Research Clusters
The Renaissance, English Language and Medieval Studies
This cluster brings together colleagues in the School who are united by their interests in the earliest writings of the Anglo-Saxon period through to the literature of the Renaissance, and concomitantly, in the development of the English Language from the early Medieval period to the present. The cluster brings together twelve full time members of staff and one Postdoctoral assistant. All members of the cluster share an interest in the relationship between language, literature, culture and history, and alongside a strong focus on classical literary sources, members research texts of all kinds, both literary and non-literary, including film and texts from popular culture. The cluster’s members also actively pursue interdisciplinary initiatives which transcend the more traditional boundaries of their respective disciplines. This interdisciplinarity is evidenced not only in recent conferences and jointly shared taught programmes, but in research grant applications, in which the cluster has had marked success in recent years.
The published output of the cluster brings together a number of research paradigms, which, in tandem with major editing responsibilities, include the publication of key monographs and scholarly articles, important and authoritative textbooks, and invaluable archive material. The cluster encompasses three expanding and successful Masters programmes, the M.A. in English Language and Linguistics, the M.A. in Medieval studies and the M.A. in Renaissance Studies. Research Director - Professor Paul Simpson
Poetry, Irish Writing, Creative Writing and Modern Literary Studies
Exploring connections, developments, environments and opportunities across the entire field of modern and contemporary writing, this research cluster generates cutting-edge literary-historical, critical and cultural research and high-profile new writing in poetry, prose and screenwriting that engages the local and the international, the regional and the global, the parish and the planet.
The twenty-one, current, full-time members of staff in the cluster teach on three of the School's well-established and highly successful taught MA pathways -- namely, the MA in English (Creative Writing), the MA in English (Irish Writing) and the MA in English (Modern Literary Studies) -- as well as a new taught MA initiative which commenced in 2009-10, the MA in English (Poetry). More than three dozen, postgraduate research students -- the great majority funded through various studentship schemes -- are currently supervised within the cluster. Research Director - Professor Brian Caraher
