It is with great sadness that the School of Modern Languages & Cultures has received news of the death of Professor James Shields on 9 February 2023.

Arising from a Warwick-Monash Alliance collaboration, with Dr Chris Watkin, undertaken during the Covid years, this new edited volume considers whether autonomy is still a useful concept today. Is the Enlightenment understanding of autonomy still relevant in addressing contemporary challenges? How have the limits and possibilities of autonomy been transformed by recent developments in artificial intelligence and big data, political pressures, intersecting oppressions and the climate emergency? The challenges to autonomy today reach across society with unprecedented complexity, and in this book leading scholars from philosophy, economics, linguistics, literature and politics examine the role of autonomy in key areas of contemporary life, forcefully defending a range of different views about the nature and extent of resistance to autonomy today. These essays are essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the predicament and prospects of one of modernity’s foundational concepts and one of our most widely cherished values. Oliver Davis's chapter, on conceptualising the role of patient autonomy in psychedelically assisted psychotherapy, can be viewed Open Access here. 

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures (SMLC) wamly invites applications from outstanding candidates for doctoral study commencing in September/October 2023. The SMLC will support pre-selected candidates for the Chancellor’s International Scholarships and Midlands4Cities scholarships

To express an interest, please send your CV and a two-page research proposal to smlcoffice@warwick.ac.uk (cc I.de-Smet@warwick.ac.uk) as soon as possible, ideally by 16 November 2022.

Interested in applying for a Midlands4Cities scholarship for doctoral study in Modern Languages or Translation Studies at Warwick? Register for the online Application Writing Workshops for M4C scholarship candidates on 19 November 2022, 10 am-1 pm. Registration details and the link to subscribe are on the M4C website.

The Warwick Awards for Public and Community Engagement (WAPCE), like the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATELink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window), and Warwick Awards for Personal Tutoring Excellence (WAPTE), celebrate the very best of Warwick’s staff and students. The WAPCE awards recognise the vital contributions Warwick staff and students make in engaging the public – on an international and national level as well as crucially within our region and local communities – in our learning and discovery, with the goals of sharing and co-producing knowledge, strengthening the role we play in the region and showcasing the role Warwick plays nationally and internationally in making the world a better place.

SMLC is delighted that 2 of our most engaged researchers' work in public and community engagement has been recognised.

James Hodkinson has won a staff award for his work on community events and arts projects designed to facilitate cross-community encounters, enhance public debate, cross-community empathy and more nuanced mutual understanding between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in towns and cities across the UK.

Abigail Coppins won a Postgraduate award for the ways in which her research into Black prisoners of war in Britain during the French Revolution has had a significant impact on the young Black women at the National Youth Theatre who were involved in the R&D of a new play, The Ancestors. Her research has fed into educational resources for NYT and English Heritage and inspired a delegation of Garifuna people to travel from central America and the US to visit Portchester castle where the prisoners were held. Her work has also introduced Black undergraduates and young people from a community of 2nd generation St Vincentians in High Wycombe to the National Archives. She has, therefore, improved knowledge, strengthened networks, engaged with people from non-traditional backgrounds.

Professor Jim Shields appeared on BBC World, France 24, TRT World, CNBC, Al Jazeera and TVP World to discuss the French National Assembly elections. He gave interviews to Chile’s El Mercurio, Mexico’s El Universal and Colombia’s Portafolio.  

Those who remember the French Department in the days of Donald Charlton will be saddened to learn of the death of Mark Treharne, who taught in the Department until 1992. Mark was an inspiring teacher who cared deeply about his students. He was also a gifted translator and pianist, giving recitals in aid of charity. His translations include works by his friend the poet Jaccottet, as well as Jacques Réda, Rimbaud, and Proust’s The Guermantes Way. He once said he would go to the stake for Proust.

His funeral will be on 29 June at 2 p.m. at Golder's Green Crematorium, and will also be relayed online.

Linda Paterson

22 June 2022

All language teaching teams across the academic sections and the Language Centre have collectively been nominated for a Community and Culture Warwick Award in Teaching Excellence.

We're delighted to have been shortlisted for professionalism and collegiality in responding to the pandemic.

Dr Zhiyan Guo has also been shortlisted for an Arts Faculty award.

The shortlists can be seen here:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/academic-development/wate/shortlistcategories/

My name is Andrea Christmas, and I am the Summer School Coordinator at The American University of Paris. I invite you to share the following information as well as the attached flyer with your French language students.

