PhD Scholarship in German Studies at the University of Birmingham
(October 2013)

Applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates in any area of German Studies for a fully-funded AHRC doctoral award in German Studies in the College of Arts and Law at the University of Birmingham. The award, made under the AHRC Block Grant Partnership scheme, must be taken up on 1 October 2013, and will be held, subject to satisfactory progress, for a period of three years. The award covers fees and the prescribed maintenance rate (in 2012/13: £13,590 per annum). 

Full guidance for applicants is available at www.birmingham.ac.uk/ahrc. Applications (including submission of references) must be received via the online application system by 28 JANUARY 2013. Expressions of interest and informal enquiries can be addressed to Professor Bill Dodd (Tel 0121 414 6185; E-Mail [log in to unmask]), or to an individual member of staff as prospective supervisor. 

German Studies at Birmingham has an outstanding record of research and of postgraduate training. You will be joining a vibrant postgraduate community in German (there are currently 10 doctoral students being supervised or co-supervised) and in modern languages. Sixty percent of our research in German was ranked as of international standing or world-leading (3* or 4*) in the 2008 RAE exercise. Applications are welcome for research on any topic in German Studies, broadly understood, including research on individual authors and movements from the medieval period to the present. We have particular research strengths in the following areas: 

-  medieval and early modern literature and culture; 
-  the German intellectual tradition; 
-  Enlightenment, Sturm und Drang, Goethezeit; 
-  literature and culture 1870-1914;
-  Nietzsche in German and European culture;
-  war and culture since 1870, especially the cultural legacy of the First World War; 
-  literature and culture in the National Socialist period; 
-  inner and territorial exile in the National Socialist period; 
-  the politics of remembering the Nazi past;
-  the GDR and its legacy; 
-  the cultural impact of RAF terrorism;
-  German and European film;
-  memory studies; 
-  women’s writing; 
-  gender and sexuality studies; 
-  textual editing; 
-  translation studies; 
-  linguistic and discourse analysis, linguistic criticism; 
-  foreign language pedagogy.
There is also the possibility of joint supervisions for interdisciplinary and comparative topics (e.g. with French, Italian, Spanish, Russian; English; History) and with the Institute of German Studies:
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/institute-german-studies/index.aspx

Potential applicants seeking supervisors are advised to visit the Staff, Research, and Postgraduate Study pages of our website at 
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/lcahm/departments/german/index.aspx

Research in Modern Languages at Birmingham is integrated into a number of wider research clusters and centres which promote dialogue and interdisciplinarity across the spectrum of Arts and Humanities disciplines, including:

Memory Studies Group
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/ias/workshops-themes/languages-of-memory.aspx 
Centre for the Study of Cultural Modernity
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/culturalmodernity/index.aspx
Film and Television Studies
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/film/index.aspx
Sexuality and Gender Studies
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/gender/index.aspx
Centre for War Studies
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/warstudies/index.aspx
The Birmingham Eighteenth Century Centre
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/18c/index.aspx
Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies
http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/activity/crems/index.aspx