “Shuggie Bain.” Last year’s winner was “Prophet Song,” a novel by Paul Lynch set in a near-future Ireland torn apart by civil war.

Founded in 1969, the Booker Prize was for most of its life only open to books by writers from Britain, Ireland, the Commonwealth and Zimbabwe, but in 2014, organizers expanded its eligibility criteria to any work written in English. Ever since, British literary figures have regularly complained about the prize’s dominance by American authors.

Tuesday’s announcement could reignite those concerns, especially because only two novels by British authors have been nominated: Samantha Harvey’s “ Orbital ,” a day-in-the-life story of six astronauts circling the earth on a space station; and Sarah Perry’s “ Enlightenment ,” about unrequited love in an English town.

As well as the books by Everett, Kushner and Powers, the three other American novels nominated are Rita Bullwinkel’s “ Headshot ,” set in a women’s boxing tournament; Claire Messud’s “ This Strange Eventful History ,” a family saga that explores France’s colonial history; and “ Wandering Stars ,” by Tommy Orange, which is about the impact of colonization on a Native American family.

Orange is the Booker Prize’s first ever Native American nominee.

The nominated titles vary wildly in subject matter and tone — but Edmund de Waal, the chair of this year’s judges, said in a news release that the 13 books all had a similar emotional impact. “These are not books ‘about issues,’” he said. “They are works of fiction that inhabit ideas by making us care deeply about people and their predicaments.”

“The precarity of lives runs through our longlist like quicksilver,” de Waal added.

The judges will now cut the list down to a six-book shortlist, scheduled to be announced on Sep. 16. The winning title will be revealed during a ceremony in London on Nov. 12.

The full list of nominees:

Colin Barrett, “ Wild Houses ”

Rita Bullwinkel, “ Headshot ”

Percival Everett, “ James ”

Samantha Harvey, “ Orbital ”

Rachel Kushner, “Creation Lake”

Hisham Matar, “ My Friends ”

Claire Messud, “ This Strange Eventful History ”

Anne Michaels, “ Held ”

Tommy Orange, “ Wandering Stars ”

Sarah Perry, “ Enlightenment ”

Richard Powers, “Playground”

Yael van der Wouden, “ The Safekeep ”

Charlotte Wood, “Stone Yard Devotional”

Alex Marshall is a Times reporter covering European culture. He is based in London. More about Alex Marshall