aberystwyth creative writing phd

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Creative Writing PhD

Entry requirements.

For further information, or to discuss options for the shorter MPhil research degree, please contact us directly on [email protected]

Months of entry

Course content.

Part of what makes Aberystwyth special is our thriving research culture: you’ll get to join an engaging and interactive community where staff, students, and guest speakers come together to share and showcase their research. You’ll also work alongside researchers who are recognised internationally for their contributions to knowledge and the furthering of the discipline.

Department Expertise

The Department’s particular areas of expertise include:

• Contemporary poetry
• Crime fiction
• Life writing
• Nature writing
• Black diaspora literature
• Postcolonial fiction
• Women’s writing
• Children’s literature
• Literary geography and ecocriticism
• LGBT writing
• Welsh writing in English
• Literatures of surveillance
• Literature and disability
• Irish writing
• Gothic literature and ghost stories
• Psychoanalysis
• Late Medieval secular literature
• Contemporary medievalism
• Romanticism
• Victorian literature
• Modernism and late modernism
• Postmodernism.

Information for international students

Information for international students can be found here: Information for International Students : Aberystwyth University

Fees and funding

For funding available to UK students: UK Students : Study With Us , Aberystwyth University

For funding available to International students: International Students : Study With Us , Aberystwyth University

Qualification, course duration and attendance options

• Campus-based learning is available for this qualification
• Distance learning is available for this qualification
• Online learning is available for this qualification

Course contact details

Postgraduate Courses

The Department of English & Creative Writing offers postgraduate courses in English (Literary Studies) and Creative Writing at both MA (taught) and PhD (research) level. All of our postgraduate degrees are available for either full-time or part-time study.

Please find out more via our dedicated  Masters  and  PhD  pages, or click the links on the table below for detailed course descriptions and access to the University’s postgraduate application system.

• Creative Writing (MA, 1 year)
• Literary Studies (MA, 1 year)
• Creative Writing (PhD, 3 years)
• English (PhD, 3 years)

Further Details

• Why Aberystwyth?
• Masters study in English & Creative Writing
• PhD study in English & Creative Writing
• Student Profiles
• Departmental Admissions Tutors
• Facilities and Opportunities

PhD Creative Writing

Want to know what it's like to study this course at uni? We've got all the key info, from entry requirements to the modules on offer. If that all sounds good, why not check out reviews from real students or even book onto an upcoming open days ?

Different course options

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Aberystwyth University

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Course info

Entry requirements, tuition fees, latest reviews.

The English Department provides an excellent environment for postgraduate study, research, and creative work. The main University library is well stocked with standard texts and critical works on a very wide range of topics; and the National Library of Wales, adjacent to the campus, is one of the UK’s five copyright libraries, holding one of the most extensive collections of books and manuscripts in Europe. As a department that values a stimulating research ethos highly, we place great emphasis on the provision of high quality teaching, supervision and facilities for our postgraduate community. As a result, our postgraduate community is dynamic and thriving. It is very pleasing to note that our graduates secure employment in teaching, academia, publishing and various other professional fields.

Research Strengths

This is a research-based course, 'research' in this context implying everything that is required to bring to completion a novel or substantial collection of poems, as well as to provide a critical/analytical account of the work produced. You will be expected, under the guidance of your supervisor, to demonstrate your skills in handling a sustained creative project, while at the same time establishing a critical framework for your writing. Your research will be closely supervised throughout by one or more core members of the Department’s Creative Writing staff.

All academic staff in the Department of English and Creative Writing are active scholars and experts in their fields. They are either qualified to PhD level or have commensurate experience. Our Lecturers either hold or are working towards a Higher Education teaching qualification and the majority of academic staff also hold the status of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

The department has a proud tradition of research excellence, as demonstrated in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (2014) assessment. It found that 97% of research assessed was found to be of international standing or higher.

What students say

The Creative Writing MA needs to be a year and a half to allow staff and students to focus on one thing at a time and complete their best work. Many students across departments.. Read more

The location is very nice, and There are a lot of interesting.. Read more

Entry Requirements 2:1 Bachelors (Honours) degree in a relevant subject area or equivalent. Applicants should submit a full research proposal at the point of application.

