digital art phd

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At the leading edge.

Our faculty and students work at the forefront of the digital arts, engaging with our communities through public events, global collaborations, and creative productions.

Creating Community for All

DXARTS supports equity and diversity by welcoming artists from all cultural backgrounds and gender identities, and for them to discover and document new artistic knowledge.

The Intersection of Arts, Science, & Technology

The only STEAM department at UW, DXARTS redefines traditional approaches to arts research through a broad range of practices at the intersection of Arts, Science and Tech.

DXARTS Ph.D. Program

The DXARTS PhD program gives artists the opportunity to discover new knowledge through practice-based research, engaging critically with technology through creative work.

•   Degree Programs

Welcome to DXARTS

DXARTS is a ground-breaking department of creative practice-based research. Our mission is to support and empower new generations of artists who reimagine our emerging relationships with new technologies. As a department, DXARTS challenges current trends, develops new approaches to artistic discovery, embraces diversity, and looks towards the future while critically engaging with traditional forms. We strive to probe the unknown through experimentation across media and disciplines.

Visit Our Programs

• DXARTS Minor
• Ph.D. Program

News & Events

Upcoming Events

• May 01 Workshop with APO33 and the Radio Noise Collective: exploring radio as a musical instrument
• May 02 Radio Noise Collective – City Statics
• May 03 Resonant Futures: A Night of Experimental Music
• May 15 DXARTS Spring Concert:  Hyper-Realities and Ephemeral Orbits

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School of Art, Design and Architecture

Phd digital art and technology.

i-DAT’s underpinning research concerns making ‘data’ palpable, tangible and accessible. It involves creating new experiences through the design and construction of networked, sensing and intelligent ‘things’ and software. Digital Practice is central to exploring the significance that data, its harvesting, processing and manifestation, can play in contemporary culture.

The research is collaborative and participatory at its core, engaging audiences and communities and cultivating a rich transdisciplinary approach through collaborations across the arts and sciences.

Course details

Core modules.

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT1)

Research Skills in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (DRTS800)

This module provides research students the opportunity to explore the creation and interpretation of new knowledge within their field; develop the students’ ability to conceptualise, design and present their theses to merit publication; advance the students’ academic enquiry skills and techniques; and to generate and share the new knowledge within their academic discipline and professional practice.

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT2)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT3)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT4)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT5)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT6)

Entry requirements

Fees, costs and funding, how to apply.

• ) Apply online
• / Contact us
• u Doctoral College
• 6 Studentships

If you would like to discuss your application, at any stage, please contact Professor Mike Phillips . Additionally, the Doctoral College is able to answer any questions you may have about applying for or undertaking a postgraduate research degree at the University of Plymouth: [email protected] or +44 1752 587640 .

The Doctoral College works with staff and students across the entire University to ensure that our diverse community of postgraduate and postdoctoral early career researchers is offered the best possible experience. Find out more about becoming a research student and the University's Researcher Development Programme on the Doctoral College webpages .

Visit Postgraduate research studentships to search for studentships currently available for this programme. 

Postgraduate research opportunities

i-DAT’s research themes and projects provide a rich context for Full Time and Part Time research students from a variety of disciplines, who can either engage with these major initiatives or build their research activity grounded in their own creative practice. i-DAT’s core supervisory team have more than 40 PhD completions in a broad range of areas, such as design, software development, interactive architecture, education/play, architecture, performance and robotics.

Supervisory teams can draw on collaborating research groups (such as eHealth, Geography, Robotics) and i-DAT contributes to the supervision of Professor Roy Ascott’s Planetary Collegium in Plymouth and Shanghai DeTao Node (as well as the historic Nodes in Milan, Zurich, Greece, and Lucern).  i-DAT is the catalyst behind the CODEX international Postgraduate Research network operating in collaboration with Jiangnan University, Nanjing University of the Arts and Soochow University in China.

i-DAT's core research themes:

Phd completions:.

We co-create and share technological prototypes and practices, that push and challenge the boundaries of digital arts and creative media practice.

