About our research
The Centre for Creative Writing, English Literature and Linguistics (CELL) is one of the UK’s largest English and Linguistics research centres. With over 70 staff, we’re always growing and evolving.
Our work in English aims to go ‘beyond the page’ and turn the traditional view of our subject — quiet, private reading — into an exciting collection of community-facing projects and activities.
Our work in Linguistics aims to improve communication and understanding between individuals, communities, and wider society through public engagement and knowledge exchange.
We’re a hub for literary and linguistic research and practice, and we’re determined to make a real difference to cultural life in Manchester and beyond.
Our successes include:
- being awarded a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Mother Tongue Other Tongue, our multilingual poetry initiative (2019)
- developing Manchester Voices, our AHRC-funded community-facing linguistics project (2019-2022)
- co-hosting the English: Shared Futures conference in 2022.
- creating the Manchester Poetry Library, the first public poetry library in a British university and England’s first new public poetry library since 1968.
- playing a central role in Manchester’s bid for UNESCO City of Literature status in 2017