Students living in

£4,712 per year

Students from Domestic

The mentioned fee is 2023/24 entry, there may be slight increase in 2024/25 entry.

£17,200 per year

Students from EU

The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from somewhere in the EU.

Students from International

The amount you'll pay if you come to study here from a country outside the EU.

Latest Creative Writing reviews

Review breakdown, how all students rated:, aberystwyth university , wales.

Since 1872, Aberystwyth University has built a global reputation for teaching excellence and ground-breaking research....

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Penglais Aberystwyth Wales SY23 3FL

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Creative Writing PhD Aberystwyth University

• On campus - h Penglais Campus
• Sep 1, 2024 Part-time - 60 Months
• Sep 1, 2024 Full-time - 36 Months

Key Course Facts

• Admission advice for international students

Course Description

This is a research-based course, 'research' in this context implying everything that is required to bring to completion a novel or substantial collection of poems, as well as to provide a critical/analytical account of the work produced. You will be expected, under the guidance of your supervisor, to demonstrate your skills in handling a sustained creative project, while at the same time establishing a critical framework for your writing. Your research will be closely supervised throughout by one or more core members of the Department’s Creative Writing staff.

Entry Requirements / Admissions

The normal entry requirement for the three-year PhD research programme is a 2:1 honours degree or its equivalent in a subject relevant to the intended area of research.

In addition to submitting the standard application materials (please see how to apply) applicants are asked by the Department to supply additional supporting materials before their application will be considered.

English Language Requirements: If you have a Bachelor’s degree from a UK University, you do not need to take an English proficiency test. Non-native English speakers who do not meet this requirement must take a University-recognised test of academic English language proficiency.

Average student cost of living in the UK

London costs approx 34% more than average, mainly due to rent being 67% higher than average of other cities. For students staying in student halls, costs of water, gas, electricity, wifi are generally included in the rental. Students in smaller cities where accommodation is in walking/biking distance transport costs tend to be significantly smaller.

University Rankings

Positions of aberystwyth university in top uk and global rankings., about aberystwyth university.

Aberystwyth University (Aber) was founded in 1872 in Aberystwyth, Wales. This university has earned itself an impressive array of awards in various domains, including in teaching standards and post-graduate employability. Whether you enjoy walking by the beach or visiting the historic town centre, Aberystwyth is a superb option for those students looking for a quiet place to focus on their academic goals.

List of 383 Bachelor and Master Courses from Aberystwyth University - Course Catalogue

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• Help & FAQ

Department of English and Creative Writing

• Aberystwyth University
• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
• Phone 01970 622534, 01970 622530
• Email [email protected]

Penglais , Hugh Owen Building

SY23 3DY Aberystwyth

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Fingerprint

• Poem Arts and Humanities 100%
• Writer Arts and Humanities 86%
• Contemporary Arts and Humanities 68%
• Text Arts and Humanities 67%
• Life Arts and Humanities 63%
• UK Social Sciences 50%
• Shapes Arts and Humanities 40%
• Essays Social Sciences 39%

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Dive into details.

Select a country/territory to view shared publications and projects

Tasha Alden

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing - Senior Lecturer in Contemporary British Fiction

Person: Teaching And Research

Neal Alexander

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing - Senior Lecturer

Ahmad Naji Bakhti

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing - Lecturer in Creative Writing - Fiction

Peter Barry

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing - Emeritus Professoren

Person: Other

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing - Lecturer in Nineteenth-Century Literature

Person: Teaching

Rebecca Boru

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing

Person: Doctor of Philosophy

Margaret Louise Bream

Morris Brodie

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing - Associate Lecturer
• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of Modern Languages - Project Officer

Person: Other, Teaching

Gary Crossley

Robert Cumming

• Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences , Department of English and Creative Writing - Part Time Teacher

Research output

• 870 Citations
• 169 Article
• 148 Chapter
• 18 Edited book
• 15 Web publication/site
• 9 Review Article
• 7 Entry for encyclopedia/dictionary
• 5 Other chapter contribution
• 3 Comment/Debate
• 2 Anthology
• 2 Conference Proceeding (Non-Journal item)
• 2 Special Issue
• 2 Other contribution
• 1 Commissioned report
• 1 Scholarly edition
• 1 Foreword/postscript
• 1 Book/Film/Article Review
• 1 Book/Film/Article review
• 1 Featured article
• 1 Performance

Research output per year

Introduction

Research output : Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter

Literary geographies of modernism

Nightmares, neurosis and clinical psychology in the short stories of shirley jackson.