Some of our people

Professor Mike Phillips

Professor of interdisciplinary arts.

Dr Gianni Corino

Associate professor in interactive media.

Dr Sana Murrani

Associate professor (spatial practice).

Dr Guido Bugmann

Visiting associate professor (reader).

Dr Jane Grant

Associate professor in visual arts.

Dr Mathew Emmett

Associate professor in architecture.

Professor Iain Stewart MBE

Professor of geoscience communication, sustainable earth institute.

Dr Alejandro Veliz Reyes

Associate head of school - knowledge exchange.

Dr Helen Pritchard

Associate professor in queer feminist technoscience and digital design.

Mr Chris Booth

Lecturer in user experience design.

Mr Joel Hodges

Lecturer in game arts & design.

Mr Luke Christison

Researcher - data visualisation.

Mr Musaab Garghouti

Lecturer in 3d visualisation, immersion and simulation.

Dr Andrew Prior

Associate professor digital art & technology.

Dr James Sweeting

Lecturer in game studies, funding for postgraduate research students.

Learn more about updates regarding the 2024–2025 FAFSA process.

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• Art + Technology, Digital Arts, BFA

Gain the skills and inspiration to lead and innovate as creative technologists in the 21st century. Explore the transformative powers of computation beyond the dimensions of the computer screen, integrating digital creativity within varied architectures, urban centers, and our ever-expanding digital networks.

Digital arts in art + technology at pratt.

The BFA in Art + Technology prepares you with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the creative technology sector. It is the ultimate degree in creative technology – you will graduate with a good understanding of how to innovate with audio, visuals, coding, interactive/reactive media, web-based experiences, electronics, VR/MR, AI, and how to interface the digital and physical worlds.  If you have a creative disposition, balanced by an inventive, entrepreneurial spirit, this degree is for you.

Student Work

Take a look at examples of work by recent Digital Arts students, and imagine what you might be able to do!

The Experience

The Art and Technology pathway introduces an amazing range of tools and techniques taught by internationally renowned faculty. Studio courses factor in every semester, lending ample opportunity to create an impressive graduation portfolio. Most courses are located in our award-winning Myrtle Hall facility, which is less than 30 minutes away from New York’s world famous cultural institutions, many of which sponsor our students through internships and employ them upon graduation.  When not in class, our students are soaking up the limitless screenings, openings, festivals, shows and exhibitions that are occurring throughout the year in New York City.

Self-discovery, societal transformation, and critical reflection are recurrent themes in these classrooms and studios.

Digital arts facilities.

Students in the Art and Technology BFA have excellent labs with access to several digital computing facilities that are outfitted with state of the art Apple computer stations. These computers are loaded with top of the line software including Maya, Houdini, TouchDesigner, MaxMSP, Nuke, ToonBoom, Adobe Suite, ProTools, and much more. 

BFA students also have access to shared Digital Arts facilities that include a green screen room, audio editing suite, a variety of 3D printers, laser cutter, ink-jet printers and a world-class surround-sound VR production/presentation suite. Further access to Pratt Institute facilities is also possible, including fine art workshops and a large photogrammetry volume. 

Senior Projects

Art and Technology students are able to commit to a substantial research project spanning their entire senior year, divided into Senior Projects I & II. These works are exhibited at the end of year DDA public exhibition, and are often the featured project in final portfolios. 

Internships

The Department of Digital Arts and Animation offers an internship program tailored to digital artists. Throughout the academic year, students partake in internship opportunities at a variety of studios and companies in the metropolitan New York area, gaining skills and experience in areas covering animation, visual effects, motion graphics, game design, interaction design, fine arts, and publishing.

The internship program places students on their career paths, providing experiences that aid in determining their educational and professional goals. Internships may be taken for college credit by both undergraduate and graduate students. While the Department has our own Internship Coordinator, students may also want to visit Pratt’s extensive network and dedicated staff that supports and facilitates Internships and Industry Connections .

Immersing yourself in another culture is an incredible experience that can extend the boundaries of creativity. Study abroad programs are an integral part of the college experience, and Pratt has deep connections with university partners around the world. See where you can go.

