French - Structured

Course Overview

As part of the doctoral training available on the Structured PhD programme, students avail themselves of a range of interdisciplinary taught modules. The wide menu of available options include modules that:



are discipline-specific in that they augment the student’s existing knowledge in their specialist area.

are dissertation-specific in that they supply core skills which are essential to completion of the research project.

acknowledge a student’s professional development e.g. presentation of a paper at an International Conference

enhance a student’s employability through generic training, e.g., Careers Workshops, Computer literacy.

Each student will be assigned a primary Supervisor(s) and a Graduate Research Committee made up of experienced researchers to plan their programme of study and to provide on-going support to their research.



Research supervision is available in the areas listed below.



Modules may be taken from approved structured PhD modules as per College regulations.

Candidates should have obtained an honours degree in French (Second Class Honours, Grade 1 [or equivalent international qualification ] minimum), and would usually already hold a Master’s degree.

Apply by mid-July for September entry



Applications are made online via the NUI Galway Postgraduate Applications System.

4 years full time

Areas of interest

17th Century French Literature, Linguistics, Translation Theory, Travel Literature, Realism and Fantasy.


French Canadian Literature and Society; Commercial French.


History and Politics of French Decolonisation, History and Sociology of French Sport and Leisure, History and Sociology of French Rugby.


Medieval literature (in particular 15th Century Literature and History), the Mémoires of Olivier de la Marche, Historiography, the Manneken Pis as Belgian regional icon, Illegitimacy 1300-1600.


Autobiography, 20th Century French Literature, Yves Navarre, Autofiction, Diary, Writing and Identity.


Gender and Language, Scientific French, French Language Teaching and New Technologies.


Literature and Religion, Jean Sulivan.


New Methodologies in Language Learning and Teaching, CALL, SALL, the Internet as a learning tool, French-Canadian Women's Writing: Brossard, Martin, Marchessault, Laberge, etc.


19th-Century Poetry, Prose Poetry, Novel, Charles Baudelaire, Stendhal, Gender Studies, Critical Theory.