We offer MRes, MPhil and PhD degrees in English.
You can study an MPhil or an MRes over the course of one year or a PhD over three years.
You can study whichever option you'd like in any of our five research areas:
As part of its longstanding commitment to growing its population of excellent postgraduate researchers, the University is offering a number of Global Research Awards. These awards will cover the full tuition fee for International and UK postgraduate research students, commencing study on 1 October 2024. The award will apply for each year of study, up to a maximum of 3 years for full-time study.
John Anderson Research Studentship Scheme (JARSS) doctoral studentships are available annually for excellent students and excellent research projects.
There are two main sources of funding:
The JARSS 2023/2024 competition will open in October 2023 and students successful in this competition will commence studies in October 2024. Faculties will set their own internal deadlines for the competition.
Academics/Supervisors make the applications for this scheme and there are various deadlines across the Department and Faculties, therefore, in the first instance, all interested students should contact the Department where they would like to carry out their research.
The PhD in Creative Writing is an opportunity to work on an extended project (up to 80,000 words) under the supervision of a successful, published author.
Find out more about the PhD in Creative Writing.
Postgraduates in English language and literature will be supervised by researchers with international reputations in a range of fields, from the Renaissance period to the present day.
Our areas of expertise include:
Recent and current PhD projects supervised by English Studies include the representation of animals in the illustrated police news; the impact of the discovery of neanderthals on literary culture in the late nineteenth century; the concept of the will in renaissance writing; Alexander Trocchi; Nathaniel Hawthorne; a cognitive approach to spatial patterning in novels; metaphors and L2 learners of English.
Postgraduate students at Strathclyde are part of the Scottish Graduate School in Arts and Humanities and have been involved in organising postgraduate conferences for the Graduate School. There have been postgraduate symposia on interdisciplinarity and animal studies, and a postgraduate creative writing workshop in animal studies.
Colleagues in English are active in researching writing about the experience of travel, from tourism to migration and refuge. This work is part of a critical engagement with how we can revise ideas about heritage in transnational contexts that challenge ‘authentic’ connections to place or memory. Churnjeet Mahn is currently working on monograph analysing queer travel and tourism in contemporary postcolonial writing and is leading a strand of a major AHRC grant on lost memories and experiences of Partition in Punjab.
We maintain a strong research base in Scottish Studies, with particular interests in popular culture and the recovery of lost Scottish writing, and also contemporary Scottish literature, for example Alasdair Gray Studies. Recent works that have come out of this research include Poets of the People’s Journal, Dr Eleanor Bell’s The Scottish Sixties: Reading, Rebellion, Revolution? And The International Writers’ Conference Revisited: Edinburgh, 1962, while Dr Rodge Glass’s research on Alasdair Gray over the last 15 years includes his biography of Gray, first published in 2008. Dr Maria Sledmere’s additional work as editor-in-chief of the Glasgow-born SPAM Press continually informs research around small press publishing, popular culture, the post-internet and innovative poetry and poetics in Scotland and beyond.
We are also active in Critical Medical Humanities research, especially where it intersects with the study of gender, race and sexuality. Recent and current projects in this field include Dr Sophie Jones’s book project on the politics of reproduction in US literature and film of the 'long 1960s', and ongoing research into the medicalisation of attention and post-1945 American literature. Dr Donna McCormack has recently completed an AHRC leadership fellowship on organ transplantation in contemporary literature and film. The monograph emerging from this project explores queercrip embodiments and belongings as forms of anticolonialism. This research brings together queer, crip, postcolonial and critical race theories to address questions around the meaning of life and death, including who controls these categories and lived experiences, and what other, less dominant, knowledges may teach us about these uncertain definitions.
We have hosted a number of funded doctoral projects, including the AHRC-funded Adult Autistic Readers of Literary Fictional Narrative: A Cognitive Aesthetics Approach; Poetry, Song and Community in the Industrial City: Victorian Dundee; Industrial Workers as Readers: Libraries, Reading Rooms and the Industrial Workplace in the Long Nineteenth Century; The People’s Friend? Recovering Scottish Popular Magazine Culture; Towers and Schemes in Revolt: Community Literature and Cultural Activism in Glasgow 1960 – 1990; and 'City Recorder': Alasdair Gray’s Practice & The 'Disappearing City' of Glasgow.
Colleagues in English and Creative Writing work closely together and also with colleagues in Journalism, Media and Communication, History, and Languages, all of whom work within the Department of Humanities. Students are co-supervised across different subject areas within the school, as well as across the University and with other Scottish universities.
All fees quoted are per academic year unless otherwise stated.
Entrants may be subject to a small fee during the writing up period.
Fees may be subject to updates to maintain accuracy. Tuition fees will be notified in your offer letter.
All fees are in £ sterling, unless otherwise stated, and may be subject to revision.
Students on programmes of study of more than one year (or studying standalone modules) should be aware that tuition fees are revised annually and may increase in subsequent years of study. Annual increases will generally reflect UK inflation rates and increases to programme delivery costs.
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| Funding | Our postgraduate students are eligible to apply for doctoral studentships from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland. Take a look at our funding your postgraduate research web page for funding information. You can also view our scholarships search for further funding opportunities. |
| Postgraduate research opportunities | Search for all funded and non-funded postgraduate research opportunities. |
| Additional costs | International students may have associated visa and immigration costs. Please see student visa guidance for more information.
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Please note: the fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.