Learning Resources

We develop disciplinary fluency in our program of study and we celebrate the interdisciplinary nature of design critical to address the plurality and complexity of the environments in which we operate. Learn more.

Our Faculty

Pratt’s distinguished faculty of outstanding creative professionals and scholars share a common desire to develop each student’s potential and creativity to the fullest. Bringing different views, methods, and perspectives they provide a rigorous educational model in which students make and learn.

See all Digital Arts faculty and administrators .

Blake Carrington

Associate Professor

Liubomir Borissov

Peter patchen.

Digital Arts graduates become leading contributors to the arts with a commitment to the cultural enrichment of society. After graduation, Pratt Alumni can be found featured in important publications, exhibiting in galleries and new media institutions and working in major creative industries.

Our alumni are leaders at top institutions including Apple Computer, Phillips Electronics, IBM Watson Research Labs, and MoMA and go on to exhibit at SPRING/BREAK Art Show, Whitney Museum of American Art, SFMoMA, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the New Museum.

Success Stories

An Augmented Reality Installation Celebrates Black Women’s Leadership in Activism

Dreamscapes

Prattfolio Story

Student Work Explores Intimacy Over Distance

Artists for Artists: Pratt Alumni Make New York City a Nexus of Creative Support

Ready for more.

prattdigitalarts

@prattdigitalarts

From the Catalog

Students use interactive technology to explore ideas in projects that range from large-scale installations and interactive objects to virtual/augmented reality and data driven artworks. These artworks combine technology and traditional art media with video, animation, text, audio, and imagery that are controlled by sensors, data and programming. Courses include interactive media, coding for artists, interactive installation, physical computing, and a range of interactive studio courses. Recommended electives include courses in sculpture, history of new media, AR/VR, artificial intelligence, electronic music, and special effects.

Learning Outcomes

1) Students will be able to demonstrate sophisticated concepts in the work. 2) Students demonstrate a rigorous studio practice. 3) Students will demonstrate technical skill with digital media. 4) Students will be able to realize finished work(s) in a public exhibition. 5) Students will be able to effectively communicate and engage in discourse about all aspects of the work.

DIGITAL ARTS & EXPERIMENTAL MEDIA FACT SHEET

When founded 20 years ago, Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) was a revolutionary Center of creative practice, research, and discovery at the frontier of new kinds of collaborations between artists, scientists, and engineers. Now a department with dedicated faculty, DXARTS continues to empower new generations of artists, cultivating an environment of intrepid inquiry with active partnerships across the UW campus and beyond. DXARTS challenges current trends, develops new approaches to artistic discovery, embraces diversity, and looks towards the future while celebrating traditions. DXARTS strives to explore the unknown.

The Department of Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS) empowers students to create artwork with a global and regional impact, by providing access to resources, skills, knowledge, and transdisciplinary opportunities. DXARTS offers a PhD in Digital and Experimental Art practice, which was the first of its kind in the world. All DXARTS PhD students are offered packages with full financial support.

DXARTS also offers a Minor in Digital and Experimental Art practice. This 30-credit non-competitive degree offers undergraduate students the opportunity to be part of a new generation of hybrid artists, leveraging cross-disciplinary knowledge and learning cutting-edge digital arts skills.

All DXARTS courses are open for the UW population at large. Students from a wide range of departments take DXARTS courses annually, including its popular year-long course sequences in digital video, digital sound, and mechatronics. DXARTS also offers advanced interdisciplinary research courses for graduate and undergraduate students, either as stand-alone offerings or partnering with other units. These courses, such as Art and the Brain, Sound and Space, Data-driven Art, E-textiles & Wearables for Art & Design, encompass areas of research in which DXARTS faculty are experts and are taught in state-of-the-art facilities.

