Four PhD students in the School have been successful in their bids to win funding from Warwick's Humanities Research Centre to stage their own events and projects.

Congratulations to our own David Lees, who successfully defended his PhD thesis on documentary film produced by the Vichy regime during the Occupation of France, including in terms of the continuity of themes propounded between the Third Republic and the Vichy regime. David's external examiners (pictured) were Dr Jackie Clarke (Glasgow) and Dr Steve Wharton (Bath). David's thesis was supervised by Professor Nick Hewlett and Dr Jessica Wardhaugh, both of French Studies in the School of Modern languages and Cultures.

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures was highly successful in the most recent national research exercise, the 2014 REF, with our research outputs ranked 5th in the UK. 79.7% of our work, and 100% of our environment, was judged to be world-leading or internationally excellent. With three of the four submissions ranked above us specialising entirely in Linguistics outputs, we are one of the very best UK institutions for comprehensive research in modern languages. This output ranking also places us above all other Russell Group universities, including Birmingham, Bristol, Cambridge, Durham, King's College London, Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, Oxford, Queen Mary University of London, and UCL. The School is also top-ranked for Modern Languages overall in the Midlands region.

Professor Seán Hand, Head of the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, commented: ‘We are delighted with this strong endorsement of our research capabilities across the whole of our School, in French, German, Italian and Hispanic Studies. As we do not pursue research in Linguistics, the proportion of our outputs deemed to be in the highest possible category of 'world-leading' also places us just behind Cambridge and Kent (which both also included Linguistics in their overall return). And our output's 'intensity' ranking (which takes account of the proportion of staff entered into the exercise), again ignoring Linguistics returns, places us 2nd in the UK, just behind Cambridge. In conjunction with our University’s overall rankings, where we are rated the 7^th best research university in the UK, and with our status as the current Times/Sunday Times University of the Year, this result really emphasizes how Warwick offers a truly world-class research-intensive environment for the comprehensive study of modern languages.’

Call for Papers

 Iran and the West: Converging Perspectives

To be held from 1-3 July 2015, and hosted by the University of Warwick. Introductory speaker – Dr James Hodkinson, the University of Warwick. Keynote speaker – Prof Ali Ansari, the University of St Andrews.

We cordially invite scholars from diverse fields to contribute towards a wide-ranging interdisciplinary conference which aims to further our understanding of Iranian perceptions of the West and Westerners and Western perceptions of Iran and Iranians, from c. 500 BC until the present day. The aim of this conference is to improve our understanding of Iranian and Western cultural perceptions of the other’s culture, people, and politics, both from popular and elite viewpoints, and the points of convergence and divergence between them.

For further details, and for any questions regarding the themes of the conference, please consult the conference web page.

For any further clarifications, contact Dr Margaux Whiskin by email at M dot Whiskin at warwick dot ac dot uk

Congratulations to Leigh Anne Casey on the successful defence of her doctoral thesis on Jacques Maritain. Pictured here with Leigh are internal examiner Dr Pierre-Philippe Fraiture, supervisor Professor Seán Hand, and external examiner Professor Mike Kelly of Southampton University.

The School of Modern Languages and Cultures at the University of Warwick again welcomes applications for the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme.

Congratulations to Professor Ingrid de Smet of Warwick French Studies for having been elected as a Fellow of the British Academy.

The next SFPS Postgraduate Study Day will be held on Thursday 5 June 2014, at the University of Warwick, in the Wolfson Exchange Centre. The theme of the day willl be: 'Migrations in Francophone Culture'. For full details of papers, location, and registration, see here.

The Department of French Studies at the University of Warwick currently has a thriving postgraduate research community with 18 PhD students, and welcomes applications for the following fully-funded PhD studentships (academic fees at home/Euro rates + maintenance or academic fees at overseas rates + maintenance) commencing October 2014.

* 3 prestigious Wolfson Foundation Scholarships in the Humanities recently awarded to the University in the areas of History, Literature and Languages. The first 2 Warwick Wolfson Languages Scholarships in 2012 and 2013 have gone to students from French Studies. The Wolfson scholarships include £6000 a year to spend on research travel, books, etc.

* 25 University-wide Chancellor's scholarship studentships for entry October 2014. Funding is for 3 1/2 years and covers academic fees at either home or EU rates + maintenance.

* 25 University-wide International Chancellor's scholarship studentships for entry October 2014. Funding covers academic fees at oveseas rates + maintenance.

The competitions are combined; applicants only apply once and will be considered for all awards for which they are eligible. More information about the application process can be found here.

To be considered for these awards, you must have applied for admission to the University by 13 January 2014.

Potential candidates should make contact initially with the Department's Director of Graduate Studies, Dr Katherine Astbury: katherine.astbury@warwick.ac.uk, preferably as soon as possible but by mid-December at the latest in order to allow sufficient time to work on the research proposal before the funding deadline.

The Department of French Studies at the University of Warwick will give vigorous support to outstanding early-career applications to this year's British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme.

We encourage eligible candidates working in appropriate subject areas to select Warwick as the host institution, and to benefit from the support and guidance of both Department and Faculty expertise when preparing the application. All initial or informal enquiries should be directed to the Department’s Director of Graduate Studies, Dr Kate Astbury (katherine.astbury@warwick.ac.uk). Draft applications should then reach the Department by 22 September, for eventual submission to the British Academy by their deadline of 9 October.

The Department energetically maintains a long-standing commitment to interdisciplinary research in French and francophone literature, history, thought, and culture across a wide chronological range from the Middle Ages to the present.

Departmental members are also strongly engaged in several key University research centres, including the Centre for Caribbean Studies, the Centre for Cultural Policy Studies, the Centre for Research in the History of Medicine, the Centre for Research in Philosophy, Literature and the Arts, the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, the Eighteenth Century Centre, and the Humanities Research Centre.

Details of our research activities and strengths can be viewed here.

Details of the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships scheme can be viewed here.

Eligibility criteria are as follows:

1.Applicants must be supported by the UK host institution in which they wish to hold the Fellowship

2.Applicants must be within three years of the award of a doctorate (for the 2013-2014 competition this means either already having been awarded a doctoral degree following a viva voce examination held on or after 1 April 2011; or having a reasonable expectation that they will have submitted and had their thesis examined by 1 April 2014)

3.Applicants in the 2013-2014 competition awarded a PhD following a viva voce examination held prior to 1 April 2011 who are unable to offer extenuating circumstances, such as interruption to their academic career for maternity leave or illness, will not be considered

4.Applicants must be a UK or EEA national, or have completed a doctorate at a UK university. Any applicant who does not fall into one of these categories must demonstrate a strong prior association with the UK academic community, for example through already having been employed in a temporary capacity (longer than six months) at a UK university.