Autumn 2025 Timetable Available now: Autumn 2025 Timetable. The timetable is subject to minor changes / updates. Updated 05.05.2025: New Title for BA Seminar Monday morning 10-12
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Deadlines Spring Semester 2025 Please click here to see all the deadlines for Spring Semester 2025 (KSL registration, thesis registration, Advanced Reading List).
Let's talk about waste! The UniAktuell features a new article in which Professor Crispin Thurlow and doctoral researchers Laura Wohlgemuth and Alessandro Pellanda talk about the SNSF-funded “Articulating Rubbish" project.
New Research Grant: 'Becoming Axolotl: Empathy, Simulation, and Embodiment in Medieval Narratives' (Co-PIs: Prof. Dr. Annette Kern-Stähler, Bern; Dr. Mirko Sardelić, Zagreb; Dr. Catalin Taranu, Bucharest; July 2025-July 2029) Funded within MAPS (Multilateral Academic Projects) – a multilateral funding instrument with Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, implemented under the second Swiss Contribution, mandated by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. Situated at the intersection of cognitive literary studies, affect studies, sensory studies, new materialism, and narratology, this project explores the role of medieval narratives in the simulation of cognitive, emotional, and sensorial experiences of radical others, both human and more-than-human (animals, plants, objects, spirits, gods, monsters).
PhD Position (funded within MAPS) Medieval English Literature Professor Dr. Annette Kern-Stähler aims to select a doctoral student (with an MA or equivalent degree) interested in pursuing a PhD in English Literature under her supervision in the Department of English at the University of Bern, Switzerland. The successful candidate will be attached to the research project 'Becoming Axolotl: Empathy, Simulation, and Embodiment in Medieval Narratives' funded within MAPS (Multilateral Academic Projects). To apply for this post, please submit by 15 June 2025, the following materials as a single PDF: a cover letter (outlining your motivation in applying for this position - addressed at Prof. Dr. Annette Kern-Stähler); a full Curriculum Vitae (CV); the names and email addresses of two academic referees (no letters are needed at this point); a research proposal (750-1000 words).
SAMEMES Book Prize Dr. Hannah Piercy was awarded the 2024 SAMEMES (Swiss Association of Medieval and Early Modern English Studies) Book Prize for her monograph, 'Resistance to Love in Medieval English Romance: Negotiating Consent, Gender, and Desire'. Her books is available open access thanks to the Swiss National Science Foundation.
BA and MA Students A-L Consultation Hours BA and MA students can sign up for in-person and virtual consultation hours with study counsellor Helen Shepherd. Students can select one time slot if it is not already taken by another student.
BA and MA Students M-Z Consultation Hours BA and MA students can sign up for in-person and virtual consultation hours with study counsellor Sabine von Rütte. Students can select one time slot if it is not already taken by another student.
International Coordinator: Stay Abroad Enquiries Please find more information on planning your stay abroad, completing your stay abroad, and other students' experiences and reports on this page.
Master's Open Days 2025 Are you about to change from a Bachelor's to a Master's Degree Program and still have a lot of questions? We will inform you on site and online on March 18-20.
Would you like to add an event? Please contact the directors' assistant to add an event to our calendar.
'Sustainable Forms' Conference: 19-20 June 2025 Please find more information on the various talks in the 'Events' section of the Department of English website.