• Nightmare 100%
• Antidepressant 100%
• Sedative 100%
• Clinical Psychology 100%
• Tranquilizer 100%

Ruling Spirits: : Power and Subversion in the Victorian Ghost Story

• Ghost story 100%
• Victorian 100%
• Challenges 20%

The geographies of British postmodern fiction

The routledge handbook of literary geographies.

Research output : Book/Report › Book

Understanding Sublimation in Freudian Theory and Modernist Writing

• modernist literature 100%
• Literary Reflections 100%

Utopian Geographies

• Utopian Fiction 100%
• Margaret atwood 100%
• Sarah Hall 100%

A Brontë Reading List: 2020

Research output : Contribution to journal › Comment/Debate

• Reading 100%
• Assessment 33%

"Bring[ing] back the fairy times": Framing the Child in Frances Browne's Granny's Wonderful Chair

Dream latin: writing the subconscious.

Research output : Book/Report › Edited book

• Writing 100%
• Civil and Political Rights 50%
• Vehicles 50%
• Unconscious 50%

Student theses

After the end: post-apocalyptic fiction in the long 20 th century.

Supervisor: Alden, N. (Supervisor) & Rodgers, B. (Supervisor)

Student thesis : Doctoral Thesis › Doctor of Philosophy

A Jungian and Historical Reading of M.R. James’s Ghost Stories

Supervisor: Alden, N. (Supervisor)

Alterity, Religion, and the Metaphysics of Postmodernism

Supervisor: Woods, T. (Supervisor)

Anne Hunter and the Body-Snatchers: An Anatomy of Romantic Medicine, Politics and Elegy

Student thesis : Master's Thesis › Master of Arts

A short history of lines

Supervisor: Yallop, J. (Supervisor)

Auto-Oedipa: From Tragic Drama to Many-Mouthed Lyric

Supervisor: Atkinson, T. (Supervisor)

A Writer's Journey

Supervisor: Thurston, L. (Supervisor)

Birthing Attila

Supervisor: Francis, M. (Supervisor) & Marggraf Turley, R. (Supervisor)

Borderlines: the changing limits of textual encounters

Supervisor: Marshall, L. (Supervisor) & Alexander, N. (Supervisor)

Bordersands: A Novel and Critical Commentary

Supervisor: Yallop, J. (Supervisor) & Towsey, D. P. (Supervisor)

• 24 Finished

Projects per year

Writing and Making with the Fathom Trust for Carers in West Wales

Shaw Foundation

01 Jan 2024 → 31 Jan 2025

Project : Externally funded research

Visiting Fellowship: Leila Aboulela and Muslim Women: From Recue to Resistance (Dr Sadia Zulfiqar)

The British Academy

31 Aug 2023 → 29 Feb 2024

Rethinking flight, persecution and war: how do we define postmemory now - Conferrence and Network

Alden, T. & Hammel, A.

Royal Society

01 Oct 2020 → 31 Jul 2021

The Quantified Romantics: Arts and Biometrics

Marggraf Turley, R.

Arts and Humanities Research Council

01 Sept 2015 → 31 Dec 2015

Edible Wales: Sustenance and locailty

Marggraf Turley, R. & Bennett-Gillison, S.

Creative Exchange Wales Network

01 Oct 2014 → 30 Nov 2014

• Reputation 50%
• Economics 33%
• Methodology 33%

South, West and Wales AHRC Doctoral Training Programme

13 Feb 2014 → 12 Feb 2023

Staging, Activation, Design - the changing face of textual encounters

Kenyon-Owen, S.

