COVID-19

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to COVID-19.

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About this course

The Modern Languages MPhil, PhD is offered through the School of Modern Languages. We offer expert supervision in the following areas:

Chinese

• Chinese translating and interpreting
• Chinese numerology, number and gender in nursery rhymes (Dr V Pellatt)
• cross-cultural studies between China and the West
• Chinese modernity studies
• modern Chinese literature and culture
• Chinese-English translation
• global Chinese diaspora studies
• Chinese-American studies
• cultural theory (Prof J Qian)
• contemporary society, especially identity, ethnicity and religion
• minority nationalities (eg Xinjiang or Uyghur studies)
• Chinese state or popular nationalism and national identity
• Islam in China
• performing arts, music cultures and popular culture in mainland China (Dr J Smith Finley)
• transnational Chinese cinema
• stardom
• independent documentary filmmaking
• gender and sexuality in Chinese media (Dr S Yu)

French

• contemporary women's writing (Dr Robson, Dr El-Maïzi)
• 19th century literature and culture (Prof Harkness, Prof Cross)
• dialectology (Dr Hall)
• French and Algerian cinema (Prof Austin, Dr Leahy)
• history, politics and gender (Prof Cross, Prof Harkness)
• language change (Dr Hall, Dr Waltereit)
• popular culture (media, sport, music) and public policy (Dr Dauncey)
• postcolonial cultures (Prof Austin, Dr El-Maïzi)
• trauma and culture (Prof Austin, Dr Robson)

German

• 20th century German and contemporary literature (Dr T Ludden, Dr B Müller)
• GDR literature and censorship (Dr B Müller)
• representations of the Holocaust and/or World War II (Dr B Müller)
• literature and philosophy - cultural and critical theory (Dr T Ludden)
• women's writing (Dr T Ludden)
• Medieval German and comparative literature (Dr E Andersen)
• morphological theory - morphology, phonology and dialectology of German and Dutch (Dr C Fehringer)

Japanese

• gender studies (Dr G Hansen)
• popular culture, film and media studies (Dr G Hansen, Dr S Yoshioka)
• political studies (Dr G Hansen, Dr S Yoshioka)
• literary studies (Dr G Hansen)

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American studies

• Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American cultural history and popular culture (Dr Jorge Catalá-Carrasco, Dr Nick Morgan, Dr Patricia Oliart, Dr Fruela Fernández, Dr Dunja Fehimović, and Dr Fernando Beleza)
• discourses of race and identity in Latin America (Professor Rosaleen Howard, Dr Patricia Oliart, Dr Nick Morgan, Dr Dunja Fehimović and Dr Fernando Beleza)
• Latin American film, literature, and theatre (Dr Philippa Page, Dr Dunja Fehimović and Dr Fernando Beleza)
• history of education in 19th- and 20th-century Latin America (Professor Jens Hentschke, Dr Patricia Oliart and Professor Rosaleen Howard)
• youth cultures and social movements, music and politics (Dr Patricia Oliart, Dr Fruela Fernández and Dr Fernando Beleza)
• Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American novels (Dr Jorge Catalá-Carrasco and Dr Fernando Beleza)
• political, social, and intellectual history of Latin America in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially Brazil and the Southern Cone (Professor Jens Hentschke)
• anthropology, anthropological linguistics, and sociolinguistics of Latin America, including Quechua language (Professor Rosaleen Howard)
• semantics, philosophy of language, history and spread of Spanish in Latin America, Latin American dialects and Creole (Professor Ian Mackenzie)
• politics of translation as linguistic and conceptual practice (Dr Fruela Fernández)
• Catalan nationalism (Dr Jorge Catalá-Carrasco)
• film, literature, and popular culture of the Spanish-speaking Caribbean and its diasporas (Dr Dunja Fehimović)

Translating and Interpreting

We can offer supervision for projects involving English plus Catalan, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Quechua, Spanish, Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian.

Our research specialisms are:

• interpreting (Dr Y Chen, Dr M Jin, Dr V Pellatt, Dr F Wu)
• psycholinguistics of interpreting and translating (Dr M Jin)
• translating literature (Dr F Jones, Dr V Pellatt)
• translation and culture (Dr Y Chen, Dr F Jones, Dr V Pellatt)
• translation and ethics, ideology and power (Prof R. Howard, Dr F Jones, Dr V Pellatt)
• translation products, processes and strategies (Dr Y Chen, Dr M Jin, Dr F Jones, Dr V Pellatt)
• translator and interpreter training and assessment (Dr Y Chen, Dr V Pellatt, Dr F Wu)
• reflective/autonomous learning and educational psychology (Dr Y Chen, Dr F Wu)
• audiovisual translation studies (Dr Y Chen)

