Department of English Studies

The Department is one of few globally which is committed to research and teaching across the full historical spread of English literature, from contemporary writing back to the early medieval period. We’re equally committed to research and teaching in global anglophone writing from many regions, nations, and cultures. 

We’re in the World Top 50 (36=) in the QS World University Subject Rankings 2022, and we’re 3rd in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2022, 4th  in The Complete University Guide 2022 and 5th in The Guardian University Guide 2022. 

Much of our work, cutting across historical periods, connects to the ‘new humanities’: medical, environmental, and digital – we have a particularly close connection with the Institute for Medical Humanities and are global leaders in this field. We also have emerging areas of research and teaching in disability studies, sensory studies, the cognitive humanities, and Black Studies, amongst many others. 

We offer the chance to study creative writing at undergraduate, MA, and PhD level, working with renowned poets and authors who are regularly publishing with significant presses, and receiving prizes for their work.  

We’ve expanded substantially in recent years, strengthening the historical and topic range of our teaching and research, and making possible new collaborations within and beyond the academy. Our globally significant research shapes our teaching, and all our staff work with our students – there is no such thing as a ‘research-only’ professorship in our department. 

Find out about our equality, diversity, and inclusion commitments

Our impact activity balances regional and national commitments with a global outlook, working with local communities, national networks, and international partners. 

Our REF achievements draw on work with our students through teaching and research activity. They also indicate new areas for undergraduate teaching and postgraduate supervision. We are all ‘research active’; we all undertake ‘research-led teaching’. The REF shows that our community, from first-year undergraduate students to our most experienced professors, succeeds in providing significant and original research insights, and has demonstrable impacts on wider society.