phd practice based art

• Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
• School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies
• Research degrees

Practice-based research degrees (PhD/MPhil)

If you want to pursue your chosen area of research through practice, we offer supervision for fine art practice-led PhD and MPhil degrees.

You will produce a body of work which demonstrates an original contribution to knowledge and scholarship. This will comprise a substantial creative practice that you will produce during your degree, which displays critical understanding and is worthy of public presentation or publication.

You will also produce a written submission, through which you will explore your research questions(s) and will indicate how the research is embodied in your practice.

Entry requirements

To undertake a practice-led research degree with us, you will need a Masters degree in Fine Art (or an equivalent qualification or level of experience) and wish to pursue a supervised programme of independent research in which theoretical and historical enquiry underpins practice-based research.

Final submission

Your final submission can take the form of an exhibition or performance (for example) that is appropriate to your research.

You will also create an accompanying text of 15,000 to 50,000 words, which will represent the theoretical component of the PhD and will provide both the historical context and a critical commentary.

A permanent record of your exhibition and the preceding works and theoretical reflections must meet the University's library and archiving requirements.

For a practice-led MPhil degree, you will submit up to 50,000 words, resulting from a period of supervised research.

Fees and funding

We offer a number of funding opportunities for postgraduate researchers. 

How to apply

As part of the application process, you will be required to submit with the online applications form:

• a research proposal with a provisional bibliography;
• an online portfolio of work;
• two academic references;
• transcripts;
• proof of English language ability (if applicable);
• a CV and degree certificates.

More information is available on our ‘ how to apply ’ section.

Further information

If you have any questions about our practice-led research degrees, contact [email protected].

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The UC San Diego Visual Arts PhD Program grants two PhD degrees: Art History, Theory and Criticism and Art History, Theory and Criticism with a Concentration in Art Practice . The program embodies the department's commitment to innovative research by embracing the close intersection of art, media, and design practice with history, theory, and criticism, and by offering training in the history, theory, and criticism of a range and mix of areas represented in our MFA faculty, including studio art, film, video, photography, computational media, performance art, public art, design, visual culture, and socially engaged art practice. Regional and cultural frameworks of study include European and Latin American art, Chinese art, nineteenth-century French visual culture, Mesoamerican, Native American, and Indigenous art and material culture, Medieval art and culture, queer and feminist art, material culture, science, technology, and art; and ocean, environmental, and land art.

The Art Practice Concentration degree, which must be applied for at the time of application to the PhD program, follows the same course of scholarly training, research, and writing as the Art History, Theory and Criticism degree, with additional requirements in research-based art practice that span all years of coursework, qualifying, and doctoral research. Two students are admitted to this concentration annually.

Information for Current and Prospective Students

Requirement overview, program requirements.

• Coursework, 88 units

Language Requirement

• Qualifying Materials and Exams

Dissertation and Defense

• For VA77 Only- Art Practice Project and Exhibition

Full Time Enrollment

In order to remain eligible for financial support all graduate students must be enrolled   in 12 units of upper-division (100-199) or graduate level (200 and above) courses each quarter during the regular academic year. Graduate students must also maintain a minimum GPA of 3.0 to maintain good academic standing. The majority of students will choose to complete the majority of their academic coursework for a letter grade.

Pre-Candidacy

Coursework should be chosen in consultation with the Advisor and should be taken in preparation for the Qualifying phase. During the first three years in the program, students should aim to fulfill the following requirements:

• MA en Route Requirements (if interested and eligible)
• Qualifying Materials and Exams (year 3)

Advancing to candidacy occurs when the student has passed all course, language, and qualifying requirements and is ready to research and write a dissertation. Doctoral candidates, sometimes referred to as “all but dissertation” or ABD, work on their dissertation with Advisor and Committee consultation and feedback for two or more years. During this time, Art Practice candidates additionally produce the required art practice components. Each quarter, most doctoral candidates typically enroll in 8-12 units of VIS 299 and/or 4 units of a 500, in consultation with their Advisor. Candidacy concludes when the candidate completes and successfully defends the dissertation (and, for VA77, the additional Art Practice requirements) and is awarded the doctorate.

Degree Paths

The program consists of two degree paths: Art History, Theory and Criticism (VA76) and Art Practice (VA77), a concentration designed for artists engaged in advanced research who wish to pursue their work in an environment geared to doctoral study, and to produce studio, media, performance or public facing work alongside a written dissertation. See Handbook for further details.

Interdisciplinary Specializations

Students within the PhD program who are interested in the opportunity to undertake specialized research may apply to participate in an interdisciplinary specialization. Students accepted into a specialization program would be expected to complete coursework in addition to those required for their PhD program. The department offers interdisciplinary specializations with the following campus programs.

• Anthropogeny:   for students with an interest in human origins
• Critical Gender Studies:   providing specialized training in gender and sexuality
• Interdisciplinary Environmental Research : for students interested in environmental solutions

Curriculum: VA76 Art History, Theory and Criticism

VA76- 22 courses, 88 units

GENERAL FIELD EMPHASIS

During the first year of study, students declare a general area of study in consultation with their Advisor and with the approval of the Faculty Director. This general field emphasis will be considered as they choose courses and, toward year three, plan their qualifying materials. See the Handbook for general field options.

CORE REQUIREMENTS (8 courses, 32 units)

Required (4 courses, 16 units):

• VIS 200- Methods and Theories
• VIS 204- Rethinking Art History
• VIS 500 (1 course, 4 units)- Apprentice Teaching
• VIS 502- Graduate Teaching in Visual Arts

Breadth (4 courses, 16 units), choose from 4 different areas with 3 different faculty:

• Medieval, Renaissance or Early Modern Art- VIS 251, VIS 252
• Modern and Contemporary Art- VIS 254, VIS 255
• Media Studies- VIS 256
• Meso-American Art or North American Indigenous Art- VIS 257, VIS 260
• Asian Art- VIS 258
• Latin American Art- VIS 259
• Material Culture- VIS 261
• Design Studies- VIS 262

ELECTIVE REQUIREMENTS (14 courses, 56 units), choose from the following options:

• Art History Seminars (VIS 230-269), a minimum of 6 MUST be taken for the elective area
• Graduate Research (VIS 299), during 1st year with provisional advisor
• Professional Practice Seminar (VIS 220)
• Art Theory/Practice (VIS 206, VIS 210-219), a maximum of 2 may be taken
• Other Department, a maximum of 3 graduate level courses may be taken 
• Reading Courses (approved undergrad courses), a maximum of 4 may be taken 
• Directed Group Study (VIS 298), a maximum of 1 may be taken
• Individual Studies (VIS 295), a maximum of 12 units may be taken with Advisor

Curriculum: VA77 Art History, Theory and Criticism- Art Practice

VA77- 22 courses, 88 units

CORE REQUIREMENTS (12 courses, 48 units)

Required (9 courses, 36 units):

• VIS 206- Seminar in Art Practice Research
• VIS 207 (repeat 3 times for 12 units)- Working Practice for Art Practice
• VIS 210-219, 1 course from Art Theory/Practice 

Breadth (3 courses, 12 units), choose from 3 different areas with 3 different faculty:

ELECTIVE REQUIREMENTS (10 courses, 40 units), choose from the following options:

• Art History Seminars (VIS 230-269), a minimum of 3 MUST be taken for the elective area
• Art Theory/Practice (VIS 210-219), a maximum of 2 may be taken
• Other Department, a maximum of 3 may be taken 
• Reading Courses (approved undergrad courses), a maximum of 2 may be taken 
• Directed Group Study (VIS 298), a maximum of 4 units may be taken

For the VA76 PhD students, competency in reading, understanding, and interpreting texts in two languages other than English is required before advancement to candidacy (Qualifying Exam stage), and competency in at least one language is expected at the time of application to the program. Art Practice Concentration students (VA77) will be required to satisfy competency in one language other than English before advancing to PhD candidacy. The student and their Advisor will jointly determine examination languages. 

The Program’s language requirement may be met in one of three ways: 

• Passing the department’s in-house Language Exam  
• Passing one approved graduate-level language course 
• Passing two approved upper-division undergraduate language courses 
• Passing a two-year sequence of approved undergraduate language courses in a single language  

Required Paperwork

For each language exam or course sequence taken to satisfy a language requirement, a Language Completion form must be completed by the student, the proctor/instructor and submitted to the Student Affiars Manager in order to receive credit for completion of the language requirement. Submitted forms are automatically routed via DocuSign for approval and processing.

In-House Language Exams

In-house Language Exams test ability in reading and comprehension (by translation into English) only, not writing or spoken fluency in the designated language. The exam consists of two short texts, one less difficult to be translated into English without a dictionary, and one more difficult to be translated with a dictionary. The dictionary may be either a printed volume or an on-line resource. One hour is allowed for each section (total test time: 2 hours). The translations may be written on a computer or by hand. Exams are corrected by the faculty member responsible for designing the exam, who also invigilates the test. If adequate reading knowledge is not demonstrated, the student’s Advisor will review with the student and the faculty setting the exam the steps necessary to master the language and a new exam will be scheduled within a reasonable amount of time. 

Students requesting an in-house language examination should consult with faculty responsible for particular languages:

• Chinese and Japanese : Professor Kuiyi Shen 
• French : Professors. Jordan Rose and John Welchman 
• German : Professor Alena Williams 
• Italian : Professor William Tronzo 
• Korean : Professor Kyong Park
• Mayan languages : Professor Elizabeth Newsome 
• Spanish : Professors Elizabeth Newsome and Mariana Wardwell 
• Turkish: Professors Memo Akten and Pinar Yoldas

Individual arrangements for determination of competency will be made for those languages that cannot be tested by department faculty . 

Committee Constitution and Management

About the committee.

This is the group of four faculty who agree to the student’s request for mentorship and evaluation during the qualifying and doctoral years. The Committee is chaired by the Advisor(s). In addition to mentoring and guiding the student’s research, this team serves as the Qualifying Committee and the Doctoral or Dissertation Committee, conducting the Qualifying Exam and the Dissertation Defense. The committee must be formally appointed by Graduate Division in the process outlined below.

Committee Constitution

The Committee Chair is the student’s Faculty Advisor/Co-Advisors and is selected by Year Two through mutual agreement with the student. The rest of the Committee is constituted through request and consent between the student and other faculty, with the guidance and approval of the Advisor(s). 

Makeup of the committee:

• 3 Visual Arts Faculty (including the Chair/Co-Chairs), 1 member may be a non-PhD faculty
• 1 tenured or emeritus faculty from outside the department

For each option, Assistant or Acting-Associate Faculty may serve as a general member or Co-Chair but not as sole Chair. The Graduate Division website has  additional information  about committees and a  Committee Membership Table  which may be helpful in determining what role a faculty member may serve on a committee.

Submitting Your Committee

After faculty have agreed to serve on the Committee, and the Faculty Advisor has approved the list, the student must complete and send the  Committee Constitution form  which will be routed to the Student Affiars Manager for processing.  This form must be approved by the Graduate Division by Week 5 BEFORE the Qualifying Exam .

Changing Your Committee

There are times when committee membership must change after the intial review and approval. All changes to committee membership need to be approved by the Department and then Graduate Division. Committee reconstitution must be completely reviewed and approved by Week 5, the quarter PRIOR to QE/Defense. When changing committee membership:

• Review the Committee Membership requirements 
• Discuss the change in committee membership with the Committee Chair/Co-chairs
• Discuss the change in committee with impacted committee members
• Complete the   Committee Reconstitution form   which will be routed to the Student Affairs Manager for processing.

Committee Management

It is the responsibility of the student, in consultation with their advisor/committee chair, to engage with and request feedback on drafts of written materials and (for VA77) documentation of artwork progress with all committee members during research and writing of their qualifying materials and dissertation. The student also must email final copies of all materials to their Committee prior to their Qualifying Exam and Dissertation Defense. 

Qualifying Exam, Advancement to Candidacy

About the qualifying process.

The Qualifying process occurs throughout Year Three. The student, under the supervision of the Advisor and with the advice of the Committee, prepares two bibliographies (one on the chosen field of emphasis and the second pertaining to the proposed dissertation); writes a qualifying paper and a dissertation prospectus; and takes written and oral examinations pertaining to these documents. The Art Practice PhD additionally requires a practice prospectus and a third bibliography.

Qualifying Exam

The Qualifying Examination has two parts: A Written Examination in which the student writes two essays over five days in response to questions provided by the Committee; and two weeks later,  a 2- or 2.5-hour Oral Examination led by the Committee, during which the student is asked questions and put in dialog about all of the qualifying materials.

Qualifying Timeline

A student must have completed all required course work and passed all language examinations before taking the qualifying examination, which will be held no later than the end of the third year. Upon successful completion of the qualifying examination, the student will be advanced to candidacy.

Qualifying Exam Administrative Checklist  

Qualifying Exam Failure

Should a student fail the examination, the Faculty Committee will clarify the weaknesses in the exam, so that the student can prepare to take it a second time. If a second oral examination is warranted, they will have to re-take and pass the exam prior to the end of the Pre-Candidacy Time Limit (or they need an extension approved to continue). They can always take a leave and return but if the PCTL is expired, they will have to advance before returning or an exception to extend the time would be need to be approved prior to retuning. If the student fails the oral examination a second time, their graduate studies in the department will be terminated.

MA en Route

• Five Art History seminars 
• VIS 200 Methods and Theories
• VIS 204 Re-Thinking Art History 
• One Theory/Practice seminar (chosen from VIS 210-219)
• Four breadth courses, from four different breadth areas

We do not offer an MA with an Art Practice concentration. Therefore, Art Practice concentration students must make a formal change in their degree aim to designate Art History, Theory, and Criticism (VA76). This change must take place at least two quarters prior to the Qualifying Exam. 

Note:   Students who wish to receive an MA as part of the Ph.D. program   must apply for master’s degree candidacy by the end of the second week of the quarter in which they expect to receive the degree.   Please see the Graduate Coordinator regarding this process.

Necessary Documents for the Qualifying Exam

• Report of the Qualifying Exam

Necessary Documents for the MA on the Way

• Application for MA (due week two) 
• Final Report for MA 

Best Practices for Completing the Report of the Qualifying Exam and Final Report via DocuSign:

• Ahead of your exam/defense ask faculty to add [email protected] as a “safe sender” so those emails are less likely to go to junk/spam. Although campus IT has taken steps to identify DocuSign as a safe sender, it is still recommended that individual users do so as well.
• At the end of your Exam/Defense ask your committee members to check their email for the DocuSign email with the link to the form and sign while you're all online together. 
• ask the faculty to check their junk folder, spam quarantine, or other spam folders
• next, ask them to log into their DocuSign account using their @ucsd.edu email address and SSO credentials to access the form/s directly (https://docusign.ucsd.edu) *some people have personal DocuSign accounts so ask them to ensure they are logging into the UCSD DocuSign account
• Get verbal confirmation of who has signed and who has not, then follow-up with the Student Affairs Manager to resolve any issues your committee members have with signing the form.
• Once the appropriate form is submitted to the Graduate Division, the appropriate fee will be charged directly to the student’s financial TritonLink account. 

About the Dissertation

Following successful completion of the qualifying examinations, the candidate will research and write a doctoral dissertation under the supervision of their Advisor and with the input of the Committee. Students in the art practice concentration (VA77) will submit a written dissertation that observes the same regulations and conventions as VA 76, except that the length requirement is slightly shorter and there must be one additional chapter devoted to discussion of the art practice. In addition, Art Practice candidates will additionally produce and exhibit a visual component. See the Handbook for details. 

About the Defense

After the committee has reviewed the finished dissertation (and art practice components, for VA 77), the candidate will orally defend their dissertation (and art practice work and exhibition), responding to questions from the Committee in a meeting that may be public (the student may invite visitors), as per university policy. The Dissertation Defense is the culmination of all of your work within the Ph.D. program. Please read all of the information on the Graduate Division's website about " Preparing to Graduate " and make an appointment to speak with the Student Affairs Manager one year prior to when you plan to defend.

Roles and Responsibilities for the Defense

Student will:

• Schedule the Dissertation Defense with their committee. This is normally scheduled for three hours. (You are responsible for reserving a room or scheduling the zoom meeting). 
• Complete the PhD Dissertation Defense Notification form which will notify the Student Affairs Manager of the date and time of the defense. This form is required so that the Final Report paperwork can be initiated and sent to your committee members on the date of the defense.
• Follow-up with your committee, the Graduate Division, and the Student Affairs Manager about any issues surrounding the completion of your degree.

Faculty Advisor will:

• Ensure the   policy   appropriate participation of all members of the committee at the Dissertation Defense. It is also helpful to remind all committee members to sign the forms by checking their inboxes for the DocuSign request to sign the forms. These sometimes end up in a person's spam folder.

Student Affairs Manager will:

• Fill out the Final Report form via DocuSign and route the form the morning of the exam/defense for signature to all committee members, the department chair, and the Graduate Division.
• Follow-up with committee members regarding signatures on the Final Report and general petition forms (if needed).
• Send out the announcement of the defense to department faculty and graduate students.

Additional Information and Tasks

Preliminary Dissertation Appointments with the Graduate Division: Students will schedule their preliminary and final appointments with Graduate Division Academic Affairs Advisors utilizing the online calendaring system they have in place:   https://gradforms.ucsd.edu/calendar/index.php

Committee Management : If you need to make any changes to your doctoral committee please follow the instructions above in the "Committee Management" drawer. 

Embargo Your Dissertation:   Talk to your faculty advisor about embargoing your dissertation. You may want to embargo your dissertation if you are planning to turn it into a book. The embargo will delay the university's publication of your dissertation and prevent other academics from using your research.   https://grad.ucsd.edu/_files/academics/DissertThesisReleaseTemplate.pdf

Necessary Documents for the Dissertation Defense

• Final Report (routed for signature by the Student Affairs Manager)

Best Practices for Completing the Final Report via DocuSign:

• At the end of your Defense ask your committee members to check their email for the DocuSign email with the link to the form and sign while you're all online together. 
• Get verbal confirmation of who has signed and who has not, then follow up with the Student Affairs Manager to resolve any issues your committee members have with signing the form.

