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Joint PhDs available: Exciting opportunities to gain a joint PhD with Hong Kong University (HKU), the National University of Singapore (NUS) or Humboldt University in Berlin.
King’s is one of the oldest English departments in the country and is home to a lively and supportive group of academics and students engaged in the exploration of literary cultures from the 7th to the 21st centuries. Academics in the department have cross-period interests in visual and material cultures; literature, medicine and science; gender and sexuality; colonial, postcolonial and transnational cultures; creative writing, life writing and performance; text, history, politics.
All members of staff are actively involved in research: most have gained an international reputation for the quality of their scholarship and are frequently called on to contribute their specialist knowledge to newspapers and other media. Staff in the department regularly attract large-scale research grants from the European Research Council, Wellcome Trust, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and Leverhulme Trust.
PhD students are at the heart of our Department and its research culture. We have over 100 doctoral students from all over the world working on a wide range of projects. Many are AHRC-funded and some are working on collaborative doctoral projects with our cultural partner institutions. Together with our community of postdoctoral fellows, our early career researchers both organise and participate in our thriving seminar and conference culture.
Research at the Department has been recognised in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, with 90 per cent overall rating for either ‘world leading’ (4*) or ‘internationally excellent’ (3*) research and 100 per cent at 4* and 3* for research environment.
Current number of academic staff: 57
Current number of research students: 122
Recent publications:
Current and recent research projects:
Current doctoral projects:
Joint PhDs available: Exciting opportunities to gain a joint PhD with either the National University of Singapore or Hong Kong University or Humboldt.
UK Tuition Fees 2024/25
Full time tuition fees:
£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
International Tuition Fees 2024/25
Full time tuition fees:
£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
UK Tuition Fees 2025/26
Full time tuition fees:
£6,600 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£6,600 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£3,300 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£3,300 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
International Tuition Fees 2025/26
Full time tuition fees:
£27,100 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£27,100 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£13,550 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£13,550 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.
Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.
Study environment
We place great emphasis on pastoral care and are a friendly and welcoming department. Our home in the new Virginia Woolf Building offers many spaces for postgraduate students to work and socialise. Studying in London means students have access to a huge range of libraries from the Maughan Library at King’s to the Senate House Library at the University of London and the British Library. In addition, archives and special collections abound: for instance The Women’s Library at LSE.
The department hosts a number of vibrant research seminars series and symposia open to all graduate students. In addition, there is a student-led graduate seminar series called ‘The Abstract’ and an online journal which allow students to present, discuss and publish their work. We also organise an annual graduate conference attended by students and staff in the department which provides a friendly and supportive forum in which research students can give papers on their work. Students are encouraged to organise their own events, with Departmental and College support.
Postgraduate training
There is a range of induction events and training provided for students by the Graduate School, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the English Department.
A significant number of our students are AHRC-funded through the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) which also provides doctoral training to all students. All students take the ‘Doctoral Seminar’ in their first year. This is a series of informal, staff-led seminars on research skills in which students can share and gain feedback on their own work.
We run a series of ‘Skills Lunches’, which are informal lunch meetings with staff, covering specific topics, including Upgrading, Attending Conferences, Applying for Funding and Post-Doctoral Awards, etc. Topics for these sessions are generally suggested by the students themselves, so are particularly responsive to student needs.
We have an Early Career Staff Mentor who runs more formal workshops of varying kinds, particularly connected to career development and the professions (for example, ‘Applying for Jobs’ and ‘How to Write an Academic CV’). Furthermore, individual research groups within the department also provide various forms of trainings, including ‘Work in Progress’ sessions, in which students raise research/methodology questions related to their own projects. Through our Graduate Teaching Assistantship Scheme, doctoral students are given the opportunity to teach in the department (usually in their second year of study) and are trained and supported as they do so.
UK Tuition Fees 2024/25
Full time tuition fees:
£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
International Tuition Fees 2024/25
Full time tuition fees:
£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
UK Tuition Fees 2025/26
Full time tuition fees:
£6,600 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£6,600 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£3,300 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£3,300 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
International Tuition Fees 2025/26
Full time tuition fees:
£27,100 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£27,100 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin/University of Hong Kong/National University of Singapore)
Part time tuition fees:
£13,550 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research)
£13,550 per year (MPhil/PhD, English Research with Humboldt-Universität Zu Berlin)
These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.
Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.
Study environment
We place great emphasis on pastoral care and are a friendly and welcoming department. Our home in the new Virginia Woolf Building offers many spaces for postgraduate students to work and socialise. Studying in London means students have access to a huge range of libraries from the Maughan Library at King’s to the Senate House Library at the University of London and the British Library. In addition, archives and special collections abound: for instance The Women’s Library at LSE.
The department hosts a number of vibrant research seminars series and symposia open to all graduate students. In addition, there is a student-led graduate seminar series called ‘The Abstract’ and an online journal which allow students to present, discuss and publish their work. We also organise an annual graduate conference attended by students and staff in the department which provides a friendly and supportive forum in which research students can give papers on their work. Students are encouraged to organise their own events, with Departmental and College support.
Postgraduate training
There is a range of induction events and training provided for students by the Graduate School, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the English Department.
A significant number of our students are AHRC-funded through the London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) which also provides doctoral training to all students. All students take the ‘Doctoral Seminar’ in their first year. This is a series of informal, staff-led seminars on research skills in which students can share and gain feedback on their own work.
We run a series of ‘Skills Lunches’, which are informal lunch meetings with staff, covering specific topics, including Upgrading, Attending Conferences, Applying for Funding and Post-Doctoral Awards, etc. Topics for these sessions are generally suggested by the students themselves, so are particularly responsive to student needs.
We have an Early Career Staff Mentor who runs more formal workshops of varying kinds, particularly connected to career development and the professions (for example, ‘Applying for Jobs’ and ‘How to Write an Academic CV’). Furthermore, individual research groups within the department also provide various forms of trainings, including ‘Work in Progress’ sessions, in which students raise research/methodology questions related to their own projects. Through our Graduate Teaching Assistantship Scheme, doctoral students are given the opportunity to teach in the department (usually in their second year of study) and are trained and supported as they do so.
Discover your accommodation options and explore our residences.
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King's is right in the heart of the capital.