Our teaching at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels spans the historical range of the discipline of English Studies. Students work in small group tutorials, as well as lectures, seminars and one-to-one sessions with academic staff, and gain a thorough grounding in the genres, forms, histories and cultures of literature in English, with opportunities to specialise. We inspire students to become analytic, sensitive and creative readers and writers, equipping our graduates with the key skills and independent thinking that makes them highly sought by employers.

Our research is at the forefront of developments in the discipline. We regularly publish influential academic books and essays that are drawn on by students and other researchers around the globe, and we publish acclaimed creative work in fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Our research has regional, national and international impact. We work with partner institutions such as the Durham Book Festival and Edinburgh International Book Festival, with theatre audiences, and with medical practitioners, patients and carers through the Institute for Medical Humanities, and with many other public and private organisations.  

We are a community of around 600 undergraduates, 120 postgraduates, 60 academic staff and 10 administrative staff. 

We are committed to ensuring equality of opportunity within our community, and to being diverse and accessible. We are proud to be an Athena Swan Bronze award holder 2020-2024. Our students and staff come from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and nations. The Department welcomes international students, mature students as well as students who have taken 'gap' years. We also welcome Erasmus students and visiting students from universities in the United States. 

The Department of English Studies is mainly situated in two buildings: Hallgarth House, a Georgian listed building, provides accommodation for the many teaching and administrative staff; Elvet Riverside houses many academic staff and stands beside the River Wear.