Russian and East European Studies

Entry requirements

We require successful completion of a master's course with an overall classification of Merit or higher, or its overseas equivalent, with an element of research training. A research proposal must be included with the formal application materials.

Months of entry

September

Course content

Our PhD Russian and East European Studies programme will enable you to carry out a piece of significant, original research under the supervision of our academics.

Staff in Russian and East European Studies conduct research of an interdisciplinary nature across a broad range of subjects, including:

• 19th and 20th-century literature and intellectual history;

• Soviet and post-Soviet cinema and the media;

• Gender studies;

• Memory studies;

• Nationalism and ethnic politics historically and in the post-communist period;

• Post-communist transition in East Central Europe.

The discipline of Russian and East European Studies constitutes a core group of the Cross-Disciplinary Russian and Eurasian Studies Network, which facilitates collaboration in research and postgraduate teaching and supervision among relevant members of staff across the Faculty of Humanities at Manchester.

• Our staff's externally-funded current research projects include:

• Reframing Russia for the Global Mediasphere: From Cold War to Information War (AHRC);

• Russian Nationalism and the Ukraine Crisis: The Impact of Nationalist Actors on Russian Foreign Policy (The European Commission);

• Self-Sustained Civil Society in Eastern (and Western) Europe (the British Academy).

A focal point for our research activity is a regular research seminar, which features a mix of internal and external speakers, and promotes debate between staff and postgraduates across the full spectrum of their research interests.

The Russian language and culture are also a significant focus of research undertaken by the Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Communities consortium. Funded through the AHRC Open World Research Initiative and led by a Russian specialist at Manchester, the consortium aims to investigate the central role languages play in relation to key contemporary issues such as social cohesion, migration, business and diplomacy.