UoA 27 English Language and Literature
Our distinctive multidisciplinary research encompasses expertise from groups such as Science Humanities and Image Works. We have transformed understanding of historical illustrations, changed public thinking about gender and soldiering, increased everyday use of the Welsh language, enhanced communication strategies in dementia care, and expanded social inclusion in cultural and organisational practice.
Achieving a GPA of 3.51, we have improved on our 2014 submission while nearly doubling our returned FTE. A score of 3.90 places us 4th in the UK for research impact and we are 5th for research power, an indicator of the scale and quality of our submission.
We foster an inclusive, diverse and collaborative research community. Reflective of this, we submitted 100% of our eligible staff to this Unit of Assessment.
Our results
| Quality level | 4 star % | 3 star % | 2 star % | 1 star % | Unclassified % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overall | 59.0 | 33.0 | 8.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Outputs | 40.1 | 46.3 | 13.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Impact | 90.0 | 10.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Environment | 80.0 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
Our research environment
The School of English, Communication and Philosophy is a multi-discipline unit invested in creative thinking, critical rigour and trans-disciplinarity.
Our work within and across 4 disciplines – English Literature, Creative Writing, Language and Communication, and Philosophy – builds on an ethos of collaboration.
Since REF 2014, we have made inclusivity and sustainability key priorities of our research strategy, which has helped growth in terms of both academic staff and grant income (114% increase).
Further key developments include:
- improving the support structures for doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers and staff at all career stages
- leveraging funding (institutional and external) to enable staff to deliver enhanced programmes of research and impact, working with an expanding number of strategic partners and stakeholders
- creating opportunities for staff to develop new research agendas in partnership with colleagues within and outside the unit, in the UK and internationally
- enhancing leadership roles within the humanities nationally and internationally around areas of specific research and impact strength, such as digital and visual cultures, medical/science humanities, and the capacity of the humanities to tackle post-truth society and geo-political crises
Our research, impact activities and postgraduate teaching have been supported by sustained engagement with the university’s Special Collections and Archives. The archive was the venue for MA modules, an annual student conference, and our Romanticist research seminar. Special Collections was an important collaborator in visual and illustration studies, such as Victorian digital resources.
Our research has additionally benefitted from the university’s broader facilities including the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC).
Discover our research
We aim for our research to be open to diverse external audiences and we generate engagement activities designed to maximise its reach and effectiveness in order to enrich local, national and global communities.
