PhD

Doctorate-level (PhD) study is your opportunity to make an original, positive contribution to learning in literature and related fields.

Over the course of your PhD, you’ll be expected to complete an original body of work under the expert guidance of your supervisors. This will lead to a dissertation of between 70,000 and 100,000 words (for a research-based project) or of an equivalent scale for work in creative writing.

We offer two programmes: 

  • PhD in English Literature
  • PhD in Creative Writing

Working with colleagues elsewhere in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, and across the wider University, we are able to support research which crosses boundaries between disciplines and/or languages.

Join us and expand on your interests and expertise in a community that really values research. In the last Research Excellence Framework (REF), our research environment was assessed as 100 per cent world-leading for the support we give to postgraduate and early career researchers.

PhD in English Literature

Given the breadth and depth of our expertise, we are able to support students wishing to develop research projects in each of the main periods of English and Scottish Literature. We also have expertise in all genres of Anglophone literary studies and analysis.

Please note that the staff listed here are eligible to supervise PhD research but may not currently be taking on new students. To check availability, or seek further advice on the best supervisory fit for your thesis, please contact our Departmental Postgraduate Research Director for English and Scottish Literature. 

Links will take you to staff profiles on Edinburgh Research Explorer where you can further explore the specialisms summarised.

PeriodResearcherSpecialisms
13th to 15th centuriesDr Kate Ash-IrisarriLate Medieval Scottish and English Literature, including historical writing, memory, the history of emotions, book history, and Anglo-Scottish relations.
Dr Sarah DunniganMedieval and Renaissance Scottish literature, particularly poetry, women's writing, and literary fairy tales.
Dr David SalterCulture of the later Middle Ages, in particular romance and the literature of traditional religions.
Professor Greg WalkerLate-medieval drama and poetry, Renaissance literature, the history of the stage, and the cultural consequences of the Henrician Reformation. 
16th centuryDr Dermot CavanaghEarly modern literature and political drama, especially Shakespeare and Renaissance theatre.
Dr Eoin PriceEarly modern drama including theatre history, book history, and the contemporary performance of early modern plays. 
17th centuryDr Robert IrvineThe relation between literary form and political ideas from the late 17th century to the end of the 19th, especially Scottish writers in this period.
Professor James LoxleyRenaissance and early modern literature, in particular poetry and drama; performativity and related topics in contemporary theory.
Dr Simon MalpasScience Fiction, literature and science, and the literature, culture and politics of the Restoration period.
Dr Eoin PriceEarly modern drama including theatre history, book history, and the contemporary performance of early modern plays. 
Dr Rebecca Tierney-Hynes18th century literature and culture, particularly fiction, drama and comedy, and the history of Scottish theatre.
18th centuryProfessor Penny FieldingLiterature of the 18th and 19th centuries, with a particular emphasis on Scottish writing, theories of place and space, and fiction and espionage. 
Dr Robert IrvineThe relation between literary form and political ideas from the late 17th century to the end of the 19th, especially Scottish writers in this period.
Professor Timothy MilnesRomantic literature and culture, and the long 18th century.
Dr Désha A OsborneCaribbean and transatlantic literary history; colonialism, slavery, and the migrations of people, culture, and ideas.
Dr Rebecca Tierney-Hynes18th century literature and culture, particularly fiction, drama and comedy, and the history of Scottish theatre.
19th centuryProfessor Penny FieldingLiterature of the 18th and 19th centuries, with a particular emphasis on Scottish writing, theories of place and space, and fiction and espionage. 
Dr Alex FreerBritish Romanticism, poetry and poetics, and literary criticism and theory.
Dr Owen HollandHistorically contextualised and cultural materialist approaches to the literature and culture of Britain during the long 19th century.
Dr Keith HughesAmerican literature, particularly African American writing and its transatlantic contexts.
Dr Katherine InglisThe history of reading, the censorship of printed literature, and the intersections between literature of the long 19th century, science, and medicine.
