Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies

News and events

Find out what's on in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies and read about the experiences of our students, staff and alumni.

News and features

How Latin American feminist theory can help battle toxic masculinity

Elisabeth Goemans, a PhD candidate in Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies, tells us about writing an opinion piece for the newspaper De Standaard, and what happened next.

Read our interview with Elisabeth

Meet our graduates: Harry Richards

We talk to Harry about how his year abroad in Mexico and Colombia inspired him to write a feature film.

Read our interview with Harry

Shaping the Sustainable European University

Students of Spanish, Rachel Weller and Gabriel Vargas, talk to us about their involvement in the second Una Europa Student Congress.

Read our interview with Rachel and Gabriel

What’s it like to be a virtual language ambassador?

Recent French and Spanish MA (Hons) graduate, Anna, talks us through her final year experience.

Read our interview with Anna

Meet our graduates: Damian Platt MBE

We talk to the author of “Nothing by Accident: Brazil on the Edge” about how studying Spanish at Edinburgh led to a career in human rights and building a world-class skatepark.

Read our interview with Damian

What's on

In memoriam: Derek Wagg

Derek Wagg (b.1926) came to the University of Edinburgh in 1956 to teach Spanish and Portuguese.

Originally from Birmingham, he remained in Edinburgh for the rest of his life after a long career in Hispanic Studies (now Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Studies).

Derek was first and foremost a teacher; engaging and thoughtful in his approach to life-long learning. 

He died in April 2022, six months before his wife, Sheila (Hispanic Studies and German Studies), whom he married in 1971.

Read former student Susan Harrison's tribute to Derek and Sheila