Paying Associated Fees:  For students who will need to pay fees (advancement to candidacy, thesis submission fee, filing fee, re-admit fee), they will be charged on the financial TritonLink account once the form is received by the Graduate Division. There is no need for students to go to the cashier’s office.

Grades and Evaluations

Only courses in which a student received grades of A, B, or S are allowed toward satisfaction of the requirements for the degree. Note that a “C” is generally regarded as unsatisfactory within this department. In satisfaction of all program requirements and electives, A, A-, and B+ are regarded as acceptable grades for seminars and courses. Grades of B, B- indicate weaknesses and are cause for concern. Grades of C+ or below are regarded as unsatisfactory and may lead to academic probation. University policy states that any student with more than 8 units of “U” and/or “F” grades is barred from future registration including the next available quarter. It is not recommended that VIS 295/298/299 are taken for a letter grade.

Grade Point Average

A graduate student must maintain a minimum grade point average of at least 3.0 (B average) to continue in good standing. A student is subject to dismissal if the overall grade point average falls below 3.0 at any time.

Spring Evaluation

Every Spring quarter, Advisors (in the first year Provisional Advisors) will submit an evaluation of their advisee’s progress to Graduate Division. Students are expected to submit a summary of the past academic year to their advisor. These evaluations serve as an important tool for students and advisors in assessing student progress, while also providing suggestions and goals for students’ successful completion of their projects.   

The Graduate Division will review the evaluations when student/departments are making specific requests for exceptions

The duration of the Ph.D. program is five to eight years. University and departmental regulations stipulate that the maximum tenure of graduate study at UC San Diego or Total Registered Time Limit (TRTL) is eight years; while seven years is the limit for receiving any type of university financial support or a student's Support Time Limit (SUTL). For the Department of Visual Arts, the "normative" time to degree is 6 years. Students are expected to pass their qualifying exam and advance to candidacy in year three, but no later than year four which is the university's Pre-candidacy time limit (PCTL).

To learn more about time limits please visit the Graduate Division website.

Time Limits:  https://grad.ucsd.edu/academics/progress-to-degree/time-to-doctorate-policy.html

You can check your time limit by logging into the Graduate Student Portal.

Graduate Student Portal:  https://gradforms.ucsd.edu/portal/student/

PhD Current Students

Phd handbook.

The department website and catalog are great resources for students to learn generally about the PhD program and progress towards their degree. There are detailed instructions and robust program information available in the full PhD Handbook. Each student should refer to this resource throughout their academic career.

2023-24 Academic Year

2022-23 Academic Year  

2021-22 Academic Year

How to Apply

• Join our PhD Art History Program (VA76)
• Join our PhD Art Practice Program (VA77)

DPhil in Fine Art

• Entry requirements
• Funding and Costs

College preference

• How to Apply

About this course

The DPhil in Fine Art is designed to support research in contemporary art making (through the practice-led DPhil) and contemporary art history and theory (through the DPhil by written thesis only).

The Ruskin School of Art provides an exceptional research environment that enables artists, art historians and art theorists to work closely together in a world-leading, research-intensive university. Its intimate size and its dedication to contemporary art practice and theory within a stimulating and dynamic cross-disciplinary structure allows it to sustain close relations with other academic departments and faculties, distinguishing it from other, larger art schools, and allowing for a wide range of interdisciplinary and collaborative work at DPhil level.

The Ruskin DPhil programme includes two strands: the contemporary art history and theory DPhil (by written thesis only) and the practice-led DPhil (which also includes a substantial written component).  

In the case of the contemporary art history and theory DPhil, the Ruskin can offer supervision across a wide range of research projects. These may include aspects of exhibition curating and organisation, as well as the historiography of twentieth-century art and the theorisation of contemporary artistic practices. In the case of the practice-led DPhil, art work will be undertaken as the central component of the registered research programme, and will be presented in relation to written work that engages with the relevant theoretical, historical, technical, or critical context. The department can offer supervision in most areas of contemporary art practice including moving-image, painting, performance, sculpture, installation and writing. The two strands of the programme are brought into a productive dialogue, both in a structured way at the regular DPhil research seminars and informally in the studios. 

For an indication of the range of practical, historical and theoretical topics that are addressed in the Ruskin School of Art, please see the Ruskin website.

Further information about part-time study

This DPhil is available in both full- and part-time study modes.

As a part-time student you will be required to attend DPhil Seminars, supervision meetings and other obligations in Oxford for a minimum of 30 days each year. There will be limited flexibility in the dates of attendance, which will be determined by mutual agreement with your supervisor.

Attendance will be required during term-time on day(s) each week on dates to be determined by mutual agreement with your supervisor.

You will have the opportunity to tailor your part-time study in liaison with your supervisor and agree your pattern of attendance.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Ruskin School of Art and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Ruskin School of Art. Students meet regularly with their supervisors, and at least once a term.

There are three stages in obtaining the degree of DPhil: Probationer Research Student (PRS) status, DPhil status, and confirmed DPhil status. Transfer (ToS) and Confirmation (CoS) of Status are formal assessment procedures.

Full time PRS students are expected to transfer to full DPhil status in the third or fourth term of their degree. In the case of part-time students, applications for transfer should normally be made by the end of the sixth term. Following transfer to DPhil status, CoS should normally take place in the third year of full-time study or in the fifth/sixth year of part-time study.

Final Submission

The final submission consists of

(A) For the Degree of the contemporary art history and theory DPhil, a thesis of up to 80,000 words, and will involve a viva with both an internal and external examiner.

(B) For the Degree of the practice-led DPhil, a thesis of art practice that makes an original contribution to knowledge and a written component, and will involve a viva with both an internal and external examiner.

Graduate destinations

Many alumni from the Ruskin  have pursued careers in the fine arts as practising artists, teachers, curators and gallery professionals in both public and private galleries. Others have gone on to pursue careers in diverse areas such as education, finance, architecture and the film industry.

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic, epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

Entry requirements for entry in 2024-25

Proven and potential academic excellence.

The requirements described below are specific to this course and apply only in the year of entry that is shown. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

Please be aware that any studentships that are linked to this course may have different or additional requirements and you should read any studentship information carefully before applying. 

Degree-level qualifications

As a minimum, applicants should hold or be predicted to achieve the following UK qualifications or their equivalent:

• a first-class or strong upper second-class undergraduate degree with honours in fine art, art history or a related subject, depending on the DPhil stream applied to.

However, entrance is very competitive and most successful applicants have a master's degree in fine art, art history or a related subject.

For applicants with a degree from the USA, the minimum GPA generally sought is 3.75 out of 4.0.

If your degree is not from the UK or another country specified above, visit our International Qualifications page for guidance on the qualifications and grades that would usually be considered to meet the University’s minimum entry requirements.

GRE General Test scores

No Graduate Record Examination (GRE) or GMAT scores are sought.

Other qualifications, evidence of excellence and relevant experience

• Details of any publications and/or exhibitions you have held that would be of interest to the assessors should be included in the application.

English language proficiency

This course requires proficiency in English at the University's  higher level . If your first language is not English, you may need to provide evidence that you meet this requirement. The minimum scores required to meet the University's higher level are detailed in the table below.

*Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Advanced English or Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE) † Previously known as the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English or Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE)

Your test must have been taken no more than two years before the start date of your course. Our Application Guide provides  further information about the English language test requirement .

Declaring extenuating circumstances

If your ability to meet the entry requirements has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic (eg you were awarded an unclassified/ungraded degree) or any other exceptional personal circumstance (eg other illness or bereavement), please refer to the guidance on extenuating circumstances in the Application Guide for information about how to declare this so that your application can be considered appropriately.

You will need to register three referees who can give an informed view of your academic ability and suitability for the course. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the types of reference that are required in support of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Supporting documents

You will be required to supply supporting documents with your application. The  How to apply  section of this page provides details of the supporting documents that are required as part of your application for this course and how these will be assessed.

Performance at interview

Interviews are normally held as part of the admissions process.  

Although we prefer to conduct interviews in person, in the interest of fairness to overseas candidates or applicants unable to attend, interviews are held online. In all cases, there will be a minimum of two interviewers. Additional supporting material (such as a further sample of writing or a more extensive portfolio) may be requested before the interview.

How your application is assessed

Your application will be assessed purely on your proven and potential academic excellence and other entry requirements described under that heading.

References  and  supporting documents  submitted as part of your application, and your performance at interview (if interviews are held) will be considered as part of the assessment process. Whether or not you have secured funding will not be taken into consideration when your application is assessed.

An overview of the shortlisting and selection process is provided below. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide  more information about how applications are assessed . 

Shortlisting and selection

Students are considered for shortlisting and selected for admission without regard to age, disability, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, pregnancy and maternity, race (including colour, nationality and ethnic or national origins), religion or belief (including lack of belief), sex, sexual orientation, as well as other relevant circumstances including parental or caring responsibilities or social background. However, please note the following:

• socio-economic information may be taken into account in the selection of applicants and award of scholarships for courses that are part of  the University’s pilot selection procedure  and for  scholarships aimed at under-represented groups ;
• country of ordinary residence may be taken into account in the awarding of certain scholarships; and
• protected characteristics may be taken into account during shortlisting for interview or the award of scholarships where the University has approved a positive action case under the Equality Act 2010.

Processing your data for shortlisting and selection

Information about  processing special category data for the purposes of positive action  and  using your data to assess your eligibility for funding , can be found in our Postgraduate Applicant Privacy Policy.

Admissions panels and assessors

All recommendations to admit a student involve the judgement of at least two members of the academic staff with relevant experience and expertise, and must also be approved by the Director of Graduate Studies or Admissions Committee (or equivalent within the department).

Admissions panels or committees will always include at least one member of academic staff who has undertaken appropriate training.

Other factors governing whether places can be offered

The following factors will also govern whether candidates can be offered places:

• the ability of the University to provide the appropriate supervision for your studies, as outlined under the 'Supervision' heading in the  About  section of this page;
• the ability of the University to provide appropriate support for your studies (eg through the provision of facilities, resources, teaching and/or research opportunities); and
• minimum and maximum limits to the numbers of students who may be admitted to the University's taught and research programmes.

Offer conditions for successful applications

If you receive an offer of a place at Oxford, your offer will outline any conditions that you need to satisfy and any actions you need to take, together with any associated deadlines. These may include academic conditions, such as achieving a specific final grade in your current degree course. These conditions will usually depend on your individual academic circumstances and may vary between applicants. Our ' After you apply ' pages provide more information about offers and conditions . 

In addition to any academic conditions which are set, you will also be required to meet the following requirements:

Financial Declaration

If you are offered a place, you will be required to complete a  Financial Declaration  in order to meet your financial condition of admission.

Disclosure of criminal convictions

In accordance with the University’s obligations towards students and staff, we will ask you to declare any  relevant, unspent criminal convictions  before you can take up a place at Oxford.

Intellectual life and community

The Ruskin School of Art is home to a closely integrated creative and intellectual culture between graduate and undergraduate programmes, students and staff. Its intimate scale fosters highly productive, informal collaborations across all parts of the School, allowing you to work closely with some of the UK's leading contemporary artists, writers and art historians. Students and researchers at the Ruskin are also able to draw upon the expertise of staff, resources and facilities throughout the rest of the University of Oxford, including the extraordinary collections in its world-famous museums and libraries.

Studio and technical resources

The Ruskin has workshops for specialist training by Ruskin tutors in digital, 2D and 3D media. The project space at the Ruskin's re-developed Bullingdon Road site is equipped for the full breadth of contemporary art practices, from performance and digital installations to painting and sculptural work. The project space opens to the street for maximum public engagement with new work by students and staff. There are also communal spaces to foster dialogue and collaboration across all levels of the Ruskin's undergraduate and graduate programmes.

Museums and galleries

Oxford holds some of the world's richest collections of art and artefacts. The Pitt Rivers Museum, the Museum of Natural History and the Ashmolean Museum are important centres for the research and display of artefacts and artworks within the University of Oxford and the Ruskin has excellent connections with the museums' network of curators, facilities and holdings.

Oxford also hosts important exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. Modern Art Oxford has a national and international reputation for the quality of its exhibitions of contemporary art, and for its accompanying community and education programmes. The Ruskin works closely with Modern Art Oxford in the provision of its academic courses, and Ruskin students and staff have participated in exhibitions and public presentations at the gallery.

Libraries and archives

The University of Oxford's libraries, centred on the Bodleian, are the UK’s largest academic collection. The University's integrated library service comprises nearly 40 libraries, many offering borrowing rights. The Bodleian Library  is a copyright library and as such it has long collected copies of all works published in the United Kingdom, in addition to an extensive range of foreign publications. Since it is not a lending library, its holdings are immediately available on request.

A main point of reference for most Ruskin graduate students is the  Bodleian Art, Archaeology and Ancient World Library  - one of the principal research libraries of the University, which has incorporated the collections of the former Ashmolean Library (Western art), history of art, Eastern art and Classics. Its holdings are in excess of 200,000 volumes, and include monographs, catalogues, periodicals on fine and decorative art, theory, criticism, historiography, as well as the collections of Edgar Wind and Francis Haskell. All books and periodicals are open access.

The Ruskin has its own specialised in-house library of more than 7,000 volumes, providing both lending and reference collections centred on art history, art theory, art techniques, exhibition catalogues and artists’ monographs. The Ruskin holds around 20 sets of art journals and more than 2,000 art-related pamphlets. The library is fully integrated into  the University’s electronic circulation system and a digital archive of the slide collection, comprising 15,000 images, is available on the departmental server. Ruskin library terminals offer full access to the electronic resources of the University of Oxford.

Ruskin Research Seminars and Visiting Speaker Series

A series of specifically designed Ruskin research seminars complement the students’ independent research by offering an opportunity to present research projects, both studio and theoretical. The research seminars follow a small workshop format in which students can present new research work in innovative and experimental ways. The School also has a regular visiting speaker series in which leading artists, scholars and thinkers discuss their latest work. Ruskin students also participate in the Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities (TORCH) , which offers a stimulating range of interdisciplinary activities. 

Ruskin School of Art

Oxford’s Ruskin School of Art provides an exceptional teaching and research environment that enables contemporary artists, art historians and art theorists to work closely together in a world-leading, research-intensive university.

The Ruskin offers a one-year (three terms) Masters in Fine Art (MFA) and a graduate research programme, the DPhil in Fine Art, with a cohort of both practice-led and theory-based doctoral researchers. It also supports a wide-ranging portfolio of art making and research activities by its students, staff and visiting scholars in which fine art is prized as a vital component of contemporary culture with a broad range of practical, historical and theoretical references.

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The University expects to be able to offer over 1,000 full or partial graduate scholarships across the collegiate University in 2024-25. You will be automatically considered for the majority of Oxford scholarships , if you fulfil the eligibility criteria and submit your graduate application by the relevant December or January deadline. Most scholarships are awarded on the basis of academic merit and/or potential. 

For further details about searching for funding as a graduate student visit our dedicated Funding pages, which contain information about how to apply for Oxford scholarships requiring an additional application, details of external funding, loan schemes and other funding sources.

Please ensure that you visit individual college websites for details of any college-specific funding opportunities using the links provided on our college pages or below:

Please note that not all the colleges listed above may accept students on this course. For details of those which do, please refer to the College preference section of this page.

Further information about funding opportunities for this course can be found on the school's website.

Annual fees for entry in 2024-25

Full-time study.

Further details about fee status eligibility can be found on the fee status webpage.

Part-time study

Information about course fees.

Course fees are payable each year, for the duration of your fee liability (your fee liability is the length of time for which you are required to pay course fees). For courses lasting longer than one year, please be aware that fees will usually increase annually. For details, please see our guidance on changes to fees and charges .

Course fees cover your teaching as well as other academic services and facilities provided to support your studies. Unless specified in the additional information section below, course fees do not cover your accommodation, residential costs or other living costs. They also don’t cover any additional costs and charges that are outlined in the additional information below.

Continuation charges

Following the period of fee liability , you may also be required to pay a University continuation charge and a college continuation charge. The University and college continuation charges are shown on the Continuation charges page.

Where can I find further information about fees?

The Fees and Funding  section of this website provides further information about course fees , including information about fee status and eligibility  and your length of fee liability .

Additional information

Living costs.

In addition to your course fees, you will need to ensure that you have adequate funds to support your living costs for the duration of your course.

For the 2024-25 academic year, the range of likely living costs for full-time study is between c. £1,345 and £1,955 for each month spent in Oxford. Full information, including a breakdown of likely living costs in Oxford for items such as food, accommodation and study costs, is available on our living costs page. The current economic climate and high national rate of inflation make it very hard to estimate potential changes to the cost of living over the next few years. When planning your finances for any future years of study in Oxford beyond 2024-25, it is suggested that you allow for potential increases in living expenses of around 5% each year – although this rate may vary depending on the national economic situation. UK inflationary increases will be kept under review and this page updated.

If you are studying part-time your living costs may vary depending on your personal circumstances but you must still ensure that you will have sufficient funding to meet these costs for the duration of your course.

Students enrolled on this course will belong to both a department/faculty and a college. Please note that ‘college’ and ‘colleges’ refers to all 43 of the University’s colleges, including those designated as societies and permanent private halls (PPHs). 

If you apply for a place on this course you will have the option to express a preference for one of the colleges listed below, or you can ask us to find a college for you. Before deciding, we suggest that you read our brief  introduction to the college system at Oxford  and our  advice about expressing a college preference . For some courses, the department may have provided some additional advice below to help you decide.

The following colleges accept students for full-time study on this course:

• Blackfriars
• Brasenose College
• Campion Hall
• Christ Church
• Exeter College
• Hertford College
• Kellogg College
• Lady Margaret Hall
• Linacre College
• The Queen's College
• Regent's Park College
• Reuben College
• St Anne's College
• St Catherine's College
• St Cross College
• St Edmund Hall
• St Hugh's College
• St John's College
• Wadham College
• Wolfson College
• Wycliffe Hall

The following colleges accept students for part-time study on this course:

Before you apply

Our  guide to getting started  provides general advice on how to prepare for and start your application. You can use our interactive tool to help you  evaluate whether your application is likely to be competitive .