Winter 2023

• 13 PhD students
• 43 Undergraduate minors

CAMPUS PARTNERSHIPS, SERVICE, AND OUTREACH

DXARTS faculty, students, and staff’s numerous roles include collaborative teaching and research with the Dance Program, School of Drama, Art + Art History + Design, School of Music, Computer Science, Engineering, the eScience Institute, and many others units on campus. DXARTS engages in partnerships with university and regional museums such as the Henry Art Gallery, Burke Museum, Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle Art Museum, and with performance venues such as Meany Center, Town Hall Seattle, and the Seattle Symphony.

In recent years, DXARTS has developed partnerships with corporate organizations such as Google and Microsoft Research, and received funding from federal agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts.

• 5 Professors
• 1 Associate Professor
• 1 Assistant Professor
• 3 Emeritus Professors
• 7 Adjunct Faculty
• 6 Affiliate Faculty

DXARTS faculty are international leaders and pioneers in many areas of digital and experimental arts. Their works span the spectrum of emerging arts disciplines. Collectively the faculty exhibit and perform at museums, concerts, galleries, and festivals around the world. Awards and honors to DXARTS faculty include prizes, grants, and fellowships from Prix Ars Electronica, Creative Capital, National Endowment for the Arts, Mellon Foundation, and more. DXARTS faculty works are regularly presented at national and international venues such as ZKM, International Center of Photography, Ars Electronica Festival, Studio Acusticum, FIBER Festival, Transmediale, Eyeo Festival, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, etc. DXARTS faculty works have been published by Universal France, Wergo, Centaur, Neuma, Le Chant du Monde, Sargasso Records, Amazon Prime Video, etc.

In 2019 DXARTS established a partnership with UW Housing and Food Services and the College of Engineering to move its off-campus Digital Fabrication Lab (Fab Lab) to campus. The new DXARTS Fab Lab, located in McMahon Hall, provides advanced computer-aided design, 3D printers, CNC manufacturing and prototyping machines, as well as traditional fabrication tools. This facility also hosts workspaces for faculty and PhD students, as well as the DXARTS Observatory: a flexible project space for installation research and exhibitions.

DXARTS’ Art + Brain Lab enables students and faculty from both art and natural science backgrounds to conduct hands-on research, fostering artistic collaborations arising from investigations at the intersection of neuroscience and art.

The DXARTS Sound Lab hosts advanced software and hardware for the reproduction of 3-D audio at high fidelity. A 24.4-channel speaker array in a full spherical layout projects sound from around, above, and below listeners and is suitable for use in a variety of soundfield synthesis techniques.

The DXARTS Media Lab is a a dynamic, multi-use space for experimentation, research, performance, and instruction. The Lab features an open floor plan with a 19.2-channel “dome” of speakers and a large HD cinema projection system.

DXARTS faculty and students may work in a particular area of experimental arts or draw from several areas. Many work at the extreme boundary of known arts and sciences disciplines, often creating sophisticated new tools and methods to pursue their work. Current faculty projects include:

LISTENING SPACE (Psarra, 2019-2020) A collaboration between Afroditi Psarra and textile designer Audrey Briot, Listening Space is an artistic research that engages with the detection of weather data from the NOAA satellites using software-defined radio and the translation and archiving of that data through a series of knitted fabrics. Listening Space was awarded the 2019 Bergstrom Award for Art and Science from the UW College of Arts and Sciences, it was published and exhibited at the 23rd International Symposium on Wearable Computers, London; presented as a video performance at Our Networks 2020 online out of Toronto and has formed part of the online art exhibition at ISEA 2020 out of Montreal.

HUMAN SUBJECTS (Pampin, Karpen, 2019-2020) A collaboration between the JACK Quartet and DXARTS Professors Juan Pampin and Richard Karpen, Human Subjects was composed through a three-year generative process involving a series of experiments in which the members of the JACK donned EEG headsets and EMG armbands to explore new extended performance techniques based on brain and nervous system sensing. This project was made possible through the UW Creative Fellowships Initiative with funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

Areas of Scholarship

• Algorithmic Composition
• Ambisonics and Sound Beamforming
• Art and Neuroscience
• Brain-Computer Interfaces
• Creative Coding
• Data-driven Art
• Digital Fabrication
• Digital Music Composition and Performance
• Digital Sound Synthesis and Processing
• E-textiles & Wearable Computing
• Immersive Media
• Mechatronic and Robotic Art
• Physical Computing
• Sensing and Control Systems

Department of Digital Arts & Experimental Media Box 353414 University of Washington Seattle, WA 98195 phone: (206) 543-4218 email:  [email protected] web:  dxarts.washington.edu

last update: January 2023

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Digital Media Arts PhD

Key information, full-time - 4 years, part-time - 8 years.

