Comparative Literature PhD

Program Overview

The University of Liverpool's Comparative Literature PhD program allows students to explore literature beyond single languages and cultures, fostering a multidisciplinary approach with supervision from experts in various areas. The program emphasizes reading literature outside the limits of the nation-state, offering expertise in postcolonialism, translingualism, and other contemporary approaches. It provides a supportive environment for doctoral research, including training, scholarships, and access to research facilities.

Program Outline

The program offers a multidisciplinary approach, challenging rigid disciplinary boundaries and consolidated practices. It provides supervision by teams spanning various language areas and diverse methodological approaches, ensuring support for groundbreaking doctoral research. The program emphasizes reading literature in ways that extend beyond single languages and cultures, understanding texts outside the limits of the nation-state. It provides an innovative frame for analysis of writing by often very different authors from very different traditions. Supervisors provide expertise in postcolonialism, translingualism, World Literature, trauma theory, and other approaches, ensuring support for a wide variety of approaches.

Other:

• The program is open to both full-time and part-time students.
• The program is open to international applicants.
• The program includes training and support.
• The program is available all year round.
• The program is available as both full-time and part-time.
• The program is offered by the Department of Languages, Cultures and Film, School of Histories, Languages and Cultures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.
• The program is funded.
• The program is defined by its multidisciplinary nature, with projects having a global reach.
• The program offers supervision by teams that span various language areas and diverse methodological approaches.
• The program offers expertise in postcolonialism, translingualism, World Literature, trauma theory, and other approaches.
• The program offers expertise across a range of genres, including the novel, short story, travel writing, and graphic fiction.
• The program offers expertise in emerging areas such as digital media.
• The program offers expertise in canonical literatures as well as in emerging voices.
• The program offers co-supervision with the Department of English, the Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, and the Institute for Irish Studies.
• The program contributes to the wider field of translation studies and includes practicing translators.
• The program is underpinned by a commitment to researching multilingually and to extending the theoretical bases of Comparative Literature beyond conventional understandings of the field.
• The program welcomes research proposals that match those of its researchers, including translingual and exophonic writing, postcolonial literature, digital humanities, multilingualism, and translation studies.
• The program offers excellent research facilities within the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, including designated shared office space and access to a vast repository of journals in the areas of Comparative and World Literature (including e-journals), through the Sydney Jones Library.
• The program offers access to the Liverpool Doctoral College, which supports all postgraduate researchers across the University to thrive in their doctoral program with a dedicated team of esteemed supervisors, professional services staff, and student peers.
• The program is part of the following research groups: Image, Sound and Performance and Conflict, Memory and Heritage, Place, Space and Belonging, Media Histories: From Manuscript to Digital.
• The program offers a range of scholarships to help students meet the costs of studying a research degree.
• The program offers a range of studentships, both self-funded and funded.
• The program offers a range of Doctoral Training Partnerships, which support future researchers with funding and a rewarding learning environment where they can collaborate with leading researchers.
• The program offers a range of research degree applications that can be made online.
• The program offers a range of supervisors in the area of Comparative Literature.
• The program offers a range of related studentships, both self-funded and funded.
• The program offers a range of related Doctoral Training Partnerships.
• The program offers a range of scholarships.
• The program is part of the University of Liverpool, a member of the Russell Group.
• The program is available on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, and Linkedin.
• The program is available through LiveChat.

The fees below reflect one year of study during the 2024/25 academic year PhD Duration UK students International Students Full time 2-4 years £4,786 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences £29,750 (Band A)^ Faculty of Science and Engineering £29,750 (Band A)^ or £23,400 (Band B) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences £23,400 (Band B) Part time 4-6 years £2,393 Faculty of Health and Life Sciences £14,900 (Band A)^ Faculty of Science and Engineering £14,900 (Band A)^ or £11,700 (Band B) Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences £11,700 (Band B) The fees stated in the table above exclude potential research support fees also known as ‘bench fees’. You will be notified of any fee which may apply in your offer letter.

• Please note that if you are undertaking a PhD within the Faculty of Science and Engineering the fee you pay, Band A or Band B, will reflect the nature of your research project.
Some research projects incur a higher fee than others e.g. if you are required to undertake laboratory work. You will be informed of the fee for your programme in your offer letter. ^ Self-funded, full-time international students studying a PhD programme classified as Band A will receive a £2,000 reduction in their fees for the first year only.