If it's important for you to have your application considered under a particular deadline – eg under a December or January deadline in order to be considered for Oxford scholarships – we recommend that you aim to complete and submit your application at least two weeks in advance . Check the deadlines on this page and the  information about deadlines and when to apply  in our Application Guide.

Application fee waivers

An application fee of £75 is payable for each application to this course. Application fee waivers are available for the following applicants who meet the eligibility criteria:

• applicants from low-income countries;
• refugees and displaced persons; 
• UK applicants from low-income backgrounds; and 
• applicants who applied for our Graduate Access Programmes in the past two years and met the eligibility criteria.

You are encouraged to  check whether you're eligible for an application fee waiver  before you apply.

Readmission for current Oxford graduate taught students

If you're currently studying for an Oxford graduate taught course and apply to this course with no break in your studies, you may be eligible to apply to this course as a readmission applicant. The application fee will be waived for an eligible application of this type. Check whether you're eligible to apply for readmission .

Do I need to contact anyone before I apply?

You do not need to make contact with the department before you apply but you are encouraged to visit the relevant departmental webpages to read any further information about your chosen course.

Queries about the DPhil programme can be directed to the Ruskin's  Graduate Administrator . It is not necessary to contact a potential supervisor before you apply.

Completing your application

You should refer to the information below when completing the application form, paying attention to the specific requirements for the supporting documents . 

If any document does not meet the specification, including the stipulated word count, your application may be considered incomplete and not assessed by the academic department. Expand each section to show further details.

Proposed field and title of research project

Under the 'Field and title of research project' please enter your proposed field or area of research if this is known. If the department has advertised a specific research project that you would like to be considered for, please enter the project title here instead.

You should not use this field to type out a full research proposal. You will be able to upload your research supporting materials separately if they are required (as described below).

Proposed supervisor

If known, under 'Proposed supervisor name' enter the name of the academic(s) whom you would like to supervise your research. Otherwise, leave this field blank.

Referees Three overall, of which at least two must be academic

Whilst you must register three referees, the department may start the assessment of your application if two of the three references are submitted by the course deadline and your application is otherwise complete. Please note that you may still be required to ensure your third referee supplies a reference for consideration.

Ideally, you should provide at least two academic references. If you have been out of education for a substantial period of time, you may use up to two professional references relevant to the course.

Your references will support intellectual ability, academic achievement, motivation, ability to work individually and in a group, and in the case of applicants to the practice-led DPhil, artistic achievement and creativity.

Official transcript(s)

Your transcripts should give detailed information of the individual grades received in your university-level qualifications to date. You should only upload official documents issued by your institution and any transcript not in English should be accompanied by a certified translation.

More information about the transcript requirement is available in the Application Guide.

A CV/résumé is compulsory for this course. Most applicants choose to submit a document of one to two pages highlighting their academic achievements and any relevant professional experience.

Research proposal: A maximum of 1,000 words

All applicants (practice-led and written thesis only) should submit a research proposal, comprising a detailed outline of their proposed research written in English. 

If possible, please ensure that the word count is clearly displayed on the document.

The word count does not need to include any bibliography or brief footnotes. Please clarify at the top of this document whether you are applying for the ‘Practice-led DPhil’ or the ‘Written-only DPhil’.

Your research proposal should focus on your research rather than on personal achievements, interests and aspirations. It will be normal for your ideas subsequently to change in some ways as you investigate the evidence and develop your project. You should nevertheless make the best effort you can to demonstrate the extent of your research question, sources and method at this moment.

Your research proposal will be assessed for:

• your reasons for applying
• the coherence of the proposal
• the originality of the project
• evidence of motivation for and understanding of the proposed area of study
• the ability to present a reasoned case in English
• the feasibility of successfully completing the project in the time available for the course (a maximum of four years)
• commitment to the subject, beyond the requirements of the degree course
• preliminary knowledge of research techniques
• capacity for sustained and intense work
• reasoning ability
• ability to absorb new ideas, often presented abstractly, at a rapid pace.

Written work: Written-only DPhil: One piece of written work of 4,000 to a maximum of 6,000 words

For written-only DPhil applicants, a sample of recent written work is required. This should be preferably but not necessarily related to the proposed topic or area of research, such as an undergraduate or master’s dissertation (or part of it) or a substantial essay.

Extracts from longer pieces are welcome as written work but should be prefaced by a note that puts the writing in context and identifies the part(s) on which assessors should focus.

All written work should be in English. The word count does not need to include any bibliography or brief footnotes.

This will be assessed for clarity in the exposition of ideas; comprehensive understanding of the subject area; and evidence of critical thinking. The writing sample is expected to be a piece of academic writing rather than creative writing or reflections on your artistic practice.

Written work: Practice-led DPhil: One piece of written work of 2,000 to a maximum of 3,000 words 

For practice-led DPhil applicants, a sample of recent written work is required. This should be preferably but not necessarily related to the proposed topic or area of research, such as an undergraduate or master’s dissertation (or part of it) or a substantial essay.

For practice-led DPhil students, your written work should also contain a page with details of how to access your portfolio (see 'Portfolio' below).

Portfolio (practice-led DPhil only):

Your digital portfolio should consist of recently-completed studio work documented through up to 15 images and/or 12 minutes of moving image or sound work. You should add one URL linking to your portfolio at the beginning of your written work document. This should occupy a page by itself, with the written work starting on a new page.

Portfolios should be hosted on a website or service that is publicly accessible via the internet, eg via Vimeo, YouTube, Flickr, Google or your own website.

Your portfolio will be assessed for evidence of creative thinking and artistic accomplishment, clarity in the exposition of ideas, and a comprehensive understanding of the subject area. Important things to note:

• Do not upload your portfolio as a file or it will be removed and your application not assessed
• Please avoid ad-heavy platforms and/or password-protection if you can
• It is your responsibility that the link works in January and February 2024

We cannot accept any content other than the requested URL. The department will not accept portfolios submitted via email. If you cannot provide a web-based portfolio, please send an email to [email protected] to discuss alternative arrangements in good time before the deadline. 

Start or continue your application

You can start or return to an application using the relevant link below. As you complete the form, please  refer to the requirements above  and  consult our Application Guide for advice .

Application Guide   Apply - Full time Apply - Part time

ADMISSION STATUS

Closed to applications for entry in 2024-25

Register to be notified via email when the next application cycle opens (for entry in 2025-26)

12:00 midday UK time on:

Friday 5 January 2024 Latest deadline for most Oxford scholarships Final application deadline for entry in 2024-25

*Three-year average (applications for entry in 2021-22 to 2023-24)

Further information and enquiries

This course is offered by the Ruskin School of Art

• Course page on the school's website
• Funding information from the school
• Academic and research staff
• Ruskin School of Art research
• Humanities Division
• Residence requirements for full-time courses
• Postgraduate applicant privacy policy

Course-related enquiries

Advice about contacting the department can be found in the How to apply section of this page

✉ [email protected] ☎ +44 (0)1865 276941

Application-process enquiries

See the application guide

Other courses to consider

You may also wish to consider applying to other courses that are similar or related to this course:

View related courses

Visa eligibility for part-time study

We are unable to sponsor student visas for part-time study on this course. Part-time students may be able to attend on a visitor visa for short blocks of time only (and leave after each visit) and will need to remain based outside the UK.

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Home > Research > Research degrees > Available degrees > Practice-based PhD

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• Available degrees:
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• Practice-based PhD

We welcome applications from practitioners wanting to do practice-based or practice-led research. The practice may be in any field, for instance, fine art, art history, curating, design, engineering and technology, architecture, creative writing, musical composition, film, dance, and performance.   

For such a research project, the thesis should reflect a coherent research process, demonstrate a critical appreciation of the context of the research, its relationship to existing literature/practices and received opinion, and show that the research has produced an original contribution to knowledge. The relationship of this reflective commentary to the other forms of material submitted must be clearly articulated so that the work forms a single coherent body, considered collectively as the thesis. Within the thesis, the balance between the reflective commentary and the creative work, publications or equivalent plus the relative weighting given to each element, must meet subject-specific requirements and be agreed by the candidate's Faculty Research Degrees Committee.

The creative work must be undertaken as part of the registered research programme, not before. If you are interested in applying for a PhD that recognises previous work, please see our PhD by prior publication/portfolio .

Practice-based PhDs follow the same processes and are under the same regulations as our traditional PhD programme .

Read about our past and current research students and their research projects:

Research student case studies >

Current research student profiles >

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Slade School of Fine Art

• MPhil/PhD Fine Art

The Slade School of Fine Art is an art school with an international outlook, part of UCL, London's global university. The Slade offers a thought-provoking and creative environment in which to develop research and we welcome researchers from a wide range of backgrounds, here in the UK and internationally. We value the development of research through a wide range of artistic practice and champion its communication through inventive modes of exhibition, documentation and writing. We see the Slade as home to the ‘Artist’s PhD’. Our focus is on subject areas within Fine Art including Sculpture, Painting, Fine Art Media as well as on developments in Art and Technology. We also support and highly encourage interdisciplinary research between the Slade and disciplines offered across UCL.

Key information

• Full-time or Part-time
• Programme starts: September 2025
• Application deadline - 14 October 2024
• Application portal open - 2 September - 14 October 2024

AHRC-Open day split

The Slade is part of the AHRC funded London Arts and Humanities Partnership .

The LAHP annually awards up to 90 studentships for postgraduate research students studying arts and humanities disciplines at eight leading UK research organisations. Please check the  LAHP website for details of the award and to check eligibility.

Please read the information below in conjunction with the main UCL prospectus information: 

Slade Doctoral Research

Intrinsic to Slade doctoral research is a commitment to searching beyond established canons of knowledge-formation, to include voices and methods less recognised within traditional scholarship. Contemporary art-making is attuned to the possibilities this brings. As a practice-led discipline, art emphasises materiality alongside imaginative potential. It allows aural, visual, spatial, temporal and haptic modes of experience to carry and convey knowledge.

Slade doctoral researchers work in the studio, in archives, on site, and through community formations. They make films, writing, paintings, sound works, photography, sculptures, textiles, performance, installations, site-based and socially-engaged art. Our artist researchers are both situated and mobile, responding to and engaging with the complexities of the world around us, as well as imagining new and possible worlds.

In the pursuit of doctoral research at the Slade, the emphasis will always be on art. Across the possible pathways (see below), we will encourage and support the development of your research through a wide range of artistic practice, and we will champion its communication through inventive modes of exhibition, documentation and writing. We see the Slade as home to the ‘Artist’s PhD’.

The doctoral research community at the Slade is committed to anti-racism, which we understand as predicated on core values of equity, transparency, and reciprocity. Informed by this, the aim in all research exchanges is to create the conditions needed for everyone to respectfully speak their mind; to share work and ideas; to create and co-create meaning. We consider all voices and perspectives necessary for this act of making and continuously evolving a community of practice.

In the Slade, research is focused on subject areas within Fine Art including Sculpture, Painting and Fine Art Media as well as on developments in Art and Technology. We also support and highly encourage interdisciplinary research between the Slade and disciplines offered across UCL. We look for projects that address pressing questions and concerns for ‘now’, acknowledging that today, contemporary art and art research are situated in a period of radical transition. In a post-pandemic and ‘post-truth’ world, global shifts, both macro and micro, are resulting from conflict, migration, the climate emergency, calls for social justice, and technological developments. With its permeable disciplinary boundaries, capacity to readily register, adapt and respond to context, and ability to communicate through and across the sensorium, how can art and art research participate in the contextual thinking and making needed now for transformation and change? How can the radical potential of the artistic imagination usher in possible new futures?

Related to this, see: UCL Grand Challenges: Our themes

The aims of doctoral research at the Slade are to:

• advance the highest quality of artistic research that demonstrates ambition, breadth of vision and creativity;
• further such high-quality research through a wide range of artistic practice, and communicate this through inventive modes of exhibition, documentation and writing;
• make original contributions to knowledge through artistic practice, and further the understanding of artistic research itself;
• search beyond established canons of knowledge formation to champion and promote voices and methods less recognised within traditional scholarship;
• encourage a diversity of research outputs through, for example, exhibitions, performances, film and video, art-writing, print-making, new media, collaborations, publications, workshops, site-specific work, interventions;
• affirm the importance of Fine Art research while also exploring the possibilities of interdisciplinary research with other departments and faculties at UCL;
• engage with the radical and transformative potential of the imagination to effect change, working across disciplines, as needed, to do so;
• develop ways of making, thinking, doing and being that contribute to the research culture of the Slade, the UCL community, and wider fields of art and academia;
• encourage the sharing of research with national and international research institutions and wider publics.

Current research

Outlines of current and archived Slade MPhil and PhD research are in the MPhil/PhD pages of our Research section .

MPhil/PhD Slideshow

©the artist

Reece Straw

Shao-Jie Lin

Javier Artero

Credit: all the artists, contributors and Arts Cabinet

MPhil/PhD in Fine Art

Mphil/phd degree pathways.

The Slade offers the following three pathways for undertaking MPhil/PhD research:

• Practice-led Thesis: a thesis of art practice that makes an original contribution to knowledge accompanied by a written component of normally 15,000-30,000 words (with a maximum of 40,000) or 10,000-15,000 words (a maximum of 20,000) for the MPhil.
• Practice-related Thesis: a written thesis of 60,000-80,000 words with art practice that together make an original contribution to knowledge (or 35,000-45,000 words for the MPhil).
• Written Thesis: a written thesis of 80,000-100,000 words that makes an original contribution to knowledge (or 50,000-60,000 words for the MPhil).

Registration and Length of Study

The length of the PhD is normally 3 years full-time or 5 years part-time.

Researchers register initially for an MPhil and are required to upgrade to a PhD between 9 and 18 months (full-time) or between 15 and 30 months (part-time). You must be registered for a minimum period of 3 years (full-time) or five years (part-time) before you are eligible to apply for Completing Research Status (CRS). The CRS period is a further 1 year (full-time) or 2 years (part-time) registration without fees, during which time you must submit the thesis and hold the final viva examination.

What to expect

Supervision.

Doctoral research is independent and driven primarily through the work you do with your supervisors. Throughout the development of your project, you will meet regularly with your supervisors, either in group supervisions or with individual members of your supervisory team. You will be expected to complete and submit work ahead of time for consideration during each supervisory session, and to complete and submit a Supervision Report after each supervisory session. Progress throughout your research journey will be recorded on your UCL Research Log and discussed in yearly Annual Review Panels organised as part of the Slade Doctoral Programme.

Slade Doctoral Programme

As members of the Slade doctoral research community, you will participate in the Slade Doctoral Programme. This means attending and participating in the Slade Art Research Forums and, for those in Year 1 (FT) and Years 1-2 (PT), taking part in the Skills Workshops for Practice Research.

Term 1 4 x Art Research Forums (3 hours each) 2 x Skills Workshops for Practice Research (3 hours each)

Term 2 4 x Art Research Forums (3 hours each) 2 x Skills Workshops for Practice Research (3 hours each)

Term 3 2 x Art Research Forums (3 hours each) Annual Review Panels (1 hour each)

You will be expected to present and exhibit your research in the Slade Art Research Forum three times in total throughout your active registration as a doctoral researcher. This means you will present and exhibit your research 3 x times across three years for full-time and 3 x times across five years for part-time research. One of these presentations will be your formal Upgrade presentation and exhibition, which normally takes place in Year 2 (FT) or Year 3 (PT) of your research.

As well as the Art Research Forum, Skills Workshops for Practice Research (Year 1 FT; Years 1-2 PT) and the Annual Review Panels, you will be encouraged to attend and initiate research activities in the Slade; attend the weekly all-School Contemporary Art Lectures and Staff Talks, and to engage in Slade cross-School events; seek out research events across UCL and LAHP that are relevant to your specific research; be active participants in exhibitions, performances, events, conferences, and publishing both within and beyond UCL.

Skills Training

The Slade will offer some subject-specific training for practice research; however, the majority of your research training will come through UCL’s Doctoral School.

The UCL Doctoral School Skills Development Programme offers a range of courses that address the following: research skills and techniques, management of the student’s research, personal effectiveness, communication skills, networking and team working and career management. This is the first port of call for any training needs and all training needed to complete your MPhil/PhD research can be found in this suite of training courses: UCL Doctoral School Skills Development Programme .

Space and facilities

Slade art research centre.

There is dedicated space for doctoral researchers in the Slade Art Research Centre, which is in the Slade’s Woburn Square Studios – around a 7 minute walk from the main Slade building.

The Slade Art Research Centre space itself is currently divided into:

• Exhibition Space
• Discussion Space / Hot Desk Area
• Meeting Room / Communal Space
• Art Research Studio

This is an open-plan, shared space for making, exhibiting, and discussing art research. The Exhibition Space is used for the Art Research Forums where everyone is expected to exhibit their art as research/research as art. The Discussion Space can be used for the Art Research Forums or for any research-related discussions and activities. When not in use as a Discussion Space, this space functions as a Hot Desk Area. The Meeting Room can be booked out for supervisions or for meetings with colleagues and peers. When not used for this purpose, this room functions as a Communal Space. All the furniture can be moved and stored so that the entire space can be transformed into a public space for hosting symposia, conferences, workshops, etc.

All Slade doctoral researchers can make use of the spaces in the Slade Art Research Centre; however, only those enrolled full-time on the practice-led pathway have allocated space within the shared Art Research Studio. As this is not individualised studio space, the size of this allocated space is variable each year depending on how many people are enrolled as full-time, practice-led researchers and actively using the space.

Postgraduate Research Space in Slade Main Building

There is also dedicated office space for postgraduate researchers in the Slade Main Building that can be used by Slades’ Postgraduate Teaching Assistants as well as by researchers needing a quiet space to write or to have meetings with supervisors, colleagues and peers.

