Research degrees in English
About the PhD programme
The Department of English supervises research degrees in a broad range of areas, from classical literature to contemporary writing and theory.
All doctoral candidates within the Department benefit from a system of double-supervision, meaning that you will be offered the advice and input of a primary and a secondary supervisor. We are also able to arrange joint-supervision of dissertations (effectively providing two primary supervisors), both within the Department of English and in collaboration with staff from other departments at Queen Mary. All members of the Department of English are established scholars in their fields, and many have achieved international standing and repute.
Research Areas
We work across disciplines and across periods, but we have particular research strengths in cross-disciplinary perspectives within:
- Medieval Literary and Culture
- Early Modern Studies
- Eighteenth-Century Literature and Romanticism
- Nineteenth-Century Studies
- Twentieth-Century Writing
- Contemporary Literature
- Postcolonial Studies and World Literatures
- Literary Theory, Aesthetics, and Philosophy
- Poetry and poetics
- Sound and media
Please visit the Departmental research page for more information on the Research the Department is involved in and the Research Groups it hosts.
The application process
To help us advise you as effectively as possible, we encourage prospective applicants to make their initial enquiry by completing the PhD-enquiry-form---English_NEW-Oct-25.doc and emailing it to the Director of Graduate Studies for the Dept. of English. They will advise you on your project and answer any queries you might have about pursuing doctoral research at Queen Mary.
Prospective applicants who have already developed full research proposals presented in accordance with our guidelines and who have consulted our staff pages to identify potential supervisors are also encouraged both to contact the Director of Graduate Studies with their proposals for advice, and to gain supervision agreement from a member of the Department in advance of making a formal application.
PhD students normally begin their studies in September/October. There are no set deadlines for applying for a research degree, but we would recommend you apply no later than June. However, if you are applying for a funded place you will need to submit by the funding deadline - please see the further information section below for information about our funding awards and their deadlines. Full- and part-time study is available. Please select the entry point below for either full-time or part-time study to access the on-line PhD application system.
Contact
For informal enquiries and academic advice, please contact the Director of Graduate Studies for English Admissions, Dr James Vigus, at j.vigus@qmul.ac.uk
For information about the PhD programme and the application process, please contact the Postgraduate Research Administrator at sta-pgr@qmul.ac.uk
Further information
If you are interested the PhD programme please visit our Departmental web-page for more information on how to apply, entry requirements, the application documentation required and how to identify a supervisor.
To be considered for funding, applicants must have organised supervision and submitted their formal application (with supporting documents) by the time of the funding deadline date.