Cultural Studies

Entry requirements

Normally a UK masters degree or its international equivalent.

We may also consider your application if you have other qualifications or experience.

Months of entry

January, September

Course content

This programme enables you to study cultural phenomena, practices and texts at an advanced level, critically engaging with theories and methodologies of transdisciplinary cultural research. The programme supports a range of research topics in visual and urban cultural studies, with a particular interest in: place and memory; spatial violence and urban disintegration; post-socialist cities of Eastern Europe; visual and semiotic landscapes; materiality and spatiality of writing; book space and architectures of reading; photography and visual knowledges; image-text-theory; experimental publishing; curatorial practices and multimodality in representation of research.

Your project will benefit from the diverse research expertise of staff from the Edinburgh School of Architecture & Landscape Architecture (ESALA), from our collaborative exchanges with academic colleagues and research students across the University, and a broad range of contacts with local and international research networks, cultural and heritage institutions and archives.

The PhD is a major work of independent research, preparing you for a future in academic scholarship or a research career at cultural and heritage institutions or government organisations. The degree is obtained by research and presentation of thesis of 80,000-100,000 words followed by a viva voce examination. As a student, you will have two supervisors with whom you will work closely throughout the research period. In the first year of your studies, you will be required to take a research skills and methods course selected in consultation with your superiors.

In addition to regular meetings with your supervisors, you will participate in postgraduate seminars and conferences and have opportunities to experiment with publications and curatorial projects.