Congratulations to Dr Maude Vanhaelen on the award of a Leverhulme Trust research fellowship to support her project on Plato and his Readers in Sixteenth-Century Italy.

Congratulations to Elio Baldi in Italian Studies, who will be awarded his PhD after a successful viva on 26th January!

Congratulations to Matt Coneys in Italian Studies, who will be awarded his PhD after a successful viva on 19th January!

Report

The TRC Resources Room H0.81 is now open from 8.00am until 11.00pm Monday to Friday to all students registered to a module in the SMLC

Important start of year information for returning students

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Warwick welcomes expressions of interest from early-career researchers who would like to apply to the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme in 2016-17. Closing date for proposals: 16th September 2016. 

More information

Earthquake in central Italy - advice for students

If you are travelling in the affected area, please follow the advice of the local authorities. Civil Protection have activated a hotline 800840840 for information. To learn more what to do before, during, and after an earthquake visit the Protezione Civile website (http://www.protezionecivile.gov.it/jcms/en/rischio_sismico.wp).

If you have been affected in any way, please email the Year Abroad Coordinator in Italian (m.milani@warwick.ac.uk). The counselling support is also available (counselling@warwick.ac.uk).

We have a small number of places available through clearing and adjustment this year. Please see http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/study/results/courses/ for more information about our 4 academic departments.

We are happy to consider applications for all of our degree combinations, including our 3-language BA in Modern Languages - you can find a list of all our degrees here: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/modernlanguages/applying/undergraduate/-

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The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Warwick invites applications for two PhD fellowships from outstanding Home/EU candidates in any area of research in French, German, Hispanic or Italian Studies in which the School is able to offer supervision. The fellowships cover fees and maintenance at RCUK rates for three years from October 2016. Successful candidates will be required to carry out some teaching or other academic-related duties for the School as part of the fellowship.

In the most recent QS world rankings by subject, Modern Languages at Warwick were ranked 30^th in the world. This is a rise of 3 places on last year’s position in the same table. Warwick remains 6^th in the UK according to the QS methodology.

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures is concerned to hear of two explosions at the Brussels airport (Zaventem), and at Brussels metro stations (Maelbeek and Schuman) near the EU, this morning, 22 March. This situation has been reported as a terrorist attack, and the Belgian ministry has placed the country on maximum alert.

We are asking all our students in Brussels and Belgium at the moment to confirm immediately their safety for us, as your welfare is our first priority. If you wish to speak to anyone about your safety or welfare, please contact your Personal Tutor in the first instance, or you can contact David Lees (d.w.lees@warwick.ac.uk), Pierre-Philippe Fraiture (p-p.fraiture@warwick.ac.uk) or Cathy Hampton (c.m.hampton@warwick.ac.uk).

Brussels hosts a number of international institutions (EU and NATO), as well as government and foreign embassy buildings, which are sensitive locations. Please be vigilant at this time.

Transport, and especially flight travel, are likely to be severely disrupted today into and out of Belgium, and there will be enhanced border controls and a heightened military presence. We hear at this time (08:30 British time) that the Brussels metro has been closed. If you are planning to travel or from the UK in the near future, you may need to plan for the extra time that it may take to go through security checks. Security has been stepped up at Paris and Frankfurt airports.

Further updates may be provided by the University via the Insite web page.

Our deepest sympathies go to anyone affected by these latest outrages, and we ask all our students once again to verify their safety to us at the earliest opportunity.

Professor Seán Hand, Head of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Warwick UK.

"Working as a Translator for the EU" by Mark Smith, Head of English and Irish Translation Unit at the European Parliament.
A wide-ranging presentation, covering all institutions, the institutional framework and legislative process, the need for multilingualism, the work of a translator and finally the recruitment process.

Respondent: Dr Mila Milani, Senior Teaching Fellow in Italian and former translation trainee at the EP.

12-13 (Graduate Space): informal Q&A session with Mark Smith, coffee/tea will be provided.

This event will be a unique opportunity to engage directly with translation experts at a highly professional standard and know more about the professional routes in translation available for Modern Languages students.

This year’s winners (and the conferences they will organise) are as follows:

 Rebecca Carnevali and Gloria Moorman (Centre for the Study of the Renaissance)

‘More than meets the page: Printing Text and Images in Italy 1570s-1700s’ 

Liam Lewis and Jane Sinnett-Smith (French)

‘Bodies in Flux: Rewriting the Body in Medieval Literature, Art and Culture 1000-1450 

Gianmarco Mancosu (Italian)

‘Trespassing the Borders: Redefining Postcolonialism from Peripheral Experiences’

The winners of the competition are each given a research budget of £400 and a conference budget of £600, and are invited to organise a one-day interdisciplinary conference during the following academic year.

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures is pleased to offer three bursaries to suitably qualified MA applicants for the 2016-17 academic year. These bursaries cover fees only, at the home/EU rate. Any home/EU applicant for any of the Masters courses offered in the School is eligible to apply for one of these bursaries.

The Cultural Engagement Fellowship is a three-month position beginning 15 February 2016, based in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University Of Warwick.