Doctor of Philosophy - Italian

A PhD, also known as a doctorate, is a requirement for a career as an academic or researcher. In addition, it has become a qualification valued by many employers who recognise the skills and commitment a PhD requires. Employers also recognise that a PhD indicates excellent research capabilities, discipline and communication skills.

Over the duration of the PhD, students produce an original piece of research of up to 100,000 words, in English or Italian. Previous research theses have included ‘Elements of Magic(al) Realism: Deledda, Bontempelli, Banti’, ‘A Clinic of Lack: Franco Basaglia, Biopolitics and the Italian Psychiatric Reform’, ‘Italo Calvino and Pier Vittorio Tondelli: Love in Post World War Italy’ and ‘Anna Banti and the (Im)possibility of Love’.

The Department of Modern Languages offers supervision from world-class academics with expertise in a wide range of disciplines, able to support and guide students through their research. The main areas of research are early twentieth-century avant-garde literature, twentieth-century poetry, psychoanalytic literary criticism, the intersection of literature and photography, Italian biopolitical thought, and the cultural history of psychiatry and the Italian anti-psychiatric movement. Students' progress is carefully monitored to ensure that they are on track to produce a thesis valued by the academic community. Throughout the programme, students are able to attend and contribute to research seminars, workshops, and research and transferable skills training courses.