Our Department of English, Communication, Film and Media has achieved another strong result in the latest Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), which monitors the quality of research in UK universities. In 2008, the RAE said that 95% of the work submitted by English was judged to be of 'international standard', with 60% judged to be either 'internationally excellent' or 'world-leading'. Our Department offers a wide range of research interests and has particular strengths in Renaissance Literature; Shakespeare; Romantic and Victorian Studies; Modernism; Women's Writing; Science and the Creative Imagination (including Science Fiction); Classical Reception; Film and Theatre; and Popular Culture. Staff are committed to creating an excellent research environment and to making the most of the advantages offered by Cambridge as a centre of research excellence. There are many formal and informal exchanges between staff and students from our Department and from the Cambridge University English Faculty.

Research students from our department are usually able to attend any of the University of Cambridge's Graduate Research Seminars. If you wish to attend, please contact the relevant convenor first.

Our Departmental staff are highly active researchers, many of whose publications are deemed to be 'world-leading'. We have hosted a large number of international research conferences in recent years on Mary Shelley, Shakespeare and his Contemporaries in Performance, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Darwin and Tennyson, and others. The bi-annual Skinner Young lecture on Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature attracts distinguished speakers. Our Department has also been the venue for a regular one-day conference, Postgraduate Futures, a popular event which considers career issues for postgraduates, professional training, and doctoral research.

Supervision and support

You will be allocated a supervisory team which will consist of a first and second supervisor, with additional members added if necessary.

We host a well-attended postgraduate research seminar which meets regularly to give you an opportunity to present papers in a supportive setting. This group provides an informal context for postgraduate training and support, but there is also a more formal training programme, which aims to offer subject-specific support and training for all postgraduates as an addition to the generic training offered by our University. Our Department allocates a substantial sum each year towards the support of postgraduates in the form of bursaries and travel or conference expenses.

Facilities

Our students meet regularly in our Department and Faculty Research seminars. Some attend Cambridge University Graduate seminars in their particular period or field.

We have dedicated desk space and a computer available for all full-time research students.

We are a friendly, energetic Department with all the superb facilities of Cambridge, including the world-famous Cambridge University Library on our doorstep, plus a host of multi-media, video and radio production facilities on our campus.

Funding

There are a number of ways in which you can obtain external funding for doctoral research, from the full-time awards granted by the AHRC (Arts & Humanities Research Council) to smaller grants available from a range of grant-awarding bodies. Our programme periodically offers fully funded and fees-only fellowships and, from time to time, Departmental bursaries are awarded to candidates showing exceptional potential. In addition to these, our programme has a Postgraduate Fund to which students can apply for help with travelling expenses, conference fees, and other research needs. We will give advice on external and internal funding to any interested prospective candidates for research programmes.

Career development and training

We are committed to offering training for our students both within our Department itself and at University level. Within the department we offer sessions on a range of subjects including:

• writing up a paper for publication
• placing an academic article
• giving a conference paper
• style in the doctorate
• updates on research methods and literature searches
• internet training
• editing skills for doctoral research
• subsequent monograph publication
• dealing with festivals, agents, and publishers.

Many of our research students have teaching responsibilities in the department at all levels and others have been able to co-ordinate conferences.

Dr Jeannette Baxter, BA, MA, PhD: Twentieth-Century literature; Contemporary fiction; Post-1945 novel; Surrealism and the avant-garde; Holocaust literature.

Professor Sarah Brown, BA, MA, PhD: Adaptations of classical texts and myths; Victorian novels; Renaissance literature, especially Shakespeare; Children's literature; Science fiction.

Dr John Gardner, BA, MA, PhD: Poetry and politics in the Eighteenth Century or Romantic period; The novel in the Eighteenth Century or Romantic period; The relationship between text and illustration.

Professor Eugene Giddens, BA, MA, PhD: Shakespeare and Renaissance drama; Early print culture; Children's literature.

Professor Mary Joannou, BA, MA, PhD (Professor): The women's suffrage movement; Victorian and twentieth-century women writers; Literature 1930-60; Black British writing; Working-Class writing; Autobiography.

Dr Valerie Purton, BA, MA, PhD: Victorian writing, especially Tennyson and Dickens; Post-colonial writing; Novels of Iris Murdoch; Medievalism; Critical theory.

Professor Rowlie Wymer, MA, BLitt: Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama; Science fiction; Derek Jarman; Critical theory.

Dr Tory Young, BA, MA, PhD: Modernism; Contemporary fiction especially by British women since 2000; Travel writing or Journeys in fiction; Narratology; Postfeminism.

• MPhil: Candidates must hold a BA or equivalent in a related subject area.
• PhD: Candidates should normally hold an MA or equivalent in a related area subject area.
• For candidates whose first language is not English, a minimum IELTS score of 7 or equivalent is required with a minimum score of 6.5 achieved in each of the four language skills. We welcome applications from EU and international students.