Probably the best aspect of my experience at Strathclyde has been the availability and supportiveness of the faculty. My supervisor is always prompt and thorough with providing feedback on my work.
I’ve really enjoyed my time at Strathclyde. The staff in my department are interesting and supportive people, and I’ve made many good friends through the graduate school, which I’ve always found to be a welcoming environment to work in.
The support I received as early as the application process convinced me that Strathclyde was a great place to be... I feel like I belong to a community, which is very important to me.
I find my supervisor extremely supportive – both in terms of giving me useful feedback on my PhD thesis but also in terms of functioning as a mentor when I try to navigate the possibilities of an academic career.
Unlike most students at Strathclyde, I am studying part-time AND from overseas. Doing a part-time PhD was an excellent way to do so, something that is not offered by many universities. It was thus one of the main reasons why I enrolled at Strathclyde.
I love how flexible practice-based research is. I've very much been allowed to work at my own pace and direct my own research activities, which have included things like community engagement.
Our research in English language and literature covers all periods from the Renaissance to the present day. Colleagues in English, Creative Writing and in Journalism work closely together and also with colleagues in History and Languages, all of whom work within the Department of Humanities.
Find out more about our research
| Name | Areas of expertise |
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| Elspeth Jajdelska |
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| Nigel Fabb |
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| Erica Fudge |
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| Sophie Jones |
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| Churnjeet Mahn |
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| Eleanor Bell |
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| Sarah Edwards |
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| Sarah Bernstein |
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| Donna McCormack |
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| Steven Veerapen |
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*Cross-listed with Spanish |
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| Maria Sledmere |
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The Creative Writing team at Strathclyde have a broad range of interests and specialisms. Please find here, a brief outline of some of the areas in which our staff welcome PhD applications. For more information, please contact staff directly.
| Name | Areas of expertise |
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Sarah Bernstein
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I would welcome Creative Writing PhD proposals in the following areas:
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Andrew Meehan |
I’m an Irish/Scottish novelist who has also had a substantial career in feature film script development, hence my research watchtower faces in a few directions. Overall, I’m very interested in how narrative works, and how we put our stories together. The age-old tension between form and formula. I would particularly welcome PhD proposals in the following areas:
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| Rodge Glass r.glass@strath.ac.uk |
I am a novelist, short story writer, graphic novelist and biographer, with an interest and experience in supervising to completion works of fiction, non-fiction and creative-critical investigation. My own PhD was a creative biography of the Glaswegian visual and literary artist Alasdair Gray, and I retain an interest in creative non-fiction and especially in ways of telling the stories of literary lives. I would particularly welcome PhD proposals in the following areas:
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| Maria Sledmere |
I am a poet-theorist whose work oscillates between the environmental and energy humanities, with a bias for small press poetries, nonfiction, innovative and hybrid writing. I am interested in how poetry 'thinks' issues such as ecological crisis, technological innovation, infrastructure, health and well-being inequalities and just transition. I am keen to supervise work which explores other facets of culture to be found in visual art, music and the digital world; work which is practice-led and attuned to the relationship between ethics and aesthetics.
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The Graduate School is a friendly and supportive study environment for research students studying subjects within Humanities & Social Sciences.
Our staff will support you through your studies and you'll become part of a community of students who get involved with our workshops, seminars and competitions.
Our PgCert RPD programme aims to ensure you get the most out of your current research activities at Strathclyde and helps you prepare for your future career as a researcher.
We'll help you recognise and develop your transferrable skills that'll have a positive impact on your research, now and in the future.
The University Careers Service can help you with everything from writing your CV to interview preparation. Take a look at our careers service pages to get more information.
From financial advice to our IT facilities, we have a wide range of support for all students here at Strathclyde. Get all the information you need at Strathlife.
We've a thriving international community with students coming here to study from over 140 countries across the world. Find out all you need to know about studying in Glasgow at Strathclyde and hear from students about their experiences.
Visit our international students' section
The Strathclyde Doctoral School provides a vibrant and comprehensive student-centred research and training environment in order to grow and support current and future research talent.
The School encompasses our four faculties and is committed to enriching the student experience, intensifying research outputs and opportunities, and ensuring training is at the highest level. As a postgraduate researcher, you'll automatically become a member of the Strathclyde Doctoral School.
Find out more about the Doctoral School
Normally, a first-class or upper second-class Honours degree, or overseas equivalent.
During the application you'll be asked for the following:
By filling these details out as fully as possible, you'll avoid any delay to your application being processed by the University.
You'll need to identify your research supervisor before you finalise your application, preferably as soon as possible.
When you've identified a potential supervisor, based on how well your research interests match theirs, drop them an email to introduce yourself. In the email, make sure you attach a draft of your research proposal along with a copy of your CV.
Don't worry about how rough your research proposal may be at this stage – you'll have help from the Department of Humanities to refine it. If your chosen supervisor is available to work with you, they'll confirm this and nominate a potential second supervisor. As soon as a second supervisor is confirmed, an offer of study will be sent to you through Pegasus, our online application system.
If you accept our offer, you'll receive a full offer in writing via the email address you provide.
Once you've accepted our offer, we'll need you to fulfil any academic, administrative or financial conditions that we ask.
If you're applying as a UK or EU student, you'll then be issued with your registration documentation.
Graduate School
Telephone: +44 (0)141 444 8400
Email: hass-pgr-applications@strath.ac.uk
Lord Hope Building Level 1 - LH128
141 St. James Road
Glasgow
G4 0LT
