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Our Creative Writing PhD is a practice based programme taught by teams of published creative writers and highly regarded literary scholars.
Staff have expertise in fiction, poetry, children’s and young adult fiction, creative non-fiction and scriptwriting. 78% of our research has been rated as world-leading or internationally excellent (REF 2014).
The PhD in Creative Writing (also known as the critical-creative, or practice-based PhD) combines a proposed manuscript (e.g. novel, short story collection, poems, playscript, narrative non-fiction, digital writing) with an element of supporting or contextualising research. The proposed creative manuscript will be volume-length (the natural length of a book, depending on genre). The length of the supporting research will be subject to negotiation with your tutor but would typically be 40,000 words.
The emphasis is not on creating two separate pieces of work, but on integration. Your dissertation will consist of an interdependent project of contextual and practice-based creative work.
Both sections of the PhD should contain work of 'publishable standard', and the contextual and creative elements must make a new contribution to knowledge.
Full time students are expected to work full-time on their research and should not undertake more than six hours of formal duty or paid work in any given week. However, every attempt will be made to provide you with work experience in your chosen field.
Typically you will be allocated a team of two or three supervisors; specialists in the area of the creative part of your dissertation and in the critical or contextual component. Your supervisory team may also be a member of staff from another department e.g. History, where appropriate.
This is an independent research programme; there are no timetabled classes or modules, but you will need to attend supervision sessions as negotiated with your supervisors as well as specialist courses in e.g. Research Skills and Ethics Training. The frequency of supervisory sessions may vary depending on the stage of research, and whether you are full or part time, but in general these meetings will take place at least once a month.
Subject specific research training might include:
General research training might take the form of:
There is also a Research Training Programme covering various aspects of research development and skills.
Academic and research staff are featured on the staff profiles page for the Department of English
These include Poetry, Place Writing, Gothic Fiction and YA/Children’s Fiction.
An Example Doctoral Programme: The PhD in Children’s/YA Fiction
At Manchester Metropolitan we have expertise in both the critical and creative aspects of writing for children and young adults. A highly regarded team of writing professionals to guide you through the process of writing your novel and thesis:
Resources for Young Adult and Children’s fiction:
An examination team assesses the PhD thesis and conducts an oral examination (viva) of the student. The examination team consists of one internal examiner and one external examiner.
Wherever possible, we try to offer our PhD students teaching, as it is an important part of professional development. The availability of part time teaching varies from year to year, and all candidates for teaching will be subject to an interview with the relevant Programme Leader. Further opportunities may arise in subject-specific areas, e.g. through the Manchester Children’s Book Festival, for work in schools or at literary events.
The university has a vibrant event-culture in which students are invited to participate. Former Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy hosts a series of events at the Royal Exchange Theatre at which selected poetry students read with established poets. And similar events are arranged at the International Anthony Burgess Foundation where our novel-writing students are invited to read with established novelists.
Postgraduate Doctoral loans are available to eligible candidates and further information is available at www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan.
Any current studentships are advertised at www2.mmu.ac.uk/research/research-study/scholarships/
10 scholarships per year are available to non-EU applicants applying for Distance Learning PhD programmes within certain subject areas. Please see www2.mmu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/distance-learning-research-degrees/ for details.
For more information on fees visit our Postgraduate Research page www2.mmu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/fees/
Manchester Metropolitan University is a member of the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership Consortium (NWCDTP) offers postgraduate studentships across the full range of arts and humanities including Creative Writing. See www.nwcdtp.ac.uk/prospective-students/ for more information.
Dr Andrew Moor
Research Degrees Co-Ordinator, Department of English
Dr Nikolai Duffy
Research Degrees Co-Ordinator for Creative Writing
Dr Myna Trustram
Research Associate
Please look at this website: www2.mmu.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/research-degree-list/5047.php and click ‘How to Apply’ to go to the online application form.
With your application form you will also need to upload:
The Admissions process for research degrees at the University includes assessment of your application form along with your supporting documents and an interview with a potential supervisor. Some applicants may also need to apply for an ATAS certificate (depending on the research subject) and a visa to study in the UK. You should therefore ensure that you apply with enough time to complete this process. The University has 3 possible start dates for research degrees, which are October, January and April.
