Research

The Department of German fosters innovative, world-leading research into the languages, literatures, cultures and histories of the German-speaking regions and countries. Our research spans a dynamic range of periods, geographies and disciplines – from historical sociolinguistics to contemporary cultural studies – and is committed to interrogating the interplay between language, culture and identity in the German-speaking world and around the globe. Our research makes cutting-edge contributions to fields including Comparative and Transnational German Studies; Exile Studies; German-language Cultural and Literary Studies (including Film and Theatre); Historical Linguistics and Sociolinguistics; and Memory Studies.

In our research activities and publications we are connected, nationally and internationally, to research networks at the forefront of our discipline, in which we play leading parts. In Bristol, we have often been the proud host to externally funded post-doctoral researchers (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship, Humboldt Trust Feodor Lynen Fellowship, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellows) and we welcome inquiries about such positions. Our community of current and recent MPhil and PhD researchers are on the Comparative Literatures and Cultures as well as the German programmes, and we collaborate with other disciplines as co-supervisors: for example, Education, English, History and Music. Our research students are supported by the AHRC (including by the South, West and Wales DTP), by the University PhD Scholarships, and by self-funding. We are experienced in advising applicants on possible funding sources and work closely with them to maximise the potential of their bids.

Key research areas

The German Department has particular research specialisms in the following areas, actively engaging in and supporting interdisciplinary and comparative research across: 

  • German-language culture from the 18th to the 21st century (including literary studies, film studies, and theatre and performance studies)
  • Comparative literatures and cultures
  • Transnational German Studies
  • German-language exile literature
  • Anglo-German and German-American cultural and literary relations
  • Historical Linguistics
  • Sociolinguistics
  • Linguistic variation, language change, and vernacularisation
  • Memory Studies 
  • The history and memory of the GDR
  • The cultural memory of the GDR and racism

Current and recent projects

Full details of our research can be found under our individual research profiles here. Current and recent research projects include:

Collaborations and activities

Colleagues in the German Department are regularly involved in international research projects and collaborations, and the department is proud to have hosted AHRC-funded networks on the interdisciplinarity of linguistics and history, and on the memory of the GDR, as well as major gatherings such as the annual Association for German Studies conference. The Department of German is also very proud to be the birthplace of the Historical Sociolinguistics Network (HiSoN), founded in 2005, and hosted the 20th anniversary conference of the network in 2025.

Colleagues in the department also actively shape the discipline through involvement in, and leadership of, major national and international scholarly associations, with current or recent representation on the committees of: 

Dr Steffan Davies is one of the editors of the journal German Life and Letters, and Dr Anna Havinga is the review editor of the Journal of Historical Sociolinguistics. Dr Benedict Schofield is one of the editors of the book series Transnational Modern Languages (Liverpool University Press); Transnational Approaches to Culture (De Gruyter); and Studies in Modern German & Austrian Literature (Peter Lang), and German Co-Editor for the journal Modern Languages Open. Together, these are amongst the most significant journals and book series for German Studies in the UK. 

We are deeply committed to public engagement and fostering impact through our research, and have collaborated with the British Library, Shakespeare's Globe, the National Theatre, and locally with Myers-Insole Local Learning, the Upfest street art festival and German Associations across the region.

Research postgraduates

German at Bristol has a long tradition in supporting innovative postgraduate research. Our PhD and MPhil candidates are highly valued members of our department and our research culture. Current PhD and MPhil projects include:

  • Emily Cook (MPhil): 'Community and Self-Actualisation in Mithu Sanyal and Sharon Dodua Otoo'
  • Jonny Elling (PhD): 'Michael Hamburger and the Turn of 1800: Hamburger's Mediations of Coleridge, Goethe, Novalis, Kleist and Care'
  • Qinqian Fei (PhD): 'German Exile Composers in Shanghai'
  • Adrian Mazarollo (PhD): 'Melancholy Exophony: Trials of Subjectivity in Adopted-Language Literature: Samuel Beckett, Julia Kristeva, Fernanda Pessoa, and Tawada Yoko'
  • Sarah Newman (PhD): 'Multilingual Practices in Private Texts by Witnesses and Victims to the Holocaust: A Historical Sociolinguistic Study'
  • Victoria Pellant (PhD): 'Neoliberalism and Identity: Psychological Displacement in Christian Petzold's Filmic Trilogies'
  • Ishudhi Rawat (PhD): 'Memory Across Borders: The Politics of Remembering the Free Indian Legion and the Indian National Army (1941-1945)'
  • Cathy Shail (PhD): 'What does German Have to Offer Young Readers in the UK? The Development of Conscience in Modern German Literature'
  • James Stockwell (MPhil): ‘“Schuldkult und Sühne”: How the Alternative für Deutschland Instrumentalises Contemporary German Memory Politics’ 
  • Richard Strivens (PhD): 'Representations of Masculine Authority and the Authorial Voice in the Bass-Clef Roles of the Operas of Richard Strauss'
  • Laura Welsh (PhD): 'Terms for ETERNITY: Perceptions of Time and Timelessness in Old and Middle English'

Find out more