Postgraduate Studies

Dynamic, thriving, international and supportive, our postgraduate community reflects the department’s robust research ethos and its sociability. Intellectually vibrant and committed to dialogue between staff and students, the department is the perfect environment in which to develop your critical and creative energies. Our postgraduates are fully plugged in to a culture of academic enquiry and imaginative exploration. All this at the heart of a region of outstanding natural beauty.

We have dedicated significant resources both to studentships and to computing and office facilities. We also enjoy the unique benefit of a copyright library – the National Library of Wales, one of the great libraries of the world – on our doorstep. The presence in the department of four Research Centres – The Centre for Romantic Studies, the Institute for Medieval and Early Modern Studies, and Centre for Women’s Writing and Literary Culture, and Contempo – means that postgraduate students are part of international research networks; moreover, a regular programme of conferences brings the world to Aberystwyth. A series of staff-postgraduate research seminars each semester, together with regular visits by speakers from other institutions, further energise the postgraduate scene.

We provide research-led teaching of the highest quality, and are proud of the expertise, commitment and support we bring to MA teaching and doctoral supervision. In the last Research Assessment Exercise, 95% of staff research was judged to be of international standard, with 40% evaluated as world leading or internationally excellent, and our teaching was ranked as ‘excellent’ in the most recent teaching quality assessment. In recent years, staff have enjoyed an extremely good success rate for Leverhulme, British Academy and AHRC awards, which indicates the strength of our research profile nationally. The review panel of the last Research Assessment Exercise drew attention to the robustness of our research environment, emphasising our strong investment in research training and academic career development. It is very pleasing to note that our graduates with Masters or doctoral degrees secure employment in academic and various other professional fields.

 Another measure of the reputation of the department’s postgraduate culture is our consistent success in our University Doctoral Career Development Scheme (DCDS). Our students have also been successful in attracting awards from the Arts and Humanities Research Board.

 As a medium-sized department with a distinguished history stretching back to 1872, we are committed to providing a postgraduate experience of real quality. Our MAs in literature and culture allow students to choose from a raft of schemes spanning every period of English literature, while our innovative suites of option modules give students the opportunity to study the master themes of a particular period in depth and detail. Our Creative Writing MA combines research and writing in an inventive way, training students in the craft of composition and enabling them to produce a sustained piece of writing in a particular genre. Our PhD students pursue a range of research interests, from archival excavations to theoretical engagements, from medieval literature through Romanticism to postmodern and contemporary writing. As well as attracting students from the UK, we welcome international and mature students; our outlook is cosmopolitan and internationalist.

• What our postgraduate students say
• What our students are doing now

Taught Masters Programmes

These are run on a modular basis, arranged around three overall schemes:

• Literary Studies
• Literary Studies: The pathways degrees 

• American Literature MA;
• Eighteenth Centurey Writing and Romanticism MA;
• Medieval and Ranaissance Writing MA;
• Postmodern Writing MA;
• Welsh Writing in English MA

• Creative Writing

Research Degrees

Our students undertaking research degrees are engaged in a wide range of projects, reflecting the teaching and research interests pursued in the Department as a whole.

• PhD in English Literature
• PhD in Creative Writing
• Staff Research Areas

Further Information

Information is available regarding fees and funding.

Staff and postgraduates alike are active in a range of ‘extra-curricular’ activities and we offer a full programme of open seminar and conference events.

In addition to fortnightly Research seminars, there are regular opportunities for students to meet for discussions, and regular guest lectures, including those arranged by the departments of History and International Politics.

Each year, there is a postgraduate conference at which postgraduates and staff meet to discuss and present papers on their research in progress.

Postgraduate students are eligible for membership of the Brynamlwg Staff Sports and Social Club.

For application information and further details, contact: MA Co-ordinator, Dr Jayne Archer or the Postgraduate Administrator, Julie Roberts