Slade Workshops and Facilities

As well as this the Slade Art Research Centre in Woburn Square Studios and the dedicated research space in the Slade Main Building, all Slade researchers (full-time and part-time; on any pathway) can access any of the Slade’s workshops and facilities in the Slade Main Building and book out equipment for research purposes.

Research environment

Slade research environment.

The Slade School of Fine Art’s practice-led research culture facilitates an ongoing commitment to individual excellence in art research while also supporting research with other artists, curators and researchers, which increasingly addresses pressing societal and cultural challenges.

• Our research aligns to five main areas of expertise:   Materials and Materiality comprises research into materials, in particular pigments and paints supported by the Materials Research Network.
• Histories and Cultures draws together researchers exploring the impact of historical perspectives on contemporary art practice and research.
• Media and Performance research explores analogue and digital Fine Art Media technologies, including moving image, sound, internet and installation researchers.
• Environments and Publics is concerned with research into place and publics, urbanism, sustainability, well-being and ‘the commons’.
• Dark Studies includes the Dark Universe Studies Centre (DUSC) where fugitive thinking and alternative forms of sociality draw on the black radical tradition and experimental practice. Research in this area evokes the dislocated subject of language and representation, channelled through performance, political writings, fictional provocations and processes of documentation.

See Research at Slade .

The Slade MPhil/PhD places great emphasis on interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary connections, and Slade researchers network regularly with doctoral researchers across UCL and the London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP). You will also be encouraged to join research centres and networks relevant to your specific topic within and external to UCL, and to organise research events using funding through UCL Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) and the Global Challenge Scheme.

Wider Research Environment

Doctoral researchers benefit from the Slade's situatedness in UCL as well as its central London location and proximity to other external research institutions, galleries and museums. All Slade doctoral researchers are encouraged to attend research activities in the Slade, UCL and externally, including. Contemporary Art Lectures : Artists, art historians, critics, curators and writers visit the Slade to speak in the Contemporary Art Lectures, which are usually on a Wednesday evening. A comprehensive list of lectures available online can be found on the Contemporary Art Lectures page . 

Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) : The Institute of Advanced Studies (IAS) harnesses UCL’s extensive expertise across the humanities and social sciences to investigate received wisdom and to address the most urgent ethical and intellectual challenges of today. It is a research-based community, comprising colleagues and doctoral students from across UCL, as well as visiting fellows and research collaborators from the UK and around the world. Based in the Wilkins Building, the IAS runs a vast and varied range of conferences, talks and seminars throughout the year. Visit the Institute’s website to discover more about upcoming events.

UCL Art History Lectures : The Art History Department scheduled events across the academic year. See: UCL Art History Lectures - Full Programme of Events .

Sarah Parker Remond Centre : For the study of racism and racialisation organises a regular PhD reading group .

Other UCL Faculties : You can find additional details about events going on across the faculties of Arts and Humanities and Social and Historical Sciences by referring to the events feed on each of the faculties’ websites:

Faculty of Arts and Humanities Faculty of Social and Historical Sciences

London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) : LAHP was created in 2014 as an Arts & Humanities Research Council-funded Doctoral Training Partnership between King’s College London, School of Advanced Study (University of London), and University College London. Queen Mary University of London and the London School of Economics & Political Science joined the partnership as associate members in 2015 and 2016 respectively. LAHP runs a number of training events and research events that are both student-led and staff led. Please see details on the LAHP website under 'Training and Cohort Development'.

Teaching opportunities

The Slade offers doctoral researchers the opportunity to work as postgraduate teaching assistants (PGTA) on the BA Fine Art, BFA Fine Art and the interdisciplinary BASc programme in UCL Arts & Sciences. These Teaching Assistantships are supported by training and mentoring at the Slade and UCL Arena. They are available to apply to on a competitive basis.

Staff and supervisors

https://www.lahp.ac.uk/

Slade Professional Services Staff

Slade Teaching and Learning Office [email protected] Please write to this email address with any initial queries, including those relating to Admissions. If required, a member of the Slade Teaching and Learning Office will forward your email on to relevant parties.

Slade Doctoral Programme Staff

Head of the Slade Doctoral Programme / Departmental Graduate Tutor (Research):  Prof. Kristen Kreider .

Slade Research Tutor / Deputy Departmental Graduate Tutor (Research) / PGR Admissions Tutor:  Professor Dryden Goodwin .

Slade Supervisors

Primary supervisors are members of Slade staff, all of whom are practising artists or scholars in the history and theory of art, with national and international profiles.

Slade Staff Members

You are not expected to approach potential supervisors in advance of making the application to undertake research. However, Slade tutors’ profiles and research interests are listed on our  people pages .

It is strongly advised that applicants read our staff members’ profiles before your application is submitted. If there is a member of staff with whom you would particularly like to work, you may name them on the application form. Supervision by a specific tutor cannot be guaranteed at the application stage.

Secondary Supervisors across UCL

Secondary supervision is also available from renowned scholars and specialists across UCL and partner LAHP institutions.

UCL – Find an Expert

Previous, current and potential second supervisors across UCL include:

Dr Chiara Ambrosio (Philosophy of Science) Prof. Nishat Awan (UCL Urban Laboratory) Prof. Daniel Brett (Engineering) Prof. Robyn Carston (Linguistics) Prof. Penelope Haralambidou (Bartlett) Prof. Rodney Harrison (Archaeology), Prof. Mark Midownik , (Institute of Making, Engineering) Dr James O’Leary (Bartlett School of Architecture) Prof. Sophie Page (History) Dr Aaron Parkhurst (Anthroplogy) Dr Jeff Scheible (Kings College London) Dr Marquard Smith (Institute of Education)

Applications

For further information on admissions and how to apply, see our MPhil/PhD Admissions page.

Fees and funding

For further information, see our fees and funding section for information about tuition fees, funding, scholarships and bursaries.

Visiting research student applications

You can apply to spend a period of 3 to 12 months at UCL undertaking research which is complementary to the Doctorate/PhD project at your home university.

Please see the  UCL Visiting Research Students page  for further details.

• Complete the form on the UCL Visiting Research Students page .
• After you have submitted the formal UCL application in Portico and a UCL Application Number had been generated, please complete and submit the  Visiting Research Student Supplementary Information Form  (Word doc) to [email protected] .

If you have any further questions, please contact  [email protected] .

Visiting Research Affiliates

We are able to host a small number of excellent visiting researchers, international scholars and artists whose research interests align closely with our research themes and priorities, as outlined the Research at the Slade webpage . Please see our Research Affiliates page for further information.

MPhil/PhD related

MPhil/PhD research

• Malgorzata Dawidek
• Eloise Fornieles
• Katarzyna Depta-Garapich
• Ellie Doney

MPhil/PhD Admissions

The Slade School of Fine Art has one application round per year for the MPhil/PhD.

MPhil/PhD FAQs

Find out about fees funding, scholarships, prizes and bursaries.

UCL Doctoral School

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Practice-Based Research in the Creative Arts: Foundations and Futures from the Front Line

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Linda Candy , Ernest Edmonds; Practice-Based Research in the Creative Arts: Foundations and Futures from the Front Line. Leonardo 2018; 51 (1): 63–69. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/LEON_a_01471

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This article explores the subject of practice-based research, its application in the creative arts and its role in generating new forms of knowledge in the context of the PhD. Our aim is to provide more clarity about the nature of practice-based research, the approach we advocate and how it contributes to new knowledge that can be shared and scrutinized in a form that is both accessible and rich in its representation of the full scope of creative arts research. We draw on examples spanning over 35 years of experience in supervising interdisciplinary PhD research programs in the arts, design and digital media.

Supplementary data

This article is a companion to Practice-Based Research in the Creative Arts: Foundations and Futures from the Front Line. Drawing on research into the experiences of practice-based PhD researchers working in the creative arts and our long experience of successful doctoral research in this area, we go onto recommend ways to improve the practices of Practice based Research. (© Linda Candy and Ernest Edmonds)

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MPhil/PhD Art Practice & Learning

Content navigation menu, why study mphil/phd art practice & learning at goldsmiths.

What kind of learning emerges from and with art practice, and how does such learning further impact upon arts practice? This reflexive question lies at the heart of the MPhil/PhD Art Practice & Learning.

• The programme aims to promote practice research into the dialogical relations between pedagogical and art practices; a central purpose is to expand understanding of what both can become.
• Through an exploration and interrogation of the dialogical relations between arts practices and pedagogies, sites of practice and sites of learning you will engage with areas such as philosophical, political and aesthetic and material dimensions of learning and practice.
• A key feature of the MPhil/PhD Art Practice and Learning is that you will be part of the research community of the Centre for the Arts and Learning that meets regularly each term to discuss/share/debate research and ideas, and to discuss readings and art practice. This research community involves artists, academics, teachers etc. 

Find out more about research degrees at Goldsmiths.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Esther Sayers .

3-4 years full time or 4-6 years part-time

Entry requirements

You should normally have an undergraduate of least a second class classification and have (or expect to be awarded) a taught Masters in Education or a closely related area. You might also be considered if you can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

Home - full-time: £4786 Home - part-time: £2393 International - full-time: £17690

Educational Studies

You'll research

The outcomes of the practice research will consist of a practice component with a written thesis of which together articulate a coherent and integrated research study in which both components are viewed equally as contributing to the research. The written component must be able to demonstrate a clearly articulated research project and a rigorous theoretical engagement with the research focus, drawing upon, analysing and applying relevant literature.

The practice component must demonstrate an exploration and articulation of the practice research focus that draws upon domains of practice including visual or other practices to inform the research. The practice is not an 'illustration' to the written thesis.

The practice and written thesis should be appropriate to the inquiry and should be considered to complement and support each other and the research question(s) that govern the submission as a whole, including the length of the written thesis and the presentation of the practice.

The written thesis and the practice will be submitted concurrently and examined as a whole. The practice component could, for example, take the form of an exhibition(s), a film/video (approximately one hour in length), an installation, a web-based production, a performances, socially engaged work, sonic work or performance.

Supervision

You will be allocated two supervisors within the Department of Educational Studies but joint supervision with colleagues in other departments who have expertise relevant to your research may also be possible.

You'll be expected to attend Department research training and College research training and to participate whenever possible in Department research centre meetings.

The  Department of Educational Studies  has the theoretical and practical resources to support research, and it is able to draw upon important alliances and relations with cultural institutions that it has worked over many years, including, for example,  Tate ,  Whitechapel Gallery ,  Showroom Gallery ,  198 Gallery  and  Iniva .

The programme draws upon a team of dedicated staff in the Department of Educational Studies  that is committed to developing this research.

You will be assessed on a written thesis of between 30,000-70,000 words with practice, negotiated with the supervisor(s) and approved by Departmental PGR Committee, appropriate to the terms of the research.

The practice is not an 'illustration' of the written thesis. The practice and written thesis should be appropriate to the inquiry and should be considered to complement and support each other and the research question(s) that govern the submission as a whole, including the length of the written thesis and the presentation of the practice. The written thesis and practice will be submitted concurrently and examined as a whole.

You should normally have an undergraduate of least a second class classification and have (or expect to be awarded) a taught Masters in Education or a closely related area of the social sciences. 

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about  the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or  equivalent English language qualification ) of  6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0  to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of  courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study .

How to apply

Apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system

Before submitting your application you'll need to have: 

• Details of  your education history , including the dates of all exams/assessments
• The  email address of your referee  who we can request a reference from, or alternatively an electronic copy of your academic reference
• Contact details of a second referee
• A  personal statement –  this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online.  Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement
• If available, an electronic copy of your educational transcript (this is particularly important if you have studied outside of the UK, but isn’t mandatory)
• Details of your  research proposal

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

Before you apply for a research programme, we advise you to get in touch with the programme contact, listed above. It may also be possible to arrange an advisory meeting (if appropriate).

Before you start at Goldsmiths, the actual topic of your research has to be agreed with your proposed supervisor, who will be a member of staff active in your general field of research. The choice of topic may be influenced by the current research in the department or the requirements of an external funding body. 

If you wish to study on a part-time basis, you should also indicate how many hours a week you intend to devote to research, whether this will be at evenings or weekends, and for how many hours each day.

Research proposals

Along with your the application details requested and an academic reference, you should also upload a research proposal and a portfolio as a PDF or URL of your practice.

This proposal should be in the form of a statement of the proposed area of research and should include:

• Delineation of how you would approach the research topic, with reference to both academic sources and art works providing context to your practice
• Your rationale for the proposal - why you are interested in researching this area
• An initial focus, problem you wish to explore or research question
• How practice with theory are appropriate to your inquiry and how they will complement and support each other in benefitting learners at the gallery
• References to academic sources including practice research
• Up to 10 images, sound, film etc of your practice as part of your application. The images can be of present and/or past work/events/installation etc that are relevant to your research proposal

See our guidance on writing a  research proposal .

When to apply  

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place conditional on you achieving a particular qualification.  

If you're applying for external funding from one of the Research Councils, make sure you submit your application by the deadline they've specified. 

Selection process 

You may be invited to an interview where you will be asked to further expand on your practice research focus and its theoretical framing as well as your recent arts practice of applicants.

Find out  more about applying .

Fees and funding

Annual tuition fees.

These are the PG fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

• Home - full-time: £4786
• Home - part-time: £2393
• International - full-time: £17690

If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office , who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment .

Funding opportunities

Esrc/senss doctoral studentships.

Fully funded ESRC studentships are available to research students via this Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).

Educational Studies MPhil/PhD research bursaries

The Department of Educational Studies in conjunction with its Research Centres is offering up to three PhD bursaries to prospective students with excellent proposals.

AHRC studentships

Goldsmiths is one of nine leading research institutions that are part of  CHASE , the Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts Southeast England. CHASE funds up to 56 studentships per year across nine participating universities.

Explore the Goldsmiths scholarships finder to find out what other funding you may be eligible for.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page .

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.

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Program Objectives

• Knowledge of the history, theory and evolution of 20th and 21st century media art, critical theory and digital scholarship in the humanities context.
• Understanding of the diverse types of practices within the broad concept of media art, including new media, electronic art, internet art, media installation, immersive media, pervasive and locative media, ambient storytelling, media activism and social media.
• Understanding of arts-based research practices, and the development of the ability to articulate an appropriate research methodology for a given research question.
• Development of diverse media production skills appropriate to specific research projects, including collaboration, project planning, budgeting and scoping, and skills in visual storytelling, design fiction, audio design, tangible media and other emerging forms of media production.
• Ability to articulate ideas and concepts using written, oral, visual and interactive communication skills and an appreciation of emerging forms of textuality and digital scholarship that facilitate the sharing of ideas within scholarly networks.
• Understanding of disciplinarity, interdisciplinarity and the formation of new fields of inquiry and objects of study.
• Understanding of the legal and ethical rights and responsibilities associated in working with digital media.
• Appreciation of core cultural themes related to contemporary digital media, including access, surveillance and privacy, participation and global citizenship.
• Ability to unite theory and practice in the creation of a dissertation project that includes a clear and appropriate research methodology; that embodies concepts or communicates ideas through interaction with the project; and that exemplifies innovative scholarly research and communication.

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Fine Art MPhil, PhD

The internationally significant research profile of our staff and our excellent facilities provide a stimulating environment for practical or theoretical research.

You are currently viewing course information for entry year:

Start date(s):

• September 2024
• January 2025

Our Fine Art/Art History research degrees at Newcastle involve:

• studio-based practice and research in Fine Art,
• research in Art History.

You'll engage in independent practice and research, with research support from our academic supervisor team. This team can also include academic supervisors from other areas of the university when appropriate.

To complete a practice-led based PhD, you'll produce a body of creative practice, together with a written text between 20,000 and 40,000 words.

A solely text-based Fine Art or Art History PhD would entail a thesis of between 80,000 - 100,000 words.

Both forms of the PhD should show evidence of originality and be suitable for publication.

All our staff are practicing artists and art historians. We offer supervision in a wide range of contemporary art practices:

• digital cultures
• art history

As a PhD student you'll also be allocated office or studio space.

We'll support you to produce work and research that makes an important contribution to your field of practice, including:

• digital, sound and time-based art
• performance
• photography
• printmaking
• installation
• film/moving image/video
• art writing

We encourage you to take advantage of the research and practice expertise of our fine art staff. Please ensure your research proposal is compatible with our expertise by reviewing our academic staff research interests

At the School of Arts and Cultures  you can collaborate with theorists and practitioners from disciplines including:

• digital media
• museum and heritage studies
• media and cultural studies
• film practice

You'll benefit from the resources and opportunities available through the  Institute for Creative Arts Practice . You'll also have access to the expertise within  Culture Lab . This is a multi-user digital media facility that supports interdisciplinary research at the interface of art, digital cultures, computing, humanities and science.

Important information

We've highlighted important information about your course. Please take note of any deadlines.

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our  Academic experience page , which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2024-25.

See our  terms and conditions and student complaints information , which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Related courses

Qualifications explained.

Find out about the different qualification options for this course.

An MPhil is available in all subject areas. You receive research training and undertake original research leading to the completion of a 40,000 - 50,000 word thesis.

Find out about different types of postgraduate qualifications

A PhD is a doctorate or doctoral award. It involves original research that should make a significant contribution to the knowledge of a specific subject. To complete the PhD you will produce a substantial piece of work (80,000 – 100,000 words) in the form of a supervised thesis. A PhD usually takes three years full time.

How you'll learn

The Fine Art MPhil can be practice-led or theoretical, with a final text submission of no more than 40,000 words, or an equivalent combination of studio practice and text. You are expected to complete your submission within two years full-time or four years part time.

The Fine Art PhD can be practice-led or solely text-based. The final submission for a practice-led PhD is a combination of an exhibition of creative work made over the period of study and a thesis. The thesis would typically be between 20,000 and 40,000 words. A text based PhD is submitted as a thesis of 80,000 words. The submission is expected to take place between three or four years of study full time, or six years part time.

For both research degrees you'll be supported by a supervisory team, comprising at least two members of staff with expertise in your area. Your supervisory team can include expertise from across a wide range of disciplines within the School and University, as appropriate.

