Creative Writing PhD

Bath Spa University

The PhD in Creative Writing combines a proposed manuscript (e.g. novel, short story collection, poems, playscript, narrative non-fiction, digital writing) with an element of supporting or contextualising research. The proposed creative manuscript will be volume length (the natural length of a book, depending on genre). The supporting research will be 20,000 words.

A large number of our graduates have successful careers as writers and many have secured academic jobs. We encourage our students to publish and offer an exciting variety of research training opportunities through our campus-based and international low-residency streams.

We receive a large number of applications for the PhD in Creative Writing, and are extremely selective in our recruitment. Criteria for selection include the viability of the proposal, the strength of the creative writing sample, the applicant’s academic and creative writing experience and achievements, and the ability of the University to support the applicant with appropriate supervision and resources. Applicants for this programme will normally hold a first or upper second class honours degree (or equivalent), as well as an MA in Creative Writing with Distinction (or comparable achievement).

The emphasis is not on creating two separate pieces of work, but on integration, on purposeful exploration through practice: an interdependent programme of contextual and practice-based creative work.

Both sections of the PhD must contain work of publishable quality. In the case of the contextualising research, this might mean some of the material could be turned into an article for an academic journal, but this element of the PhD must contain original, rigorous research. Together - taken as a whole - the contextual and creative elements must make a new contribution to knowledge.