Ph.D. or MLitt (Masters by Research)

We have a wide range of expertise from Medieval and Renaissance literature to contemporary literary, performance, and cultural studies, cinema and interart/intermedia, and translation studies.

Giant Hands of Venice's Grand Canal – Venice, Italy - Atlas Obscura

If you wish to enroll for a Ph.D. or a Master's by research in Italian, the first step is to check whether someone in the Department can supervise you: https://www.tcd.ie/Italian/research/.

We have a wide range of expertise from Medieval and Renaissance literature to contemporary literary, performance, and cultural studies, cinema and interart/intermedia, and translation studies.

A Trinity research degree is normally written in English, but we can obtain permission for students to write in Italian when a good academic reason is provided. You must still have a good standard of English to study here.

To Apply

To apply you need a very good degree in a relevant subject. Before making a formal application to the University, we suggest that you contact us providing:

a research proposal (preferably but not necessarily in English) of 1500-2000 words. A good guide to writing a successful research proposal
a detailed curriculum vitae
a sample of your writing (a published article/unpublished essay/ a chapter of your tesi di laurea).

Your inquiry will be sent to us rapidly. We meet regularly to select our doctoral students: we carefully consider each completed application and every suitable applicant receives advice on making a strong application as well as help, if applicable, with preparing funding proposals.

Distance Learning Ph.D. in Italian

If you want to access our Ph.D. from the comfort of your own home, without necessarily coming to live in Ireland, you can apply to work on your thesis with your Trinity supervisor on our Non-resident Ph.D. As part of this programme you are a fully registered student of Trinity College Dublin with access to our libraries and services. A programme of online seminars and discussion groups will be made available to enable connection with fellow Trinity researchers within and across disciplines.

Please note that students on the Non-Resident register are not eligible for university funding awards, including the Ussher, 1252 awards and Provost's Project awards.

Non Resident PhD Fact Sheet

Please get in touch with us as early as possible so that we can best support your application. More details about postgraduate study (PhD/Masters/Distance PhD) are here: https://www.tcd.ie/Italian/postgraduate/index.php

Funding

For details of funding, please see Postgraduate Scholarships and Funding.

Note these key deadlines:

The Trinity Ussher Fellowships and Trinity Postgraduate Research studentships close on 1st April 2022.
Irish Research Council Funding applications are now closed for September 2022 entry. Please see here for information about the 2023 entry.

Employment

Our graduates have gained prestigious positions. These include:

Professor George Talbot (Ph.D. Italian Trinity) is now Pro-Vice Chancellor of Research and Dean of Arts & Sciences at Edge Hill University;
Dr. Marco Sonzogni (Ph.D. Italian Trinity 2005) is a Reader in Translation Studies at Victoria University of Wellington.
Dr. Kenneth Clarke (TCD BA in Italian/History of Art; TCD MPhil Medieval Language Literature and Culture) is an Associate Professor at the University of York.
Dr. Paul Hare (Ph.D. Italian) is a Senior Language Teaching Fellow, of Modern Languages, University of Strathclyde.
Dr. Mirko Zilahy (Ph.D. Italian) works at Università per Stranieri in Perugia and is now one of the best-selling Italian noir writers, as well as editor for Minimum Fax, journalist, and translator.

For further information see Trinity’s Postgraduate Prospectus, on the Graduate Studies introductory page.