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

• Design or creative project

The creative project will be in the form of an exhibition

Our mission is to help you:

• stay healthy, positive and feeling well
• overcome any challenges you may face during your degree – academic or personal
• get the most out of your postgraduate research experience
• carry out admin and activities essential to progressing through your degree
• understand postgraduate research processes, standards and rules

We can offer you tailored wellbeing support, courses and activities.

You can also access a broad range of workshops covering:

• research and professional skills
• careers support
• health and safety
• public engagement
• academic development

Find out more about our postgraduate research student support

Your development

You'll be encouraged to attend and make presentations at our regular fine art postgraduate seminars. These sessions aim to enhance research skills and encourage intellectual and practical exchange between you and our academic staff and visiting artists. You can also engage with research across the University to increase your awareness of cross-disciplinary potential and impact potential of your own research.

Fine art staff will encourage and support you to present at national and international conferences. You'll also be able to maintain and develop your professional career through exhibiting, networking and other activities.

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) researcher development programme 

Each faculty offers a researcher development programme for its postgraduate research students. We have designed your programme to help you:

• perform better as a researcher
• boost your career prospects
• broaden your impact

Through workshops and activities, it will build your transferable skills and increase your confidence.

You’ll cover:

• techniques for effective research
• methods for better collaborative working
• essential professional standards and requirements

Your researcher development programme is flexible. You can adapt it to meet your changing needs as you progress through your doctorate.

Find out more about the Researcher Education and Development programme

Doctoral training and partnerships

There are opportunities to undertake your PhD at Newcastle within a:

• Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT)
• Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP)

Being part of a CDT or DTP has many benefits:

• they combine research expertise and training of a number of leading universities, academic schools and academics.
• you’ll study alongside a cohort of other PhD students
• they’re often interdisciplinary
• your PhD may be funded

If there are currently opportunities available in your subject area you’ll find them when you search for funding in the fees and funding section on this course.

The following centres/partnerships below may have PhD opportunities available in your subject area in the future:

• Northern Bridge Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership

Quality and ranking

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information .

School of Arts and Cultures

Our School is in the top five of all UK art schools. We're concerned with the education and training of artists, together with the associated discourses around the practice, exhibition, history and theory of art.

We're home to a wide variety of courses from music, media and cultural studies, digital media, and museum, gallery and heritage studies. We can offer you exciting possibilities for:

• collaboration
• interdisciplinary practice

Learn more about the facilities available to you

Based in the heart of the city centre campus, the  is consistently rated in the top five of all UK art schools.

We're specifically concerned with the education and training of artists, together with the associated discourses around the practice, exhibition, history and theory of art.

We're part of the School of Arts and Cultures, which is home to a wide variety of courses including:

• museum, gallery and heritage studies

There is the potential for interdisciplinary practice, research and engagement within the School of Arts and Cultures, and through university centres such as:

• the  Culture Lab
• the  Institute for Creative Arts Practice

We provide dedicated and well-resourced workshops (all with full technical support) and student studios. We offer:

• purpose-built painting, sculpture, printmaking and digital media studios
• 24/7 access to the studios
• Wood, Metal, Casting, Digital, and Ceramics workshops

Our facilities also include:

• designated gallery and project spaces
• seminar rooms
• large lecture theatre

All students have the use of the award-winning  Peter Robinson Library  and computer clusters around the University.

We're based in the same building as the  Hatton Gallery . This is one of the largest exhibition spaces in North East England. It accommodates both student shows and large touring exhibitions. The  Hatton's permanent collection  consists of works of art from five centuries and includes the Elterwater Merzbarn construction by Kurt Schwitters.

Find out more about our facilities

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2024 entry (per year), home fees for research degree students.

For 2024-25 entry, we have aligned our standard Home research fees with those set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . The standard fee was confirmed in Spring 2024 by UKRI.

For 2025-26 entry, we will be aligning our standard  Home research fees  with those set by  UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . The standard fee will be confirmed in Spring 2025 by UKRI.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here .

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See  our   searchable postgraduate funding page  for more information.  

What you're paying for

Tuition fees include the costs of:

• matriculation
• registration
• tuition (or supervision)
• library access
• examination
• re-examination

Find out more about:

• living costs
• tuition fees

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section .

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.

Search for funding

Find funding available for your course

Entry requirements

The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.

Qualifications from outside the UK

English language requirements, admissions policy.

This policy applies to all undergraduate and postgraduate admissions at Newcastle University. It is intended to provide information about our admissions policies and procedures to applicants and potential applicants, to their advisors and family members, and to staff of the University.

Download our admissions policy (PDF: 201KB) Other policies related to admissions

Credit transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) can allow you to convert existing relevant university-level knowledge, skills and experience into credits towards a qualification. Find out more about the RPL policy which may apply to this course

• How to apply

Using the application portal

The application portal has instructions to guide you through your application. It will tell you what documents you need and how to upload them.

You can choose to start your application, save your details and come back to complete it later.

If you’re ready, you can select Apply Online and you’ll be taken directly to the application portal.

Alternatively you can find out more about applying on our applications and offers pages .

Open days and events

Find out about how you can visit Newcastle in person and virtually

Overseas events

We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University.

Visit our events calendar for the latest events

• Get in touch

Questions about this course?

If you have specific questions about this course you can contact:

Dr Ed Juler Lecturer in Art History School of Arts and Cultures Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 7377 Email: [email protected] or [email protected]

For more general enquiries you could also complete our online enquiry form.

Fill in our enquiry form

Our Ncl chatbot might be able to give you an answer straight away. If not, it’ll direct you to someone who can help.

You'll find our Ncl chatbot in the bottom right of this page.

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Art and creative practices PhD

The University of Brighton is a creative and intellectually vibrant focus for a PhD in art and creative practices.

The School of Art and Media in Brighton has a long history of internationally-recognised work, has been a pioneer of practice-based and inter-disciplinary methods, and joins with other disciplinary areas to offer expert supervision.  

Past successes in PhD in Art and Creative Practices at the University of Brighton include PhDs in the areas of fine art, illustration, graphic design, visual communication, photography and film, digital and interactive arts, 3D design and craft, fashion and textiles, design and communication, drawing on the staff of different schools and sharing a creative vision and ethos that permeates the whole university.

Apply to 'Arts' on our PhD portal

Apply with us for funding through the AHRC Techne Doctoral Training Partnership

Key information

As an Art and Creative Practices PhD student, you will benefit from

• a supervisory team comprising 2-3 members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional external supervisor from another school, research institution, or industry
• access to and induction to research approaches from a variety of related fields, including social science, environmental science, media, design and the humanities
• access to a range of electronic resources via the university’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the university libraries
• a range of colleagues using arts practices for research investigation, including a regular presentation day of research in these fields
• various spaces and facilities for exhibition and public engagement.

Academic environment

Our research and enterprise has, at its heart, an engagement with making and critical thinking that brings together creative inquiry, experimentation with material, process and technology with theory and critical writing. It provides new ways of understanding creative processes that offer insights into cultural and human emotion, thought and action.

Research activities within Art and Creative Practices include the production of innovative artefacts, both digital and physical, design, craft, inclusive practices, exhibitions, installation and performance, as well as creative writing, published texts, books and journal articles. Characterised by a blend of scholarship, knowledge exchange, traditional and cutting-edge practices, our research has been influential in collaborative developments with diverse communities and partners locally, nationally and internationally. It is our belief that knowledge generated through the development of creative and critical practice enhances and shapes every aspect of our contemporary culture and future lives.

We promote research excellence and support individual and collaborative research initiatives that through productive enterprise networks help to enhance society’s understanding of human culture and creativity. 

We welcome applications for PhD study in which practice plays a central role, as well as those applications that bring elements of practice into a more traditional thesis submission. As a research student, you will part of a community of learning with active participation in a range of intellectual and social events. All PhD students working on arts-based topics are integrated into the university’s wider research culture and we will provide you with opportunities to present ‘work in progress’ and network with other researchers.

Research themes in Art and Creative Practices

Researchers within the School of Art and Media are engaged in arts practice work across a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary areas and, along with specialists in the history and theory of art, design, literature, creative writing and autoethnography from the School of Humanities and Social Science, and wider engagement with schools specialising across the sciences, we encourage interdisciplinary projects and cross-disciplinary engagements. Our particular areas of specialism currently include:

• artistic engagements with environment, memory, narrative,
• arts practices and science, health and wellbeing
• research into, through and with drawing
• inclusive arts practice and social contexts
• interactive digital arts and audience engagement
• networked media arts practices and interventions
• mediated performances, visions and the role of the body as site
• politics of representation, curatorship and exhibition making
• creative writing and autoethnography

Explore our Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence:

• Centre for Arts and Wellbeing
• Centre for Design History

Some of our supervisory staff 

Gavin ambrose.

My supervisory interests lie in the development of new approaches to Graphic Design pedagogy. I have expertise in typography, printing, editorial design and graphic systems and conventions. I'm especially interested in the emergence of new approaches to the landscape of contemporary Graphic Design practice and how the role of the Graphic Design has shifted towards a bricoleur approach to contempory communication. Graphic Design is a pervasive subject that is integrated in our daily lives, but arguably the subject of little critical enquiry. An emerging research community and unified research clustering is beginning to address this shortfall, and Doctorate Level study will help to further this body of knowledge.

I am interested in supervising on enquries into:

• Graphic Design practice, both as an act of creation but also as a force for change;

• The changing topography of the Graphic Design landscape, and the changes to the 'role' of the graphic Designer as a contemporary communicator and creator;

• Shifts in typographic practice and relationships of Graphic Design to the broader influences of social and economic factors including globalisation and homogenisation;

• The role of communication as an emerging research practice;

• Self regulation and ‘rule’ or convention generation with in the industry;

• The role of ‘play’ and ‘failure’ in design Graphic Design practice, and in particular how these actions are navigated and understood by learners and educators;

• The emergence of alternative, less formal approaches to education and the role of the ‘Art School’ in this developing landscape.

Dr Martin Bouette

My work investigates the role of entrepreneurship in the development of creative careers as a business owner and researcher. This has included investigating the gap between education and employment for creative practitioners as well as exploring models of learning to support entrepreneurial development.

Current and recent PhD students:

Claire Dawson - An exploration for clothing reuse in the circular economy (2023 -  present)

Martin Irorere -  Sustainability in making material innovation in textiles, for the circular model in the fashion industry (2021 - 2023) 

Erika Wong – Art World Hegemony and Access: Competing Perspectives on the Value of The Creative Class (2016 – 2020) Brighton University

Veerapong Klangpremjit – Interactive Packaging Development (2014 – 2020) University for the Creative Arts

Akapan Thienthaworn – Design Management in UK and Thai SMEs (2011 – 2019) University for the Creative Arts (completed)

Amy Cunningham

My supervisory interests include fine art, video, multi-media installation, sound, voice, performance, site-specific art and cultural histories of technology.

Dr Jules Findley

Postgraduate supervision in Textiles, Fashion, Fashion Communication, Drawing, encompassing embodied materiality, my work in handmade paper and practice-based, installation art. More recently,  substantial research as co-investigator with an AHRC project in sustainabile materials in Fashion and Textiles. I am interested in waste in the Fashion, Textiles, Accessories and Leather industries, together with materials, circular economy, reuse and repurposing.  

Recent PhD supervision:

University of Brighton - Claire Dawson - Research Title: 'Clothing Reuse in the Circular Econonmy: An exploration of the challenges and opportuniteis for UK high street fashion brands' - [March 2023 - July 2029]

University of Brighton - Martin Irorere - Research Title: 'Closing the Fashion Sustainability Gap through textile Recycling: Evaluation of UK Gen-Z consumer attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance of textile recycling'. - [March 2021 - July 2026]

Anglia Ruskin University - Amanda Lavis - Research Title: 'Woven Language: A practice-based research investigation Exploring the Textile Praxis in Children's Book Illustration' [March 2021 - expected completion 2025]

External PhD Viva examination experience, University of Chester October 2020 - Georgina Spry -  'A New Felt Presence: Making and Learning as part of a Community of Women Feltmakers' 

Doctoral student supervision and examination

Meaningfully Engaged? Exploring the particpatory arts practices of adults with profound and multiplul learning disabilities (PMLD)  PhD Thesis by Melaneia Warwick completed in 2018

External examiner, Royal Holloway, Janyne Lloyd, PhD thesis title The Role of Reminiscence Arts in the Lives of Care Home Residents Living with Dementia 2016

Dr Charlotte Gould

My PhD supervisory interests are in Digital Media Arts and Visual Communication. My specific research interests cover interactive storytelling, augmented reality, digital and tangible media,  open interaction, play, participation, immersive environments, virtual reality and 360 video, audience agency and sustainability.

Dr Ole Hagen

In addition to fine art practice, I'm interested in consciousness studies, philosophy of mind, ontology and religious stuies such as Buddhist philosophy. My own PhD covered continental thought, such as phenomenology, poststructuralism, Derrida and Deleuze, but also philosophy of science.

Dr Asa Johannesson

I am interested in supervising PhD and MRes students in the following areas: feminist photographic practices and theories, queer methodologies, queer photographic practices and theories, queer activism and representation, new materialism, posthumanism, photography and ontology, non-dialectical contemporary philosophy, process-led photographic research. 

Dr Helen Johnson

Helen supervises PhD and MD students with an interest in arts-based interventions in healthcare, education and wellbeing, and/or the use of creative, arts-based research methods.  She is interested in talking to doctoral applicants who are interested in researching creativity and the arts, with foci including: art therapy; arts interventions for health and wellbeing, including invisible chronic and contested conditions; social prescribing; creativity and the lived experience of dementia; arts education; spoken word and poetry slam; art worlds/communities; arts inclusivity; everyday creativity; and the artistic process.   She is also interested in supervising students who wish to work with creative, arts-based and/or participatory methods, including: poetic inquiry; autoethnography; photo voice; photo elicitation; collaborative poetics; and participatory action research.  Helen currently supervises four doctoral candidates, who are researching: the lived experiences of women with borderline personality disorder (including creative coping strategies); neurologic music therapy with young people with juvenile dementia; black people's experiences of intimacy and psychosis; and decolonial praxis in museum learning.  She has previously supervised and examined work covering topics that include: perceptions of frailty in the undergraduate medical curriculum; the impact of austerity policies on homeless people; spoken word with young offenders in a Macedonian prison; the performance and perception of authenticity in contemporary UK spoken word poetry; and NHS staff experiences of work. 

Dr Uschi Klein

Dr Uschi Klein is interested in supervising PhDs in the broad areas of photographic histories and practices, visual and material culture, resistance politics, cultural memory and marginalised communities. She is especially but not exclusively interested in supervising research projects that focus on the lived experience of Eastern European totalitarian systems.

Dr Jayne Lloyd

Jayne is interested supervising practice-based PhD research into collaborative or participatory arts practices with marginalised groups, arts in health and social care settings, arts-research and arts practices located in both gallery and community settings.

Dr Philippa Lyon

My main supervisory interests are in the understanding and applications of drawing in clinical settings, the use of drawing as a tool of learning, approaches to arts/health research, the relationship between drawing and writing and creative/visual research methods.

I am currently supervising:

Vanessa Marr (PhD, School of Art and Media) with Jessica Moriarty;  

Caehryn Tinker (PhD, School of Art and Media) with Heidi von Kurthy and Kay Aranda;

James Murray (PhD, School of Art and Media) with Gavin Fry and Duncan Bullen;

Lindsay Sekulowicz (AHRC Collaborative Doctorate, School of Humanities and Social Science) with Claire Wintle at Brighton, William Milliken and Mark Nesbitt at Kew Gardens and Luciana Martins at Birkbeck;

Muna Al-Jawad (PhD by Publication) with Jayne Lloyd;

Duncan Bullen (PhD by Publication).

I worked for a 3 year period as a learning mentor for a PhD student in the School of Art and Media. They completed successfully in February 2024.

I have supervised 4 PhD students to completion: Dr Simon Bliss, Jewellery, Silver and the Applied and Decorative Arts in the Culture of Modernism, 2019; Dr Gavin Fry, Male textile artists in 1980s Britain: a practice based inquiry into their reasons for using this medium, 2018; Dr Curie Scott, Elucidating perceptions of ageing through participatory drawing: a phenomenographic approach, 2018; Dr Sarah Haybittle, Correspondence, trace and the landscape of narrative: a visual, verbal and literary dialectic, 2015.

I have been an independent chair for two PhD examinations (Andrew Cross and Ada Hao) and have examined seven PhDs: Mingyi Wang, University of Brighton, 2023 (internal examiner); Jane Shepard, University of Brighton, 2022 (internal examiner); Melissa Cheung, University of Sydney, Australia, 2019 (external examiner); Louisa Buck, University of Brighton, 2018 (internal examiner); Samantha Lynch, University of Brighton, 2018 (internal examiner); Mike Sadd, University of Brighton, August 2015 (internal examiner); Tanja Golja, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, January 2012 (external examiner).

I've acted as internal examiner for three MRes students: Claire Scanlon, 2019; Diana Brighouse, 2015; and Mark Lander, 2014.

I have also been an independent reader for MPhil/PhD transfers and Annual Progression Review reader for 5 students.

Dr Simon McEnnis

Dr McEnnis is interested in postgraduate supervision in journalism and media studies. He is particularly keen on projects that explore professional and citizen journalism, digital and social media practice, blogging and influencer culture, media analysis, sports journalism or sports media. 

Roderick Mills

My supervisory interests cover the emerging areas of Illustration as an expanded field of practice including GIFs, animation, and the burgeoning self-publishing scene, through to traditional forms of graphic storytelling. I am interested in enquiries into situated illustration, both in terms of site specific work and ethnographic approaches, to how illustrators can use technology to go beyond the printed page. The importance of drawing as means of enquiry is another interest alongside performative aspects of live transcriptions and the use of workshops to engage with communities.

