Modern Languages PhD

University of Liverpool

The defining strength of research carried out in modern languages at Liverpool is the multidisciplinary nature of projects with a global reach, informed by an ethos that challenges rigid disciplinary boundaries and consolidated practices. We offer supervision by teams that span various language areas and diverse methodological approaches.IntroductionA PhD in Modern Languages allows you to draw on departmental research strengths across eight different language areas and multiple disciplinary intersections.With staff involved in major research programmes such as ‘Translating Cultures’, and projects such as ‘Transnationalising Modern Languages’, the Department of Languages, Cultures and Film has pioneered studies that incorporate post- and de-colonial perspectives to theory and practice, integrating these into pedagogical approaches to language study.The range of specialisms in modern languages and cultures is enhanced by collaborations across departments and schools, while maintaining the multilingual and multicultural perspectives as a necessary interpretive key to an understanding of the contemporary world.Research topicsWe welcome proposals that are multidisciplinary, multilingual and inspired by language-based approaches to research that facilitate the emergence of diverse conceptualisations of knowledge.Central to our research is a sensitivity to language and culture, both historically and in the contemporary world, as well as a commitment to addressing the urgent questions to which language and culture relate.Research cultureResearch in modern languages at Liverpool is multidisciplinary, multilingual and multicultural. We provide supervisory expertise across eight languages in a range of intersecting disciplines, from postcolonialism and gender studies, to sociolinguistics, visual cultures, memory studies and beyond. We support innovative approaches and have extensive experience of working with academic and non-academic partners across the globe.Language-based expertise is supported by specialists researching literature, history, visual cultures, gender studies, sociolinguistics, and translation and interpreting.