Dr Robert IrvineThe relation between literary form and political ideas from the late 17th century to the end of the 19th, especially Scottish writers in this period.
Dr Gerard McKeeverScottish and British literature in the late 18th and 19th centuries, including matters of space, place and print culture. 
Dr Terri OchiaghaGlobal Anglophone literatures, including biography, life writing, first-generation Nigerian writing, and the work of Chinua Achebe.
Dr Désha A OsborneCaribbean and transatlantic literary history; colonialism, slavery, and the migrations of people, culture, and ideas.
Dr Allyson StackNorth American fiction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries;
psychoanalysis, specifically the work of Jean Laplanche
Professor Andrew Taylor19th century North American literature and intellectual history; the intersection of historiography and contemporary American fiction.
Professor Anna VaninskayaThe literary, intellectual and cultural history of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
Dr Jonathan WildLate Victorian and Edwardian literature and culture, particularly the relationship between literature and social history.  
20th and 21st centuriesDr Peter AdkinsModernism and modern literature, ecocriticism, animal studies, anthropocene studies, vegan studies and posthumanism. 
Dr Benjamin BatemanModern and contemporary fiction, queer theory, and the environmental humanities. 
Dr Sourit BhattacharyaColonial and postcolonial studies including South Asian and minority ethnic literatures and cultures; environmental humanities, disaster studies, and ecocriticism.
Dr Hannah BoastThe politics and culture of water, with a focus on modern and contemporary world literature.
Dr Simon CookeModern and contemporary English and comparative literature and culture, including life writing, travel writing and spy fiction.
Professor Paul CrosthwaiteLiterary and cultural innovation and historical change in the 20th and 21st centuries, including intersections between literature, culture, and economics.
Dr Patrick ErringtonOther-than-critical modes of literary response, their effects on the reading process, and their potential to expand humanities study and impact mental health.
Professor David FarrierEco-criticism, postcolonial studies, asylum and refugee contexts, 20th century and contemporary British poetry.
Dr Megan GirdwoodLate 19th and 20th century literature, especially in relation to modernism and the avant-garde; the relationship between modernist texts and other art forms.
Dr Keith HughesAmerican literature, particularly African American writing and its transatlantic contexts.
Dr Aaron KellyClass and literature, Irish writing, decolonisation, contemporary literature, film and visual culture, Marxism, and Critical Theory.
Professor Michelle KeownPostcolonial literature and theory, particularly that of the Pacific region.
Dr Anouk LangDigital humanities, Anglophone modernisms, contemporary reading cultures and postcolonial writing.
Dr Alexandra LawrieLate-Victorian and Edwardian literature and literary journalism; modernist and contemporary British and American fiction; pedagogical history.
Dr Gerard McKeeverScottish and British literature in the late 18th and 19th centuries, including matters of space, place and print culture. 
Dr Simon MalpasScience Fiction, literature and science, and the literature, culture and politics of the Restoration period.
Dr Terri OchiaghaGlobal Anglophone literatures, including biography, life writing, first-generation Nigerian writing, and the work of Chinua Achebe.
Dr Hannah SimpsonModern and contemporary theatre, with a particular focus on the representation of the human body on stage and on the overlap between theatre and politics.
Dr Lee SpinksModern and contemporary poetry and prose, especially American writing; critical and cultural theory.
Dr Allyson StackNorth American fiction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries;
psychoanalysis, specifically the work of Jean Laplanche
Professor Anna VaninskayaThe literary, intellectual and cultural history of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
Dr Jonathan WildLate Victorian and Edwardian literature and culture, particularly the relationship between literature and social history.  
Professor Alex Thomson19th, 20th and contemporary British literature, and contemporary critical theory.

Please note that the staff listed here are eligible to supervise PhD research but may not currently be taking on new students. To check availability, or seek further advice on the best supervisory fit for your thesis, please contact our Departmental Postgraduate Research Director for English and Scottish Literature. 

Links will take you to staff profiles on Edinburgh Research Explorer where you can further explore the specialisms summarised.

