Research

The Department of Welsh and Celtic Studies is a research-led department specialising in the language and literature of Wales and the other Celtic countries: Ireland, Scotland and Brittany. Our research on aspects of Welsh and Celtic Studies extends from the sixth to the twentieth century, and encompasses the following specialist fields:

  • textual scholarship and editorial skills; manuscript and literary culture
  • translation and literary adaptation (theory and practice, including medieval);
  • linguistics and philology;
  • critical theory, notably feminism and gender studies, eco-criticism, reader response theory;
  • literary history and criticism;
  • creative writing;
  • biography and life writing;
  • women’s writing and literary culture;
  • literature of the landscape and the environment;
  • regional and national identity in early modern and contemporary Welsh literature and culture; ‘four nations’ and ‘archipelagic’ literature;
  • comparative Irish and Welsh literature;
  • ancient Celtic place-names and personal names in Europe and Asia Minor.

In the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF2014) the Department maintained its reputation for research publications of world-leading and internationally excellent standard. 25% of the department’s publications were deemed world-leading (4*) and a further 30% was judged ‘internationally excellent (3*).

The following subject-defining journals are edited by members of staff:

 For research interests of individual members of staff, please see the staff profiles

Over the years the Department has received external grants for collaborative projects. These include:

  • Llenyddiaeth Cymru ac Ewrop
  • ‘Women’s Poetry in Ireland, Scotland and Wales 1400–1800’ (Leverhulme Trust)
  • ‘Ptolemy: Towards a Linguistic Atlas of the Earliest Celtic Place-Names of Europe’
  • ‘Gohebiaeth Carneddog a Rhai o’i Gyfoedion’
  • ‘Gaulish Morphology with Particular Reference to Areas South and East of the Danube.’

We also have another great advantage. Aberystwyth is home to many key institutions, not least of which is the National Library of Wales, one of only five copyright libraries in the UK that is a five-minute walk from the Department.

Useful links:

Centre for Cultures of Place

Aberystwyth Research Portal

Womens Poetry  Ireland, Scotland and Wales 1400–1800