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New interdisciplinary health research awarded £9m grant

Our cutting-edge Institute for Medical Humanities (IMH) has been awarded a £9m Discovery Research Platform Award to develop a new Discovery Research Platform for Medical Humanities (DRP-MH).
Wellcome trust grant

QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023

We are ranked 38th in the prestigious QS World University Rankings by Subject 2023.
A man and woman look at a laptop in a library. Text says Department of English Studies 38th in the World QS World University Rankings.

How Shakespeare was inspired by controversial student theatre

Student theatre may be a staple of undergraduate life today, but in Shakespeare’s time it was controversial and provocative, and may have inspired some of ‘The Bard’s’ most important pieces.
Image showing book of Shakespeare plays open with image of Shakespeare

Strengthened connections with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

We are delighted to announce the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras).
A group of people standing in front of a sign that says Indian Institute of Technology Madras

Students Share their Stories during National Storytelling Week

During National Storytelling Week, 30 January – 5 February, we have been hearing from three budding writers who are currently studying for an MA in Creative Writing in the Department of English Studies.
Kings Cross Station

Remembering Christmas Past

Simon J. James is Professor of Victorian Literature in the Department of English Studies. This festive season he discusses memory in Dickens’ work, and the importance of remembering past versions of ourselves at Christmas.
A Christmas Carol

‘Something that speaks to you in the quiet of the night’: Horror writing with Naomi Booth

This Halloween, Dr Naomi Booth, Associate Professor in the Department of English Studies and award-winning fiction writer tells us about horror writing and the Boggart, a forgotten folklore monster.
Farmhouse on open moorland

Durham Book Festival 2022

Durham’s celebrated Book Festival returns this year for another weekend in October, celebrating new writing with particular relevance to the North East. Our Department of English Studies and Durham University are thrilled to be associated with the event once again, taking pride in the roots the city has in its literature and wider culture.  
Durham Book Festival promotional poster

Professor David Lawton awarded the British Academy's Sir Israel Gollancz Prize

We are delighted that Professor David Lawton from our Department of English Studies has been awarded the British Academy's Sir Israel Gollancz Prize for 2022.
David Lawton

Recognition for the Department’s Research Excellence

Our outstanding research environment and our impact on public life, community, and culture have been recognised in the Research Excellence Framework 2021.
Photograph of a castle standing above a river. The text REF20201 Research Excellence Framework is on the front of the image.

Why we’re supporting City of Culture 2025

The University is one of three founding partners in Durham’s City of Culture 2025 bid, with Durham County Council and Culture Durham. Our Executive Dean for Arts and Humanities, Professor Janet Stewart, outlines the significance of the bid, why the University is lending its support, and what the title would bring to Durham City and County.
Durham: no ordinary county

New issue of our Postgraduate English journal

We’re delighted to announce the publication of volume 43 of Postgraduate English, our groundbreaking journal which has been publishing worldwide early-career literature scholars since 2000.
Word cloud of keywords used in this issue of Postgraduate English. literature 0th-century Charlotte Dacre gender Irish Jean Rhys Marina Carr Norman Nicholson Shakespeare 9th-century classical reception colonialism contagion Cumbria desire exile Greek landscape moral neo-Victorian place poetry political power race spatial Tempest theatre tragedy