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Research

In the RAE 2008, UCL German was tied for first place in percentage of research judged to be 'world leading' and received the second highest rating overall.

In the RAE 2001, UCL's German Department received the top ranking of 5*.

The academic staff of the Department of German actively pursue their own individual research interests, publishing articles and books on a vast array of topics. The Department regularly organises an informal lecture series during which members of the Department present their latest research to each other, students and colleagues from other universities. 

Academic staff in the Department of German also participate in collective interdisciplinary and departmental research projects. We are currently considering our next project (for further details contact Susanne Kord and Mark Hewitson)

AHRC-funded project:

Reverberations of War: Communities of Experience and Identification in Germany and Europe since 1945

Principal Investigator: Mary Fulbrook
Co-Investigator: Stephanie Bird
Research Fellows: Julia Wagner, Christiane Wienand

This project analyses reverberations of the Second World War across Europe through the Cold War and beyond, shedding new light on the complex legacies of war for generations of Europeans, and, through coordinated in-depth studies, developing a new theoretical approach. It is supported by a 44-month grant from the AHRC of £729,928.00 plus two PhD studentships over three years (providing fees and maintenance for UK students or fees only for EU students who do not fulfil the UK residence requirements).

The project challenges approaches couched in terms of ‘collective memory’ or ‘communities of remembrance’, exploring instead the relationships between ‘communities of experience’ and later ‘communities of identification’, which may not be closely related to communities of origin. It focuses on a selection of inter-related themes which intrinsically connect a later present to a difficult past: reckoning, reconciliation, reconstruction and representation. Each implies – despite the linguistic connotations of ‘return’ – an attempt to build anew under changed circumstances. Such attempts are coloured by later social, political, and also emotional and cultural contexts, in which imaginative engagements in film and literature play a powerful role in shaping aspirations and perceptions; hence the involvement of literary scholars as well as historians in a collaborative, inter-disciplinary team.

Past Research Projects have resulted in the following publications:

Laughter and Ridicule
Max und Moritz

Excess and Transgression

Excess and Transgression

History and Identity

Representing the German Nation



  • Dr Joyce Crick

  • Professor Martin Swales