Research staff in the School of Modern Languages work in a diverse range of fields from sociocultural, historical and political studies, to film and literature, linguistics and sociolinguistics. The School has strong links with interdisciplinary research centres and groups, including:

• Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies
• Centre for Research in Linguistics and Language Sciences
• Research Centre in Film and Digital Media
• Gender Research Group
• Medieval and Early Modern Studies
• Postcolonial Research Group

You will also have the opportunity to attend festivals and conferences with a direct bearing on your course:

• Talking to the World Conference
• VAMOS festival

As a student in the School of Modern Languages, you will benefit from the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) Faculty research training programme. You will choose these research modules in consultation with your supervisors.

Depending on your funding status, up to £500 per year is available to support your attendance at conferences or for archival research. You can also request an inter-library loan allowance.

The School of Modern Languages is part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Northern Bridge Doctoral Training Partnership and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) North East Doctoral Training Centre. Through training courses provided by these partnerships, you will gain knowledge and skills to undertake high-quality social science research.

Delivery

These courses are delivered by the School of Modern Languages, with the possibility of joint supervision with other schools. You will carry out research in order to write a thesis on a topic proposed by you. You will work under supervision of two members of research staff.

You will mainly be based in Newcastle's city-centre campus. Attendance is flexible and agreed between you and your supervisors depending on the requirements of the research project.

Full-time students are expected to undertake 40 hours of work per week with an annual holiday entitlement of 35 days (including statutory and bank holidays). Part-time study requires a commitment of at least 20 hours per week.

You will receive a tailored package of support from the University to ensure you maximise your research and future career. There are also opportunities to undertake your research at Newcastle within a Doctoral Training Centre, Centre for Doctoral Training or Doctoral Training Partnership.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Research Training Programme and Student Support

Our Faculty Research Training Programme is a community made up of postgraduates from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences.

It is recognised by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) as a sound foundation for doctoral studies.

Our aim is for you to develop a broad range of research and project management skills that will support you in your career ahead. Staff and students from across a range of disciplines can come together and share their research experiences. You can also choose to register for a Postgraduate Certificate in Research Training.

You will study in our Doctoral Training Suite, a purpose-built facility for lectures, workshops, seminars and computer access to specialist software. Each year we have two student-led research postgraduate conferences. There are also a variety of prizes and awards to celebrate the successes of our students.

Postgraduate Research Student Support

Our Research Student Support Team will provide support and advice throughout your studies. The team can help you on a variety of issues from registration to producing your transcripts.

Doctoral training centres and partnerships

Being part of a Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP), Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) or Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) means that you can benefit from the research expertise and training of a number of leading universities, academic schools and academics. You'll also be studying alongside a cohort of other PhD students.

These centres are often interdisciplinary, combining expertise and training from multiple subject areas. You may also be able to collaborate with an industrial or commercial organisation.

Your PhD will be funded. Normally the fees are covered and you'll receive a tax-free stipend or living expenses. Additional funding is sometimes available to cover things such as conference attendance and research materials.

The centres/ partnerships below may have PhD opportunities available in your subject area.

Find out more about our tuition fees, including how to pay them and available discounts.

EU students starting at Newcastle in 2020 will pay the UK (Home) tuition fee for the full duration of their course.

Funding opportunities

If you have lower English Language scores, you may be accepted onto a Pre-sessional English course.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we will be offering our Pre-sessional courses online only from June to September 2020.

You need to submit a 1,000 word research proposal with your application. Read our guidelines for producing a research proposal (PDF: 41.5KB) from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science Graduate School.

You should discuss your research proposal with a potential supervisor in the School of Modern Languages before you submit your formal application. They will be able to offer you advice on whether we will be able to supervise your proposed topic. A list of our staff and their areas of research expertise is provided on our staff pages.

You also need to include a list of modules and marks for previous degrees. 

Interview

If we short-list you, you'll need to attend an interview. We may conduct this via Skype if necessary. The interview will be arranged by your potential supervisory team and will involve a detailed discussion about your research proposal.

Start dates

There are usually two possible start dates, although in some circumstances an alternative start date can be arranged:

• January
• September

There is no application closing date for this course, but specific deadlines for funding may apply.

We suggest international students apply at least two months before the course starts. This is so that you have enough time to make the necessary arrangements.

Deposit

If you live outside the UK/EU you must:

• pay a deposit of £1,500
• or submit an official letter of sponsorship

The deposit is payable after you receive an offer to study at Newcastle University. The deposit is non-refundable, but is deducted from your tuition fees when you register.

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