English Language and Literature: Unit of Assessment 57
The majority of research in UoA 57, English Language and Literature is officially classified as world-leading or internationally excellent in terms of originality, significance and rigour, having been placed in the highest categories of 4*and 3* in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise.
| Quality Level | 4* | 3* | 2* | 1* | Unclassified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % of research activity | 25 | 45 | 25 | 5 | 0 |
The Literature section of the School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics has grown significantly since 2001. Some examples include:
- In RAE 2001 we submitted 21 Literature staff jointly with English Language and Linguistics (5A); this time we are submitting 35 Literature staff. (Staff in English Language and Linguistics are submitting to UoA58.)
- Increased research awards from external sources: £265,923 in RAE 2001 (Language, Literature and Linguistics jointly) to £1,072,000 (awarded to Literature staff alone).
- We are home to three major AHRC-funded Research Projects, and we are contributing to three further projects of international significance.
- We have produced 21 monographs, 24 collections of essays, 122 essays, 32 poetry collections, novels and plays and 9 films.
- Research postgraduates continue to be a lively and important part of our research culture; their numbers have risen sharply from 38 in 2001 to 121 in 2006/7.
Our research areas include:
- Renaissance and Early Modern Literature and Culture;
- Late-Eighteenth Century and Romantic-Period Studies;
- Modern and Contemporary Studies;
- Film and Digital Media;
- Postcolonial Studies;
- Children’s Literature;
- Creative Writing.
Of particular note are the burgeoning areas of children's literature and creative writing. Our Children's Literature Unit (CLU) works closely with Seven Stories, an internationally important centre and archive for the children's book based in Newcastle. The Northern Writers’ Centre has emerged out of collaboration between the section and New Writing North, the literature development agency for the region: it has benefitted from £5.5m investment. The section's creative writers have won multiple awards.
Staff from the section play leading roles in several faculty-based interdisciplinary research groups within the Newcastle Institute for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (NIASSH):
- Early Modern Studies@newcastle
- Postcolonial Research Group
- Research Group in Film and Media
- Childhood Cultures Research Group
The work of filmmakers and staff specialising in digital media is supported by the hi-tech resources of Culture Lab, a £2.2m SRIF-funded development which facilitates the arts-science interface in the University.
The University's Robinson Library (awarded the Charter Mark continuously since 1995) has excellent resources supporting research. The Library houses the Booktrust Collection, which receives a copy of every children’s book published in Britain (over 60,000 items). Special Collections holdings include: 18th- and 19th-century chapbooks (the Robert White Collection) and the Wallis, Crawhall, and Bradshaw-Bewick Collections. The Gertrude Bell Archive includes diaries, letters, books and photographs owned by Bell. The Barry MacSweeney archive is shared between the University Library and the School; this has provided material for three PhD theses so far. The section is also well served by civic archives: Seven Stories and the Newcastle Lit & Phil (the largest independent library outside London, holding over 150,000 books).
We are also involved in the University's development of its Cultural Quarter on campus: the Hatton art gallery, the Hancock museum, Culture Lab, Northern Stage, and the Northern Writers' Centre.
The section has a very active research culture, fostering collaborations and a sense of belonging to an intellectual community. Section staff lead the interdisciplinary North-East Postgraduate Forum in the Long Eighteenth Century (with the universities of Durham, Northumbria and Sunderland) and contribute to a similar network for film; the North-East Regional Film Seminar. These networks run distinguished visiting speakers series, workshops and reading groups. Since RAE2001, Staff organised four major international conferences. These four conferences have brought over 1000 delegates from more than 16 countries to Newcastle. Colleagues have organised or co-organised many conferences both at Newcastle and further afield.