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Research and Impact

The department of English Studies is one of Europe’s leading centres for research in literary studies. It fosters important and influential research by staff, post-doctoral fellows and postgraduates across historical, cultural, generic and thematic ranges.
Research groups and centres
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Research Culture 

We work collaboratively along particular themes and periods, while we are also involved in a number of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research centres and institutes. A number of visiting academics and other external partners contribute to the research environment of the Department, sometimes as Fellows of the Institute of Advanced Study. 

Our department regularly hosts international conferences, workshops, and public lecture series. Typically, in any one year we organise or co-organise around 80 different events. 

Recent conferences have ranged from Humour and Satire in British Romanticism to Consent: Histories, Representations, and Frameworks for the Future to Thatcher and Thatcherism. We organise research seminars for all staff and postgraduates to engage with visiting speakers, as well as a variety of regular reading groups. Our Late Summer Lectures Series brings the best of postgraduate research to a public audience each year. 

Our department hosts one of the longest-running online postgraduate journals in literary studies, Postgraduate English, which is edited by two PhD students each year. 

 

Upcoming events

CNCS Research Showcase and Book Launch: Stock Pieces: British Repertory Theatre, 1760–1830 by Susan Valladares

Wednesday 19 March 2025 - Wednesday 19 March 2025
3:00 PM to 5:30 PM
Durham's Teaching and Learning Centre TLC 116 and/or Online via Teams
Susan Valladares Book Launch

What's new?

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Reimagining the imagination at the world’s largest literary festival

Researchers from our Institute for Medical Humanities have taken our innovative ReaderBank project to the Jaipur Literature Festival in Rajasthan, India.
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Transformative Humanities framework launched

Durham University's Transformative Humanities launched yesterday and gathered more than 130 researchers, colleagues, students, and partners from across the region and beyond to celebrate this new interdisciplinary framework.
Transformative Humanities launch news banner

QS World University Rankings for English Studies 2024

We are ranked 29th in the prestigious QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024.
QS World Rankings for English Studies 2024, 29th in the world, with an image of a hand pulling a book from a shelf

New interdisciplinary health research awarded £9m grant

Our cutting-edge Institute for Medical Humanities (IMH) has been awarded a £9m Discovery Research Platform Award to develop a new Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities (DRP-MH).
Wellcome trust grant

Strengthened connections with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

We are delighted to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras).
A group of people standing in front of a sign that says Indian Institute of Technology Madras

‘Something that speaks to you in the quiet of the night’: Horror writing with Naomi Booth

This Halloween, Dr Naomi Booth, Associate Professor in the Department of English Studies and award-winning fiction writer tells us about horror writing and the Boggart, a forgotten folklore monster.
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Precocity, Poetics, and British Propaganda: Research Publications 2024

Members of the Department of English Studies at Durham University made significant contributions to the field of literary studies throughout 2024. These recent works span a wide range of topics, from early modern science, Romantic-era repertory theatre, Victorian childhood, and digital humanities, reflecting the department’s ongoing commitment to innovation and scholarly excellence.
Research Publications 2024

English and Medical Humanities: Shaping the future of health research

Researchers from the Department of English Studies are transforming the way we do health research through the Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities.
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Transformative Humanities

Transformative Humanities

Discover the Faculty of Arts and Humanities' new Transformative Humanities framework which brings together distinctive approaches to humanities research and education within the academy and across a wide range of partners and communities.

Visit the Transformative Humanities website