Subject and interdisciplinary diversity; student-friendly environment with a heavy research focus, combining basic research with application-oriented research. Courses in "critical" media literacy and on researching questions of current social relevance (e.g. gender, racism, educational justice) as well as contemporary literary life.

The basis of the MA in Modern German Literary Studies is the study of modern German literary history from the early modern period to the present. Subjects of literature study (epochs, genres, authors, themes) and methods are supplemented by questions, texts and theories from cultural studies and the history of knowledge. The aim is to discover new subjects of study, to develop transdisciplinary research questions, to establish new connections and to analyse them together within cultural and historical contexts.

Numerous international cooperations; At least one visiting academic per semester in the German department; Numerous guest lectures and research collaborations; Faculty members acquire intercultural and international skills through stays abroad, e.g. Erasmus Teaching Mobility, Max Kade professorship in the USA, etc.

Leibniz LingLab: Linguistic experimental laboratory with a state-of-the-art eye tracker for psycholinguistic examinations

Successful acquisition of third-party funding projects, e.g. "Framing effects" (German Research Foundation (DFG)), "Gender-sensitive language in theory and practice" (Ministry for Science, Research and Arts (MWK)), "Strategy-oriented spelling" (RESO), "Empathy and disruption" (DFG); Research focuses: Empirical professional research and media literacy, literary anthropology and edition philology, Austrian and Swiss literature as well as modern literature, contemporary literature, censorship and anti-Semitism research, grammaticalization, effects of linguistic variation on judgements and decisions, language & credibility, language & gender

In cooperation with the Literaturhaus Hannover and the VGH Foundation, the German Department is hosting the Hanover Poetics Lectureship for NEW GERMAN LITERATURE (Hannoversche Poetikdozentur für NEUE DEUTSCHE LITERATUR).