Increasingly, a PhD is a requirement for an academic career. As creative writing is a relatively new subject in British higher education, in the past academic staff have secured jobs without having doctorates, but this is changing gradually as more and more people complete PhDs.
The indispensable requirement if you want a permanent university job (as opposed to hourly paid teaching) is that you must be a published creative writer of some substance and reputation. It may
be that this and a PhD will become the norm, though a successful writer will always be very attractive to departments.
University teaching may appeal to you if you enjoy your research and practice and want to share your expertise. Writers and artists usually find that university departments are sympathetic environments where their practice is valued as research and may therefore constitute part of their role.
You may also want to do a PhD in order to dedicate a substantial amount of time to your practice and to work with experts in your chosen field.
Finally there may be a particular aspect of your research that you want to pursue, and the university provides the best environment you’re your investigative study.
Our Creative Writing PhD students come from a variety of backgrounds, nationalities and writing experiences, but successful applicants display writing talent and experience, and the ability to engage critically with the contexts in which they write and their own process.
We would normally expect applicants to hold a first or upper second class honours degree (or equivalent) in a related subject, or a qualification which is regarded by the relevant Faculty Research Degrees committee as equivalent to an honours degree, e.g. professional qualifications. All doctoral candidates are normally expected to have completes a Masters degree successfully in a field relevant to the subject of their research. An MA/MFA in Creative Writing is an advantage, but evidence of creative writing engagement and achievement will be taken into consideration, as well as evidence of an ability to engage in the supporting research. Candidates holding other qualifications will be considered on their merits and in relations to the nature and scope of the proposed programme of work. Professional experience, publications, or other appropriate evidence of accomplishment may also be taken into consideration.
On both programmes you will be expected to complete a creative project (novel, poetry collection) that is potentially publishable, but to obtain a PhD you will also be expected to make an original contribution to knowledge in your chosen field. The PhD incorporates an element of critical, theoretical or contextual argument and research which is submitted with the creative writing. At present, in the UK you are more likely to obtain academic work with a PhD. The MFA is allied to the MA, although it can be taken as a separate qualification. The primary requirement for the MFA is the submission of your creative writing.
Your creative work will be considered when you apply and in your personal statement you should show evidence of relevant experience in your chosen field. The emphasis in the application process on the contextualising research ensures that you have an original contribution to make and that the research is rigorous and well-defined.
The University has 3 possible start dates for research degrees, which are October, January and April.
The minimum time for a full time PhD is three years. Part time is six years.
A traditional PhD is not usually longer than 80,000 words and a similar limit is suggested for the PhD in Creative Writing. The balance is typically weighted towards the creative work rather than the contextual dissertation, but this may be negotiated with your Director of Studies.
No; in fact it is expected that your own creative work will form the basis of your research and if your proposal is accepted, a supervisory team will be allocated accordingly.
Teaching experience is usually available to all Postgraduate Research Students who would like it. It is not usually available during the first year of study (FT) and will depend on what provision is needed on the English BA programme.
There are no examples of completed admissions forma available as yet. Please contact Dr Andrew Moor, Research Degrees Co-Ordinator, for a sample pro-forma. A.Moor@mmu.ac.uk
Any questions can be directed to pgradmissions@mmu.ac.uk
You may also like to try our four week online course on how to write a research degree proposal, aimed at explaining the main components of the written proposal.
You can browse the course by visiting the site collectiveonlinelearning.harts.online/register
If you want to follow the course and receive feedback, register by opening the link in your browser, inputting the password r3Gi5t3R and then completing the registration form - fields marked with a red asterisk are required. Make a note of your username and password - you’ll need them for future logins.
Once you’ve successfully registered you’ll also be logged into the site - for that first session at least - and can start the course immediately. There is an FAQ's page and a comments form if you need assistance. At the end of the course, if you want to, you can submit your draft proposal for feedback from our research degrees team.