Research areaResearcherSpecialisms
AmericanDr Benjamin BatemanModern and contemporary fiction, queer theory, and the environmental humanities. 
Professor Paul CrosthwaiteLiterary and cultural innovation and historical change in the 20th and 21st centuries, including intersections between literature, culture, and economics.
Dr Patrick ErringtonOther-than-critical modes of literary response, their effects on the reading process, and their potential to expand humanities study and impact mental health.
Dr Keith HughesAmerican literature, particularly African American writing and its transatlantic contexts.
Dr Alexandra LawrieLate-Victorian and Edwardian literature and literary journalism; modernist and contemporary British and American fiction; pedagogical history.
Dr Lee SpinksModern and contemporary poetry and prose, especially American writing; critical and cultural theory.
Dr Allyson StackNorth American fiction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; psychoanalysis, specifically the work of Jean Laplanche
Professor Andrew Taylor19th century North American literature and intellectual history; the intersection of historiography and contemporary American fiction.
Book historyDr Katherine InglisThe history of reading, the censorship of printed literature, and the intersections between literature of the long 19th century, science, and medicine.
Dr Gerard McKeeverScottish and British literature in the late 18th and 19th centuries, including matters of space, place and print culture. 
Professor Anna VaninskayaThe literary, intellectual and cultural history of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
Dr Jonathan WildLate Victorian and Edwardian literature and culture, particularly the relationship between literature and social history.  
Class, politics and societyDr Owen HollandHistorically contextualised and cultural materialist approaches to the literature and culture of Britain during the long 19th century.
Dr Robert IrvineThe relation between literary form and political ideas from the late 17th century to the end of the 19th, especially Scottish writers in this period.
Dr Aaron KellyClass and literature, Irish writing, decolonisation, contemporary literature, film and visual culture, Marxism, and Critical Theory.
Professor Anna VaninskayaThe literary, intellectual and cultural history of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
Dr Jonathan WildLate Victorian and Edwardian literature and culture, particularly the relationship between literature and social history.  
Critical theoryDr Patrick ErringtonOther-than-critical modes of literary response, their effects on the reading process, and their potential to expand humanities study and impact mental health.
Dr Alex FreerBritish Romanticism, poetry and poetics, and literary criticism and theory.
Dr Owen HollandHistorically contextualised and cultural materialist approaches to the literature and culture of Britain during the long 19th century.
Dr Simon MalpasScience Fiction, literature and science, and the literature, culture and politics of the Restoration period.
Professor Timothy MilnesRomantic literature and culture, and the long 18th century.
Professor Alex Thomson19th, 20th and contemporary British literature, and contemporary critical theory.
Digital humanitiesDr Anouk LangDigital humanities, Anglophone modernisms, contemporary reading cultures and postcolonial writing.
Professor James LoxleyRenaissance and early modern literature, in particular poetry and drama; performativity and related topics in contemporary theory.
Ecocriticism and the environmental humanitiesDr Peter AdkinsModernism and modern literature, ecocriticism, animal studies, anthropocene studies, vegan studies and posthumanism. 
Dr Benjamin BatemanModern and contemporary fiction, queer theory, and the environmental humanities. 
Dr Sourit BhattacharyaColonial and postcolonial studies including South Asian and minority ethnic literatures and cultures; environmental humanities, disaster studies, and ecocriticism.
Dr Hannah BoastThe politics and culture of water, with a focus on modern and contemporary world literature.
Dr Patrick ErringtonOther-than-critical modes of literary response, their effects on the reading process, and their potential to expand humanities study and impact mental health.
Professor David FarrierEco-criticism, postcolonial studies, asylum and refugee contexts, 20th century and contemporary British poetry.
Professor Michelle KeownPostcolonial literature and theory, particularly that of the Pacific region.
Economic humanitiesProfessor Paul CrosthwaiteLiterary and cultural innovation and historical change in the 20th and 21st centuries, including intersections between literature, culture, and economics.
Gender Dr Sarah DunniganMedieval and Renaissance Scottish literature, particularly poetry, women's writing, and literary fairy tales.
Dr Megan GirdwoodLate 19th and 20th century literature, especially in relation to modernism and the avant-garde; the relationship between modernist texts and other art forms.
Dr Allyson StackNorth American fiction in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; psychoanalysis, specifically the work of Jean Laplanche
Genre (children's, detective and spy fiction, fairy tales, fantasy, horror, sci-fi etc.)Dr Kate Ash-IrisarriLate Medieval Scottish and English Literature, including historical writing, memory, the history of emotions, book history, and Anglo-Scottish relations.
Dr Simon CookeModern and contemporary English and comparative literature and culture, including life writing, travel writing and spy fiction.
Dr Sarah DunniganMedieval and Renaissance Scottish literature, particularly poetry, women's writing, and literary fairy tales.
Professor Penny FieldingLiterature of the 18th and 19th centuries, with a particular emphasis on Scottish writing, theories of place and space, and fiction and espionage. 
Dr Owen HollandHistorically contextualised and cultural materialist approaches to the literature and culture of Britain during the long 19th century.
Dr Simon MalpasScience Fiction, literature and science, and the literature, culture and politics of the Restoration period.
Professor Anna VaninskayaThe literary, intellectual and cultural history of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.
Irish / Northern IrishDr Miriam GambleModern and contemporary poetry, with particular emphases on Northern Irish poetry, poetic form, and the relationship between poetry and the political
