Study opportunities
There are various opportunities to study children’s literature at Cambridge.
Within the BA
Children and Literature is a paper offered in Part II of the BA in Education . A large proportion of Education students in their final year choose this challenging but highly rewarding course.
Masters
Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature is a specialist Master’s course leading to an MPhil in Education (full-time) or MEd in Education (part-time). This unique course combines theoretical approaches to children’s literature with empirical research and a creative-writing module to provide an integrated, interdisciplinary grounding in the subject. Additionally, a fruitful collaboration with the Masters course in Children’s Book Illustration at Anglia Ruskin School of Art includes a seminar series, Words about Pictures, Pictures about Words. Previous seminar speakers have included artists and authors, Quentin Blake, John Lawrence, Charlotte Voake and Martin Waddell. The current Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature modules comprise:
- Culture and texts
- Images of childhood in Film and Poetry
- Children responding to visual texts
- Writing for children
This MPhil attracts students from a wide range of different backgrounds, all with a keen interest children’s literature. Some have returned, enriched and newly equipped, to their previous professions; others have gone on into children’s book or educational publishing, library studies, teacher training, and doctoral research.
Students on this course are eligible for the Jacqueline Wilson Award, awarded annually for an outstanding Masters thesis in children’s literature.
Visit the Faculty pages for more details on the course, or contact Professor Maria Nikolajeva [mn351@cam.ac.uk].
PhD
The centre is home to a growing number of PhD students. Many have progressed through the MPhil 
in Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature (an excellent grounding for doctoral research), but the centre welcomes applications from any prospective doctoral students with appropriate qualifications and research interests. Current PhD students have been successful in securing ESRC and AHRC scholarships; for more information about potential sources of funding, see the Cambridge Board of Graduate Studies.
The centre provides a superb environment for PhD research: In addition to the wealth of resources provided by the Cambridge Libraries and top-class supervision, there is a highly active scholarly community and a stimulating programme of seminars. Regular group meetings with doctoral students and visiting scholars provide opportunities for sharing work, debating key and current issues in children’s literature – and celebrating successes.
Visit the Faculty pages for more details on the PhD Programme or contact Professor Maria Nikolajeva [mn351@cam.ac.uk].
Visiting scholars
The Centre hosts a number of visiting scholars each year. Some comments from some of our most recent visitors:
“It was a wonderful year for me in this centre. There were so many fantastic things: attending various courses and seminars, learning from distinguished teachers, discussion with active students and visiting scholars from other countries, and reading the abundant books in the libraries. All of these have improved my research. I loved the amazing scenery here in Cambridge as well as the brilliant academic atmosphere.”
Fengxia Tan
Ph.D, Associate Professor, Nanjing Normal University, China
“I spent two months in Cambridge researching under the supervision of Professor Maria Nikolajeva and developing a children's literature course for my university. I will always remember this time both as an enriching academic and personal experience. I very much appreciated the hospitality and support of Professor Nikolajeva, who not only helped me with my research, but introduced me to the academic world of Cambridge and put me in touch with other professors and visiting scholars. I especially enjoyed the camaraderie of my colleagues at the university.”
Dr. Javier de la Peña, Madrid, Universidad. 2011
“My visit has been a most fruitful one. Research never comes to a standstill here.There is always an array of equally interesting activities to choose from, the atmosphere is friendly and the people are very helpful and nice. What more could a visiting scholar want?”
Roshanak Pashaee, PhD student, Tehran University, Iran. 2011
“I could not have been made more welcome … the lecturers took me into their classes and provided me with plenty of opportunities to discuss my own work as well. These discussions resulted in the production of an article and the emergence of a slightly new direction for my research project. The opening of the Centre for Children’s Literature has made it even easier to visit.”
Dr Lydia Kokkola, Collegium Researcher at the Turku Institute for Advanced studies (TIAS). 2010
Visit the Faculty pages for more details on the Visiting Scholar programme or contact Professor Maria Nikolajeva [mn351@cam.ac.uk].
