Course Overview

Highly flexible and with a focus on one-to-one supervision throughout the course, you can tailor this MRes around your research and career plans. You’ll graduate with knowledge of research design, methods and processes, together with the creative, critical, reflexive, and analytical mindset that employers desire. The MRes can also be used as a stepping-stone to further research at PhD level.

From the outset, you will be paired with an experienced supervisor to support your personal and professional development, working together to advance your research interests and develop your individual research, writing and communications skills.

Studying English literature and creative writing can be both inspiring and rewarding, offering new insight into the ways in which stories, poems, novels, plays and their authors creatively interpret the world in which we live.

As well as traditional literary forms, the MRes in Humanities (English) pathway offers research opportunities with connected disciplines, such as film and screen studies, history, cultural studies, and the medical humanities. Our major research strengths lie in the following areas: Early Modern Literature; 18th Century Literature and Romanticism; Victorian and Long 19th Century Literature; 20th Century and Contemporary Literature, Postcolonial and World Literature and Culture; American Literature and Culture; Creative Writing; and Medical Humanities.

As part of the bespoke Individual Research Orientation module, you’ll agree a tailored learning plan to expand your knowledge, skills and experience. For example, you can learn a foreign language, study subject matter from a different discipline like statistical modelling or improve your ability to read old manuscripts.

Using our contacts or through your own networks, you can also undertake a work experience placement here in the UK or abroad. In the past, our students have helped staged exhibitions, catalogued an archive, reviewed educational material and reflected on the selection of historical textbooks in a school.

The School of Humanities benefits from world-leading and internationally excellent research across the main areas of humanities: English Literature; Creative Writing; English and American Literature; Film Studies; History; Media, Communications and Creative Practice; and Music and Music Technology.

This wide range of staff expertise not only enables us to offer five specialist pathways (in English, Film, History, Media, or Music), but also considerably broadens the scope for potential interdisciplinary research topics. This makes it an ideal choice for students who want the freedom to conduct in-depth research on a subject of their choosing, while also receiving the guidance expected of a taught master’s.

Keele is a member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) and the Economic and Social Research Council's North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP). These both offer financial support to outstanding UK students in applicable disciplines.

General Eligibility

Applicants should normally have a good honors degree (2.1 or above) in a relevant subject.

Part Time Work Details

20 Hours of Work permit weekly for international students.

Language Requirement

• IELTS 7.0