This programme addresses one of our main aims at Kent, which is to enable research students to take risks and use cross-disciplinary techniques to explore research questions. This is the PhD that covers narrative non-fiction, as well as other forms of creative writing that are not poems or a novel. Our first student on this programme is exploring identity through hip-hop, and will be handing in an album alongside a piece of scholarly research. Overview All the research programmes enable you to feel part of the vibrant University community, with access to a range of exciting events, research seminars and MA modules which you can take for no credit with the agreement of the convenor. Most PhD students are given the opportunity to teach from their second year. As a research student, you meet regularly with your supervisor, and have the opportunity to take part in informal reading groups and research seminars to which students, staff and visiting speakers contribute papers. You also benefit from a series of research skills seminars that run in the spring term, which gives you a chance to share the research expertise of staff and postdoctoral members of the department. As a basis for advanced research, you must take the School and Faculty research methods programmes. About the School of English The School of English has a strong international reputation and global perspective, apparent both in the background of its staff and in the diversity of our teaching and research interests. Our expertise ranges from the medieval to the postmodern, including British, American and Irish literature, postcolonial writing, 18th-century studies, Shakespeare, early modern literature and culture, Victorian studies, modern poetry, critical theory and cultural history. The international standing of the School ensures that we have a lively, confident research culture, sustained by a vibrant, ambitious intellectual community. We also count a number of distinguished creative writers among our staff, and we actively explore crossovers between critical and creative writing in all our areas of teaching and research. The Research Excellence Framework 2014 has produced very strong results for the School of English at Kent. With 74% of our work graded as world-leading or internationally excellent, the School is ranked 10th out of 89 English departments in terms of Research Intensity (Times Higher Education). The School also received an outstanding assessment of the quality of its research environment and public impact work. National ratings In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, research by the School of English was ranked 10th for research intensity and 15th for research power in the UK. An impressive 100% of our research-active staff submitted to the REF and 95% of our research was judged to be of international quality. The School’s environment was judged to be conducive to supporting the development of world-leading research.