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Postgraduate Study

7 courses offered in the Faculty of English

The Master of Studies (MSt) in Creative Writing is designed for postgraduate students who wish to develop high-level skills in creative writing both in fiction and non-fiction literature. Students will be guided in the production of creative work in a range of genres and styles and also in critical reflection on their own work and that of other writers. The MSt aims to facilitate students’ creative practice, whether for their own personal creative development as writers or for professional development. Students could include teachers of English at the primary or secondary level and those working in areas such as journalism, broadcasting, publishing and editing. The programme’s administration and teaching are undertaken by the Institute of Continuing Education (ICE) and its academic standards are monitored and assured by a subcommittee of the Degree Committee of the Faculty of English.

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The PhD in Digital Humanities, run by Cambridge Digital Humanities and based in the Faculty of English, is a research-intensive programme that will enable students to engage at doctoral level with projects demanding the use of digital methods, tools, or adopting critical/theoretical orientations. The programme expands the humanities offering at research postgraduate level at Cambridge by offering a route for cross-disciplinary engagement, responding to the growth of the field of Digital Humanities as a research area. 

The programme is designed to enable students from many areas of the arts and humanities to develop practical skills and knowledge and to generate the necessary critical literacy to understand and engage with digital research, and digital cultures, and to respond to questions arise around the ethics of automation, algorithmic analysis, privacy/surveillance, virtual cultures, data sharing, intelligent agency and creativity, archival justice and digital histories, and to explore work in relation to collections and heritage issues. Through supervisions and technical support from a research software engineer, contextualised by a research culture providing research-led seminars and lectures, guest seminars, and practice-driven workshops, Cambridge Digital Humanities provides the conditions for original PhD research in DH or in other arts and humanities/social science disciplines that make a significant intervention into shaping the field. 

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The MPhil in Digital Humanities is directed by Cambridge Digital Humanities, a research centre with links across a wide range of faculties and units at Cambridge.  The course is administered by the Faculty of English. 

This exciting MPhil explores the ways in which the humanities engage with digital futures, digital research, and digital cultures, as questions arise around the ethics of automation, algorithmic analysis, privacy/surveillance, virtual cultures, data sharing, intelligent agency and creativity, archival justice and digital histories, collections and heritage issues. 

The course gives students critical/theoretical orientations and delivers a structured form of engagement with digital methods, tools, and approaches while enabling flexibility in terms of specialism.  Students may come from multiple disciplines and the course caters to different skill levels in DH methods. Students take two broad core courses – Approaches and Methods, and Data and Algorithmic Analysis – and follow two courses from a basket of more specialist options. The course is assessed through shorter essays and a year-long dissertation or portfolio project. 

The MPhil in Digital Humanities runs from October to June.  

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The PhD is a research degree, examined, usually after three or more years of research, by a thesis of 60,000–80,000 words. The criteria for obtaining the degree are that the thesis represent a "substantial contribution to knowledge" and a realistic amount of work for three years' study.

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The Cambridge English Faculty’s collaborative MPhil in English Studies is a nine-month taught course which offers a uniquely wide-ranging and innovative approach to the study of literature, criticism and culture in the Anglophone world. Our versatile modular structure provides a choice of “Specialist Seminars” which cover, between them, all the major periods of English literature, as well as addressing both a range of different regional, national and international fields of Anglophone writing, and diverse theoretical, conceptual and philosophical concerns. There are specific “Textual Studies” courses, too, for those wishing to develop research expertise in either Medieval or Renaissance literature. In addition, “Research Frameworks” seminars cut across these specialist emphases, encouraging students with otherwise differing interests to work collaboratively on cross-period methodological and inter-disciplinary topics. In the MPhil as a whole depth, diversity, the historical, and the conceptual are thus each available in equal measure. The course provides a truly distinctive context in which to develop as a thinker, writer, and researcher.

The course is supported by first-class teaching delivered by a Faculty with a distinguished international reputation; and because that teaching is research-led we are also able to offer you a cutting-edge view of the discipline. Both small-group teaching and one-to-one supervision are established strengths here, having been foundational to the Faculty’s identity since its inception a century ago. Our lively, supportive seminars will allow you to learn from people with interests very different from your own. At the same time, your individual supervisor will help you plan a coherent programme of personal study and will oversee both your research for and writing of your dissertation (your own unique research project). In addition, a programme of focused training on research methods will assist you in developing practical study skills.

These qualities make our MPhil in English Studies an ideal preparation for further research in English and associated disciplines. Equally, the course can serve as the basis for success in a wide range of non-academic careers.

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The Master of Studies (MSt) in Writing for Performance is designed for postgraduate students who wish to develop high-level theoretical skills, and a vibrant and innovative creative practice within writing for a range of performance mediums. Writing for Performance is defined as making scripts for theatre, film/TV, radio drama, or text for performance art, podcasts, digital platforms or stand-up comedy. 

Students will develop skills initially in all mediums and then be guided to choose a specific genre of script-making for their final project. They will develop the capacity to critically reflect on their own work, the work of their peer-group, and that of other professional writers.

The MSt. aims to facilitate a high standard of creative practice, in order that students may develop their professional practice in several areas. For example, they may wish to develop as dramatists in order to have a professional career in the entertainment industry as writers or directors, or to enhance their skills as dramaturgs/script editors to allow them to follow a career in literary management, publishing, or agenting. The programme would also be of interest to applicants wishing to enrich their creative writing/drama teaching practice at GCSE or on A-level English Language and Literature courses. 

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The Master of Studies (MSt) in Writing for Performance is designed for postgraduate students who wish to develop high-level theoretical skills, and a vibrant and innovative creative practice within writing for a range of performance mediums. Writing for Performance is defined as making scripts for theatre, film/TV, radio drama, or text for performance art, podcasts, digital platforms, or stand-up comedy.  Students will develop skills initially in all mediums and then be guided to choose a specific genre of script-making for their final project. They will develop the capacity to critically reflect on their own work, the work of their peer-group, and that of other professional writers. 

The MSt. aims to facilitate a high standard of creative practice, in order that students may develop their professional practice in several areas. For example, they may wish to develop as dramatists in order to have a professional career in the entertainment industry as writers or directors, or to enhance their skills as dramaturgs/script editors to allow them to follow a career in literary management, publishing, or agenting. The programme would also be of interest to applicants wishing to enrich their creative writing/drama teaching practice at GCSE or on A-level English Language and Literature courses. 

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2 courses also advertised in the Faculty of English

From the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic

The ASNC PhD is a research degree, examined, usually after three years of research, by a thesis of up to 80,000 words. The Department can offer doctoral supervision on topics in a variety of early medieval languages and literatures, in the history of a comparable range of geographical areas, as well as in palaeography.

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From the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic

This unique programme allows students to achieve an understanding of early Insular culture as a whole, while also specialising in aspects of particular interest. Although 50 per cent of the overall assessment is an independently researched dissertation, formal teaching is offered in the form of weekly text seminars.

Students also follow two undergraduate courses of their choice, in order to acquire or enhance disciplines appropriate to their individual research subject (eg history, palaeography, languages, philology, textual criticism). In addition, there will be regular meetings with the MPhil supervisor allocated to each student.

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Department Members


Professor Nicolette Zeeman
Head of Department

  • 105 Academic Staff
  • 3 Postdoctoral Researchers
  • 200 Graduate Students
  • 600 Undergraduates

http://www.english.cam.ac.uk/

Research Areas