North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership

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NWCDTP Pathways

A pathway is a subject strand specific to the North West Consortium DTP. It includes subject/department areas common to our seven institutions and brings them together to form a cross-institutional subject area which brings the best researchers and academics in those fields. Pathway leaders lead the pathways in each institution. Pathways have independence and can organise research conferences, training and other relevant events beneficial to their students.

The NWCDTP has the following fifteen pathways across Histories, Cultures & Heritage, Creative & Performing Arts, Languages & Literature:

Histories, Cultures & Heritage

Classics

Overview

The Classics Pathway brings together the disciplines of ancient history, languages, and material culture. It focuses on the ancient Mediterranean world (broadly defined), including Egypt, Greece, Rome and its empire, and the Near East. Pathway members are the University of Liverpool, the University of Lancaster, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the University of Manchester. Our shared strengths include

fresco of Isis in Pompeii

Greek and Latin literature; Greek and Roman history and religions; Egyptian history from dynastic to Roman and early Christian periods; Demotic, Greek and Coptic papyrology; the ancient life course, from conception to old age; Pre-Socratic and Classical Philosophy; and Digital Humanities.

Projects

Lancaster University CDA: “The Religious Landscapes of Hadrian’s Wall: A Spatial and Diachronic Analysis”

Heritage (Archaeology, Art History, Museum Studies)

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History

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Law

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Philosophy

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Religions

Overview

University of Manchester: “We have world-class research resources, including The John Rylands Library – home to a substantial collection of manuscripts and papyri, including the oldest manuscript fragment of a New Testament book and the Rylands Genizah Collection.
The geographical contexts being studied include South Asia, the USA, and Africa. The range of religious traditions is fully represented, and research students employ a wide range of methods and approaches, including textual and empirical research methods. PGR students will benefit from collaborations with cognate disciplines such as Philosophy (SoSS), CLAHE and Social Anthropology”.

John Cassidy “Theology inspiring Science and Art (1898)” Deansgate Library Manchester, (Copyright Deansgate Library Manchester, JRRI)

Lancaster University: “The Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion (PPR) is one of the most highly ranked departments in the country and is an outstanding department for postgraduate researchers in the following areas: Politics and International Relations, Philosophy, and Religion. Interdisciplinary research involving one or more of the above areas. (Many scholars in PPR are engaged in creative interdisciplinary research within and beyond the department.)” Source: Politics, Philosophy and Religion | Lancaster University

Projects

Mr Adam North
“The Human Body as Object and Performance: Socio-Political Critique through Bodily Performance” funding started in September 2022, with main supervisor Dr Michael Hoelzl.

Dr Rosie Jackson
“Sacrifice, Salvation and Sex: The Female Body and the Shaping of Christian Antiquity”
Funding period: Sept 2014–Sept 2018 (AHRC and President’s Doctoral Scholarship),
main supervisor Prof Peter Oakes.

Dr Andrew Wisdom
“Weight Down beyond our Strength: Trauma, Resilience and Hope in the Pauline Epistles”
Funding period: September 2019- January 2023, main supervisor Dr Todd Klutz.

Creative & Performing Arts

Creative Writing

The Creative Writing pathway covers a range of doctoral projects combining creative and critical work, where the primary output is creative writing. This can be in any form or genre, including poetry, prose, drama/screenwriting and creative-critical modes. Strong applications to the creative writing pathway demonstrate a clear conversation between creative and critical components.

Previous successful applications include a collection of short stories exploring ‘queer form’ alongside a study of contemporary Scottish queer writing; a Caribbean YA Fantasy novel supported research into the representation of race in fantasy; eco-feminist fiction exploring the thresholds of the human and non-human, dovetailing with a critical study of contemporary folkloric authors such as Daisy Johnson and Zoe Gilbert.

Drama

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Media and Cultural Studies

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Music

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Visual Arts and Design

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Languages & Literatures

English

The English pathway is focused on the study of literature in English but also welcomes projects on literary history and literature in translation. The pathway is open to proposals across the breadth of the discipline in terms of both chronology and critical focus. The members of the pathway are Keele University, the University of Liverpool, the University of Lancaster, Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Manchester, and Salford University. Across these institutions, there is a wealth of expertise in all areas of the discipline from the early medieval to the contemporary.

Linguistics

The Linguistics pathway includes the University of Lancaster, the University of Liverpool, the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University and Salford University. The pathway welcomes proposals across the whole breadth of the discipline (including theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics, linguistic typology, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, stylistics, and applied linguistics, as well as interdisciplinary research involving a substantial linguistics component).
Recently funded projects (selection):
Dr Camila Soledad Montiel McCann: “Updating Hegemonic Femininity: A Feminist Critical and Poststructuralist Discourse Analysis of the British Broadsheet Press” (University of Liverpool, 2019-2023)
Ahmad Al Shahma: “Roads for Equitable Integration: Re-imagining UK ESOL Policies and Practices for Developing Refugees’ Socio-cultural Resilience, Integration and Citizenship” (Manchester Metropolitan University, 2021-)
Eve Suharwardy: “A study of temporal comparison in English and Malay” (University of Manchester, 2022-)

Language-Based Area Studies

The Language Based Area Studies pathway focuses on studies on one or more areas of the world for which a modern foreign language (i.e. other than English) is key to the success of the study, including historical studies, studies on contemporary culture, society, and/or map of world politics, or studies that combine historical and contemporary research. The focus of such research may be within a single country or maybe broader within or across regions. It will normally be expected that research conducted under this pathway will be centrally concerned with geographical areas outside the U.K.; research which is centrally concerned with the activities of U.K. nationals or entities within the U.K. but also requires some foreign-language research will not normally fall under this pathway.

Modern Languages and Translation Studies

The Modern Languages and Translation pathway focuses on studies of literature, film or other works in any modern language other than English or studies of practices, processes or products of translation or interpreting between two or more modern languages list of languages in any medium, mode or domain. Research may focus on linguistic, textual, literary, cultural or historical aspects of the works or translations and may include studies of the production or reception of those works anywhere in the world.