French (Research)

The Department of French is committed to research innovation and excellence in major aspects of French Studies. The department has an exceptionally wide range of expertise, including the medieval period, early modern period, visual-textual relations, 19th, 20th and 21st-century literature, film and drama (including screen and stage adaptations), cultural history, politics, and comparative literature. We collaborate extensively with other departments, especially in the fields of visual and literary cultures, conflict and culture, medieval studies, English, and comparative literature.

Each research student is assigned to an academic who works in their proposed area of research or a related field, and benefits from the input of a second supervisor who may be from another department, depending on the interdisciplinary nature of the project.

The department is a regional centre for the Group for War and Culture Studies and members of the department are active in a wide range of Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences research centres and groups. A number of our staff members are editors of leading journals and active in subject associations.

Postgraduate students can benefit from an exchange agreement with the Ecole Normale Supérieure (rue d'Ulm), or take an exchange lecturer post at the Université de Bordeaux III.

Research students often lead the organisation of postgraduate seminar series exploring a theme of their choice.

Possible start dates are September 2026 and January 2027. Please see the programme page on our website for more information.