01 Oct 2013 → 30 Sept 2015

Abilitazione Scientifica Nazionale- Sarah Hutton Year 1

National Institute for Education, Universities and Research- ITALY

01 Mar 2013 → 28 Feb 2014

The Mostyn Project -(Money from 11101)

11 Feb 2013 → 11 May 2013

Womens Poetry 1400-1800 in English, Gaelic, Scots Gaelic and Welsh

Prescott, S.

Leverhulme Trust

01 Feb 2013 → 31 Jul 2016

Devolved voices: Welsh poetry in English since 1997

01 Sept 2012 → 31 Aug 2015

Press/Media

Why so few witches were executed in wales in the middle ages.

Mari Ellis Llewelyn Dunning

10 Apr 2024

1 Media contribution

Press/Media : Media contribution

Science Cafe: Darkness

Jacqueline Yallop

02 Jan 2024

Why are we so obsessed with Christmas ghost stories?

Luke Thurston

20 Dec 2023

Seeing the Dark in a New Light

16 Dec 2023

1 item of Media coverage

Press/Media : Media coverage

Why darkness matters

14 Dec 2023

23 Nov 2023

How Taylor Swift joined a long history of women fighting slut-shaming in their writing

Lucy Thompson

18 Nov 2023

Opinion: Taylor Swift joins a long history of women fighting slut-shaming in their writing

16 Nov 2023

Into the Dark review: Intriguing book dissects darkness

15 Nov 2023

Taylor Swift joins a long line of women fighting slut-shaming

10 Nov 2023

With the release of Slut!, Taylor Swift is openly challenging sexist social attitudes through her music, says this Aberystwyth University lecturer

• 44 Editorial activity
• 35 Oral presentation
• 30 Conference
• 25 Publication peer-review
• 25 Invited talk
• 18 Festival or Exhibition
• 10 Examination
• 9 Membership of peer-review college/ panel
• 8 Workshop, Seminar, or Course
• 3 Consultancy
• 3 Visiting an external academic institution
• 2 Work on advisory panel to industry or government or non-government organisation
• 2 Membership of committee
• 1 CPD delivery/organisation of courses for externals
• 1 Membership of council
• 1 Member of professional society
• 1 Membership of working group or panel

Activities per year

Desire, Jouissance, and the Real in T. S. Eliot A Lacanian Reading

Luke Thurston (Examiner)

Activity : Examination

‘Do you ever feel that you’re a coin waiting to be flipped?’ – Creative Writing after James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake and Samuel Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape; Or, Imagining Before the Apocalypse

Alexander Hubbard (Speaker)

Activity : Talk or presentation › Oral presentation

Modern Language Quarterly (Journal)

Neal Alexander (Editor)

Activity : Publication peer-review and editorial work › Editorial activity

Sectarianism, Proxies and De-sectarianisation (SEPAD)

Ahmad Naji Bakhti (Participant)

Activity : Participating in or organising an event › Conference

Springer Nature (Publisher)

The syria of aberystwyth project (performative reading).

Ahmad Naji Bakhti (Speaker)

Activity : Talk or presentation › Invited talk

Keats Foundation annual lecture

Richard Marggraf Turley (Speaker)

Aberystwyth University Festival of Research

Activity : Participating in or organising an event › Festival or Exhibition

The Syria of Aberystwyth

Ahmad Naji Bakhti (Organiser), Emma Butler-Way (Organiser) & Jacqueline Yallop (Organiser)

Activity : Participating in or organising an event › Workshop, Seminar, or Course

ASLE Biennial Conference

Jamie Harris (Participant)

Dreamstreets: living in a heritage model village

Jacqueline Yallop (Speaker)

Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Fellowship, The Huntington Library

Padget, Martin (Recipient), 1993

Prize : Fellowship awarded competitively

Ansel Adams Fellowship, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona

Padget, Martin (Recipient), 2002

Arthur Miller Centre Prize for best article of 2009 on an American subject.

