PhDs in European Languages and Cultures

Choose from a range of PhD programmes in European Languages and Cultures.

What can I study?

PhD in French

Our research expertise covers a wide range of areas, including: Literature from the Middle Ages to the present day; Film and screen studies; Theatre studies; Intermediality studies; Adaptation studies; Visual Culture; French political thought; Contemporary politics and institutions; Representing the city; Francophone post-colonial studies and decolonial thought; Reparations and Reparatory Justice; Black studies; Gender studies; Queer studies; Self-writing; The Medical Humanities; Translation studies

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in German

Our research expertise includes: 18th century and Romanticism studies; Bertolt Brecht; censorship studies; contemporary German literature; cultural and political studies and literary theory; Film Studies; Gender Studies; identity studies; LGBTQI+ representation; literature and culture of the Weimar Republic and the National Socialist era;  translational (incl. migrant literature) in German; palaeography and Medieval textual studies; post-Holocaust literature; post-war West and East German literary and cultural studies; the Medieval German epic; theatre and performance studies; Translation Studies; travel writing; Turkish-German literature; working-class representation on film and television.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in Italian

Our expertise covers most areas of Italian cultural studies from the Middle Ages to the present, including literary history and theory, comparative studies, translation, film studies, philology, philosophy, decolonial studies, digital humanities, environmental humanities, political theory, and practice-led research.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in Russian

Our research expertise covers a wide range of areas, including social, political and cultural perspectives on Russian language, transnational Russian culture, Russian literature, media, film studies, theatre studies and comparative literature.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in Scandinavian Studies

Our research expertise includes: 19th and 20th century literature; cultural relations and transfer; language history and dialectology; literary translation; onomastics; place and identity; Scottish–Scandinavian historical relations; Viking studies.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies (Hispanic Studies)

We specialise in the major areas of Spanish, Spanish-American and Portuguese literary and cultural studies, including Brazil and Lusophone Africa. We have particular strengths in Latin American poetry, narrative and film, especially in Chile and Argentina from the 19th to 21st centuries, the Spanish Golden Age, Modern Spanish narrative, Indigenous filmmaking, Cuban post-1959 culture, Lusophone African literatures, Portuguese contemporary culture, and diasporic and Latin American documentary and avant-garde moving image practices.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in Comparative Literature

This cross-disciplinary PhD programme enables you to compare literary works from different languages and cultures, and the relationship of the written word to other arts including image, music, and film. With expertise spanning Europe, North America, South America and Asia, we can offer you supervision in a wide range of literary themes, genres and historical periods from the perspective of comparative study.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in European Theatre

Designed to support you in making a definite and original contribution to Theatre Studies, our PhD programme comprises independent research under the supervision of one or more of our expert staff, with optional training in research skills and methods. Our expertise covers British, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Scandinavian theatre studies, as well as drama and performance theory. 

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

PhD in Intermediality

Intermediality is the study of the interrelations between different art forms and their signification. Join our community and undertake a specialised research project under the guidance of knowledgeable and well-published supervisors. In the course of your research, you will explore interactions between different media. As well as European literature, film, visual culture, theatre and performance we have particular strengths in literature and the arts from East Asia, South America, Lusophone Africa, and the Middle East, and literature written in English from around the world.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

Before making a formal application to this PhD on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

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Designed to support you in making a definite and original contribution to Film Studies, our PhD programme comprises independent research under the supervision of one or more of our expert staff, with optional training in research skills and methods. Our expertise covers film theory, film and philosophy, various national cinemas, the work of individual filmmakers, and cinema in relation to other art forms. 

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)

There's lots more information about our PhD, and what to do in advance of applying, on our website. You are strongly advised to read this information and follow our guidelines before making a formal application on the University of Edinburgh Degree Finder.


Home of the cross-disciplinary Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the University of Edinburgh has one of the largest communities of medieval and Renaissance specialists in the world. Join our community and undertake a specialised research project under the guidance of experienced and well-published supervisors.

Our research interests are wide-ranging and global, and include Asian history, languages and literatures, history of art and architecture, music, divinity, archaeology, and law.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)


One of the most flexible doctoral programmes in Translation Studies in the UK, our PhD enables you to enhance your translation practice while gaining an intellectual and philosophical perspective on the activity of translation, developing you as a self-reflective and theoretically-minded translator. Our expertise covers a wide range of research areas and languages, of which you can choose to work with two. Under supervision, you can opt to produce an independent thesis or an extended scholarly translation with commentary.

Full-time, three years (all students) ꟾ part-time, six years (eligibility criteria apply)


Entrance requirements, fees, funding and more...

You can find out about entrance requirements, start dates, fees and scholarship opportunities for all our PhD programmes on the University of Edinburgh’s Degree Finder. Degree Finder links straight through to EUCLID, the online system for applying to postgraduate programmes at the University of Edinburgh. 

Applications to start a PhD programme in September 2026 will open in October 2025.

Before making a formal application to any PhD in European Languages and Cultures, you are strongly advised to read our guidelines on writing a PhD proposal.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. 

Are you currently studying with us?

There’s lots more information on our pages for continuing PhD students.

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