PhD Russian and East European Studies

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Please ensure you include all  required supporting documents  at the time of submission, as incomplete applications may not be considered.

Application Deadlines

For consideration in internal funding competitions, you must submit your completed application by  13 January 2025.

If you are applying for or have secured external funding (for example, from an employer or government) or are self–funding, you must submit your application before the below deadlines to be considered. You will not be able to apply after these dates have passed.

• For September 2025 entry:  30 June 2025
• For January 2026 entry:  30 September 2025

Before you start your application, you should:

1. Develop your own research proposal and project title.
2. Find a supervisor by browsing our academics’ profiles, and reach out directly to discuss if they are interested in supporting your research.
3. Consider how you plan on funding your research and discuss this with your supervisor.

When you submit your application, you must include each of the below required documents:

• A 1,500 word PhD research proposal ; Please state the word count on page 1 of the document.
• A copy of your Bachelor's academic transcript and certificate.
• A copy of your Master's academic transcript and certificate. If your Master's degree is pending, please provide an interim transcript.
• If you have completed more than one Bachelor's or Master's degree, please provide evidence for each. If your transcripts are in a language other than English, you must provide an official English translation. If your weighted average mark or GPA is not included on these documents, please also include an official document from your university verifying this information.
• An up-to-date academic CV summarising your academic record, employment history, publications and highlighting experience demonstrating your research potential.
• The names of two academic referees, including one from your most recent institution. Your referees will be contacted directly via the Referee Portal following the submission of your application form. You may wish to notify your referees to submit their references promptly, as this is part of the review process.
• A certificate or evidence demonstrating your English language ability and proficiency. Applications can be considered without this evidence but any offer would be conditional on meeting minimum requirements.

Our PhD Russian and East European Studies programme will enable you to carry out a piece of significant, original research under the supervision of our academics.

Staff in Russian and East European Studies conduct research of an interdisciplinary nature across a broad range of subjects, including:

• 19th and 20th-century literature and history of Russia, Eastern Europe and Eurasia;
• Soviet and post-Soviet cinema and the media;
• Russian state propaganda and disinformation;
• post-Soviet Russian and East European popular culture and music;
• memory studies;
• nationalism and ethnic politics historically and in the post-communist period.

The discipline of Russian and East European Studies constitutes a core group of the Cross-Disciplinary Russian and Eurasian Studies Network, which facilitates collaboration in research and postgraduate teaching and supervision among relevant members of staff across the Faculty of Humanities at Manchester.

Our staff's externally-funded current research projects include:

• (Mis)Translating Deceit: Disinformation as a Translingual, Discursive Dynamic (AHRC);
• Eurasian Poles and Periperies in Transformation (UKRI). 

A focal point for our research activity is a regular research seminar, which features a mix of internal and external speakers, and promotes debate between staff and postgraduates across the full spectrum of their research interests.

We run a research grouping on Russian Media, Propaganda and Disinformation .

Find out more about our research , our staff and what our current postgraduate research students are working on.

The PhD is the major postgraduate research degree. It involves three years of full-time study or six years of part-time study and the preparation of a thesis of not more than 80,000 words that makes a significant contribution to knowledge.

A satisfactory PhD topic is one that a suitably qualified and properly supervised student can bring to completion within the permitted timeframe.

Please note that all PhD students are required to undertake research training as part of their PhD programme.

Your research will normally be supervised by two members of staff at the University. Your supervisors will most likely be members of the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures, but if your research requires it, we may arrange for supervision by someone outside the School.

Supervisory arrangements at Manchester are governed by a Code of Practice which is available on the University's website.

Regular meetings will be held with the supervisors, and details of each of the meetings will be recorded.

Research panels (consisting of at least three academic staff, including the supervisors) are held once per semester to monitor progress.

Please note that the first year of the full-time programme and the first two years of the part-time programme are probationary. This means you will be required to show evidence of satisfactory progress to proceed with the programme.

Manchester is home to one of the UK's five National Research Libraries - one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the UK and widely recognised as one of the world's greatest research libraries.

Find out more about libraries and study spaces for postgraduate research students at Manchester.

We also have one of the largest academic IT services in Europe - supporting world-class teaching and research. There are extensive computing facilities across campus, with access to standard office software as well as specialist programmes, all connected to the campus network and internet.

Every student is registered for email, file storage and internet access. If more demanding computer access is required, our specialist computing division can provide high-end and specialist computing services.

Find out more about facilities for Modern Languages and Cultures students.

Many of PhD graduates in Modern Languages and Translation and Interpreting Studies have gone on to academic positions at leading universities in the UK, Europe, USA, East Asia, Latin America and the Middle East. Our graduates have been also successful with receiving prestigious postdoctoral fellowships, including the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship and the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship.

The interdisciplinarity nature of PhD programmes in Modern Languages and Cultures and Translation and Interpreting Studies prepares our graduates successfully to apply to a wide range of academic posts. In addition to those in European and Middle Eastern Languages and Translation/Interpreting, our graduates have been appointed to permanent academic positions in Film Studies; History; Journalism and Political Communication; and Sociology. Recent examples include:

Dr Abi Bharat (PhD French Studies), tenure-track assistant professorship, the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures, University of Michigan, USA

Dr Ignacio Aguiló (PhD Latin American Studies), lectureship in Latin American Cultural Studies, University of Manchester

Dr Ibrahim Alfraih (PhD Middle Eastern Studies), lectureship, King Saud University, Saudi Araba

Dr Liwen Chang (PhD Translation Studies), senior lectureship, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Dr Chonglong Gu (PhD Translation Studies), lectureship in Translation and Interpreting, the University of Liverpool

Dr Leanne Dawson (PhD German Studies), lectureship in German and Film, the University of Edinburgh

Dr Melanie Foedisch (PhD Translation Studies), lectureship in Translation Studies, the University of Manchester

Dr Eleanor Jones (PhD Portuguese Studies), lectureship in Portuguese and World Literatures, University of Southampton

Dr Sue-Ann Harding (PhD Russian Studies), senior lectureship in Translation and Intercultural Studies, Queen's University, Belfast

Dr Emma Heywood (PhD Russian Studies), lectureship in Journalism, Politics and Communication, University of Sheffield

Dr Paulina Henry-Tierney (PhD French Studies), lectureship in French Translation, Newcastle University

Dr Mila Milani (PhD Italian Studies), senior lectureship in Italian Studies, Warwick University

Dr Gozde Naiboglu (PhD German Studies), lectureship in Film Studies, University of Leicester

Dr Bryan Roby (PhD Middle Eastern Studies), assistant professorship at the Jean and Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies, University of Michigan

Dr Neil Sadler (PhD Translation Studies), lectureship in Translation Studies, Queen's University, Belfast

Dr Elisabeth Schimpfoessl (PhD Russian Studies), lectureship in Sociology, Aston University

Dr Ewa Stanczyk (PhD Polish Studies), lectureship in East European Studies, University of Amsterdam

Dr Joseph Twist (PhD German Studies), lectureship in German Studies, University College Dublin

Dr Denis Volkov (PhD Middle Eastern Studies), associate professorship in Iranian Studies and Middle Eastern history, Higher School of Economics, Moscow

Dr Ilya Yablokov (PhD Russian Studies), lectureship in Russian Studies, University of Leeds

Research and communication skills which our PhD programmes help developing also position our graduates to get highly competitive posts outside academia, including in civil service, media and business.