Padget, Martin (Recipient), 2010

Prize : Prize (including medals and awards)

• Awards 100%
• Arthur Miller 100%
• Native Americans 50%
• Ansel Adams 50%

Arthur Miller Centre Prize for Best Article on an American Subject awarded to Martin Padgt, 'Native Americans, the Photobook and the Southwest: Ansel Adams’ and Mary Austin’s Taos Pueblo', in Writing with Light: Words and Photographs in American Texts, ed. Mick Gidley (Oxford: Peter Lang, 2009), 19-42

• Subject 100%

Arts and Humanities Research Council Research Leave Award

Padget, Martin (Recipient), 2005

ASLE/Inspire UKI Prize Essay (First Prize)

Marggraf Turley, Richard (Recipient), Archer, Jayne Elisabeth E. (Recipient) & Thomas, Howard (Recipient), 2013

• Sustainability 100%

Bolton-Kinnaird Prize

Padget, Martin (Recipient), 1996

• South-west 100%
• Western History Association 50%
• Fletcher 50%

British Academy/ Newberry Library Exchange Fellowship

British academy research development award.

Prescott, Sarah (Recipient), 2009

• Academy 100%
• Eighteenth Century 100%
• Development Research 100%
• Writing 50%

British Society of Eighteenth-Century Studies annual conference postgraduate bursary

Davies, Rebecca Sioned (Recipient), Jan 2008

Children's Literature Association Honor Book Award for Edited Collections

Rodgers, Beth (Recipient) & Maguire, Nora (Recipient), 2015

• Children's Literature 100%
• Translation 50%
• Recipient 50%
• Nations 50%

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Aberystwyth university: creative writing, doctor of philosophy - phd, full-time, 36 months starts sep 2024.

This is a research-based course, 'research' in this context implying everything that is required to bring to completion a novel or substantial collection of poems, as well as to provide a critical/analytical account of the work produced. You will be expected, under the guidance of your supervisor, to demonstrate your skills in handling a sustained creative project, while at the same time establishing a critical framework for your writing. Your research will be closely supervised throughout by one or more core members of the Department’s Creative Writing staff.

Part-Time, 60 months starts Sep 2024

Full-time, 36 months started sep 2023, part-time, 60 months started sep 2023, full-time, 12 months starts sep 2024.

This course will help you develop your creative vision and writing abilities through a balanced programme of reading, analysis and writing workshops. You will be exposed to a range of contemporary writers of both prose and poetry, so that your own creative approach may be stimulated and develop in confidence and maturity. You will also engage in discussions about technique and undertake an exploration of the wider issues related to the practice of writing, such as the significance of genre and the mechanics of publication.

Part-Time, 24 months starts Sep 2024

Full-time, 12 months started sep 2023, part-time, 24 months started sep 2023.

This is your place to master your future

The university and town  .

Established in 1872,  Aberystwyth University  has a global reputation for teaching excellence and ground-breaking  research . The University offers a range of research and taught postgraduate programmes, with students from across the world choosing to study here.   Aberystwyth  is a cosmopolitan market town nestled between the mountains and the sea. The University’s scenic location (part of the  UNESCO Dyfi Biosphere ) provides a beautiful place to explore and unwind in - between studying.   

Aberystwyth has a welcoming and inclusive community with a vibrant social life and culture, which …

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MA Creative Writing

Aberystwyth university, different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, university information, similar courses at this uni, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

MA - Master of Arts

Subject areas

Creative Writing

Course type

The Aberystwyth MA in Creative Writing will help you develop your creative vision and writing abilities through a balanced programme of reading, analysis and writing workshops. You will be exposed to a range of contemporary writers of both prose and poetry, so that your own creative approach may be stimulated and develop in confidence and maturity. You will also engage in discussions about technique and undertake an exploration of the wider issues related to the practice of writing, such as the significance of genre and the mechanics of publication.

You will receive individual tuition from the excellent Departmental staff, all of whom are published creative writers. Under their guidance, you will produce a substantial portfolio in the form of a collection of poetry or an extended piece of prose fiction. In addition, you will develop a host of key transferrable skills that will benefit you in a range of academic or employment contexts.

