School of Modern Languages and Cultures

Interdisciplinary research beyond the European focus

The School includes eight language areas – Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hispanic Studies, Italian, Japanese and Russian – as well as Translation Studies. With Arabic, Chinese and Japanese we move beyond modern languages departments’ conventional concentration on Europe toward a global, transhistorical and interdisciplinary research community.  

• Colonialism, Neo-colonialism and Ecology
• Abir Hamdar's cancer research
• Overview research highlights

Research-led teaching

Our current and diverse research directly informs our teaching. Experts in the field help our students to reach their full academic potential.  

• Katrin Wehling-Giorgi on 'Lost Daughter'

Postgraduate students

Postgraduates join a lively, welcoming and supportive student community. We have nearly 100 postgraduates working on a vast range of topics and participating in a variety of school and university activities. 

• Jessica Rushton wins the Durham 3-Minute Thesis Competition 
• Claudia Dellacasa wins Society for Italian Studies Postgraduate Prize 
• ‘Side-Splitting’: Spanish film comedy and questions of nationhood 

Connecting beyond academia

Our interdisciplinary approach links us to partners beyond academia.

• BFI partnership
• Zurbarán Centre, Spanish Art Project