Course summary

This MRes programme provides a personalised and focused introduction to postgraduate research, allowing you to develop as an independent researcher with the support of our experts in Modern Languages and Cultures. It provides a rigorous overview of the current state of scholarship in your selected field, guides you through a programme of directed and individualised reading to the selection of a feasible research project, and allows you to complete a substantial piece of research. Why Department of Modern Languages and Cultures? Introduction to Modern Languages and Cultures We are a small department that maintains a variety of very distinctive areas of strength in research. We offer programmes tailored to the individual and underpinned by a close student-supervisor contact. All of that unfolds in a friendly and supportive atmosphere. We maintain a high degree of interdisciplinary activity, with students and staff from all disciplines interacting through institutional research centres, research groups and seminars. Applications are welcome for both full-time and part-time study. Postgraduate students form an integral part of our research culture, and are encouraged to become involved in conferences, workshops and seminar series. In addition, we have reading groups and a regular programme of seminars involving leading scholars visiting the institution. We have an active and vibrant research community, with staff engaging in research covering a wide range of language areas such as Basque, Catalan, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish. Research interests range from medieval manuscripts to contemporary cyber literature, and cover a wide geographical remit, with staff working on American, Latin American, Caribbean, African and Indian contexts as well as European ones. We are home to a number of scholarly journals including: Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, Bulletin of Latin American Research, and Migrations and Identities. We have close connections with the online open access journal Modern Languages Open, as well as a number of prominent book series. Research Overview Our research activities are broadly organised around four research groups:

• Image, Sound and Performance

• Conflict, Memory and Heritage

• Place, Space and Belonging

• Media Histories: From Manuscript to Digital

• Centre for the Study of International Slavery (CSIS)

• Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (CMRS)

• Eighteenth-Century Worlds Research Centre (ECW).