Creative Writing
- PhD
- MPhil
Overview
A postgraduate research qualification in Creative Writing consists of an original body of work - normally a novel, or a collection of poetry/short stories - with an accompanying critical element. The critical element will place the creative work in an informed and theorised analytical context.
The total assessed word count will be 25,000 words for the MPhil and 80,000 words for the PhD (or equivalent for poetry). The proportion of the creative to the critical work will be agreed by the supervisory team, but in total will usually consist of around 65-70% of creative text and 30-35% of critical text.
All postgraduate research students are supervised by two academics, one of whom will normally be a creative writing academic and the other from English Literature or a discipline related to the creative and critical work. As with the traditional research degrees, the final submission will be expected to make 'a substantial and original contribution to knowledge'. For Creative Writing, this means a body of work that contributes in individual, significant and demonstrable ways to current discourses in literature.
The relation to such discourses will be articulated in the creative work and conceptualised and explored in the critical element; both are intended to address the same research questions, generating dynamic interplay between creative and critical practice.
Programme structure
MPhil: a standalone, one-year (full-time) research degree. Students will undertake their own research or creative project, concluding with the submission of a 25,000-word dissertation/project (normally 17,000-18,000 words of creative writing and 7,000-8,000 of critical writing). Students will benefit from a programme of skills and training workshops and may have the option to audit units from our taught master's programmes if they are relevant to their research.
PhD: a research project undertaken across four years (full-time, minimum period of study three years), culminating in an 80,000-word thesis/project (normally 50,000 words of creative work - often an extract from a longer project - and 30,000 words of a critical investigation). Students will benefit from a programme of skills and training workshops within the School of Humanities and within the wider university. As well as having the option to audit taught units where appropriate, there may be the opportunity for PhD students to teach units themselves from their second year of study onwards.
The MPhil and PhD can be studied via distance learning.
Entry requirements
MPhil: An upper second-class degree or international equivalent. Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree and previous study or achievement in Creative Writing.
PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study. Acceptance will also depend on previous study or achievement in Creative Writing.
See international equivalent qualifications on the International Office website.
Read the programme admissions statement for important information on entry requirements, the application process and supporting documents required.
If English is not your first language, you will need to reach the requirements outlined in our profile level A.
Further information about English language requirements and profile levels.
Fees and funding
- Home: full-time
- £5,106 per year
- Home: part-time
- £2,553 per year
- Overseas: full-time
- £21,900 per year
Fees are subject to an annual review. For programmes that last longer than one year, please budget for up to an 8% increase in fees each year.
More about tuition fees, living costs and financial support.
Alumni discount
University of Bristol students and graduates can benefit from a 25% reduction in tuition fees for postgraduate study. Check your eligibility for an alumni discount.
Funding and scholarships
For information on funding opportunities, including University-funded studentships, please see the Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences funding pages.
Further information on funding for prospective UK and international postgraduate students.
Career prospects
People who are awarded a Creative Writing PhD have gone on to a variety of careers. Many are published writers who also teach, either in the academy or in community settings. The intensive training in examining texts is transferable to roles in publishing, broadcasting and media. Others organise literary and other cultural events or work in research. Like many creative people, graduates of this type of degree often have portfolio careers, where they work between several roles and their writing is one of several simultaneous ways in which they are employed.
Meet our supervisors
The following list shows potential supervisors for this programme. Visit their profiles for details of their research and expertise.
Research groups
We see postgraduate study as a vital component of our research culture, with students bringing their own ideas and initiatives to fruition and engaging in research conversations with their fellow students and academic staff.
Postgraduates take part in organising conferences and study days, regularly present papers at departmental research seminars, and are active in research groups and reading groups at departmental level and within the wider university.
Staff and research students within the Department of English are gathered within a number of research areas, with individuals frequently contributing to two or more of the following research groups:
- Medieval
- Early Modern to 1780
- The Long Nineteenth Century
- Modern and Contemporary Literature
- Literatures of the Global South
- Creative Writing and Creative Practice
- Material and Digital Texts
- Poetry and Poetics
- Literature, Science and Medical Humanities
- Literature and the Environment
- Spatial Humanities
- Gender and Sexuality
- Race and Ethnicity.
You can read more about the research groups here.
The department co-leads the Bristol Poetry Institute, which draws on the department's established strength in this field, and its members play a leading role within the Bristol Common Press, a working print shop dedicated to exploring global print cultures through teaching and research. Members of the department are also active in the faculty's interdisciplinary research centres, which bring together scholars from a variety of disciplines to share their research, devise innovative research projects, and give interdisciplinarity a real basis in academic practice.
The departmental research seminar, which meets throughout the academic session, is the principal forum for academic staff and graduate students to present and discuss their recent research. In a typical term, the series will also feature two talks given by speakers from outside Bristol. Two annual lectures - the Churchill Lecture and the Tucker-Cruse Lecture - also bring distinguished scholars from outside the University.
Contact us
- Contact
Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences Postgraduate Research Admissions
- Phone
- +44 (0)
0117 42 82296
artf-pgadmissions@bristol.ac.uk
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