Art and Design

Entry requirements

Applicants for a research degree shall normally hold either:

• A first or upper second class honours degree, or
• A master’s degree, or
• Evidence of prior practice or learning that is accepted by the Dean of Research.

Months of entry

Anytime

Course content

Thank you for your interest in pursuing a research degree with the Faculty of Arts. We will be delighted to discuss your area of interest with you but, before doing so, it is important to determine whether or not we can offer research supervision in your chosen area. Please follow the link shown below to review our current areas of research supervision.

The aim of our research programmes is to give each student the best possible foundation from which to launch further research and career development. We help our students to develop the relevant research skills and methods and also support the development of related skills such as IT, presentation and career planning.

This approach, together with the relevant research expertise and resources support the completion of high-quality research degree programmes.

Details of current and recent research degree topics include:

• Classical and modern portraiture; contemporary art theory and phototheory; post-60s critical theory
• Postwar art (especially Francis Bacon); death of God theologies (especially Georges Bataille); art and theology; critical theory; abjection; visual communication, especially theories of branding.
• Ornament, explored through painting and collage.
• Glass
• Photography
• Narrative, memory, identity and the Archive: Fine Art , Drawing and Photography practice related to Documentary, Landscape and Alternative and Experimental practices .
• Design history, gender and design, dress and textiles, material culture, co-creation/co-design and community engagement, arts/design for health and wellbeing, magazines and gender, archival practices, British interwar design.
• Practice-led research investigating conceptual art and ‘hypermedial’ technology.
• Performance based arts practice, Performance based practice (Acting Methodologies), Film practice, Multidisciplinary practice (inc. Collage, Photography, Appropriation), National
• Erosion in urban environs through the everyday processes by which surfaces are worn down, thinned or marked by contact with weather, citizens, or other agents, and detritus deposited elsewhere.
• Contemporary and modern art theory (in particular the avant-garde and neo-avant-garde); phototheory (theories of realism); post-Kantian philosophy; contemporary cultural theory and critical theory; post-relational art practice
• Material colour in glass and its emotional affects in relation to bipolar disorder and other themes.

Information for international students

An Applicant whose entry award was not delivered in English, or non-native speaker of English shall be required to demonstrate proficiency in English at least to the level of an IELTS score of 7.0 or its equivalent to be registered as a Research Degree student.