Dr Seán Allan, Department of German Studies and Professor Ricarda Schmidt of the University of Exeter, have been awarded a grant of £362,000 by the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

The grant is to be used in support of a three year collaborative project by the pair on the German romantic author Heinrich von Kleist, entitled "Kleist, Education and Violence. The Transformation of Ethics and Aesthetics." The award also includes a fully funded PhD studentship based at Warwick.

2011 marks the bicentenary of Kleist’s death and a number of events are planned to mark the occasion including a jointly organised conference on "Constructive and Destructive Functions of Violence in the Work of Heinrich von Kleist".