Slavonic Studies
The Slavonic Studies Section at the University of Cambridge offers innovative undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in Polish, Russian and Ukrainian, with an emphasis on cultural history from the Middle Ages to the present day.
For centuries, the University of Cambridge has cultivated a deep understanding of the societies of Eastern Europe by way of celebrated scholarship and instruction. In 1900, a grant from what strikes us now as an improbable source — the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers — established the first University Lectureship in Russian. Today the Slavonic Studies Section promotes international excellence in teaching and research over a wide array of topics in the study of language, literature, thought, history and culture.
The intellectual vitality of our academic staff is particularly evident in the fields of pre-modern East Slavic culture; Russian, Polish, and Ukrainian literatures of the 19th and 20th centuries; Slavonic linguistics; nationalism studies; history of science and medicine; print culture and media studies; law and humanities; and film and visual culture. It is home.
Upon graduation our students join a highly employable community of leaders who forge rewarding careers in such diverse fields as journalism, law, politics, and diplomacy.
The Slavonic Studies Section of the University of Cambridge promotes international excellence in research over a wide array of topics in the study of language, literature, thought, history and culture from the Middle Ages to the present day. Our scholarly remit extends from Wrocław and Kharkiv to St Petersburg and Vladivostok. Our primary specialisms are Pre-Modern East Slavic culture; Polish, Russian and Ukrainian Literatures of the 19th and 20th centuries; Film and Visual Culture; Slavonic Linguistics; Nationalism Studies; Memory Studies; and Russian Sensory History.
The Section and the Cambridge Committee for Central and East European and Eurasian Studies (CamCCEEES) organise a yearly speaker series. In 2025-26 the series is dedicated to the subject of Freedom. See dates and speakers
As part of their degree, our students spend their third year living abroad to hone language skills and cultural understanding. Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Slavonic Studies community at Cambridge moved quickly to arrange placements in countries where Russian-language students could immerse themselves in the language outside of Russia.
We sat down with students from the first cohort to hear about their experiences at approved institutions in Armenia, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. For everyone, it was a life-changing opportunity. Watch the video on YouTube.
The Slavonic Studies Section at the University of Cambridge offers innovative graduate teaching at the MPhil and PhD levels in the advanced study of Poland, Russian and Ukraine as well as in comparative studies, with an emphasis on cultural history from the Middle Ages to the present day. Our postgraduates have a noted record of achievement in scholarship and consistent success in securing posts at Europe's best universities.