Assessment:

Assessment takes the form of: portfolios of prose and poetry, including critical commentaries and annotated bibliographies; a case study of a research project; and a study of a particular publisher of creative writing or type of publication. In the third semester, each student will complete a Writing Portfolio of creative writing with a critical commentary. The Portfolio can be in the form of poetry (30 pages plus 6,000 words) or prose fiction (14,000 plus 6000 words), but not a combination of the two.

This degree will suit you:

If you want comprehensive training in advanced methods of creative writing If you want to develop your creative vision and writing skills to the highest levels If you are looking for a detailed and constructive critique of your work If you want to work within a dynamic and supportive environment while producing a portfolio of creative writing.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

For this course (per year)

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

Entry Requirements 2:1 Bachelors (Honours) degree in a relevant subject and submission of a satisfactory writing portfolio. Non-graduates and non-subject specialists will be considered individually based on relevant experience and a satisfactory writing portfolio. Other Requirements Applicants are encouraged to submit an up-to-date CV as part of their application.

Since 1872, Aberystwyth University has built a global reputation for teaching excellence and ground-breaking research. This institution consistently ranks among the top universities in the UK, offering an exceptional university experience. Aberystwyth University is committed to providing outstanding teaching within a welcoming, supportive and inclusive environment. Aberystwyth is known for its stunning location on the west coast of Wales.... more

PhD Creative Writing

Full time | 3 years | 30-SEP-24

You are viewing this course for September start 2024

Qualification

Course duration.

PhD English Literature

The English Department provides an excellent environment for postgraduate study, research, and creative work. The main University library is well stocked with standard texts and critical works on a very wide range of topics; and the National Library of Wales, adjacent to the campus, is one of the UK’s five copyright libraries, holding one of the most extensive collections of books and manuscripts in Europe. As a department that values a stimulating research ethos highly, we place great emphasis on the provision of high quality teaching, supervision and facilities for our postgraduate community. As a result, our postgraduate community is dynamic and thriving. It is very pleasing to note that our graduates secure employment in teaching, academia, publishing, and various other professional fields.

Typical Entry Requirements

Entry Requirements 2:1 Bachelors (Honours) degree in a relevant subject area and Merit performance at Masters level (either complete or in process). Consideration will be given to applicants who can demonstrate a significant body of relevant professional experience in lieu of academic qualifications.

English Language Requirements IELTS 7.5 with minimum 7.5 in each component

Other Requirements Submission of a satisfactory portfolio of existing critical writing. Please note that the above requirements are a minimum for entry, and successful applicants are likely to be able to demonstrate consistent academic performance at the higher levels (i.e. at least high 2.1 / high Merit). Marks transcripts must be provided at the point of application.

Course Overview

Research Strengths

We welcome enquiries and proposals for PhD study in all periods of literature in English, from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. The Department's particular strengths include:

• Medieval Literature
• Restoration and C18th Literature
• Romantic Literature
• Victorian Fiction
• C19th and C20th American Literature
• Postmodernism
• Contemporary Poetry and Fiction
• Women's Writing
• Children's Literature
• Welsh Writing in English
• Irish Writing
• Literary Geography
• Gothic Literature and Ghost Stories
• Postcolonial Literature (especially African Literature)
• Ethnic American Literatures
• Literary Theory (especially Ecocriticism, Gender Studies, Queer Theory, Marxism, New Historicism, Psychoanalysis, Poststructuralism, Postcolonialism)

The department has a proud tradition of research excellence, as demonstrated in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (2014) assessment. It found that 97% of research assessed was found to be of international standing or higher.

All academic staff in the Department of English and Creative Writing are active scholars and experts in their fields. They are either qualified to PhD level or have commensurate experience. Our Lecturers either hold or are working towards a Higher Education teaching qualification and the majority of academic staff also hold the status of Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Modules September start - 2024

Please note: The modules listed below are those currently intended for delivery during the next academic year and may be subject to change. They are included here to give an indication of how the course is structured.

* Also available partially or entirely through the medium of Welsh