What is PORT about? | Who built it?
What is port about?
Port is a site offering web-based research training materials, accessible
to all from the Institute of Germanic and
Romance Studies server of the School
of Advanced Study, University of London. The portal combines
two main sections:
- Skills tutorials (not specific to a particular
language)
These invite you to reflect on the various skills involved in postgraduate research and give you information on practical matters. The skills packages will cover the main fields of research undertaken in Modern Language departments and in other Humanities departments concerned with the study of Romance culture or languages (eg Linguistics, Film and Media, History of Art). To access a variety of different research training packages, click on 'tutorials' listed in the top menu bar of this page. A general tutorials page will open, giving you the option to select one of thirteen different skills packages. Alternatively, if you scroll over the 'tutorials' icon, you will activate a drop-down menu from which you can directly choose amongst the different packages available. - Resources
Our resources cover materials relating to French, Italian, Spanish, German, Czech, Polish, Russian and Portuguese studies, and to some degree to Francophone, Hispanic, Latin-American and Lusophone culture. These directories will provide links to and information about institutions, such as libraries, archives and museums concerned with these modern languages and cultures, as well as web-based resources. Where appropriate we will give practical advice on access, facilities and usage. To access our resources, click on one of the six languages given in the top-menu bar and the respective pages with options for different kinds of resources relevant for one particular language will open. You can also directly enter these more specific directories by activating a drop-down menu linked to the different languages that form the top-menu bar, eg, simply scroll over 'french' and a sub-menu for different kinds of French resources will be revealed.
The materials are conceived as free-standing self-study units but will also be of use to teachers on research training programmes to support face-to-face provision.
This site was built under the umbrella of the HEFCE-funded University Council of Modern Languages Collaboration Programme for Modern Languages in Higher Education. This project is one of 10 projects which form the Collaboration Programme in Modern Languages in Higher Education. Additional funding was provided by the Vice-Chancellor's Development Fund, University of London.
PORT is maintained by Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies (School of Advanced Study, University of London). It was originally created by the Institute in partnership with Queen Mary, University of London and the Italian Research Consortium which includes Reading University, University College London, and Royal Holloway, University of London. Consultancy during the project design stage was provided by the PORT management committee, a group of academic advisors from different Romance Studies University departments in the UK, chaired by Professor Tim Unwin, University of Bristol.
Contributors to the project have been research assistants affiliated with the IGRS, QMUL and RHUL: Dr. Patricia Montenegro, Dr. Caroline Warman, Dr. Ross Forman and Dr. Phoebe von Held (IGRS), Dr. Paolo Rambelli (RHUL), and Ionna Sitaridou (QMUL).
The project was orginally devised by Professor Jo Labanyi, Professor Jill Forbes and Dr. Guido Bonsaver. Professor Judith Still, Professor Jane Everson and Professor Michael Moriarty have coordinated and supervised the second phase of the project; Professor Naomi Segal, Dr. Katia Pizzi, Dr. Eleanor Chiari and Dr. Ricarda Vidal its third phase since the merging of the IRS and the IGS.
