Dr Abigail Brundin (Reader in Early Modern Literature and Culture) recently made a short video for Postgraduate Search in which she introduces postgraduate studies at Cambridge. Click on the link to see the interview: An introduction to the Department of Italian.
Research in the Italian Department
The Department offers many possibilities to study all aspects of Italian culture, history, literature, language and linguistics at both MPhil and PhD levels, and warmly welcomes informal inquiries or applications from anyone interested in pursuing postgraduate studies in Italian. At present, the Department offers teaching and research supervision in the following areas:
- Medieval literature, especially Dante and Boccaccio: Dr Webb, Dr Camozzi Pistoja.
- The Renaissance: Literature: Dr Brundin, Dr Sanson; Art: Dr Brundin; Women's history and the Questione della lingua: Dr Sanson.
- The Early Modern Period: 18th - 20th century Italian narrative: Dr Sanson.
- The Modern Period: Literature, cultural and intellectual history: Dr Antonello, Prof. Gordon ; Italian cinema: Prof. Gordon, Dr Rhodes ; Philosophy: Dr Antonello.
- Language and linguistics: Dialectology and historical linguistics: Prof. Ledgeway ; Syntactic theory and comparative Romance linguistics: Prof. Ledgeway ; The Questione della lingua: Dr Sanson.
The Department also has a number of affiliated lecturers and post-doctoral researchers working in these and other area.
Entry Requirements, Applications and Funding
For information on applying, please see the Faculty website.
All formal applications must be made through the central Graduate Admissions Office. Before applying, applicants are strongly encouraged to contact directly one of the members of staff working in their proposed area or, for general inquiries and for those interested in other fields not mentioned above, to contact the Postgraduate Coordinator (Dr Brundin). The Department does not necessarily expect potential applicants to have detailed plans about their proposed area of study, and is more than happy to discuss general inquiries and receive indications of interest. Increasingly, students (and funding authorities) prefer that graduate studies should begin with the MPhil which, after one year, may serve as a qualification for a further two or three years' work towards a PhD. This is the Italian Department's preferred route for those applicants wishing to study for a PhD.
At present, the Department participates in three MPhil. programmes, offering Italian-specific pathways through the MPhil. in European, Latin American and Comparative Literatures and Cultures, the MPhil. in Theoretical and Applied Linguistics and the MPhil. in Film and Screen Studies. Applicants for an MPhil may possibly be called for a formal interview, but are in any case more than welcome to come to Cambridge, if they wish, to discuss their plans informally with a member of staff in their area. Applicants for the PhD, who already possess an MPhil, Masters Degree or equivalent, will be interviewed by members of the Department in the Michaelmas or Lent Term (October to March) of the year in which they wish to begin their graduate studies. This interview will seek to establish not only the suitability of the candidate, but the most appropriate procedure for supervision and library work. Interviews are required for all those applying for funding to the AHRC.
For guidance on the costs of Graduate courses at the University of Cambridge, click here. There are several possible routes to finding funding for MPhil or PhD research in Italian at Cambridge. The Department has recently been successful in being awarded AHRC grants for both MPhil and PhD research. Details of how to apply for these and other funding routes can be found here.
Useful links
- Graduate Admissions Prospectus
- Faculty Graduate Studies home page
- General information about costs and funding
- Funding your course at MML
- Entry requirements
- Part-time research degrees
See also:
