Postgraduate

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English

Overview

The School of English has a strong international reputation and global perspective, apparent both in the background of its staff and in the diversity of our teaching and research interests. Our expertise ranges from the medieval to the postmodern, including British, American and Irish literature, postcolonial writing, 18th-century studies, Shakespeare, early modern literature and culture, Victorian studies, modern poetry, critical theory and cultural history. The international standing of the School ensures that we have a lively, confident research culture, sustained by a vibrant, ambitious intellectual community. We also count a number of distinguished creative writers among our staff, and we actively explore crossovers between critical and creative writing in all our areas of teaching and research.

Our reputation for research excellence was confirmed in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise (2008) our research was recognised to be world-leading. The University of Kent is a research-led institution, which means that the research that the academics are engaged in continues to inform their teaching, and that you, as a student in the department, are at the centre of a dynamic and thriving academic environment.

Did you know?

In the most recent Research Asessment Exercise: ranked 18th nationally for research quality, with 65% of our research rated "world-leading" or "internationally excellent".

English studies at Kent had a 92% satisfaction rate in the National Student Survey 2011.

Postgraduate resources

The Templeman Library is well stocked with excellent research resources, as are Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library. There are a

number of special collections: the John Crow Collection of Elizabethan and other early printed texts; the Reading/Raynor Collection of theatre history (over 7,000 texts or manuscripts); ECCO (Eighteenth-Century Collections Online); the Melville manuscripts relating to popular culture in the 19th and early 20th centuries; the Pettingell Collection (over 7,500 items) of 19th-century drama; the Eliot Collection; children's literature; and popular literature. A gift from Mrs Valerie Eliot has increased the Library's already extensive holdings in modern poetry. The British Library in London is also within easy reach.

Besides the Templeman Library, School resources include photocopying, fax and telephone access, support for attending and organising conferences, and a dedicated postgraduate study space equipped with computer terminals and a laser printer.

Did you know?

In the most recent Research Asessment Exercise: ranked 18th nationally for research quality, with 65% of our research rated "world-leading" or "internationally excellent".

English studies at Kent had a 92% satisfaction rate in the National Student Survey 2011.

Key information

Dynamic Publishing Culture

School staff are prolific authors. In the past few years, publications have included: Literary Theory: A Reintroduction (David Ayers); Women's Work: Labour, Gender and Authorship, 1750-1830 (Jennie Batchelor); Chaucer and the Making of Optical Space (Peter Brown); Edmund Burke and the Art of Rhetoric (Paddy Bullard); Losing You (Patricia Debney); Tormented Hope: Nine Hypochondriac Lives (Brian Dillon); A Film by Spencer Ludwig (David Flusfeder); The Last Gift (Abdulrazak Gurnah); Enthusiast! Essays on Modern American Literature (David Herd); On the Uses of History in Recent Irish Writing (Bernhard Klein); Noble Brutes: How Eastern Horses Transformed English Culture (Donna Landry); Phenomenology, Modernism and Beyond (co-ed. Ariane Mildenberg); Rudyard Kipling (Jan Montefiore); Representations of Indian Muslims in British Colonial Discourse (Alex Padamsee); Shakespeare and Material Culture (Catherine Richardson); Decolonising Gender (Caroline Rooney); The Still Point (Amy Sackville); London Bridge (Simon Smith); Louise Erdrich (David Stirrup); Our Tragic Universe (Scarlett Thomas); Commodity Culture in Dickens' Household Words (Cathy Waters); Derrida's Writing and Difference: A Reader's Guide (Sarah Wood).

Among periodicals and series edited within the School are: The Dickensian; The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature: 600-1500; Literature Compass; Theatre Notebook; Wasafiri; Angelaki: Journal of the Theoretical Humanities; and Oxford Literary Review.

Conferences and seminars

Our research centres organise many international conferences, symposia and workshops. The School also plays a pivotal role in the Kent Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, of which all graduates are associate members. The Institute hosts interdisciplinary conferences, colloquia, and other events, and establishes international links for all Kent graduates through its network with other advanced institutes worldwide.

The School runs several series of seminars, lectures and readings throughout the academic year. Our weekly research seminars are organised collaboratively by staff and graduates in the School. Speakers range from our own postgraduate students, to members of staff, to distinguished lecturers who are at the forefront of contemporary research nationally and internationally.

The Centre for Creative Writing hosts a very popular and successful weekly reading series; guests have included poets Katherine Pierpoint, Tony Lopez, Christopher Reid and George Szirtes, and novelists Abdulrazak Gurnah, Ali Smith, Marina Warner and Will Self.

The University of Kent is now in partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Benefits from the ICA affiliation include free membership for incoming students; embedded seminar opportunities at the ICA and a small number of internships for our students. The School of English has plans to run a new interdisciplinary MA programme in the Contemporary.



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Did you know?

In the most recent Research Asessment Exercise: ranked 18th nationally for research quality, with 65% of our research rated "world-leading" or "internationally excellent".

English studies at Kent had a 92% satisfaction rate in the National Student Survey 2011.

Contacts

Admissions enquiries

T: +44 (0)1227 827272
E: information@kent.ac.uk

Subject enquiries English

School of English, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NX, UK
T: +44 (0)1227 823054
E: english-office@kent.ac.uk

Creative Writing

Scarlett Thomas
School of English, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NX, UK
T: +44 (0)1227 827290
E: s.thomas@kent.ac.uk

Postcolonial Studies

Dr Caroline Rooney
School of English, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NX, UK
T: +44 (0)1227 827948
E: c.r.rooney@kent.ac.uk

Medieval and Early Modern Studies

Dr Catherine Richardson
School of English, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NX, UK
T: +44 (0)1227 824656
E: c.t.richardson@kent.ac.uk

Did you know?

In the most recent Research Asessment Exercise: ranked 18th nationally for research quality, with 65% of our research rated "world-leading" or "internationally excellent".

English studies at Kent had a 92% satisfaction rate in the National Student Survey 2011.

Publishing Office - © University of Kent

The University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ, T: +44 (0)1227 764000

Last Updated: 13/09/2011