Professor Alan GillisModern and contemporary poetry, especially Irish
Dr Aaron KellyClass and literature, Irish writing, decolonisation, contemporary literature, film and visual culture, Marxism, and Critical Theory.
Dr Hannah SimpsonModern and contemporary theatre, with a particular focus on the representation of the human body on stage and on the overlap between theatre and politics.
LGBTQ+Dr Benjamin BatemanModern and contemporary fiction, queer theory, and the environmental humanities. 
Dr Megan GirdwoodLate 19th and 20th century literature, especially in relation to modernism and the avant-garde; the relationship between modernist texts and other art forms.
Professor James LoxleyRenaissance and early modern literature, in particular poetry and drama; performativity and related topics in contemporary theory.
Dr Rebecca Tierney-Hynes18th century literature and culture, particularly fiction, drama and comedy, and the history of Scottish theatre.
Life writingDr Simon CookeModern and contemporary English and comparative literature and culture, including life writing, travel writing and spy fiction.
Dr Terri OchiaghaGlobal Anglophone literatures, including biography, life writing, first-generation Nigerian writing, and the work of Chinua Achebe.
Dr Désha A OsborneCaribbean and transatlantic literary history; colonialism, slavery, and the migrations of people, culture, and ideas.
Medical humanities Dr Kate Ash-IrisarriLate Medieval Scottish and English Literature, including historical writing, memory, the history of emotions, book history, and Anglo-Scottish relations.
Dr Katherine InglisThe history of reading, the censorship of printed literature, and the intersections between literature of the long 19th century, science, and medicine.
Dr Hannah SimpsonModern and contemporary theatre, with a particular focus on the representation of the human body on stage and on the overlap between theatre and politics.
Performance and theatreDr Dermot CavanaghEarly modern literature and political drama, especially Shakespeare and Renaissance theatre.
Professor James LoxleyRenaissance and early modern literature, in particular poetry and drama; performativity and related topics in contemporary theory.
Dr Eoin PriceEarly modern drama including theatre history, book history, and the contemporary performance of early modern plays. 
Dr Hannah SimpsonModern and contemporary theatre, with a particular focus on the representation of the human body on stage and on the overlap between theatre and politics.
Dr Rebecca Tierney-Hynes18th century literature and culture, particularly fiction, drama and comedy, and the history of Scottish theatre.
Professor Greg WalkerLate-medieval drama and poetry, Renaissance literature, the history of the stage, and the cultural consequences of the Henrician Reformation. 
PoetryDr Patrick ErringtonOther-than-critical modes of literary response, their effects on the reading process, and their potential to expand humanities study and impact mental health.
Dr Alex FreerBritish Romanticism, poetry and poetics, and literary criticism and theory.
Dr Miriam GambleModern and contemporary poetry, with particular emphases on Northern Irish poetry, poetic form, and the relationship between poetry and the political
Professor Alan GillisModern and contemporary poetry, especially Irish
Professor James LoxleyRenaissance and early modern literature, in particular poetry and drama; performativity and related topics in contemporary theory.
Dr Lee SpinksModern and contemporary poetry and prose, especially American writing; critical and cultural theory.
PostcolonialDr Sourit BhattacharyaColonial and postcolonial studies including South Asian and minority ethnic literatures and cultures; environmental humanities, disaster studies, and ecocriticism.
Dr Hannah BoastThe politics and culture of water, with a focus on modern and contemporary world literature.
Professor David FarrierEco-criticism, postcolonial studies, asylum and refugee contexts, 20th century and contemporary British poetry.
Dr Aaron KellyClass and literature, Irish writing, decolonisation, contemporary literature, film and visual culture, Marxism, and Critical Theory.
Professor Michelle KeownPostcolonial literature and theory, particularly that of the Pacific region.
Dr Anouk LangDigital humanities, Anglophone modernisms, contemporary reading cultures and postcolonial writing.
Dr Terri OchiaghaGlobal Anglophone literatures, including biography, life writing, first-generation Nigerian writing, and the work of Chinua Achebe.
PostmodernProfessor Paul CrosthwaiteLiterary and cultural innovation and historical change in the 20th and 21st centuries, including intersections between literature, culture, and economics.
Dr Aaron KellyClass and literature, Irish writing, decolonisation, contemporary literature, film and visual culture, Marxism, and Critical Theory.
Dr Alexandra LawrieLate-Victorian and Edwardian literature and literary journalism; modernist and contemporary British and American fiction; pedagogical history.
Dr Simon MalpasScience Fiction, literature and science, and the literature, culture and politics of the Restoration period.
ScottishDr Kate Ash-IrisarriLate Medieval Scottish and English Literature, including historical writing, memory, the history of emotions, book history, and Anglo-Scottish relations.
Dr Sarah DunniganMedieval and Renaissance Scottish literature, particularly poetry, women's writing, and literary fairy tales.
Professor Penny FieldingLiterature of the 18th and 19th centuries, with a particular emphasis on Scottish writing, theories of place and space, and fiction and espionage. 
Dr Robert IrvineThe relation between literary form and political ideas from the late 17th century to the end of the 19th, especially Scottish writers in this period.
Dr Gerard McKeeverScottish and British literature in the late 18th and 19th centuries, including matters of space, place and print culture. 
Utopian / dystopian Dr Owen HollandHistorically contextualised and cultural materialist approaches to the literature and culture of Britain during the long 19th century.
Dr Simon MalpasScience Fiction, literature and science, and the literature, culture and politics of the Restoration period.
Professor Anna VaninskayaThe literary, intellectual and cultural history of the late 19th and first half of the 20th centuries.

