PhD Spanish Studies / Overview

Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies at Manchester plays key roles in national and international research contexts through its publications, seminar and conference activity, and through its innovative approach to the configuration of the discipline boundaries in which it works. Our research and postgraduate teaching ranges chronologically from the Early Modern period in Spain through nineteenth-century Latin America to the present day (for example, with work on the modern city in Latin America, on race and indigenous cultures, transnational contemporary cinema in relation to Spain, twenty first-century migrations, Latin American comics and graphic novels, Iberian music studies). Our publications and supervisory interests range from cultural and literary history and theory, and music, to language contact and transnational exchange. We have expertise in Brazilian/Portuguese Studies, Cultural and Gender Studies, Film Studies, History, Literature, Art and Culture in Latin America, and Textual Criticism.

In recent years we have successfully supervised to completion PhD students in subjects covering our whole range, but with a particular clustering around Latin American and Gender and Cultural/Literary Studies topics (including work on Lusophone Africa). Opportunities for study in the Early Modern period are made particularly rich by the holdings of The University of Manchester Library , the third largest academic library in the UK; the Library is also extremely strong in Latin American Studies and Spanish and Portuguese literature as well as being the UK national holding library for Lusophone African studies. We run regular research seminar series in Spanish/Portuguese and in Latin American Cultural Studies; postgraduate students contribute significantly to the running and content of both.

In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014) Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies was assessed as part of the University of Manchester's 'Modern Languages and Linguistics' submission. In REF2014 the University of Manchester has been confirmed as a leading centre for research in Modern Languages and Linguistics, ranking third in the UK in terms of research power (an established criterion which values research quality in relation to the number of staff submitted). We achieved joint fourth in terms of the overall amount of 'world-leading' (4*) research activity and 80% of our research was judged to be in the highest two categories (4* or 3*). Specifically, 73% of our publications were judged as either 'world-leading' (4*) or 'internationally excellent' (3*); moreover, 85% of our research activity achieved 'outstanding' (4*) or `very considerable' (3*) public impact in areas spanning policy, public discourse, education, cultural life and society. Our research environment was also judged to be strong, with 100% judged to be 'world-leading' (4*) or 'internationally excellent' (3*).