Dr Jessica Moriarty

One of my key passions is working with PhD students on creative practice, autoethnography and creative writing pedagogy. I have supported doctoral students working on transdisciplinary projects and work that seeks to challenge conventional academic discourse. At the moment, I am honoured to be working with students who are looking at queering the colonial, creativity and Bronte, Santiago de Cuba as moving archive, diverse narratives from Brexit, feminist romance, autoethnographic arts-based work, stories from care, autoethno-drag, identity and hybridity in fiction, and queer bodies in performance.

Xavier Ribas

Xavier Ribas is interested in developing postgraduate research in the following areas: contested sites and histories, legacies of colonialism, border territories, geographies of extraction, environmentalism, climate justice, art and activism. 

Dr Naomi Salaman

Contemporary art 

Contemporary art and feminist perspectives

The history of vision

The Art School; art education; art theory.

Prof Paul Sermon

My research and supervisory interests cover Fine Art, Digital Media, Performance and Visual Communications related subjects. Since joining the University of Brighton in 2013 I have taken on six PhD students as their lead supervisor, with completions in May 2016, March 2018 and April 2019. These PhD students have been undertaking practice-based research in a range of specific areas such as digital storytelling, interactive media, virtual reality and networked performance art. In my role as a PhD supervisor and Postgraduate Research Coordinator in the School of Art I bring our PhD students together through collaborative workshops, symposia and exhibitions, such as the group PhD show ‘Digital Encounters’ for the British Science Festival, Brighton in September 2017. I have had six PhD completions as lead supervisor to date, as well as two external completions and I continue to gain PhD Viva experience, with over thirteen PhD external examiner appointments.

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.  

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Sign in to our online application portal to begin.

Fees and funding

 Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2024–25

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page .

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.

PhD Fine Art

Winchester School of Art offers an interdisciplinary, research-led environment for full- and part-time postgraduate research students from a range of areas of art, design and global culture.  We welcome proposals for PhD in Fine Art, Graphic Arts, Media, Fashion, Textiles and Art and Design Management.  As part of a vibrant research-intensive University, cross-disciplinary engagement is encouraged and many of our PhD students extend their research across academic disciplines and collaborate with researchers in related areas of the creative arts, and in fields as diverse as archaeology, psychology, biomedical sciences, nanoscience, economic, social and political sciences, and sound engineering.

4 Years, following standard progression for a FT student.

7 years, following standard progression for a PT student

Programme Overview

The University of Southampton offers a PhD programme for both practice and non-practice-based Fine Art and Design research at the Winchester School of Art (WSA) campus in Winchester. The School is recognised as an International Centre for research in global art and design, culture and communication and enjoys a reputation as a world leader in research. PhD candidates at the School work with Faculty engaged in creative and critical practices across a wide range of research interests and who disseminate their work through internationally recognised publications and exhibitions. The School’s postgraduate researchers engage in both material and intellectual practices as specific ways and means of thinking in order to produce critical knowledge and innovative objects. The School is proud to be a hub for collaborative projects and public events, offering a vibrant venue for artists, designers and intellectuals to debate the key issues of the 21st century. The School’s Centre for Global Futures in Art, Design and Media provides an overarching vision for researchers at the School. Its activities are focused on creating and sustaining mutually beneficial and interactive professional associations with a range of public organisations. These include galleries, museums, arts and community centres, publishers and online sources whose activities may benefit diverse social groups locally, nationally and around the world.

Career opportunities are wide ranging and varied within the arts, culture, curation and publishing realms.  Opportunities exist to engage with and contribute to wider research in academia, leading to future leadership positions within an academic context.  The nature of the generic and discipline-specific skills obtained during your study make your experience and skills attractive to a range of organisations post qualification.

View the doctoral programme profile for this course

Doctoral Programme Director:

Dr Jo Turney Associate Professor Art Design and Fashion Winchester School of Art email: [email protected]

Entry Requirements

Typical entry requirements.

Second class Honours degree and Master of Arts in a relevant subject.

Other qualifications are considered on an individual basis for all programmes and pathways.

Work experience in a related field considered.

English language entry requirements: IELTS 6.5 overall, with a minimum of 6.0 in all components, or an equivalent standard in other qualifications approved by the University.

Selection process

Online application and interview

This page contains specific entry requirements for this course. Find out about equivalent entry requirements and qualifications for your country.

Programme Structure

Typical course content, fees & funding, tuition fees.

Scholarships, bursaries, sponsorships or grants may be available to support you through your course. Funding opportunities available to you are linked to your subject area and/or your country of origin. These can be from the University of Southampton or other sources.

Study locations

The City of Winchester

Winchester is a historical and vibrant city located just twelve miles ... Find out more

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From the industrially oriented to the highly speculative

Key details.

• Full-time or part-time study

School or Centre

• School of Design

Next open event

• Watch Open Day recording

Application deadline

• Applications closed. Please check back soon.

Career opportunities

• PhD study leads to a range of opportunities. You might become a researcher in industry or government or an academic in an international institution It is an opportunity for you to investigate a research question or issue in depth, enabling you to take a more reflective, more innovative role in design.

As a research student in the School of Design, you may be designing an innovative object or system.

The School of Design is home to internationally significant research, much of which is practice-based. The teaching and research areas of the School – Design Products, Fashion, Global Innovation Design, Innovation Designing Engineering, Healthcare Design, Robotics, Service Design and Textiles – represent a wide range of approaches to design research.

Research topics range from those which are strongly user-focused – such as designing new medical innovations or citizen science through to those which are more experimental – such as designing trust in AI systems or multi-species design. We particularly encourage applications in our strategic design research plan areas including: The future of making; Manufacture and materials; Systems and design; Design for safety; Design for health; Intelligent machines; Data capture and creation; Design science and Design resilience.

Programme details

• PhD: 3–4 years (full time), 6–7 years (part time)
• MPhil: 2–3 years (full time), 4–6 years (part time)

Applications will open in autumn for September 2025 entry. If you would like to make a late application for 2024/5, some programmes may still have spaces so please contact [email protected] as soon as possible.

Register your interest to be the first to know when applications for 2025 entry open. 

Catch the replays from our latest online Open Day.

Browse our current and recent research students

Oki Naganode at the V&A Museum

Julia Lohamnn

Life below water inc rubbish kisser

Kintsugi applied to 20 products

• Nazli Terzoglu

Why does soft matter? Steam powered silicon structure

• Amy Winters

Xenodesign - Towards Transversal Engagement in Design

Johanna Schmeer

Professor Ashley Hall

Postgraduate Research Lead

Ashley is Professor of Design Innovation, Postgraduate Research Lead in the school of design at the Royal College of Art and Head of Programme for the MRes Healthcare Design delivered with Imperial College.

The School of Design is based across our Battersea and Kensington sites.

Students have access to the College’s workshops, with traditional facilities for woodworking, metalworking, plastics and resins, including bookable bench spaces. Computer-driven subtractive milling equipment is available, as well as additive rapid prototyping.

Work in Progress Exhibition

Design Research PhD exhibition

Innovation Mapping

Aesthetic analysis

Research-seminar: strategy vs. mindset self mapping

Our alumni form an international network of creative individuals who have shaped and continue to shape the world. Click on each name to find out more.

• Tibor Balint
• Katie Gaudion
• Gyorgyi Galik
• Carmen Hijosa
• Florian Krautli
• Roland Lamb
• Julia Lohman
• Hideki Yoshimoto

Student and alumni stories

Meet the RCA PhD graduate bridging the technological foundations of AI with its social implications

Research Biennale 2023

More details on what you'll study.

Find out what you'll cover in this programme.

What you'll cover

What is a research degree.

At the RCA we offer both MPhil and PhD research degrees. Research candidates can study in part-time and full-time modes (subject to approval) and their research can be undertaken by project or thesis modes. The mode of research will be discussed in interview, and should be indicated in the application process.

A postgraduate research degree challenges you to complete a research project that pushes the boundaries of our understanding.

Unlike a taught degree, a research degree emphasises independence of learning and increased specialisation. You will manage your own research project in order to investigate your topic in depth and to produce new ideas, arguments and solutions.

A research degree will give you the subject matter expertise and transferable skills necessary for a wide range of senior roles in research and academia, as well as in business, industry and the cultural and creative sectors.

A PhD is awarded to students who produce a substantial piece of original research that makes a contribution to research in the field. This can take the form of a thesis (60,000-80,000 words) or by project (a body of work and thesis 25,000-40,000 words). If you’re a PhD candidate you’ll normally registered for three years full-time, with submission within four years, or six to seven years part-time. You must remain registered and pay an appropriate fee until submission.

An MPhil is awarded for original research and submission of a thesis. If you’re an MPhil candidate you’ll normally be registered for two years (full-time) or four years (part-time).

Our postgraduate community

We have more than 250 PhD students pursuing cutting-edge research and undertaking advanced training across the College:

• School of Architecture
• School of Arts & Humanities
• School of Communication
• Computer Science Research Centre
• Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
• Intelligent Mobility Design Centre
• Material Futures Research Centre

The RCA is a world-leading postgraduate university and is ranked the most research-intensive university of art and design in the UK since 2014. Both our students and staff are drawn from countries across the globe. Overseas students play a vital role in ensuring that our College community benefits from a diversity of experience and skills.

Doctoral training programme

At the RCA, research students undertake training both at a cross-College level and within their Schools/Centres, offering rich and robust preparation and learning opportunities for their research degree progression. Many of these also offer opportunities to build a portfolio of experience for future careers.

All students are required to attend our Doctoral Training Weeks in September, February and July (pro-rata attendance by negotiation for part-time students). These are opportunities to participate in the broader research community at the RCA, but also to undertake timely training to support research progression. These intensive weeks include a range of professional development seminars, training and advice in writing, getting published, achieving impact, entering the academic job market and more, and opportunities for you to develop and present your research to your peers and staff.

Our Research Biennale, held every alternate February, offers a showcase of research to internal and external partners and public. The events include space for testing and experimenting with public facing aspects of research, extending and challenging frameworks and perceptions of what art and design research can be.

We are committed to ensuring that you are well equipped, not only to complete your studies but also to develop your future careers.

Supervisors

All students are allocated supervisors upon registration; your supervisory team will have both subject specialism and experience of supervising to completion. Our of current staff index includes an overview of their research interests, recent research outputs and areas of expertise. These give an idea of the key areas of research that are covered at the RCA.

We are not able to guarantee allocation to a specific supervisor as we need to balance staff capacities and our research strategy. However, if there is a particular supervisor whose research aligns with your research proposal, please join us at one of our Open Days and we can talk with you about the possibilities.

Each student will have six supervisions per year (3 for PT students); these might be with the full supervisory team or with one supervisor. Students are expected to initiate these meetings, set the agenda and provide supervisors with pre-reading or other materials in an agreed timeframe for review.

Annual progress reviews

All research students have Annual Progress Reviews, which they must pass in order to progress into the next year of study. These are vital points where all candidates receive formal feedback not only from their supervisory team, but also from other members of the faculty.

There is a formal Confirmation Exam that takes place midway through the period of study to ascertain your readiness for PhD submission; if you who do not meet the requirements at this stage then you’ll usually be recommended to submit for MPhil examination.

Requirements

What you need to know before you apply

The programme welcomes applications from candidates from across the world and of all ages, including those with academic and professional backgrounds.

Applications are considered in terms of quality of proposal, quality of practice (where appropriate), readiness to undertake a research degree at this level and supervisory capacity.

What's needed from you

Portfolio requirements.

Your portfolio is a showcase of your work as an artist or designer and can be made up of images, videos or writing examples. Your portfolio helps us to better understand your application and allows you to show evidence of your ability and motivation to undertake a given programme.

Generally, we’re looking for you to demonstrate your:

• Creativity, imagination and innovation
• Ability to articulate the intentions of the work
• Intellectual engagement in areas relevant to the work
• Technical skills appropriate to the work
• Potential to benefit from the programme

Please submit a portfolio with no more than 10 projects that illustrate your practices and capabilities supporting your research proposal (20MB PDF max). These can be drawn from a wide range of project types as some applications may come from diverse disciplines. When submitting group projects please describe your own role clearly.

Video requirements

You'll also need to submit a brief video recording recorded on your phone or laptop, speaking to us directly. High production qualities are not needed. We will review the work in your portfolio, so keep your video simple.

We would like to know about your background and motivation for applying for a research degree in the design school: your expectations of the programme and supervision; how it will help develop your future interests and goals; research expertise area that you require; and the key capabilities, insights and experiences that you bring to the programme. Please also give a very brief ‘elevator pitch’ summary of your research proposal.

English-language requirements

If you are not a national of a majority English-speaking country, MPhil candidates will need the equivalent of an IELTS Academic score of 6.5 with a 6.5 in the Test of Written English (TWE). PhD candidates will need the equivalent of an IELTS Academic score of 7.0 with a 7.0 in the Test of Written English (TWE).

If you need a Student Visa to study at the RCA, you will also need to meet the Home Office’s minimum requirements for entry clearance.

Fees & funding

For this programme, fees for new students.

Fees for September 2025 entry on this programme are outlined below. From 2021 onward, EU students are classified as Overseas for tuition fee purposes.

Home: High residency

Home: low residency, overseas and eu: high residency, overseas and eu: low residency.

New entrants to the College will be required to pay a non-refundable deposit in order to secure their place. This will be offset against the tuition fees for the first year of study.

Overseas and EU

Progression discount.

For alumni and students who have completed an MA, MA/MSc or MRes at the RCA within the past 10 years, a progression discount is available for Doctoral study. This discount is £1,000 per year for thee first three years of full-time study.

Continuation fees

Candidates who have completed the minimum three years of study (FT or 6 years PT) for PhD will be eligible to apply for Continuation Status. This is a period of study, for up to one academic year, during which a candidate will be focused upon revising and editing their thesis/project.

Scholarships

Rca scholarships.

The RCA scholarship programme is growing, with hundreds of financial awards planned for the 2025/6 academic year.

For more information and examples of financial awards offered in 2024/25, visit the Scholarships & awards webpage.

You must hold an offer to study on an RCA programme in order to make a scholarship application in Spring 2025. A selection of RCA merit scholarships will also be awarded with programme offers. 

We strongly recommend that you apply for your programme as early as possible to stand the best chance of receiving a scholarship. You do not apply directly for individual awards; instead, you will be invited to apply once you have received an offer.

More information

Mphil/phd fee bands.

The RCA is introducing two separate tuition fee bands for MPhil/PhD students with effect from the academic year 2023/24: Low Residency and High Residency. For more information about what the different fee bands entail, and for frequently asked questions on fee bands, visit

Additional fees

In addition to your programme fees, please be aware that you may incur other additional costs associated with your study during your time at RCA. Additional costs can include purchases and services (without limitation): costs related to the purchase of books, paints, textiles, wood, metal, plastics and/or other materials in connection with your programme, services related to the use of printing and photocopying, lasercutting, 3D printing and CNC. Costs related to attending compulsory field trips, joining student and sport societies, and your Convocation (graduation) ceremony. 

If you wish to find out more about what type of additional costs you may incur while studying on your programme, please contact the Head of your Programme to discuss or ask at an online or in person  Open Day .   

We provide the RCASHOP online, and at our Kensington and Battersea Campuses – this is open to students and staff of the Royal College of Art only to provide paid for materials to support your studies. 

We also provide support to our students who require financial assistance whilst studying, including a dedicated Materials Fund.

External funding

With the Government's introduction of the new Doctoral Loan and the continued support available via the Arts and Humanities Research Council, there are more financial support options than ever before.

Tuition fees are due on the first day of the academic year and students are sent an invoice prior to beginning their studies. Payments can be made in advance, on registration or in two instalments.

Ask a question

Get in touch if you’d like to find out more or have any questions.

More opportunities to study at the RCA

Related programmes, design pathway.

Taught Master's

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Innovation Design Engineering

Innovation through synergy between creativity, science and technology to create value for society.

The Fashion MA programme asks for a disruptive critical approach, leading to new aesthetics and responses about the practice and industry of fashion.

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Fine arts PhD - practice based with research - any thoughts? I’m considering doing one instead of an MFA

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Course type

Qualification, university name, phd degrees in fine art.

34 degrees at 31 universities in the UK.

Customise your search

Select the start date, qualification, and how you want to study

About Postgraduate Fine Art

A fine art PhD programme represents the pinnacle of academic study for artists seeking to engage in advanced research and critical inquiry within the visual arts. This programme delves into diverse artistic practices, theoretical frameworks and contemporary art discourse. It's particularly suited for artists, art historians and curators with a deep interest in advancing their expertise in fine art.

There are 35 PhD courses in fine art offered throughout the UK. Candidates for this doctoral programme are typically required to have a master's degree in fine art, art history or a related field. A strong portfolio of artistic work or previous academic research experience in the field is essential. Graduates emerge as accomplished artists and scholars, prepared for roles in academia, curation and professional art practice, shaping the future of the visual arts landscape.

What to Expect

The fine art PhD programme is predominantly research-based, allowing candidates to focus on a specific area of interest. This includes explorations of art techniques, history, traditional art or contemporary art forms, critical theory or interdisciplinary approaches that bridge between art and other academic fields.

Candidates work closely with academic advisors to develop their research proposal, which culminates in a doctoral thesis that combines a written dissertation with practical artistic work. The practical component often involves creating a body of work for exhibitions or installations, depending on the nature of the research.

Graduates are equipped for careers as professional artists, educators, academics, art critics and museum and gallery curators. They contribute significantly to the discourse, criticism and development of the contemporary fine art scene, both nationally and internationally.

Related subjects:

• PhD Fine Art
• PhD 3d Design
• PhD Animation
• PhD Art Curation
• PhD Art History
• PhD Art History and Criticism
• PhD Art Studies
• PhD Art Techniques and Practical Art
• PhD Art Theory
• PhD Art and Design
• PhD Art of Specific Cultures and Periods
• PhD Arts and Crafts
• PhD Ceramics Arts and Crafts
• PhD Creative Arts and Design and Illustration
• PhD Design History
• PhD European Art
• PhD Fashion
• PhD Fashion and Textiles Design
• PhD Glass, Ceramics and Stone Crafts
• PhD Graphic Arts
• PhD Illustration
• PhD Modern Art
• PhD Non-Industrial Design
• PhD Spatial Design
• PhD Textile Design
• PhD Visual Arts

• Course title (A-Z)
• Course title (Z-A)
• Price: high - low
• Price: low - high

History of Art PhD

Birkbeck, university of london.

