German

Program Overview

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Overview

Staff and postgraduate students in the Department of German pursue research across a diverse and dynamic spectrum of German studies, covering many aspects of language, linguistics, literature, culture, history, and translation, from the early modern period to the present day.

We are committed to supporting a positive and collaborative research culture, developing together exciting and innovative research that helps shape, and reshape, our discipline. We offer expertise in German-language literature and culture in its national, transnational, and comparative contexts (including the novel, poetry, theatre and performance, visual cultures, and translation), with particular strengths in the classical age, the long 19th century, the 20th century, and the post- and contemporary periods.

We also have specific expertise in historical and modern sociolinguistics (in particular in language variation and change, vernacularisation and standardisation, and in language attitudes and language policy), as well as in the history and politics of Germany and Austria since 1800 (especially the political East), and in exile writing, memory studies, and Anglo-German and German-American relations. We benefit from strong links with partner universities and research centres in Germany and Austria, and further research connections around the world.

We warmly welcome applications from graduates wishing to pursue research programmes with us. Interdisciplinary, comparative, and cross-language research is also particularly encouraged and supported across the School of Modern Languages and the wider faculty. Our postgraduates are fully integrated into a professionally and personally supportive departmental and school community.

You will be encouraged to present your work at departmental and school-level research events, and at colloquia elsewhere within the faculty, and beyond. We will help develop your full range of academic skills, including publication, and we may be able to offer opportunities for undergraduate teaching after your first year.

Key Information

Programme Duration

• MPhil: one year full-time; two years part-time
• PhD: up to four years full-time; up to eight years part-time

Start Date

• January 2025, September 2025, January 2026

Application Deadline

• January 2025 start: 1 December 2024
• September 2025 start: Overseas applicants: 25 July 2025, Home applicants: 1 August 2025
• January 2026 start: 1 December 2025

Delivery Method

• Distance Learning, On-Campus

Location

• Clifton

Awards Available

• PhD, MPhil

Programme Structure

MPhil

• A standalone, one-year (full-time) research degree
• Students will undertake their own research project, concluding in the submission of a 25,000-word dissertation
• Students may have the option to audit units from our taught master's programmes if they are relevant to their research

PhD

• A research project undertaken across three to four years (full-time), culminating in an 80,000-word thesis
• As well as having the option to audit taught units, there may be the potential for PhD students to teach units themselves from their second year of study onwards

World-Leading Research

• 5th: The University of Bristol is ranked fifth for research in the UK (Times Higher Education)
• 94%: 94% of our research assessed as world-leading or internationally excellent

Entry Requirements

MPhil

• An upper second-class degree or international equivalent
• Acceptance will also depend on evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree

PhD

• A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent
• Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent)
• Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study

Fees and Funding

Home

• Full-time: £4,850 per year
• Part-time: £2,425 per year

Overseas

• Full-time: £21,300 per year

Alumni Discount

• University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study

Funding and Scholarships

• The University of Bristol is part of the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW DTP), which will be offering studentships for September 2025
• For information on other funding opportunities, including University-funded studentships, please see the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences funding pages

Career Prospects

• Graduates from this programme develop a wide variety of careers, including in the cultural and heritage sectors and as academics in higher education

Meet Our Supervisors

• Dr Mark Allinson, Senior Lecturer, Department of German
• Dr Steffan Davies, Associate Professor in German, Department of German
• Dr Anna Havinga, Senior Lecturer in Sociolinguistics, Department of German
• Dr Debbie Pinfold, Senior Lecturer in German, Department of German
• Dr Benedict Schofield, Associate Professor, Department of German

Research Groups

• Research within the department focuses in particular on the following major areas:
  • The literature and culture of Germany, Austria, and German-speaking authors and creatives, from the 18th century to the present day
  • Transnational and Comparative German-language studies, including the literature of migration and exile, and Anglo-German and German-American relations
  • Historical and modern sociolinguistics, and in particular, language policy, language variation and change, language standardisation, vernacularisation, and language attitudes
  • The social and political history of modern Germany and Austria, especially the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
  • The memory and cultural representation of Germany's challenging pasts - in particular, the Third Reich and the GDR - and of the former Eastern Bloc as a whole
  • Theatre and Performance Studies; Visual Cultures

How to Apply

• Apply via our online application system
• For further information, please see the guidance for how to apply on our webpages
• Application deadline:
  • January 2025 start: 1 December 2024
  • September 2025 start: Overseas applicants: 25 July 2025, Home applicants: 1 August 2025
  • January 2026 start: 1 December 2025

Start Your Application

• Select your award type and start date to begin your application
• Award type: German (MPhil), German (MPhil) (Distance Learning), German (PhD), German (PhD) (Distance Learning)

Program Outline

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Careers:

Graduates from this programme develop a wide variety of careers, including in the cultural and heritage sectors and as academics in higher education.

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Other:

Staff and postgraduate students in the Department of German pursue research across a broad spectrum of German studies, covering many aspects of language and linguistics, literature, history, and culture from the early modern period to the present day. We have particular expertise in historical and modern sociolinguistics, modern literature (the novel, poetry and drama, especially in the classical age, the long 19th century, the 20th century and the post-Wende and contemporary periods), the history and politics of Germany and Austria since 1800 (particularly the political East), German children's literature, exile writing, transnational German-language studies and memory studies. We benefit from strong links with partner universities and research centres in Germany and Austria. We welcome applications from graduates wishing to pursue custom-designed research programmes. Interdisciplinary and cross-language research is particularly encouraged and supported across the School of Modern Languages and the wider faculty. Our postgraduates are fully integrated into a professionally and personally supportive departmental and school community. You will be encouraged to present your work at departmental, school-level research events and colloquia elsewhere within the faculty. We will help develop your full range of academic skills, including publication, and we may be able to offer opportunities for undergraduate teaching after your first year. Dedicated research facilities foster interdisciplinary collaboration through a series of research seminars and other events. In addition, the Multimedia Centre is a specialist language centre comprising a language laboratory, media suite, a library of foreign films, newspapers and magazines, and a screening room.

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UK: full-time £4,758 per year UK: part-time £2,379 per year Overseas: full-time £20,700 per year