English and Humanities (MPhil / PhD)

PhD

In London

£ 4,407 VAT inc.

Description

  • Type

    PhD

  • Location

    London

  • Duration

    4 Years

The Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing offers committed, enthusiastic and dynamic research-based teaching, with a constantly evolving curriculum sensitive to developments in contemporary culture.

We actively foster the creation of a 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 most recent Research Excellence Framework, English Language and Literature at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to producing research of the highest quality, while 91% of eligible staff submitted research, of which 75% was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent. 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).

Facilities

Location

Start date

London
See map
Malet Street, WC1E 7HX

Start date

On request

About this course

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.

INTERNATIONAL ENTRY 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.

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Subjects

  • Meetings
  • Supervisor
  • Creative Writing
  • English
  • Theatre
  • University
  • School
  • Writing
  • Part Time
  • Full Time
  • Humanities
  • Professor Training
  • Poetry

Course programme

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.

The Department of English, Theatre and Creative Writing has a thriving research culture. It holds a seminar in critical theory, numerous reading groups and a regular programme of major visiting speakers. All postgraduate students follow courses in research skills and other forms of graduate training. You are expected to participate in the Department's research events, including attending lectures, research skills sessions and other classes/workshops as appropriate.

The Department is well known for its leading international research. It hosts 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; it initiated the London Renaissance Seminar and the College’s Centre for Medical Humanities; and it runs a number of other research seminars, and frequent national conferences and symposia.

The Department's provision is complemented by the work of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, and by interdisciplinary activities in the School of Arts. 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. Find out more about our current MPhil/PhD students and their areas of research.

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 Department, School of Arts, or other institute of the University in each year you are a registered student.

The Department does 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 the Department's 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 the academic life of the Department.

Every research student is appointed a primary supervisor who is the person, or one of the persons, in the Department best suited to give the advice and direction that he or she needs. Sometimes students will be supervised jointly by more than one person in the Department, or between departments, 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.

Additional information

FEES

Part-time home/EU students: £2338 pa
Full-time home/EU students: £4407 pa
Part-time international students: £6525 pa
Full-time international students: £12925 pa

English and Humanities (MPhil / PhD)

£ 4,407 VAT inc.