German

Awards available	MPhil MLitt PhD
Duration of programme	MPhil: one year full-time; two years part-time MLitt: two years full-time; four years part-time PhD: three years full-time; six years part-time
Number of places	Not fixed

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Programme overview

The Department of German is engaged in research across a broad spectrum of German Studies, covering many aspects of language and linguistics, literature, history and culture, from the Early Modern period to the present day. We have particular expertise in modern literature (the novel, poetry and drama, especially in the classical age and the early 20th century), sociolinguistics and historical linguistics, German and Austrian history and politics since 1800 (particularly the GDR), and German children's literature and comparative literature. We also benefit from strong links with Hanover, Graz, Kiel and other universities and research centres in Germany, especially the Deutsches Literaturarchiv in Marbach am Neckar.

We welcome applications from students wishing to pursue tailor-made research to Masters or doctoral level in any of the above areas. Our postgraduates are fully integrated in a professionally and personally supportive departmental community. We encourage you to attend and give papers at departmental and School research events and we support you in the development of a full range of academic skills, including teaching. Special research facilities include the Graduate School of Arts and Humanities, which fosters interdisciplinary collaboration between all departments through a series of research seminars and other events; and the Multimedia Centre, a specialist language centre comprising a language laboratory, media suite, a library of foreign films, newspapers and magazines, and an 18- seat screening room.

Research groups

A major focus of research within the Department is the relationship of literature, politics and history, in the development of Germany and Austria as nations, in the experience of exile, and in the formation of memory. Staff are also active in interdisciplinary research at School and Faculty level, focusing on themes and approaches such as conflict and culture, identity formation, Weimar culture, comparative literature, and translation.

Our expert staff include a founder member of the international Historical Sociolinguistics Network, which co-ordinates interdisciplinary research between linguists and historians and sponsors regular summer schools at postgraduate level and beyond. The Department's collaborative research in linguistics and East German studies was recently supported by AHRC-funded Networks for work in 'History and Language, Linguists and Historians' (2008-9), and 'After the Wall: Reconstructing and Representing the GDR' (2009-10).

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Entry requirements

MPhil: An upper second-class degree (or international equivalent). MLitt/PhD: A pass at MA level (or international equivalent).

For information on international equivalent qualifications, please see our International Office website.

Admissions statement

Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.

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Key research interests

Dr Mark Allinson, Modern German and Austrian political and social history, especially GDR history.

Dr Steffan Davies, German Literature of the Classical Age (Goethe, Schiller); classical modernism (especially Döblin); German history (19th and 20th centuries); exile.

Dr Nils Langer, Linguistics; language contact; historical sociolinguistics, purism and standardisation; the history and current usage of Bristolian dialect.

Dr Debbie Pinfold, Post-1945 German literature, especially prose fiction and literature of the GDR; literary responses to the Third Reich; representations of childhood; memory studies, in particular memories of the former GDR.

Professor Robert Vilain, 19th- and 20th-century German, Austrian and comparative literature; poetry, modernism and the avant garde; text and image.

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Apply online

Application deadline: Not fixed