italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies

Italian Studies at the University of Reading invites applications from outstanding candidates to its AHRC-funded studentship in Italian Studies for doctoral research starting in 2011-2012 and tenable for three years. This studentship offers full tuition fees (at standard UK/EU rates) and a basic maintenance grant or stipend (£13,590 in 2010-11). EU candidates who are not ordinarily resident in the UK will be eligible for awards covering tuition fees only.


The University of Reading is also offering Postgraduate Studentships (UK fees plus a maintenance grant at Research Council rates) for students wishing to study for a doctorate in all disciplines in the arts and humanities. Further UK fees-only PhD bursaries are offered in any discipline in the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.


The closing date for applications for nominations for studentships and for bursaries is 18 February 2011.


The grants will be awarded in a single competition across the University, on the basis of previous outstanding academic performance and the quality of the proposal for doctoral research. Home, EU and overseas candidates are all eligible to apply.



For more information, please visit the following webpage:



http://www.reading.ac.uk/Study/apply/pg-applicationform.aspx


Italian Studies at Reading supports applications from the most promising candidates, and therefore invites preliminary expressions of interest by 30 January 2011.  By that date, interested candidates should send to Dr Daniela La Penna ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>), Director of Post-Graduate Studies, Department of Modern Languages and European Studies, the following materials in word format:


1)   1) a detailed academic Curriculum Vitae, outlining previous qualifications (BA and MA equivalent), degree classification and grades, any relevant publications or awards, and teaching experience.

2)   2) evidence of English-language proficiency (e.g. IELTS scores) for applicants whose first language is not English.

3)   3) the names of three academic referees.

4)  4) a detailed outline of the PhD proposal (in English): this will need to be 500-word long for the studentship application. However, we would expect a longer version of around 1,500 words which would accompany the application for entry to the PhD programme. This document will clearly set out the project’s aims, methodology, sources and contribution to the field and will be accompanied by a bibliography.

Italian Studies at Reading is one of the most distinguished research-led Departments of Italian Studies in the UK. In the last Research Assessment Exercise, it was ranked fourth with nearly 60% of its research outputs and 90% of the indicators for research environment considered as either world-leading or internationally excellent. This result was consistent with achievements in previous RAEs (1996 and 2001), where the Department was awarded 5 stars in recognition of its outstanding research output. In acknowledgment of its vibrant research culture, the AHRC awarded 5 doctoral scholarships to Italian Studies at the University of Reading for the period 2008-2013.

The successful candidates for the 2011-2012 AHRC and Faculty-wide competitions will join a friendly and highly supportive, intellectually driven and lively PhD community of 19 members and therefore one of the largest in the country. Some of the PhD students in Italian have won AHRC and other prestigious awards to run high-profile seminar series in the UK and Italy and have organized several conferences, both in the UK and abroad.

Italian Studies at Reading is one of the largest departments in the UK with ten members of staff engaged in teaching at all levels. It has seven research-active members of staff and their expertise spans a wide range of disciplines:

Dante studies
Medieval literature and culture
Medieval intellectual history
Medieval ecclesiology
History of the universities in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance
History of the Church (1600-)
Renaissance literary culture and performing arts
Cultural institutions of the Renaissance
History of Italian language
Italian socio-linguistics and dialectology
Italian history
Women’s history and women’s studies
Italian cinema and history of the Italian cinema industry
Modern Italian literature and culture
Migration and minority studies
Translation and trans-national studies
History of the Italian publishing industry (1800-)

All of its members are actively engaged in collaborative research projects with academic partners in the UK, Italy, Spain, US, and Brazil. Some of these projects are sponsored by either the AHRC or other UK and international funding bodies.

We look forward to receiving your application.

With very best wishes,

Daniela La Penna

**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join italian-studies YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave italian-studies
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/italian-studies.html