Comparative Literatures and Cultures

Entry requirements

MPhil: An upper second-class degree or international equivalent.

Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree.

PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study.

Months of entry

January, September

Course content

MPhil: a standalone, one-year (full-time) research degree. Students will undertake their own research project, concluding in the submission of a 25,000 word dissertation. Students may have the option to audit units from our taught master's programmes if they are relevant to their research.

PhD: a research project undertaken across four years (full-time, minimum period of study three years), culminating in an 80,000 word thesis. As well as having the option to audit taught units, there may be the potential for PhD students to teach units themselves from their second year of study onwards.

Research in Comparative Literatures and Cultures at the University of Bristol sits within the School of Modern Languages and builds on two emerging areas which the School has actively developed in recent years: transnational studies and intermediality. By introducing new objects of study and innovative methodologies, we have forged interdisciplinary connections in and beyond the arts and social sciences via themes of global concern, from mental health to climate change.

Transnational studies emphasise cultural difference and diversity yet also interconnectedness and mutual influence. We explore cultural contact, migration and transfer within and beyond Europe in uneven colonial, pre-colonial, and postcolonial contexts, both vertically and transversally, while questioning persistent narratives of ‘West’ and ‘East’ or ‘North’ and ‘South’.

Intermedial studies build on our excellence in word and image studies, film, and theatre, auditory culture, and the study of such cultural artefacts as video games, graphic novels, manga, the media, landscape design, and artwork from video installation to graffiti.

We also explore how the materiality of discursive genres (poetic form, the novel, ego documents and political rhetoric) shapes the message, and how literary and discursive practices interact with social, political and professional contexts. Comparative Literatures and Cultures draws on the extensive research specialisms of our staff. Each research student is assigned to an academic who works in their proposed area of research or related field, and benefits from the input of a second supervisor who will likely come from another department, depending on the transnational or interdisciplinary nature of the project. Supervisory teams can also include staff from other schools and departments within the Faculty of Arts and beyond, for example in Classics, English, Drama, History, or Philosophy. Our postgraduates are fully integrated in a professionally and personally supportive departmental and school community. We encourage you to attend and give papers at school and University research events, as well as national and international conferences. Funding is available to support field work and participation in external events. We support you in developing a full range of academic skills, including teaching.