The School of English has research expertise in all fields of English Literature and Language, but particular strengths in medieval studies, Shakespeare, the Renaissance, the eighteenth century, Romanticism, the Victorian period, American literature, textual editing, science fiction, modern poetry , discourse analysis, corpus linguistics and language teaching methodology. A rating of 5** (the highest possible) was obtained in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise, and a grading of ‘Excellent’ in the 1995 HEFCE Teaching Quality Assessment.
The School of English awards two studentships each year to Home and EU students. The value of the studentships is £2,000 which is off-set against fees. Application is by letter (preferably by e-mail) to the Director of Graduate Studies. Deadline for applications is 30 July 2008.
Members of the School include general editors of major projects such as the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, the Longman Pope, the Longman Shelley, and the Records of Early English Drama. Library resources are excellent, reflecting our century-long tradition of scholarship and research. In addition to the substantial holdings of books and periodicals, all English books printed before 1642 are available on microfilm. The School of English founded the Gladstone Centre for Victorian Studies in Wales and the North West in collaboration with St Deiniol’s Library, Hawarden. St Deiniol’s houses an impressive collection of 19th century material, and our students benefit from this collection as well as the regular events and residential colloquia hosted there. The School also established and runs the interdisciplinary Liverpool University Centre for Victorian Studies. The Sydney Jones Library also houses the collection of the Science Fiction Foundation, the largest of its kind in Europe, with related collections in the same field and the recent Science Fiction Hub is administered from Liverpool. The Liverpool English Texts and Studies series has included many distinguished books and editions, especially in the fields of the Renaissance and Romanticism. The Liverpool University Press Science Fiction Texts and Studies series is edited in the School and publishes work by international specialists in the field. The Byron Journal is also edited in the School.
Computing facilities are offered, and programmes in computer-based editorial research and textual analysis are being developed.