Renaissance Studies MPhil/PhD

Find out more about our Renaissance Studies MPhil/PhD degree at Warwick

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MPhil/PhD

3-4 years full-time;
Up to 7 years part-time

6 October 2025

Centre for the Study of the Renaissance

University of Warwick

Warwick's PhD/MPhil in Renaissance Studies offers you the opportunity to join an exciting, internationally renowned research culture. Studying at the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance (CSR), you will receive specialist guidance as you conduct your research project.

As a PhD/MPhil Renaissance Studies student you will focus on completing a dissertation of up to 80,000 words in a period of up to four years. You will work closely with a supervisor (and often two) from the Centre’s allied departments (Classics, English, History, History of Art, Liberal Arts and the School of Modern Languages and Cultures). 

You are encouraged to develop an interdisciplinary profile, as well as to strengthen your skills in palaeography and ancient and modern languages. Warwick’s CSR is in fact a worldwide leader in doctoral training: it organises a training programme (‘Resources and Techniques for the Study of Renaissance and Early Modern Culture’) together with the Warburg Institute. 

You will benefit from an Early Career Club and from the Centre’s unusually broad international connections, for instance with Johns Hopkins University (student exchange) and Monash University (Prato Consortium), as well as the opportunity to spend time in our partner institutions in Venice (Italy) and Tours (France). 

Our community of doctoral students is tight-knit, fairly small, and very well looked after. As an applicant, we will do everything possible to help our applicants secure funding. 

Teaching and learning

You will be able to attend skills training, language, and palaeography sessions provided for our PGT students, and audit some taught MA modules in Renaissance Studies.

Areas for PhD supervision:

• History of the Book and Reading Practices
• Religious Art, Polemics, Thought, and Literature
• The Classical Tradition (including neo-Latin and vernacular cultures; Plato; Aristotle)
• The History of Ideas (especially science and medicine, ethics and politics)
• Theatre and Performance (especially in England)
• Gender; Society and Power
• Court and Civic Culture
• Renaissance Learned Culture (including humanist circles, academies, universities)
• Popular Culture
• Visual Culture and Debates on the Arts
• Venetian Economy, Art and Culture
• Travel, Colonialism and the New World

Full details of our research interests are listed on the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance web pages.

You can also read our general University research proposal guidance.

Find your supervisor using the link below and discuss with them the area you'd like to research.

Explore our Centre for the Study of the Renaissance Staff Directory to see our staff and their current research interests.

You can also see our general University guidance about finding a supervisor.

2:1 undergraduate degree and Master’s (or equivalent) in a related subject.

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.