PhD Portuguese Studies

Programme description

Our PhD Portuguese Studies programme will enable you to carry out a piece of original research under the supervision of our academics.

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at Manchester plays a key role in national and international research contexts through our publications, seminar and conference activity, and our innovative approach to the configuration of the discipline boundaries in which we work.

Our research and postgraduate teaching ranges chronologically from the Early Modern period in Spain and Latin America up to the present day (for example, with work on the modern city, on race and indigenous cultures, contemporary Spanish and Portuguese literature, film and music, and 20th and 21st-century Latin American literature, photography and comics).

Our publications and supervisory interests include cultural and literary history and theory, music, memory, history, and urban culture.

We have expertise in Brazilian/Portuguese Studies, Cultural and Gender Studies, Film Studies, History, Literature, Art and Culture in Latin America, and Textual Criticism.

In recent years, we have successfully supervised to completion PhD students in subjects covering our whole range, but with a particular clustering around Latin American, Gender, and Cultural/Literary Studies topics.

We run regular research seminar series in Spanish/Portuguese and in Latin American Cultural Studies. Postgraduate students contribute significantly to the running and content of both.

Teaching and learning

The PhD is the major postgraduate research degree. It involves three years of full-time study or six years of part-time study and the preparation of a thesis of not more than 80,000 words that makes a significant contribution to knowledge.

A satisfactory PhD topic is one that a suitably qualified and properly supervised student can bring to completion within the permitted timeframe.

Please note that all PhD students are required to undertake research training as part of their PhD programme.

Coursework and assessment

Your research will normally be supervised by two members of staff at the University. Your supervisors will most likely be members of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, but if your research requires it, we may arrange for supervision by someone outside the School.

Supervisory arrangements at Manchester are governed by a Code of Practice which is available on the University's website.

Regular meetings will be held with the supervisors, and details of each of the meetings will be recorded.

Research panels (consisting of at least three academic staff, including the supervisors) are held once per semester to monitor progress.

Please note that the first year of the full-time programme and the first two years of the part-time programme are probationary. This means you will be required to show evidence of satisfactory progress to proceed with the programme.