Interpreting Studies

Entry requirements

Successful completion of a Masters course with an overall classification of Merit or higher, or its overseas equivalent, with an element of research training, is a prerequisite for entry to a PhD. A research proposal must be included with the formal application materials.

The University requires you to reside within a commutable distance from Manchester during your time as a registered student, unless you are on approved fieldwork/a formal placement or are on a period of Submission pending. This is to ensure that you are able to meet attendance expectations and participate in wider research activities within your discipline area and/or School. Should you be unable to do this at any point during your programme, a formal case must be made to the Faculty office, together with the full support of your supervisor(s). The University reserves the right to reject such a request where it is considered that your residency could have a detrimental impact on the progression and engagement of your studies.

Months of entry

September

Course content

The Centre for Translation and Intercultural Studies (CTIS) offers training in consecutive and public service interpreting on the MA in Translation and Intercultural Studies, and launched a dedicated MA in Conference Interpreting in September 2011. CTIS has the largest concentration of translation and interpreting studies specialists in the country and attracts visiting scholars and postgraduate students from a wide range of countries and backgrounds. In the 2014 REF, Modern Languages and Linguistics at Manchester, the unit of assessment that includes Interpreting and Translation Studies, had more than 70% of research outputs rated at 4* (world leading)/3* (internationally excellent). These results place Modern Languages and Linguistics at Manchester at a highly impressive 3rd out of 57 submissions, nationally, based on research power (calculated by 4* and 3* times number of staff submitted).CTIS provides an excellent environment for research, organising regular scholarly events. These include a series of weekly seminars, which attract a large national audience of researchers, students and professional translators. The CTIS seminars form an important part of students' initiation into scholarly research, and offer students valuable opportunities for informal contact with leading academics. The Centre also organises two half-days of specialist research training for doctoral students every year. This training is often delivered by specialists in interpreting, such as Professor Robert Barsky of Vanderbilt University, USA, and Ebru Diriker of Bogazici University, Turkey or Michaela Wolf, University of Graz, Austria. Recent international conferences and symposia which CTIS has hosted and/or co-organized include Research Models in Translation Studies II (Manchester, 2011), Citizen Media: New Mediations of Civic Engagement (Manchester, 2013), New Perspectives on Translation: Insights into the Performative and Cognitive Work of Translators (Manchester, 2014), Researching Translation in the Context of Popular Culture: Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives (Manchester, 2015), `The Only Thing Worth Globalizing Is Dissent': Translation and the Many Languages of Resistance (Cairo, 2015 - AHRC-funded), The Cultural Politics of Translation International Conference (Cairo, 2015 - Supported by the British Academy).Past and current doctoral theses on interpreting supervised by CTIS staff include studies of volunteer conference interpreting for the World Social Forum, of official policies relating to interpreting in the UK asylum system, medical interpreters in Spanish hospitals, dialogue interpreting in educational settings, competence in community interpreting, and interpreting in government press conferences in China.

Information for international students

Students whose first language is not English require:

an overall IELTS score of 7.0 with 7.0 in the writing component

or

a TOEFL score of 600 paper-based test or 100 internet-based test

or

a Pearson Test of English (PTE) score of 70 overall with 70 in the writing component

or

an overall Trinity Integrated Skills in English (ISE) III grade of Merit with Merit in the writing component.

Fees and funding

The School offers a limited number of bursaries and studentships on a competitive basis, details of which can be found via the links below.

Please note that whilst we do not have closing dates for programme applications, all funding competitions have a specified deadline for submitting the funding application form and a separate (earlier) deadline for submitting the online programme application form, both of which will be stated in the funding competition details below:

• Research Impact Scholarships in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures.
• AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures 2018-19
• President's Doctoral Scholar (PDS) Awards in the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures 2018-19
• School of Arts, Languages and Cultures PhD Studentships 2018-19

Qualification and course duration

PhD