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PhD in Creative Writing

Aimed at students with a masters degree in Creative Writing, this programme works towards the production of a substantial, publishable piece of creative writing, accompanied by a sustained exercise in critical study. Our well-published and prize-winning writers typically offer supervision in the central genres of poetry and prose fiction. Please note, however, that for 2027 entry we are only accepting applications for poetry.

Please note that the staff listed here are eligible to supervise PhD research but may not currently be taking on new students. For example, for 2027 entry, we are only accepting applications for poetry. To check availability, or seek further advice on the best supervisory fit for your thesis, please contact our Creative Writing team.

Links will take you to staff profiles on Edinburgh Research Explorer where you can further explore the specialisms summarised.

ResearcherSpecialism
Dr Jane AlexanderFiction
Dr Patrick ErringtonPoetry
Dr Miriam GamblePoetry
Professor Alan GillisPoetry
Dr Jane McKiePoetry
Kim SherwoodFiction
Dr Alice ThompsonFiction
Dr Allyson StackFiction

What’s it like to be a PhD student here?

We are the oldest department of English Literature in the UK, based in a UNESCO World City of Literature.

You’ll be immersed in a world of literature and learning, with lots of opportunities to participate in our postgraduate community and Edinburgh’s literary life beyond your own project. 

Events at the university and across the city include:

  • talks and book launches 
  • work-in-progress seminars
  • reading groups
  • conferences and workshops 
  • performances, poetry slams and open mic nights 
Photo of a storytelling evening

Each year, our PhD students have the chance to be involved in judging hundreds of titles in Fiction and Biography as part of the annual James Tait Black Prizes. These are Britain's oldest literary awards, and the only prizes of their kind in the UK to be judged in this way.

There's also the chance to get involved and be published in:

  • FORUM, a peer-reviewed journal for postgraduate students working in culture and arts
  • The Inkwell - the PublishEd society's creative writing and arts magazine

Our graduates tell us that they value LLC’s friendliness, the connections they make here and the in-depth guidance they receive from our staff, who are experts in their field. Between LLC and the Career, Skills and Student Development service, you’ll find a range of programmes and resources to help you develop your research skills, as well as having access to the University’s fantastic libraries, collections and worldwide strategic partnerships.

QS World Rankings by Subject 2026

The University of Edinburgh is ranked 3rd in the UK for English Language and Literature.

We are ranked fourth in the UK in the broader subject area of the Arts & Humanities. 

Globally, we’re in the World Top 10: 

  • English Language and Literature (6) 
  • Arts & Humanities (9)
Graphic of a person holding a phone with the words #3 in the UK World Top 10 written alongside

The Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings are based on research citations and the results of major global surveys of employers and academics.

They are International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) approved.

Are you currently studying with us?

There’s lots more information for taught and postgraduate research students on our LLC Student Information Hub. You will need your student log in to access the site.

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