Portuguese and Lusophone Studies PhD

We offer PhD supervision in a wide range of disciplines within the area of Portuguese and Lusophone Studies.

Research overview

We offer PhD supervision in a wide range of disciplines within the area of Portuguese and Lusophone Studies, with staff expertise which spans literary and cultural studies, visual culture and history related to Iberia, Latin America and Lusophone Africa.

Before you start your research degree you will have completed a research-preparation masters degree in a related discipline and have agreed your research topic with a main supervisor.

Once you begin your research you will be given a second supervisor, whose field of expertise complements that of your main supervisor. You will work with this team closely for the duration of your study and are welcome to consult any other member of the department whose research seems of relevance to your own work.

You are required to attend all departmental research seminars and special lectures and deliver at least one paper of your own each year, usually at the annual Postgraduate Forum.

At the end of three years’ full-time registration, plus one year optional writing-up, you will have written a thesis of between 80,000-100,000 words, in English, Spanish or Portuguese, on a topic which makes a significant contribution to the sum of knowledge on the Hispanic or Lusophone worlds.

You also have also the possibility of registering for, or transferring to, the European Doctorate, which has the advantage of enabling doctoral graduates’ PhDs to be recognised elsewhere in Europe.

Research areas

Our research areas include, but are not limited to:

• Literature and culture in Spain and Portugal from the nineteenth-century to the present day
• History of Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Latin America (especially Cuba)
• Literature and culture of Brazil and Latin America
• Culture and visual culture of Lusophone Africa and the Portuguese diaspora

Careers

Many of our postgraduates have chosen academic careers and are currently in full-time posts in the UK. Others have moved into the civil service, the cultural industries, the media, publishing, teaching or translation.

The research training all our postgraduates follow equips them with a range of key transferable skills, such as analytical thinking, time management, and presentation and research skills.