This research degree is ideal if you wish to engage critically with the study of comparative literature - or other cultural forms, especially in the area of visual studies - across two or more linguistic, regional or national contexts. The focus of research in the Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics is on French, German, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish-speaking cultures in a transnational context, and we welcome research proposals that focus comparatively on or across these areas. The department has great expertise in a wide variety of themes both historically and geographically (in Europe, Japan and the Americas).

An MPhil/PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation of 60,000 to 100,000 words. At Birkbeck, you are initially registered on an MPhil and you upgrade to a PhD after satisfactory progress in the first year or two. You need to find a suitable academic supervisor at Birkbeck, who can offer the requisite expertise to guide and support you through your research. Find out more about undertaking a research degree at Birkbeck.

In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), Modern Languages and Linguistics at Birkbeck achieved 100% for a research environment conducive to research of the highest quality, while 73% of our research was recognised as world-leading or internationally excellent. Our indicative areas of research are:

• Canon formation
• French language literature and culture
• German language literature and culture
• Japanese language literature and culture
• Literary and film history
• Intermediality, intertextuality and translation across genres and media
• Portuguese language literature and culture
• Spanish language literature and culture
• Transnational cultural theory and criticism in all the above languages
• Visual culture.

• Birkbeck’s research excellence was confirmed in the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF), which placed Birkbeck 30th in the UK for research, with 73% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
• Our Department of Languages, Cultures and Applied Linguistics is a centre of teaching and research excellence.
• Our affiliated research centres, the Centre for Iberian and Latin American Visual Studies (CILAVS), Birkbeck Research in Aesthetics of Kinship and Community (BRAKC), Birkbeck Eighteenth-Century Research Group and the Centre for Comparative Research in European Cultures and Identities (CRECI) provide an important platform for this exchange.
• The School of Arts is an official partner of the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London. Opportunities for students have included a year’s free membership of the ICA, private views, discounts on all talks and events, free members' screenings and £3 cinema tickets on Tuesdays, up to 25% off ICA Artists' Editions and a monthly e-newsletter.