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Why choose this programme

On our vibrant and expanding Digital Media Arts PhD programme, we embrace subjects that include:

• Film, animation
• Visual effects, computational arts
• Video games
• Immersive media
• Digital acting
• Mediatised theatre
• Motion graphics
• Movement interfaces
• Performance capture
• Machine vision
• Interactive cinema.

This provides you with an opportunity to undertake profound and meaningful practice-based and theoretical postgraduate research in these fields, where creativity and technology collide. Your skills and talents as a media practitioner, alongside intellectual curiosity, collaborative spirit, technical proficiency and sense of adventure, all come into play as you make use of the state-of-the-art facilities, great workspaces and dedicated multi-disciplinary supervision. You will also benefit from our extensive connections to the creative industries through our wide range of partners within film production companies, animation houses, VFX facilities and studios.

Our Guildford location is a short train journey from central London, and a town which is home to some of the most well-regarded games developers, immersive media producers and web design agencies, including:

• Supermassive
• MediaMolecule
• Electronic Arts
• Figment Productions

We regularly enjoy visits and engagements with the London production and VFX community, which include:

• Moving Picture Company
• KeyFrame Studios.

We also maintain close links with the British Film Institute, BAFTA, Animation UK, Visual Effects Society, London ACM SIGGRAPH, Ukie and plenty of other industry networks crucial for you to connect with.

On campus, we share a building and collaborate on a daily basis with the prestigious Guildford School of Acting . We also work closely with colleagues from Surrey’s Engineering programmes and have found touchpoints in nearly every other department Surrey has to offer. In addition to this, we are actively building relationships with other institutions close at hand and around the world: collaboration and sharing is the only way forward for our precious arts, culture and technology communities.

We belong to TECHNE , an  Arts and Humanities Research Council  (AHRC)-funded doctoral training partnership, which provides access to comprehensive academic and professional training programmes, as well as the possibility of funding for your studies.

Surrey’s multi-disciplinary Doctoral College will cater to your academic and institutional needs and is a great way of linking you with fellow postgraduate researchers from Surrey’s wide variety of other disciplines.

Frequently asked questions about doing a PhD

What you will study

This is a programme which will take you beyond the bounds of mere study. You will develop your own ground-breaking artistic practice into exciting and emerging fields such as virtual production, digital performance, pervasive filmmaking, contemporary animation, immersive audio-visual, experiential installation, digital art, creative computing and AI-based media production.

We will also help you deepen your contextual and theoretical knowledge in these and related fields. As a contemporary media practitioner and theorist, you will be fully encouraged to engage with topical research on current artistic and media practices, diversity, accessibility and cultural impacts.

We will also facilitate training in the latest tools and technologies to assist your creative development and enable you to create profound outputs that have impact.

If you have a proposal which you feel may match our supervision capabilities and expertise, or you are interested in the general areas we cover, please get in touch with us for an informal discussion by contacting  [email protected]  in the first instance.

Your final assessment will be based on the presentation of your research in a written thesis, which will be discussed in a viva examination with at least two examiners. You have the option of preparing your thesis as a monograph (one large volume in chapter form) or in publication format (including chapters written for publication), subject to the approval of your supervisors.

Research support

The professional development of postgraduate researchers is supported by the Doctoral College , which provides training in essential skills through its Researcher Development Programme of workshops, mentoring and coaching. A dedicated postgraduate careers and employability team will help you prepare for a successful career after the completion of your PhD.

