Welsh And Celtic Postgraduate Studies
The University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies in Aberystwyth provides postgraduate studies for the research degrees of MPhil or PhD in the fields of Welsh and Celtic Studies. Applicants are expected to have a first or upper second class degree in a related discipline and may study from a distance.
WHY CHOOSE THE CENTRE?
We are a dedicated research facility which carries out team-based projects on the languages, literatures, culture and history of Wales and the other Celtic countries. Current projects centre on the early history of the Celtic languages, medieval Welsh literature, Enlightenment and Romanticism in Wales 1750–1900, and the place-names of Wales. We also have expertise in the history of the Welsh language and the visual culture of Wales, and are home to the University of Wales Dictionary Unit. This means that our postgraduate students are supervised by scholars of international renown in a range of fields and work alongside postdoctoral fellows in a supportive environment with excellent research facilities.
Our students benefit from our own training programme on research techniques, writing and editing skills, media communication and teaching, with additional services provided through collaboration with the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (Lampeter campus). Welsh-language students also have access to the training and resources offered by the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol.
We are adjacent and have privileged access to the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth, which houses the world’s greatest Welsh manuscript collection, as well as one of the largest collections of secondary literature on Celtic Studies, and of Welsh art and photography.
Situated in one of the Welsh heartlands, Aberystwyth is the perfect place to learn Welsh. Students may study through the medium of either English or Welsh. Welsh is the normal working language of the Centre, and every support will be given to students wishing to learn the language.
Have a look around our website to see the work going on at the Centre. If you are interested in pursuing postgraduate studies with us, you are welcome to contact the member of staff you think may be interested in your PhD research project or talk to the Director of Postgraduate Studies:
Dr Elizabeth Edwards, e.edwards@wales.ac.uk, +44 (0)1970 636543 or visit our website: http://postgrad.cawcs.wales
CURRENT AND RECENTLY SUCCESSFUL PHD PROJECTS
Emily Pennifold: ‘Field-names on a linguistic frontier: case studies from Radnorshire and Shropshire’ (Dr David Parsons)
Martin Crampin: ‘Artistic engagements with medieval decorative arts in Wales: recording, interpretation and invention’ (Prof. Dafydd Johnston)
This practice-based PhD considers different ways in which artists have engaged with medieval visual art, with particular emphasis on the decorative arts and on artists that have worked in Wales or taken an interest in Welsh medieval subject matter.
Linus Band: ‘The history and usage of Brythonic compound verbs with “to be”’ (Prof. John T. Koch)
This project collects and analyses all verb forms that are compounds with ‘to be’ in Old British, Middle Welsh, Middle Breton, and Cornish, describing their origins, development and usage.
Rhian James: ‘Developing Welsh Wills Online’ (Dr David Parsons)
This project examines how digital methods can be used to ask new questions of the National Library of Wales’s rich collection of probate records and explores the implications of such methods for the representation and analysis of large, unstructured, text-based collections.
Rhys Kaminsky-Jones: ‘True Britons: Ancient British identity in Wales and Britain, 1707–1806’ (Dr Mary-Ann Constantine)
This thesis investigates the ‘Ancient British’ identity claimed by many Welsh people during the eighteenth century: the history of this important variant of British identity can help us better understand the complicated relationship between Wales and the British state.
PHD PROJECTS FROM 1 OCTOBER 2015
Andrew Brown: ‘“The abominable plunderer of wrecks”: The Welsh Wrecker 1700–1860, custom and practice’ (Dr Marion Löffler)
Dewi Huw Owen: ‘Cyfieithiadau Cymraeg, c.1750– c.1900’ (Dr Marion Löffler)
Kirsty McHugh: ‘Northern English Travellers to Wales and Scotland 1760–1840: a study of manuscript accounts from Yorkshire to Lancashire’ (Dr Mary-Ann Constantine)
Paulus van Sluis: ‘The treatment of voiceless stops after verbs in Middle Welsh’ (Prof. John T. Koch)
TRAINING PROGRAMME
Click here to view the Centre’s Training Programme 2015-2018
FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES
The Centre is part of an AHRC-funded Doctoral Training Centre in Celtic languages, literatures and cultures, which until 2020 offers PhD scholarships annually. If you are interested in applying for a scholarship in 2016/2017, please contact e.edwards@wales.ac.uk or the relevant member of staff in your field of research.
For further information on the Doctoral Training Centre see AHRC Centre For Doctoral Training In Celtic Languages
UNIVERSITY OF WALES RULES AND REGULATIONS
University of Wales Code of Practice for MPhil and PhD Degrees
University of Wales Regulations for MPhil and PhD Degrees