The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at Warwick offers its graduate students a vibrant research culture and community, with around 35 students currently enrolled on PhDs in the School, alongside some 30 Master’s students and a number of postdoctoral research fellows.
Postgraduate researchers play a vital role in our research community, together with postdoctoral researchers and academic staff of national and international renown. In the 2021 REF exercise (a UK research evaluation) 82% of our research outputs and 100% of our research environment were judged to be ‘world-leading or internationally excellent’.
Our research expertise ranges from the Early Modern period to the present. We cover literature; cultural, social and intellectual history; film; politics and society; philosophy; and translation studies, as well as Modern Languages (French, German, Italian, Iberian languages, and Chinese) in a broad intellectual, global and transcultural context.
Please get in touch with us early to identify potential supervisors and prepare a robust application, even if your research proposal is not yet fully finalised. For more information on funding opportunities please consult this page: https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/applying/postgraduate/fellowships.
For preliminary enquiries about a project related specifically to German Studies in a broad sense (literature, film, theatre, history with a strong cultural component, critical social theory, memory studies, German-Jewish history et al.), please get in touch at your earliest convenience with Dr Christine Achinger, PGGerman@warwick.ac.uk, or, for more general enquiries, with SMLC’s Director of Graduate Studies, Professor Oliver Davies, O.Davis@warwick.ac.uk. If you are interested in an application, we will need, for an internal preliminary selection process, a CV, a draft research proposal (2pp max.) and indication of which supervisors you might want to work with (if known) by 24 November (this is not the final application yet). To search for relevant research expertise among our staff, see https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/research/expertise/. To view research interests of our staff, see https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/research/staff-interests/.
A broad range of funding opportunities is advertised on the website of Warwick’s Doctoral College. Please note that several funding schemes have multi-staged application processes and early deadlines.
The SMLC will nominate a number of outstanding applications principally for the following funding competitions:
- Chancellor’s International Scholarships:
https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dc/schols_fund/scholarships_and_funding/cis
The University offers up to 42 scholarships to the most outstanding international PhD applicants. These scholarships will fund full-time tuition fees at the Overseas rate, as well as a UKRI-level stipend and a £5,000 research and training expenses support grant. The scholarship will fund up to 3.5 years of PhD study. The deadlines for the dual process of applying for admissions and funding are on Tuesday 12 December 2023 (23:59 pm GMT) (admissions) and Thursday 14 December 2023 (23:59 GMT) (funding). All supporting documentation, including references, must be uploaded by 9 January 2024. We will be unable to support last-minute enquiries and/or applications for this highly competitive scheme. Discussion of your application with the SMLC should start in October or November.
- AHRC Midlands 4 Cities (M4C) Doctoral Training Partnership:
https://www.midlands4cities.ac.uk/apply/
Scholarships for domestic and international students are available across 8 Consortium institutions (including Warwick). The M4C recruitment portal will open on 16th October 2023 and close on 10th January 2024 (at noon). You will also need to have submitted a separate application for a place of study (admission) to the University of Warwick. Please get in touch with the School Director of Graduate Studies as early as possible to discuss your application.
- University of Warwick/China Scholarship Council (CSC):
https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dc/schols_fund/scholarships_and_funding/csc
For entry in Autumn 2024, there will be 30 scholarships available to students who meet the CSC criteria applying to any PhD discipline. The deadlines are 16 January 2024 (admissions) and 18 January 2024 (scholarship). Discussion of your application with the SMLC should start in October or November 2023.
- Monash-Warwick Alliance Scholarships:
https://warwick.ac.uk/services/dc/schols_fund/scholarships_and_funding/mwa/
For 2024 entry the University will offer up to 3 scholarships (across all subjects) to the most outstanding PhD applicants for the Alliance Joint PhD. Scholarship applications for 2024 entry will open on 18th October 2023. Course applications for 2024 entry are already open. The application deadlines are 9 January 2024 (admissions) and 11 January 2024 (scholarship). There are up to three scholarships available for entry in 2024. Awards will cover tuition fees; a stipend at the UKRI rate for the years spent at Warwick, and one year funded at the Australian Government rate; and a travel allowance of £3000. Discussion of your application with the SMLC should start in October or November 2023.