Literary and Cultural Studies PhD

At the Mobilities in Literature and Culture Research Centre, we bring together researchers from across the School of Literature and Languages to examine pressing social and cultural issues. These themes of exploration include:

• Social and cultural networks
• Cities and urban culture
• Subversive space and the imagination of alternative spaces
• Disconnections and connections
• Embodiment and the practice and politics of movement
• Post-humanism
• Transnationalism and its limitations.

We’re part of TECHNE, an Arts and Humanities Research Council AHRC)-funded doctoral training partnership, which provides access to comprehensive academic and professional training programmes, as well as the possibility of funding for your studies.

Our projects are currently looking at areas such as the work of British artist George Frederic Watts (1817-1904), cartoneras publishing in South America, and French migration and anarchist movements.

We’re part of the interdisciplinary School of Literature and Languages, which has research-active staff in English literature, creative writing, film studies, translation studies, theoretical and applied linguistics, and literary and cultural studies.

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 ranked the School of Literature and Languages 10th for research impact, with 75% of our case studies rated as having outstanding impacts, in terms of reach and significance (4*). REF is the UK’s system for independently assessing the quality of research in higher education institutions. Our submission to REF included contributions from the Guildford School of Acting (GSA).

Here at Surrey, you’ll join a cosmopolitan, multilingual and multicultural community of students and scholars, and we see our research students as being a core part of the School.

It normally takes three years of full-time study or six years of part-time study to complete our PhD in Literary and Cultural Studies. You’ll take a confirmation viva at 12-15 months (or 24-30 months part-time) and then be assessed by a thesis and viva examination.

You’ll be assigned two supervisors, who you’ll meet with monthly to discuss your progress. Your supervisors will guide you through your PhD and will give you feedback and advice on your work.

As a doctoral student in the School of Literatures and Languages, you’ll receive a structured training programme covering the practical aspects of being a researcher, including grant-writing, publishing in journals, and applying for academic jobs.

Your final assessment will be based on the presentation of your research in a written thesis, which will be discussed in a viva examination with at least two examiners. You have the option of preparing your thesis as a monograph (one large volume in chapter form) or in publication format (including chapters written for publication), subject to the approval of your supervisors.