The School of English is pleased to offer a number of extra activities, aimed at final year undergraduate students, to help them prepare for employment or further study. If you would be interested in joining any of the events detailed below, please contact the academic member of staff directly for more information or to book your place.
MA taster sessions
Whether you just want to add to your degree or are looking to go on to PG study, this is you opportunity to discover what MA study at Kent is like. Take part in sample seminars sourced from our exciting MA programmes! For more information, please contact Juha Virtanen
Research Internships
There are a number of research projects going on in the School of English right now that would greatly benefit from your assistance. Come and join us—find out what it is like to work on large research projects and learn some transferable skills while you do so.
- Database population and picture research/analysis: “The Lady’s Magazine project: Patterns of Perfection” is looking for one or two students to work on incorporating images and other forms of metadata into an in-progress excel database documenting an archive of 600 embroidery patterns from 1770-1820. The project would involve picture research and image analysis and some handling of archival materials. No prior experience necessary. All necessary training will be given by Jennie Batchelor. Students would also have the option (entirely optional) to blog about their experiences on the project blog. Academic lead: Professor Jennie Batchelor
- Digital Mapping: “Beyond the Spectacle: Native North American Presence in Britain” is looking for two or three students to take on individual mapping projects to create online maps tracing the journeys of groups of Native Americans who were here in the 18th and 19th centuries. You will be offered software training and be given research leads that will enable you to start charting these journeys. Academic lead: Professor David Stirrup
- “Indigenous Kent”: “Beyond the Spectacle: Native North American Presence in Britain” is looking for a student to help research specific visitors to Kent in the course of the 19th and 20th centuries. You will work closely with leads provided by the project team to pursue archival evidence, locate specific sites, and write up your findings. Academic lead: Professor David Stirrup
- Bibliography and Textual Scholarship: Studies in Early Modern Co-Authored Drama: Around 80 surviving early modern plays, 1576-1642, are thought to be co-authored. What can be discovered from patterns of co-authorship? Who worked with whom, when, and why? This project would involve identifying and analysing attribution work on these 80 plays and creating a working bibliography for further study. The student or students will gain expertise in analytical bibliography, the history of early modern drama, and attribution studies. Academic lead: Dr Rory Loughnane
If you are interested in any of these opportunities please contact David Stirrup in the first instance. You will be expected to meet with the academic lead in order to discuss parameters, dates, and your suitability for the role.
Employability events series
Help I’m Graduating – What Next? Thursday 9th May 12:30-13:30 in RX12
This session will explore techniques to help you to develop confidence and resilience as you transition from University to the next stage in your life, be it work, further study or something else. It will also give you tips on how to decide on a direction if you’re currently unsure what would be best for you. We’ll look at which employers particularly value the transferable skills you have gained through studying English and will briefly touch on how to evidence these during the selection process. Although aimed primarily at students in their final year this session is open to all students in the School of English. Please use this link to book your space.
Guest speakers
We have a range of professionals, such as publishers, edits and literary agents, coming to speak as part of the Creative Writing Reading Series.
Additionally we have some writers who graduated from The School of English coming to read and speak about being a writers after completing an English Degree.
All Tuesday evenings in Kenynes Senior Common Room from 6pm.
- 7th May – Stephanie Burt (poet)
- 14th May – Sam Jordison (Co-Director—Gallery Beggar Press), Kishani Widyaratna (Editor—Picador) Aidan O’Neill (Senior Publicity Manager-Penguin Random House)
- 21st May – Sarah Crewe (UKC Alumna author—poet)
- 28th May – Jess Andrews (UKC Alumna author—prose) & Francine Toon (Editor— Sceptre)
- 4th June – Chris Wellbelove, (Agent— Aitken Alexander Literary Agency)
For more information please contact Declan Wiffen or Ariane Mildenberg.
Explore Kent
Visits to literary locations in Kent alongside seminars on Kentish writers.
- 14 May – Derek Jarman – Dungeness. For more information and to register please see our Eventbrite page.
- 21 May – Vita Sackville-West and Virginia Woolf – Sissinghurst. For more information and to register please see our Eventbrite page.
- 28 May – Charles Dickens – Rochester. For more information and to register please see our Eventbrite page.
Creative Writing Workshops at Pilgrims Hospice
Participate in the delivery of workshops in a community setting. For more information please contact Dorothy Lehane.
Student led symposium
Round off the summer term with a student led symposium sharing what you’ve learnt over the term. For more information please contact Sarah James.