The Department of History of Art has an international reputation for its research in medieval, Renaissance and modern art. Our range of Read more...

• 4 years Full time degree: £4,712 per year (UK)
• 7 years Part time degree: £2,500 per year (UK)

Archaeology and Ancient History PhD, Mphil - Material Culture Studies

University of leicester.

The School of Archaeology and Ancient History offers supervision for the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) - full-time and Read more...

• 4 years Distance without attendance degree: £5,913 per year (UK)
• 3 years Full time degree: £4,786 per year (UK)
• 6 years Part time degree: £2,393 per year (UK)

Fine Art PhD

Anglia ruskin university.

Our research degree will allow you to explore your own interests in fine art - from history of art to painting and printmaking - Read more...

• 2 years Full time degree: £4,786 per year (UK)
• 2.5 years Full time degree: £4,786 per year (UK)
• 3 years Part time degree: £2,392 per year (UK)
• 3.5 years Part time degree: £2,392 per year (UK)

Fine Art MPhil, PhD

Newcastle university.

The internationally significant research profile of our staff and our excellent facilities provide a stimulating environment for practical Read more...

• 36 months Full time degree: £4,712 per year (UK)
• 72 months Part time degree: £2,356 per year (UK)

PhD Art History and Theory

University of essex.

For our PhD in Art History and Theory, we offer supervision across a range of fields and have a long tradition of postgraduate training in Read more...

• 4 years Full time degree: £4,786 per year (UK)
• 7 years Part time degree: £2,393 per year (UK)

University of Glasgow

We have a vibrant student community in the History of Art with many research projects and external collaborations. Areas available for Read more...

• 5 years Part time degree: £2,393 per year (UK)

Art History PhD

University of nottingham.

Take the time to create your own original research in art history and visual culture. At Nottingham you'll receive • expert supervision Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £5,100 per year (UK)
• 6 years Part time degree

University of Plymouth

Explore 21st century art history and learn about this ever-expanding discipline, marked by interdisciplinary cross-overs, varied and Read more...

• 4 years Part time degree: £3,180 per year (UK)

Human Geography MPhil/PhD

Ucl (university college london).

UCL Geography is an established international leader in geographical research. We are committed to theoretically informed empirical Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £6,035 per year (UK)
• 5 years Part time degree: £3,015 per year (UK)

History of art PhD

University of brighton.

The University of Brighton has an established reputation for pioneering research into art, design and material culture and is a recognised Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,796 per year (UK)
• 7 years Part time degree: £2,398 per year (UK)

University of Southampton

We're proud to offer a supportive and creative environment in which to carry out your work, and we encourage interdisciplinary engagement Read more...

• 2 years Full time degree

History of Art PhD (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)

University of birmingham.

By pursuing research in History of Art at Birmingham, you will joining a vibrant and dynamic research community thanks to the Department’s Read more...

• 3 years Distance without attendance degree: £2,393 per year (UK)

PhD Fine Art and Design

Sheffield hallam university.

Course summary Undertake doctoral research in an approved fine art and design topic. Join the vibrant research community in the Culture Read more...

History of Art MPhil/PhD

UCL History of Art is top-rated for research; our staff are active researchers in a range of specialist fields and there is a thriving Read more...

PhD Art History and Visual Culture

University of exeter.

You will have the opportunity to study a topic which incorporates a number of established subject areas, including art history and Read more...

• 8 years Part time degree

PhD Art History and Visual Studies

University of manchester.

Programme description Our Art History and Visual Studies PhD programme offers the opportunity to conduct in-depth research in an area of Read more...

DPhil in Fine Art

University of oxford.

The DPhil in Fine Art is designed to support research in contemporary art making (through the practice-led DPhil) and contemporary art Read more...

• 3 years Full time degree: £9,850 per year (UK)
• 6 years Part time degree: £4,925 per year (UK)

University of Warwick

Undertake original research on the PhD in History of Art at the University of Warwick. Course The PhD in History of Art is an advanced Read more...

• 4 years Full time degree: £4,950 per year (UK)
• 7 years Part time degree

PhD in History of Art

University of york.

PhD The PhD requires a dissertation of not more than 90,000 words, to be submitted by full-time students after a period of three years' Read more...

• 3 years Distance without attendance degree: £4,786 per year (UK)
• 6 years Distance without attendance degree: £2,393 per year (UK)

University of Bristol

The Department of History of Art is a thriving and collegial centre for the study of art, visual culture and theory. Staff specialisms Read more...

• 4 years Distance without attendance degree: £4,758 per year (UK)
• 8 years Distance without attendance degree: £2,379 per year (UK)
• 4 years Full time degree: £4,758 per year (UK)
• 8 years Part time degree: £2,379 per year (UK)

1-20 of 34 courses

Course type:

• Distance learning PhD
• Full time PhD
• Part time PhD

Qualification:

Universities:.

• Brighton and Sussex Medical School
• Warburg Institute, School of Advanced Study, University of London
• University of Suffolk
• University of Buckingham
• University of Sussex
• University of Aberdeen
• The University of Edinburgh
• University of Reading
• University of St Andrews
• University of Cambridge
• University of Northampton
• Open University

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Discover a PhD or MPhil awarded in any subject area at UAL with qualified and inspiring research supervision.

Join UAL's vibrant community of researchers. We offer theoretical and practice-based research programmes, leading to an MPhil or PhD.

There are currently over 300 research students at UAL who are members of our Doctoral School , benefitting from extensive researcher development support, and enjoying full access to all our College resources.

Degree overview

• Make an application

Fees and funding

Learn about our latest research funding opportunities.

A programme of self-directed independent study that takes places within a framework of researcher and professional development and with the support of an experienced supervisory team.

PhD degrees are doctoral level awards which are the highest level of academic degree. A PhD is awarded following successful completion of a research project and thesis which offers a significant new contribution to knowledge in the chosen subject area.

An MPhil is a postgraduate research master's degree which is awarded following completion of a research project and thesis.

• Read the Research Handbook and Regulations 2023-24 (PDF 2.4MB) for full details on a postgraduate degree and our facilities .

Length of study

Please note, students who need a visa to study in the UK must study full time.

• PhD: 4 years
• MPhil: 3 years
• PhD: 8 years
• MPhil: 6 years

Choose a College

All of our Colleges and the Creative Computing Institute (CCI) offer practice based research programmes and you will have a home UAL College or Institute that supports your programme.

Take a look at our College research interests to help you decide which one to apply to:

Camberwell College of Arts

Research interests include:

• Design curation
• Design theory and practice
• Printmaking
• Global photographies

Central Saint Martins

• Curatorial practices, histories and theories
• Fashion history, theory and curation
• Performance
• Spatial practices and design for social innovation
• Critical theory and art practices

Chelsea College of Arts

• Graphic design communication
• History of art and design
• Archival studies

London College of Communication

• Graphic design
• Media and communications
• Film and moving image
• Photography and photojournalism

London College of Fashion

• Digital production
• Sustainability

Wimbledon College of Arts

• Theatre archives
• Costume design
• Scenography

Creative Computing Institute

The UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI) offers research opportunities and a public platform to explore computer science and creative computing.

Research centres

Finding a research centre may help you decide on a College. They operate across UAL and provide a focus for excellent research in areas of strength. Once enrolled, you can discuss membership of a Research Centre with your Director of Studies.

At UAL you may start your Research Degree in either September or January and we encourage you to apply as early as possible:

Step 1: Check entry requirements

Minimum entry requirement is an upper second class honours (2:1) degree or equivalent from a recognised higher education institution.

However, a master's degree in an appropriate subject is considered to be a particularly valuable preparation for the academic and intellectual demands of an MPhil or PhD.

In some instances, applicants without the minimum academic requirement may be considered for a place if they can demonstrate appropriate alternative qualifications, relevant professional experience, or previous research.

Teaching experience is not a requirement for applicants, the quality of your research is the most important element of your application.

English language

If English is not your first language, you will need to meet our  English language requirements by providing one of the following:

• A recent UAL-approved English Language Test (ELT) - such as IELTS 7.0 with a 7.0 in writing and with no other component score lower than 6.0, or an equivalent test score - check the  English language requirements webpage to see which other English language tests the University accepts;
• Recent MA degree (Distinction only) in a majority English-speaking country;
• Successful completion of UAL's  Presessional Academic English Programme .

Your qualification needs to have been awarded no more than 2 years prior to your enrolment date.

You can apply before you receive your English Language Test or MA certificate. If you are offered a place, you will need to show your qualification before enrolment.

Requirements for distance learning overseas online applicants

In addition to meeting the standard academic and language eligibility requirements, applicants to the distance learning overseas online mode need to demonstrate that they:

• can successfully conduct their research with the resources available to them at their distance learning place of study
• have access to appropriate IT facilities, so that they can engage in supervision and training from their distance learning place of study
• have the necessary time, commitment, and appropriate attitude toward distance learning online study.

Students on this mode do not hold a Student Visa so cannot enter the UK for the purpose of study or access UAL physical resources or buildings. Distance learning students have access to online resources available to all postgraduate students.

Please check that the distance learning route is recognised in your home country before submitting your application.

Please note: we advise overseas applicants to apply well in advance of preferred start date as the Student Visa application takes a minimum of 6 weeks.

Step 2: Draft a research proposal

Your research proposal is the most critical component of your research degree application. It will form the basis for discussion at your interview, and if your application is successful your proposal will also be used as the starting point for the Registration process.

Use the personal statement section of the online application form to tell us anything you couldn't express in the rest of the application within a 500 word limit.

How to write a research proposal

Step 3: Find a supervisor

At UAL all students have 2 supervisors. We ensure that across the team there is both subject specialist knowledge in the field of your research and methodological approach, as well as experience of successful research degree supervision.

You may wish to approach a potential supervisor before applying although this is not necessary. We will find the best possible supervision team for your project on receiving your application.

When approaching a potential supervisor, you are advised to have a good draft of your research proposal ready.

If you know the name of a potential supervisor and have your proposal ready, you can contact them – find their contact details on our UAL Staff Researchers database by name or keyword.

Step 4: Apply for a PhD or MPhil

You can only apply to 1 research degree.

Start an application for a PhD or MPhil 2024/25, by choosing from the following options.

Application deadlines and timeline

Applications for January 2025 will open on 3 June 2024.

Applications received after these dates may not be considered for your preferred start date:

• Final application deadline to enrol in September:  31 May 2024
• Final application deadline to enrol in January: 31 August 2024

Applications are welcome at any time of the year and we aim to respond to you within 6-weeks of receipt.

The full assessment of your suitability and the availability of supervision can take some time, typically 2-3 months from submission of your application.

Please note : applications submitted after 3 June will not be responded to until September.

Other application routes

• Transfer MPhil and PhD from another institution: If you're currently registered on a degree programme at another university and would like to discuss transferring to UAL, please get in touch with our research degrees team.
• Research degree by published work: We can consider applications for a programme of research degree by published work where applicants demonstrate research outputs that make a substantial contribution to knowledge.

For further information and details please contact our research team at [email protected]

Your tuition fee status (Home or International) is determined by your residency history, visa status and nationality. We will let you know what your tuition fee status will be after your application has been assessed. Please be aware that tuition fees are payable each academic year and are subject to change each academic year in line with inflation.

Study in the UK

• Home full time: £6,000
• Home part time: £3,000
• International full time (new): £22,780
• Writing up Status: £990

Online distance learning (international students only)

• Full time: £22,780
• Part time: £11,390
• Writing up status: £990

PhD by published work

• Home: £6,000
• International: £22,780

Visiting students

• £1,860 (per 3 months)
• Home full time: £6,300
• Home part time: £3,150
• International: £25,060
• Writing Up Status: £1,040
• Full time: £25,060
• Part time: £12,530
• Home: £6,300
• £1,960 (per 3 months)

Studentships

You can apply to UAL to pursue fully funded doctoral-level research studentships in arts and humanities subject areas. Find out more about funding opportunities .

Doctoral loans of up to £27,265 are now available for some students. Find out about doctoral loans and funding advice .

Join our community

Doctoral School

Find out more about UAL's Doctoral School.

Support and community

Take part in Research Network UAL (RNUAL) training activities designed to help you become an effective researcher and find more support information.

Archives and special collections

Explore our archives and special collections dedicated to renowned graphic artists, filmmakers and designers.

Get access to exciting opportunities, events and networking at UAL.

Need help finding a supervisor?

Contact our team for advice:

• Professor Malcolm Quinn , Camberwell, Chelsea, Wimbledon Colleges of Arts
• Dr Caterina Albano , Central Saint Martins
• LCC Research Office , [email protected] , London College of Communication
• LCF research office , [email protected] , London College of Fashion
• Professor Nick Bryan-Kinns , Creative Computing Institute

Application questions

Email our postgraduate research student team: [email protected]

• Request Information

Master of Arts in Art Education

The online Master of Arts in Art Education at Ohio State is designed to reignite your passion for teaching art while enhancing the learning experiences of your students. This program blends innovative and contemporary practices with a deep understanding of how art can be a powerful tool for creative expression and critical thinking.

This flexible and 100% online program allows you to advance your education without putting your career on hold. Whether you’re balancing classroom responsibilities, personal commitments, or both, the program’s structure lets you fit your studies around your schedule. The engaging curriculum focuses on contemporary art and social justice to challenge you both as an artist and an educator.

Additionally, the program offers an optional Education Abroad experience, allowing you to expand your cultural horizons and bring global perspectives into your classroom.

"I felt that through my own artmaking within this program, I walked away feeling empowered and inspired by my own work. I strive to help my students feel the same way"

"This program has allowed me to explore my own identity as an educator, a creator, a Latinx woman and an ally which has grown my desire to help others find their own connections with self through the exploration and making of art"

"Over the years teaching in various schools and studios, I have fallen in love with the process of sharing my art and my passion for the performing arts – notably, because I have seen how the arts can empower, encourage, and give students a voice"

"I am already implementing some of the strategies in my teaching practice, and, as a result, my lessons are more engaging and enriching for my students."

Frequently asked questions.

Please find key information about the Master of Arts in Art Education program below.

How many credit hours do students take per semester?

Those taking courses full-time can complete the program in three semesters. For part-time students, you can expect to complete the program in six semesters.

Do I need to be a licensed teacher to be accepted into the program?

Although many students are licensed teachers, this is not a pre-requisite for the program. Students may be art educators within the community, museums, or schools.

Do I need to complete a thesis for this program?

Students do not complete a thesis for the Masters of Art in Art Education program. They do however complete a a non-thesis research project applying their learnings to their classroom or other teaching context.

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Academic Calendar

The Master of Art in Art Education program offers convenient rolling admission for all 3 terms: Spring, Summer, and Autumn.

Spring 2025

Application Deadline December 9, 2024

Term Start Date January 6, 2025

Summer 2025

Application Deadline June 1, 2025

Term Start Date May 6, 2025

Autumn 2025

Application Deadline July 19, 2025

Term Start Date August 26, 2025

Admission Criteria

• Bachelor’s degree
• Minimum GPA of 3.0

Is this program offered in my state?

Click your state on the map below to view program availability.

The State Authorization Reciprocity Agreement, also known as  SARA , establishes uniform standards for distance education for all participating states and institutions. Ohio State joined SARA in 2015, which means Ohio State can offer most online and on-ground courses and programs in  SARA member states, districts and territories without seeking authorization in each state.

Career Outlook

Whether you’re looking to grow in your current career or make a career change altogether, Ohio State’s online programs can help you achieve your goals. Learn what the outlook is for your current or next career move using O*Net’s My Next Move tool.

The Master of Arts in Art Education program offers a comprehensive and innovative approach to art education, designed to enhance both teaching and creative practice. It equips educators with the tools and knowledge to foster artistic expression and critical thinking in students, emphasizing contemporary methods and inclusivity.

ARTEDUC 7000.30 – Issues, Frameworks and Theories for Art Educators

Critically analyze articles that provide an overview of topics for art education research; graduate faculty research; national and international issues, and research resources.  

ARTEDUC 7604 — Teaching of Studio Activities

Students will create their own art in this course through innovative and contemporary  practices, while learning how to use their personal artmaking as a model for fostering creative thought and play in student artmaking.  

ARTEDUC 7607 – Curriculum Planning and Assessment in Art Education

Students in this course are guided in learning about approaches to curriculum development, what causes curriculum and assessment to change, the roles of arts in society, contemporary art, and arts integration. Students develop a unit of study guided by instructor and peer feedback.  

ARTEDUC 7767 – Critical Analysis of Multicultural Art Education

Investigation and analysis of multicultural theories, issues and practices for art education.  

ARTEDUC 7200.3 – Overview of Research for Arts Educators

Introduction to research methodologies in the field of arts education.  

ARTEDUC 7777 – Research to Advocacy

This course engages practicing arts educators in developing effective advocacy strategies, arguments and approaches grounded in reliable research and assessment measures. Educators clearly communicating these measures can effectively leverage them in persuading administrators, parents and policy makers to energetically support and advance the critical work of arts education. 

Understanding Online Course Types

As you research the right online program for you, you likely will come across the terms “asynchronous” and “synchronous.” Learn what these terms mean and how they’re important to consider when understanding how a program will fit into your life.

Program Faculty

Our distinguished faculty members bring a wealth of expertise and experience to the Master of Arts in Art Education program, each contributing to a dynamic and supportive learning environment. They are dedicated to advancing the field of art education through innovative teaching, groundbreaking research, and active engagement with diverse communities. With backgrounds in both traditional and non-traditional educational settings, our faculty members offer a rich blend of academic and practical knowledge. They are committed to preparing students to excel as leaders and advocates in the evolving landscape of art education.

