English is a restless and creative discipline. Collaboration is at the centre of our university research and teaching practice, and the way we learn to ask better questions.
We have long-standing research connections with colleagues in Film and History in the School of Humanities, but you will also find us working with economic historians, marine scientists, and computer scientists.
We have deep connections with the arts and heritage organisations that help sustain the cultural life of the region, from the John Hansard Gallery, who have helped us join the dots between visual, textual, and verbal experiment, to Chawton House, who unique collection of early women’s writing was the starting point for one of the department’s major editing series. The regional literature organisation Artful Scribe is now our partner on a major new research project on poetry and mentoring, and is co-supervising our Collaborative Doctoral Award with the SWWDTP.
Our commitment to combining critical and creative thinking helps us find innovative ways of presenting our research, whether we are creating a cinematic poem with Ben Wishaw, or a staged poetry performance with Zoë Wanamaker. A recent research project on locative technology prompted collaborations with Tudor House Museum, Bournemouth Natural Sciences Society, and Crystal Palace Overground Festival.
We have partnerships with universities across the world, from our ESSE-funded workshops with the University of Hamburg, to the Global Partnership Award supporting our work with the University of Melbourne, to the BA Visiting Fellowship on printing networks with Dr Sydney Shep, or our research on South-Eastern African literature, supported by an AHRC network grant with partners in Leeds, Rhodes, and Witwatersrand.
Increasingly, our research also informs national policy in the creative industries and heritage sectors. Recent partners include Arts Council England, the thinktank Centre for Towns, Creative Industries Policy Evidence Centre, Historic England, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
We are always keen to hear from new collaborators.