English Literature (Research)

Make an original, positive and lasting contribution to English literature. A PhD is an opportunity to expand upon your interests and expertise as part of an active research community making impact across the globe. Join us at the heart of Scotland’s capital and festival city - a UNESCO World City of Literature.

Having first offered courses on ‘rhetoric and belles lettres’ over 250 years ago, we are the oldest department of English Literature in the world. Our interdisciplinary environment brings together specialists in all periods and genres of English and Scottish literature and literary analysis.

Over the course of your PhD, you will complete an original body of work under the expert guidance of at least two supervisors. Your thesis will be around 80,000 words.

Given the breadth and depth of our expertise, we are able to support students wishing to develop research projects in any field of Anglophone literary studies. These include:

• American studies

• literary and critical theory

• the history of the book

• gender and sexuality studies

• global Anglophone literatures, where our specialisms include Pacific, African, South Asian, and African-American writing

Our research themes include:

• digital humanities

• economic humanities

• environmental humanities

• literature and medicine

We are a community of writers and readers. Our expert staff include a dedicated Writer-in-Residence, and the University is home to multiple groups and societies dedicated to publishing and performing, as well as to discussion and debate.

Our programme includes access to skills training, including research methodologies specific to literary studies. Our research collections, resources and facilities are outstanding.