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Research

Creative Writing at Brunel University London is a leader in the field, which has for many years now ranked in the top 10% of Creative Writing degrees in the UK. We have a thriving graduate community in the subject, and welcome PhD applications in our particular areas of expertise.

The Department of Arts and Humanities has a very strong and experienced teaching team that guarantee depth and diversity in its research programmes and its teaching and we are also committed to interdisciplinary approaches to the study of literature and culture.

The writers who teach Creative Writing at Brunel are all actively publishing and specialists in many areas of writing including:

  • all aspects of modern literary fiction
  • all aspects of contemporary commercial fiction
  • poetry, including for performance
  • women’s and multicultural writing
  • horror and thriller writing
  • all aspects of fantasy fiction
  • post-colonial fiction
  • children’s/ YA fiction
  • non-fiction
  • screenwriting
  • screen adaptation
  • comedy writing
  • writing for radio
  • writing for opera
  • autobiographical writing
  • female genital mutilation in Africa and the UK
  • the Fusion of creative writing and dramatherapy
  • creative writing for therapeutic purposes
  • autobiographical writing
  • female genital mutilation in Africa and the UK
  • the fusion of creative writing and dramatherapy
  • creative writing for therapeutic purposes

Creative Writing PhDs

The Creative Writing PhD programme at Brunel embraces creative practice and critical reflection, with the emphasis on the creative thesis. We welcome practice-based proposals for all kinds of writing that demonstrates originality, a commitment to generic advance or reinvention, and a high standard of artistic accomplishment. We offer our graduates expert support in professional preparation for a literary career and encourage them to begin to establish a publication record.

We are very interested in all kinds of applications from a wide range of students with varying degrees of educational qualifications, as well as those who might not be formally qualified but who have already demonstrated success in the arts.

Creative Writing at Brunel organises a hugely successful annual series of public writer readings by some of Britain’s most exciting authors, which provide an opportunity for all students to debate and mingle with professional writers. Additionally, we annually publish anthologies of students’ writing.

Brunel also runs the Contemporary Writing Research Group which organises research seminars. It also runs the annual 3K Brunel International African Poetry Prize.

A full list of staff research interests can be found on our Arts and Humanities staff directory.

Research Centres

The College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences hosts two research centres:-

Entrepreneurship and Sustainability 

Global Lives: Identities, Organisations, Communities, Spaces

These centres promote international, interdisciplinary and high impact research by acting as key points of contact between academics, practitioners and the wider community.

Related PhD courses

You are very welcome to undertake your PhD or MPhil in one of our research areas and work alongside our researchers. As a research student you'll benefit from the latest work by internationally-renowned academics and the support of our Graduate School. Many of our research initiatives involve successful collaborations with industry, the public sector, business and government, both in the UK and overseas. We have many funded and non-funded research degree opportunities available. For more information, visit our Research Degrees homepage

Fully-funded studentships

Our funded studentships become available at different times of the year. Please keep checking our page regularly to see the latest funded opportunities. We also advertise all our funded studentships as soon as they become available on the @BrunelResearch twitter account.

View all studentships