This year, AUP is offering two three-week FrenchLink opens in a new window Immersion sessions in June and July, which may be of interest to students at University of Warwick. There are courses available for all levels: from complete beginners to seasoned French speakers who want to brush up their written or spoken expression. Students can receive transferable university creditLink opens in a new window should they want to fulfill language requirements over the summer or work towards their degree.

Our French Immersion classes emphasize contemporary spoken French. Students also become conversant in digital media and enjoy playing with trends in a new language. Have a look at Summer 2019’s Instagram and YouTube accounts to get a sense of the ways that our faculty engage new media.

French Immersion at AUP also includes social experiences outside the classroom so that students can practice their French in context. Students have daily coffee and croissant breaks, and this year we have introduced two Friday outings per session. Faculty will lead these outings to towns near Paris like Nogent-sur-Marne and Fontainebleau, and will include visits to local sites and dinner.

For every course, students have the choice of enrolling for university credit or just for audit at a reduced price. Visit our summer websiteLink opens in a new window for more information or to apply for Summer 2022. There, students can also learn more about our summer housing options and optional cultural excursions that can help enrich their experiences even further.

We are saddened to hear of the passing of Professor Simon Gaunt, a world-leading scholar and Warwick Languages graduate.

Applying to Warwick to read languages? Which languages, which combinations? Ab initio or post high school entry? What are our campus, courses, and community like? Chat online to staff and students and have all your questions answered.

Wed 24 November, 5pm. Register here: https://meetandengage.com/universityofwarwick

Head of School and Professor of French Kate Astbury and her PhD student Abigail Coppins welcomed a delegation of Garifuna people to Portchester Castle on Wednesday 8th September 2021 to show them the fruits of Abigail's research into the prisoners of war from the Caribbean held their during the Revolutionary wars. You can watch the BBC South report of the visit here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=JOVWmfZuDuU

and read the Portsmouth News article about it here: https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/people/descendants-of-banished-caribbeans-visit-portchester-castle-to-find-out-about-revolutionary-heroes-3376145

The UK Government has announced today (4 August 2021) that the University of Warwick will be awarded £2.6 million for international student mobility, as part of the inaugural Turing Scheme.

Warwick is one of the world’s top 100 universities, and one of the ways it has achieved that position is because it is a globally connected institution. Its staff and students learn, work, and research as part of a highly international community, and more than 1000 Warwick students each year also take the opportunity to study and work abroad at one of the University’s many worldwide partner institutions.

Please read more to find out about this important survey - and take part. Have your voice heard at this pivotal point in our School's journey!

• Past Imperfect: Time and African Decolonization

The Association for the Study of Modern and Contemporary France announced today the appointment of its new Editorial Team to lead the future development of the journal Modern & Contemporary France, now in its fifth decade, two of whom are based in French Studies here in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures:

• Executive Editor: Professor Oliver Davis
• Co-Editor: Dr David Lees

Modern & Contemporary France is an internationally prominent peer-reviewed journal, offering a scholarly view of France from 1789 to the present day. It is a multi-disciplinary journal, drawing particularly on the work of scholars in history and in cultural, literary and post-colonial studies, in film and media studies and in the political and social sciences.

Oliver and David are looking forward to taking over from the current team in September.

Professor Jim Shields was a guest on BBC Radio 4’s Last Word to discuss the legacy of former French President Giscard d’Estaing

Covid: Students and retirees form long-distance friendships - BBC News

• Chancellor's International Scholarships: the scheme is aimed at students from outside the UK and includes Overseas applicants, including students from the EU.
• China Scholarship Council / University of Warwick Scholarships: this scheme will fund 25 students across various subjects for up to 4 years, with the University covering the full cost of tuition fees and CSC providing a maintenance stipend and return international airfare between the UK and China. Note that Foreign Languages and Literature is among the priority areas listed.
• Monash Warwick Alliance Scholarships (Warwick): this scheme is open to all students applying to Warwick for the Alliance Joint PhD. For 2021/22 entry there will be up to 3 scholarships available across the university.

The deadlines for these schemes are all on Thursday 21st January 2021, 23.59 GMT. Note that all supporting evidence (including transcripts and references) must be uploaded by the same time.

We welcome applications for our PhD programmes in:

• French and Francophone Studies
• German Studies
• Italian
• Hispanic Studies
• Translation and Transcultural Studies

Prospective applicants are encouraged to identify possible supervisors through our staff expertise pages. Early enquiries are strongly encouraged. Please send a draft proposal (up to 2 A4 pages) and CV to pglanguages@warwick.ac.uk by Friday 27 November 2020, 12 noon.

We continue to welcome enquiries also for the AHRC Midlands4Cities doctoral awards (deadline 13 January 2021).