Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies Research

Entry requirements

Master's degree (or overseas equivalent) in a relevant subject. In exceptional circumstances, very strong applicants with a Bachelors degree with 1st class or 2:1 honours may be considered without a Master's degree.

Months of entry

January, April, September

Course content

Spanish was first taught at King’s in 1831, only two years after the College’s foundation, and the teaching of Portuguese in British universities was pioneered by King’s in the 1860s. Since the establishment of the Cervantes Chair in 1916 and the Camoens Chair in 1919, the College has become a world-leading centre for Spanish and Portuguese studies and the creation of the new Department of Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies continues this tradition of innovation and research strength. The Department offers a wide range of opportunities for specialist and cross-disciplinary supervision, from the medieval period to the present day, in literature, history, cultural studies, film, drama and music. Our commitment to all areas of Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Latin America and Lusophone Africa, combined with the wide-ranging teaching and research interests of the staff, means that we are able to offer an unrivalled variety of supervision topics for postgraduate study.

You can discover more about the research interests of particular members of staff in the Department on their staff profiles. Dissemination of our research takes a number of forms, which include: enhancing publishing and programming of the arts, shaping critical practice in musical, visual and literary culture, and influencing public policy.

Spanish, Portuguese & Latin American Studies has recently attracted major grants both from the Arts & Humanities Research Council and from UK-based charitable foundations like the Leverhulme for collaborative projects and research positions. In 2016 a team of academics led by Professor Catherine Boyle was awarded almost £3 million under the AHRC’s Open World Research Initiative (OWRI) for the Language Acts and Worldmaking project, to lead research that will seek to inform the future of the study and teaching of Modern Languages. You can find out more about the projects taking place in the Department on the Research Portal.

Current projects include:

“‘Reindigenisation’ in the post-colonial Andes”, “The history of currency in pre-colonial Atlantic Africa”, “The reception in late medieval and early modern Spain of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus”, “Culture of the Spanish transition to democracy”, “Brazilian song in translation”.

Information for international students

Visit our admissions webpages to view our English language entry requirements.

Fees and funding

Visit the fees and funding webpages to find out more about bursaries, scholarships, grants, tuition fees, living expenses, student loans and other financial help available at King's.