Joni Boyd Acuff

PhD, Art Education, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, 2011 MA, Community Based Art Education, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, 2007 BS, Art Education, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, 2005 BA, Photography, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, 2005

Christine Ballengee Morris

JT Richardson

James Sanders

Clayton Funk

Testimonials

The  online Master of Arts in Art Education is designed for passionate educators who want to take their teaching and artmaking to the next level. The program is made up of a diverse cohort of artists with experience in the classroom, in the museum, on the stage, and in the community. Hear from real Ohio State Online students and graduates about their experience with the Master of Arts in Art Education program.

"Over the years teaching in various schools and studios, I have fallen in love with the process of sharing my art and my passion for the performing arts – notably, because I have seen how the arts can empower, encourage, and give students a voice,"

Get started.

Speak with a knowledgeable Enrollment Advisor who can help answer your questions and explain different aspects of the more than 70 online degrees and certificates offered at Ohio State.

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Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

Our Doctor of Nursing Practice Program ranked #33 in The U.S. News and World Report 2023 Rankings of Top Nursing Programs.

The College of Nursing’s Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) is a clinical practice-oriented leadership curriculum that focuses on evidence-based practice for the improvement of clinical care delivery, program evaluation, patient and population outcomes, and health system leadership/management.

All classes have an online component; some classes require a one- to two-day intensive session on campus. There are no more than three intensives on campus per academic year.

The DNP Pathways:

• The BS to DNP Program provides individuals with a Bachelor's in Nursing with a single path to a DNP degree.
• Students may also advance a current Master’s degree through the Post-Graduate DNP pathway.
• Expected DNP Program Outcomes
• Clinical Experience
• Career Possibilities
• APRN Certification

There are five different tracks that students may pursue in either of the DNP pathways. Each track has a focus.

• The Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (DNP-APRN) pathway prepares individuals with Master's Degrees in Nursing and a specialty certification for leadership roles in the clinical setting.
• The DNP-PHN Program is for individuals who hold a Master's Degree in Public/Community Health and desire leadership roles in the public health sector.
• Individuals with a nursing masters in a specialty other than public health can earn both a Master's in Public Health and a DNP Degree with the DNP/MPH Dual Degree Program .
• The Post-Graduate DNP Health Systems Leadership Program prepares nurse leaders across the continuum of care (i.e. primary care, acute care, long-term care, school nursing, home care, etc.).
• The Veteran and Military Health Care Leadership DNP program prepares nurse leaders to care for our veterans and their needs. Contact Dr. Mona Pearl Treyball . View the VMHC Leadership DNP Plans of Study (PDF).

Nationwide, the award of the DNP requires 1,000 post-baccalaureate academically-supervised clinical practicum hours as defined by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Your transcript will be evaluated to determine the number of clinical hours required for the DNP program.

• Lead interdisciplinary teams to improve the quality and safety of healthcare delivery strategies.
• Formulate scientifically based, ethical, caring and culturally sensitive healthcare delivery strategies that meet current and future healthcare delivery system needs.
• Integrate patient care technologies to evaluate complex healthcare questions in specific practice settings, populations or systems.
• Integrate theoretical frameworks to guide the development and evaluation of healthcare delivery strategies.
• Implement evidence and evaluate outcomes for the improvement of health in specific practice settings, populations or systems throughout Colorado and beyond.
• Act as a healthcare policy advocate in Colorado and beyond.​​​​​

As a DNP student at the College of Nursing, you will be required to complete credit hours in a clinical setting under the supervision of a nursing professional. These clinical experiences are an integral part of our mission as a college and provide students with a comprehensive education, functioning as integration of practice and coursework. Students have a wide variety of clinical settings and nursing environments in which to complete their clinical hours. Instructions for signing up and more information on the clinical experiences are available in the student clinical education section .

Please note, that all students completing clinical hours must meet very specific requirements concerning immunizations, background checks, etc.​​​​​

The DNP prepares advanced practice nurses to assume such roles as:

• Clinical Nurse Educator
• Clinician-Scholar
• Developer/Evaluator of Health Care Programs
• Healthcare Entrepreneur/Executive
• Clinical Administrator

Practice Makes Perfect: What Piano Playing and the DNP Program Have in Common

Ann Hefel, FNP-BC, MS, approaches life and her nursing career like a recital.

Ann's story »

Doctor of Nursing Practice program

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Aurora, CO 80045

303-724-1812

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Interkingdom interactions shape the fungal microbiome of mosquitoes.

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The HSP90-MYC-CDK9 network drives therapeutic resistance in mantle cell lymphoma

An analysis of clinical outcomes of exploratory pediatric metformin ingestions reported to the texas poison center network from 2011 to 2021, bidirectional association between alopecia areata and prurigo nodularis: a population-based cohort study using trinetx.

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Upcoming Events

Dr. Zhou Awarded the 2024 Academy of Research Mentors Lifetime Achievement Award

Aug 30, 2024, 11:02 AM by Jenna Crosson

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• Stanford University
• Thursday, October 24

Digital Pop-Up Exhibition featuring Art & Art History Alums

• Department of Art & Art History

Thursday, October 24, 2024 11am to 5pm PT

• Friday, October 25, 2024 11am to 4pm PT

McMurtry Building, Gunn Foyer 355 Roth Way, Stanford, CA 94305 View map

This event is open to: Affiliates General Public Everyone Alumni

Request disability accommodations and access info

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Event Details:

Presented by the Department of Art & Art History, this digital pop-up exhibition includes works by five art practice alums: Leslie Albert, Ryan Jae, Caroline Marks, Miguel Novelo, and Anja Ulfeldt.

Thursday, October 24 | 11am-5pm

Friday, October 25 | 11am-4pm

Leslie Albert, BA '81

Leslie D. Albert is a Studio Art graduate from Stanford University who has built a diverse career in design and interior architecture, completing significant projects across South Florida and the Caribbean. After returning to earn her MFA from Florida Atlantic University, she continues to explore themes of universal emotion through her figurative and multimedia art, which incorporates printmaking, drawing, and painting. Currently, she teaches Visual Art at FAU while exhibiting her work locally and nationally.

Ryan Jae, BA '20

Ryan Jae, born in Gwangju, Republic of Korea and raised in Sacramento, CA, earned a dual degree in Art Practice and Computer Science from Stanford University in 2020. His interdisciplinary art practice blends photography with printmaking, collage, programming, and bookmaking. In addition to his artistic pursuits, he is an avid horse rider and bull rider, recently becoming a cardholding photographer with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and competing in the California Cowboys Professional Rodeo Association. He currently lives and works in Northern California with his constant companion, Asher, a Siberian Husky.

Caroline Marks, BA '12

Caroline Marks (b. 1990) is a graduate of Stanford University and ArtCenter College of Design, where she studied for a BFA in Motion Graphics in 2017. She is a Los Angeles based multimedia artist and animator known for her hypnotic animations using 3D and projection mapping to describe an emotional output with interwoven patterns and colors. In 2022, she created Caroline Marks Studio, a multidisciplinary studio providing serotonin boosts in all forms of motion and design.

Miguel Novelo, MFA '22

Miguel Novelo is an artist, researcher, and storyteller with a focus on emerging media and community impact. Novelo uses novel media, narrative, and expanded reality to create immersive experiences that generate participatory storytelling platforms. His current research and practice focuses on stories of geopolitical and cybernetic space, culture paradigms, and playful semiotics. Novelo is a Lecturer at Stanford University's Department of Art and Art History and the Design Department at California College of the Arts.

Anja Ulfeldt, MFA '14

Anja Ulfeldt is an artist, educator, and curator with a hybrid practice that floats between installation, performance, and unconventional art facilitation. A Berkeley native, she earned her BFA from California College of the Arts and her MFA from Stanford University. Anja is a founding member of two artist-run spaces in California and has received multiple awards, including the VBC Artist Award and Residency at Headlands Center for the Arts. She is currently a Lecturer at Stanford University and UC Santa Cruz in the areas of Sculpture and Emerging Technology and has exhibited widely in the Bay Area.

This pop-up exhibition is being held in conjunction with our  alum open house event  and  Stanford Reunion Homecoming .

VISITOR INFORMATION : Gunn Foyer is located in the McMurtry Building on Stanford campus at 355 Roth Way. Visitor parking  is available in designated areas and payment is managed through ParkMobile (free after 4pm, except by the Oval). Alternatively, take the Caltrain to Palo Alto Transit Center and hop on the free  Stanford Marguerite Shuttle . This exhibition is open to Stanford affiliates, alums, and the general public. Admission is free.

Connect with the Department of Art & Art History! Subscribe to our  mailing list  and follow us on  Instagram  and  Facebook .

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Radford University

Office of graduate affairs, welcome to the office of graduate affairs at radford university.

We're excited to support your journey as a graduate student at Radford University. The Office of Graduate Affairs is dedicated to enhancing your academic and professional development by providing resources, guidance and opportunities that will help you succeed. Whether you're an incoming student exploring our diverse programs, a current student seeking support, or an alumnus looking to stay connected, we're here to assist you every step of the way.

Explore our site to find information on assistantships, professional development, awards, honors and more. We look forward to being a part of your graduate experience and helping you achieve your academic and career goals.

Welcome to your next chapter at Radford University!

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Admission Steps

English and literary arts - creative writing - phd, admission requirements.

Terms and Deadlines

Degree and GPA Requirements

Additional Standards for Non-Native English Speakers

Additional standards for international applicants.

For the 2025-2026 academic year

See 2024-2025 requirements instead

Fall 2025 quarter (beginning in September)

Final submission deadline: December 16, 2024

Final submission deadline: Applicants cannot submit applications after the final submission deadline.

Degrees and GPA Requirements

Bachelors degree: All graduate applicants must hold an earned baccalaureate from a regionally accredited college or university or the recognized equivalent from an international institution.

Masters degree: This program requires a masters degree as well as the baccalaureate.

University GPA requirement: The minimum grade point average for admission consideration for graduate study at the University of Denver must meet one of the following criteria:

A cumulative 2.5 on a 4.0 scale for the baccalaureate degree.

A cumulative 2.5 on a 4.0 scale for the last 60 semester credits or 90 quarter credits (approximately two years of work) for the baccalaureate degree.

An earned master’s degree or higher from a regionally accredited institution or the recognized equivalent from an international institution supersedes the minimum GPA requirement for the baccalaureate.

A cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale for all graduate coursework completed for applicants who have not earned a master’s degree or higher.

Official scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), International English Language Testing System (IELTS), C1 Advanced or Duolingo English Test are required of all graduate applicants, regardless of citizenship status, whose native language is not English or who have been educated in countries where English is not the native language. Your TOEFL/IELTS/C1 Advanced/Duolingo English Test scores are valid for two years from the test date.

The minimum TOEFL/IELTS/C1 Advanced/Duolingo English Test score requirements for this degree program are:

Minimum TOEFL Score (Internet-based test): 80

Minimum IELTS Score: 6.5

Minimum C1 Advanced Score: 176

Minimum Duolingo English Test Score: 115

Additional Information:

Read the English Language Proficiency policy for more details.

Read the Required Tests for GTA Eligibility policy for more details.

Per Student & Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) regulation, international applicants must meet all standards for admission before an I-20 or DS-2019 is issued, [per U.S. Federal Register: 8 CFR § 214.3(k)] or is academically eligible for admission and is admitted [per 22 C.F.R. §62]. Read the Additional Standards For International Applicants policy for more details.

Application Materials

Transcripts, letters of recommendation.

Required Essays and Statements

Writing Sample

We require a scanned copy of your transcripts from every college or university you have attended. Scanned copies must be clearly legible and sized to print on standard 8½-by-11-inch paper. Transcripts that do not show degrees awarded must also be accompanied by a scanned copy of the diploma or degree certificate. If your academic transcripts were issued in a language other than English, both the original documents and certified English translations are required.

Transcripts and proof of degree documents for postsecondary degrees earned from institutions outside of the United States will be released to a third-party international credential evaluator to assess U.S. education system equivalencies. Beginning July 2023, a non-refundable fee for this service will be required before the application is processed.

Upon admission to the University of Denver, official transcripts will be required from each institution attended.

Three (3) letters of recommendation are required.  Academic recommendations preferred.  Letters should be submitted by recommenders through the online application.

Essays and Statements

Essay instructions.

Applicants should submit a sample of critical prose (e.g., a seminar paper, scholarly publication, or excerpt from thesis or other longer work demonstrating familiarity with the conventions of academic research and writing) not to exceed 20 pages.

Personal Statement Instructions

Personal statements should be 2 pages maximum and should address the applicant's past academic experience, future scholarly goals, and their suitability for graduate study and research in our program.

Résumé Instructions

The résumé (or C.V.) should minimally include the applicant's educational history, work experience, academic experience (including research opportunities or presentations), selected publications, and/or volunteer work.

Writing Sample Instructions

Applicants must submit representative samples of creative work (for Prose, no more than 30 pages; for Poetry, 5 - 10 poems).

Start the Application

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Start your application.

Your submitted materials will be reviewed once all materials and application fees have been received.

Our program can only consider your application for admission if our Office of Graduate Education has received all your online materials and supplemental materials by our application deadline.

Application Fee: $65.00 Application Fee

International Degree Evaluation Fee: $50.00 Evaluation Fee for degrees (bachelor's or higher) earned from institutions outside the United States.

Applicants should complete their Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) by February 15. Visit the Office of Financial Aid for additional information.

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The Art of Healthy Aging

Moffa, Christine PhD, RN, APRN, PMHNP-BC

AJN Senior Clinical EditorEmail: [email protected]

It's never too early to think about growing older.

September is National Healthy Aging Month. The observance began in 1992, four years before the oldest baby boomers would turn 50, and was recognized in 2021 by the U.S. Senate, with the goal of promoting a positive view of growing older. It's never too early to think about healthy aging, and as we're technically all aging by the minute, it should be of interest to everyone. While genetics play a role in healthy aging, lifestyle choices also factor in. In addition to exercise and healthy eating for physical well-being, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) also recommends ways to preserve one's mental health (for more, see www.nia.nih.gov/health/healthy-aging/what-do-we-know-about-healthy-aging ).

One way is by maintaining social connections. It's easy to forget about your social life when you're working a demanding job and coming home physically and mentally exhausted, or experiencing burnout and moral distress, as many nurses these days do. A few years ago, I was working on my PhD (which can be very isolating), which focused on workplace mistreatment of nurses. As you can imagine, being immersed in this topic for years and writing a dissertation on it can start to wear on you. I remember telling people, “If I could do this all again, I would prefer a more uplifting topic, like ‘jokes people tell at cocktail parties.’” I was kidding, of course, and it didn't occur to me at the time that humor had a place in health care research. It turns out that it does, as seen in this month's original research article by Cadiz and colleagues, “Exploring Nurses' Use of Humor in the Workplace: A Thematic Analysis.”

Reading this article made me reflect on my own experience working in different health care settings and the role humor played in connecting with coworkers and patients. I look back fondly on memories of friends I made at work and how laughing with them helped ease the tension between difficult shifts. I also use humor when working with patients in my role as a psychiatric mental health NP. It can serve to break the ice or to provide encouragement and demonstrate the human side of the provider–patient relationship. Once, when a patient was describing their disappointment at not reaching a life milestone in the time they expected to, I shared how it took me seven years to get my associate degree, adding, “I'm a late bloomer, but I got there eventually!” We both laughed and it helped normalize their situation. It's important to note that using humor is like seasoning a recipe: it's there to make the conversation more interesting and memorable, but you need to know when to add it and when it might be too much of a good thing.

Another NIH recommendation for healthy aging is to participate in hobbies and leisure activities. On our cover is a painting by Ren Hernandez, a nurse who discovered his talent during the pandemic. The piece is called ephemeral snow , and the artist says it “showcases strength among adversity.” In an email, Hernandez shared with me that “art, colors, and self-expression are extremely therapeutic, and it was such a solace for me during the height of the pandemic. . . . Through my art, I want everyone to explore their own latent creativity and find therapeutic ways of combating stress.” And this month's Conversations highlights the work of MK Czerwiec, a nurse and cofounder of the field of graphic medicine, who draws comics to process her experiences in health care.

While humor, art, and other creative outlets for stress reduction are great ways to focus on keeping ourselves healthy, I want to be clear that they are in no way meant to be a panacea for short staffing or other forms of mistreatment of nurses. Self-care and resilience do not make up for an unsafe and unhealthy work environment. A Project Evaluation article in this issue examines an intervention for providing peer support to “second victims”—health care workers who have experienced a negative patient outcome. And In the News covers the impact (or lack thereof) of using a team nursing model as a potential solution for staffing demands. Finally, Legal Clinic provides information on how nurses protect their livelihood when they understand nurse licensure.

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A Practical Overview of Leadership

Lead from Anywhere

• Slides (PDF, 2MB)
• Transcript (PDF, 186KB)

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The social scientific study of leadership has advanced substantially in the past 30 years and is accelerating. During this 60-minute presentation, Nathan Hiller, PhD, provides an overview of what effective leadership entails, common misunderstandings about leadership, and the role psychologists and psychology can play in the future. This session is designed for anyone–whether you’re in a formal position managing/leading others, find yourself informally leading, are working professionally with leaders, or just curious about the topic.

This program does not offer CE credit.

Presented in collaboration with

Division 14 (society for industrial and organizational psychology).

Nathan J. Hiller, PhD

Executive director of the Center for Leadership at Florida International University and professor in the College of Business, where he holds the Ingersoll-Rand Professorship. His research in leadership crosses perspectives and domains—from psychology to strategic management, and has appeared in many of the leading journals in the field. He is coeditor of a forthcoming Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (Division 14) Frontiers Series book on senior leaders and organizational agility. In his applied work, he regularly works with leaders and organizations across industries—from technology, healthcare, premium retail, and manufacturing, to K-12 education and various federal agencies. He received his PhD in psychology from The Pennsylvania State University and an undergraduate degree from the University of Calgary.

Sara Weiner

Industrial and organizational psychologist and a member of APA Division 14, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology (SIOP).

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