The Language Based Area Studies pathway focuses on studies of one or more areas of the world, for which a modern foreign language (i.e. a language other than English) is key to the success of the study. Studies can be confined to one country or deal with two or more countries, and may relate to particular regions or sub-regions, such as the Arab World, East Asia, Latin America, or Russia and Eastern Europe. It will normally be expected that research conducted under this pathway will be centrally concerned with geographical areas outside the U.K.; research which is centrally concerned with the activities of U.K. nationals or entities within the U.K. but also requires some foreign-language research, will not normally fall under this pathway. Area studies research under this pathway involves subjects and approaches that are within the domain of social scientific fields (broadly conceived), such as those covered in other NWSSDTP pathways.

Programmes eligible for NWSSDTP funding

N.B. Master’s programmes can only be funded as part of a 1+3/2+2 Studentship

Lancaster University

• MA Languages and Cultures
• PhD European Languages and Cultures

University of Liverpool

• MRes Latin American Studies
• MRes Modern Languages and Cultures
• PhD Latin American Studies

University of Manchester

• MA Modern Languages and Cultures
• MSc Sociological Research
• MA Anthropological Research
• PhD Latin American Cultural Studies
• PhD Arab World Studies
• PhD Middle Eastern Studies
• PhD East Asian (Chinese and Japanese) Studies
• PhD Russian and East European Studies
• PhD Social Anthropology

For information on how to apply for funding, please visit our How to Apply page.

Pathway Representatives

Contact details for Language Based Area Studies Pathway Representatives at each institution can be found here

Current Language Based Area Studies NWSSDTP students

Joanna Morley (2017 Cohort)

• University of Liverpool
• Website: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/modern-languages-and-cultures/research/phd-research/joannamorley/
• Email Address: joanna.morley@liverpool.ac.uk
• MethodsX Stream: Interview-based Qualitative Research

Renewable Energy Transformations and Sustainable Development in Ecuador

This research will explore the impacts of energy projects promoted under the banner of buen vivir development on local communities in Ecuador, including attempts to diversify the country’s energy matrix away from traditional fossil fuels, within the context of sustainable development and climate mitigation policies. This research will contribute to the academic debates surrounding the socio- environmental and human rights implications of neo-extractivist policies in Latin American and to international investments in natural resource exploitation.

Richard Smith (2018 Cohort)

• University of Liverpool
• Website:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/richgsmith/
• Email Address: r.g.smith@liverpool.ac.uk
• MethodsX Stream: Interview-based Qualitative Research

Opposing Pinochet: The causes and consequences of protest in Santiago de Chile in the 1980s

My research focuses on the socio-political history of southern Latin-America. I am examining the response of younger Chileans to the Pinochet Government in the 1980s and the complex social networks that underpinned their vigorous opposition.