The department pursues high-quality, interdisciplinary research across the range of French studies - medieval and early-modern literature and thought, 19th, 20th and 21st century literature, contemporary French culture, society and politics, French thought and critical theory, feminist and gender studies, Francophone and postcolonial studies, cinema and the visual arts, linguistics and translation studies. All current full-time members of staff are research-active. In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise the department was ranked third in the UK in terms of Research Power, which takes into account the number and proportion of research-active staff submitted in each unit.
The department has a thriving postgraduate community, and is able to offer research supervision in all areas of French and Francophone Studies.
The department is home to three research groups: