History of Art

Entry requirements

MPhil: An upper second-class degree (or international equivalent). Please note, acceptance will also depend on evidence of your readiness to pursue a research degree.

PhD: A master's qualification, or be working towards a master's qualification, or international equivalent. Applicants without a master's qualification may be considered on an exceptional basis, provided they hold a first-class undergraduate degree (or international equivalent). Applicants with a non-traditional background may be considered provided they can demonstrate substantial equivalent and relevant experience that has prepared them to undertake their proposed course of study.

Months of entry

January, September

Course content

MPhil: a standalone, one-year (full-time) research degree. Students will undertake their own research project, concluding in the submission of a 25,000 word dissertation. Students may have the option to audit units from our taught master's programmes if they are relevant to their research.

PhD: a research project undertaken across three years (full-time, plus a writing up period), culminating in an 80,000 word thesis. As well as having the option to audit taught units, there may be the potential for PhD students to teach units themselves from their second year of study onwards.

The Department of History of Art is a thriving and collegial centre for the study of art, visual culture and theory. Staff specialisms range from medieval altarpieces to Soviet public monuments, from pre-Renaissance sculpture to contemporary art of the diaspora. We are interested in thinking across historical periods and through a variety of critical approaches.

We encourage you to participate in the stimulating intellectual and social life of the department, with regular research seminars and guest lectures, not to mention our thriving Art History in the Pub series of talks and discussions. We support interdisciplinary approaches and have expertise in topics such as interrelationships in art and music in both the medieval and modern periods; art and writing; and issues of art and race.

We also have close links with many other departments in the school and faculty, as well as with national and local galleries and museums.