Research in English

• Exeter is ranked 1st in the UK for its world-leading research in English.
• In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), 45% of our research was rated world-leading (4*). No other university in the UK has a higher percentage of research in this category.
• In total 90% of our research was considered internationally significant and all of our 44 members of staff were included in our submission.
• The panel judged 100% of our research environment to be world-leading with institutional structures enabling research at this level and “impressive” support for postgraduates and early career researchers. It also commented on the substantial evidence of interdisciplinary research. See full RAE results for the University.

Research staff

Our staff expertise ranges widely across the discipline of English Studies. In recent years the department has doubled in size and benefited from considerable investment. This has helped us appoint new staff at our Exeter and Cornwall campuses and to continue to improve our research infrastructure. Our 44 research active members of staff include several leaders in their particular fields and two Leverhulme prize winners.

We have a good record of winning research funding from organisations including the AHRC, Leverhulme, British Academy and Arts Council and in the last five years have earned more than £1 million in external income.

Research Centres

• Centre for Intermedia
• Centre for Victorian Studies
• Centre for South West Writing
• ECLIPSE (Exeter Centre for Literatures of Identity, Place and Sustainability)

We are also heavily involved in two interdisciplinary research networks focusing on migration and the information society.

Research Groups

All our staff belong to one or more research groups which plan and develop research initiatives across the following areas:

• Medieval and Renaissance Research Group
• The 18th-Century Narrative Consortium
• Victorian Studies Research Group
• 20th and 21st Century Literature, Creative Writing and Film Research Group

Research projects

• Atlantic Archipelagos Research Project (AARP)
• Identity, Community and Victorian Medievalism
• Moving and Projected-Image Entertainment in the South-West 1820-1914
• Mysticism, Myth & 'Celtic' Nationalism: A Case Study of Cornwall?
• Performing Documents
• The California Dickens Project
• The Eighteenth-Century Narrative Research Consortium
• The Hermits and Anchorites Project (link temporarily unavailable)
• The Past in its Place: Histories of Memory in English and Welsh Locales
• The Poly-Olbion Pilot Project
• The Stuart Successions Project

Research degrees

Our research students take part in one of the liveliest and most productive research environments in the country and benefit from dedicated supervision by internationally rated research staff. We have around 100 research students registered in the Department and welcome interdisciplinary projects. Find out more about a PhD in English at Exeter.