Visiting Researchers and Postgraduate Students

Researchers

The department welcomes applications from academic staff members at other universities or tertiary institutions who wish to spend a period of up to 12 months at Lancaster to engage in language-related research. All academic staff members in our Department welcome visitors.

We are now taking registrations for 2024-25. (We have a reserve list for 2023-24).

If you come to Linguistics and English Language Department via the visiting scholar scheme you will be charged a weekly fee of £100 (applicable from October 2024 onwards), which will cover the following:

  • Monthly consultative meetings with the member of staff that serves as your departmental contact (typically, one hour per month);
  • Attendance of up to two modules (for 1 Term visit) or up to four modules (for 2+ Terms visits) that are part of the Department’s postgraduate degree schemes (depending on availability of space);
  • Attendance of regular talks or workshops organized by the Department’s research groups;
  • Use of other University facilities available to staff, including use of the University Library.

The fees will apply regardless of whether you chose to hold your visit with us in term time or during Summer Term when there are no classes. Summer Term runs from mid-end April to mid-end June. To benefit to the fullest from our academic resources and technical facilities we recommend that you come during teaching terms which run from the beginning of October till mid-December (Michaelmas Term) and from mid-January till mid-end March (Lent Term).

Please also note that should you choose to spend any period of time outside Lancaster during your visitor stay with us (for example, to travel around the UK or Europe), the fees will not be reduced to accommodate this arrangement.

Finally, for reasons of space and the availability of staff members, we are able to accept only a limited number of visiting scholar applications per year.

Postgraduate Students (Master's & Doctorate)

We are currently not accepting visiting student applications for less than one year.

Students who have a first degree from another university and are pursuing a postgraduate degree at Master's or Doctorate level, can apply to be visiting postgraduate students.

As a visiting postgraduate student, you are treated just the same as the Department's own students. For example, you can attend postgraduate taught (ie master's level) or postgraduate research (i.e. doctorate level) courses and Departmental research groups, have your work supervised and assessed by a member of academic staff, make use of student accommodation and welfare facilities, etc. However, you will not be registered for a degree at Lancaster University.

  • All visiting postgraduate students are charged a registration levy of £500
  • no additional charge is made for visits of up to three months’ duration
  • For visits of more than three months, students will additionally become liable for 25% of the relevant published fee for each subsequent quarter or part thereof
  • Students studying at Lancaster for the full academic year will be charged 100% of the standard fee.

How to apply

If you wish to apply as a visiting researcher please contact Tara Noon.

Do not send multiple copies of identical emails to several members of staff. We will reply to your email with details of how to apply as a visitor.