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King's College London

study-maughan

Key information

Award:
MPhil
PhD
Study mode:
Full time
Part time
Campus:
Strand Campus
Duration:
Expected to be MPhil two years FT, three years PT. PhD three years FT, four-six years PT. October to October, February to February or June to June.

The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers research strengths and opportunities for PhD supervision across all periods of French and Francophone literature and visual culture, French thought and modern French history and politics. Current postgraduate research students are working on topics across the whole range of French studies, and many of our recent PhD graduates have gone on successfully to academic posts or postdoctoral fellowships.

The Department has a vibrant and energetic research culture, in which postgraduate research students are fully involved. In the recent Research Excellence Framework assessment of our research (REF 2021) our research environment was rated 100% ‘world-leading’ (4*), and research impact was rated 87.5% ‘world leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’ (3*).

Current number of students: 14

In the area of French studies we are nationally and internationally reputed for the breadth and reach of our research and this informs an energetic postgraduate research student culture, with students pursuing projects in areas including French and francophone literature across all periods, film, politics, visual culture and critical theory. Much of this work is interdisciplinary, and it reflects the diversity of the department’s researchers and lecturers across the whole range of French studies.

In the area of French studies we have exchanges at graduate level with the Université de Paris Nanterre and the Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon.

Recent staff publications

  • The Unbridled Tongue: Babble and Gossip in Renaissance France
  • Thinking Cinema with Proust
  • Roland Barthes and Film
  • Our Civilizing Mission: The Lessons of Colonial Education
  • Figurations of the Feminine in the Early French Women's Press, 1758-1848
  • Marcelle Gauvreau, Lettres au Frère Marie-Victorin. Correspondance sur la sexualité humaine
  • Antonin Artaud: The Scum of the Soul
  • The Calendar in Revolutionary France - Perceptions of Time in Literature, Culture, Politics
  • The French Revolution Effect
  • Republic of Islamophobia
  • Performance Art and Revolution: Stuart Brisley's Cuts in Time

Current research projects

  • Casts, Imprints and Traces in Modern and Contemporary Art
  • Deviant Speech in the Early Modern Period
  • Algerian women's writing
  • Representations of the Detective in Nineteenth-Century France
  • World History as World Court: The Theatrical Origin of Human Rights
  • Translating French psychoanalyst Pierre Fédida
  • French Nietzscheanisms
  • The Politics of Racism in France
  • Colonial Education
  • Québécois film
  • Post-1968 French feminist film
  • Radical Translations: The Transfer of Revolutionary Culture between France, Britain, Italy (1789-1815)

The tuition fees below are for the first year of the course. These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.

UK Tuition Fees 2026/27

Full time tuition fees: £7,100 for the first year

Part time tuition fees: £3,550 for the first year

International Tuition Fees 2026/27

Full time tuition fees: £29,000 for the first year

Part time tuition fees: £14,500 for the first year

Sévigné PhD Studentship is available one student students wishing to pursue the MPhil/PhD in French Studies research in 2026/27 academic year. Find out additional information here

Base campus

The Quad - Strand campus
Strand Campus

Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.

Postgraduate research students have the opportunity to present their work at Departmental research seminars and to participate in in the annual departmental PGR conference. You also attend other research seminars as appropriate including at the Global Institutes and the research centres of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The various Institutes of the University of London School of Advanced Study run a wealth of seminars.

Postgraduate training

Training for postgraduate research students is offered at various levels throughout PhD registration, including, at King’s, the courses and sessions offered by the Department, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Centre for Doctoral Studies and the King’s Language Centre. You also benefit from training is offered by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership and the Institute of Modern Languages Research of the University of London. Research training will include a range of different kinds, including research ethics and integrity, bibliographic and referencing skills, the opportunity to learn or improve language skills, career support, job applications, networking, working with community partners, and much more.

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The tuition fees below are for the first year of the course. These tuition fees may be subject to additional increases in subsequent years of study, in line with King’s terms and conditions.

UK Tuition Fees 2026/27

Full time tuition fees: £7,100 for the first year

Part time tuition fees: £3,550 for the first year

International Tuition Fees 2026/27

Full time tuition fees: £29,000 for the first year

Part time tuition fees: £14,500 for the first year

Sévigné PhD Studentship is available one student students wishing to pursue the MPhil/PhD in French Studies research in 2026/27 academic year. Find out additional information here

Base campus

The Quad - Strand campus
Strand Campus

Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.

Postgraduate research students have the opportunity to present their work at Departmental research seminars and to participate in in the annual departmental PGR conference. You also attend other research seminars as appropriate including at the Global Institutes and the research centres of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The various Institutes of the University of London School of Advanced Study run a wealth of seminars.

Postgraduate training

Training for postgraduate research students is offered at various levels throughout PhD registration, including, at King’s, the courses and sessions offered by the Department, the Faculty of Arts and Humanities, the Centre for Doctoral Studies and the King’s Language Centre. You also benefit from training is offered by the London Arts and Humanities Partnership and the Institute of Modern Languages Research of the University of London. Research training will include a range of different kinds, including research ethics and integrity, bibliographic and referencing skills, the opportunity to learn or improve language skills, career support, job applications, networking, working with community partners, and much more.

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Key information

Award:
MPhil
PhD
Study mode:
Full time
Part time
Campus:
Strand Campus
Duration:
Expected to be MPhil two years FT, three years PT. PhD three years FT, four-six years PT. October to October, February to February or June to June.

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