Research themes

• Emerging media
• Practice research
• Creative production
• Art, science and technology interactions
• Virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality
• New immersive experiences
• Visualisation and serious games
• Interactive storytelling
• Virtual cinematography
• Spectatorship, participation and play
• Interactive cinema
• Digital poetry
• Narrative and character portrayal in video games and interactive media
• Acting and performance for animation, games and film
• Embodied media
• Digital aesthetics
• Post-narrative theory
• Media psychology
• Generativity.

Our academic staff

• Jon Weinbren FRSA
• Dr Andy Gilbert
• Dr Maria Poulaki
• Professor David Frohlich .

Research centre

Research facilities.

As a Digital Media Arts PhD student, you’ll gain access to a wide range of professional film, audio, video, and interactive production facilities , including:

• High performance GPU-based computing facilities
• Fibre connected film and television studios
• Motion/performance capture
• 4K cine cameras and lenses
• Lighting, sound and grip equipment
• Set-building facilities
• Photogrammetry
• Film and sound editing
• State of the art production software
• Extensive fast media storage
• VR/AR/MR/XR head mounted displays
• Multiple GPU compute.

We have doubled the facilities space in the Department of Music and Media. Our Performing Arts Technology Studios have been upgraded and complemented by a £1.7m investment in state-of-the-art production and media suites.

All studios, edit rooms and acoustic rooms in the new space are linked by a new Dante digital audio network, providing audio interconnection between each room, plus video interconnects for flexible configurations of the recording spaces and studios.

Entry requirements

Applicants are expected to hold a minimum of upper second-class (2:1) UK degree and usually an MA in a relevant arts subject or appropriate professional experience.

Candidates submitting proposals that include practice-based research will be required to provide evidence of appropriate experience and expertise.

International entry requirements by country

English language requirements.

IELTS Academic: 6.5 or above (or equivalent) with 6.0 in each individual category.

These are the English language qualifications and levels that we can accept. 

If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses , designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here.

Application requirements

Applicants are advised to contact potential supervisors before they submit an application via the website. Please refer to section two of our  application guidance .

After registration

Students are initially registered for a PhD with probationary status and, subject to satisfactory progress, subsequently confirmed as having PhD status.

Selection process

Selection is based on applicants:

• Meeting the expected entry requirements
• Being shortlisted through the application screening process
• Completing a successful interview
• Providing suitable references.

Student life

At Surrey we offer the best of both worlds – a friendly campus university, set in beautiful countryside with the convenience and social life of Guildford on your doorstep.

Start date: October 2024

Start date: January 2025

Start date: April 2025

Start date: July 2025

• Annual fees will increase by 4% for each year of study, rounded up to the nearest £100 (subject to legal requirements).
• Any start date other than September will attract a pro-rata fee for that year of entry (75 per cent for January, 50 per cent for April and 25 per cent for July).

View the list of fees for all postgraduate research courses.

Additional costs

There are additional costs that you can expect to incur when studying at Surrey.

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan can help with course fees and living costs while you study a postgraduate doctoral course.

Apply online

If you are applying for a studentship to work on a particular project, please provide details of the project instead of a research proposal.

Read our application guidance for further information on applying.

To apply online first select the course you'd like to apply for then log in.

1. Select your course

Select the course you wish to apply for.

To apply online sign in or create an account.

Code of practice for research degrees

Surrey’s postgraduate research code of practice sets out the University's policy and procedural framework relating to research degrees. The code defines a set of standard procedures and specific responsibilities covering the academic supervision, administration and assessment of research degrees for all faculties within the University.

Download the code of practice for research degrees (PDF) .

Terms and conditions

When you accept an offer to study at the University of Surrey, you are agreeing to follow our policies and procedures , student regulations , and terms and conditions .

We provide these terms and conditions in two stages:

• First when we make an offer.
• Second when students accept their offer and register to study with us (registration terms and conditions will vary depending on your course and academic year).

View our generic registration terms and conditions (PDF) for the 2023/24 academic year, as a guide on what to expect.

This online prospectus has been published in advance of the academic year to which it applies.

Whilst we have done everything possible to ensure this information is accurate, some changes may happen between publishing and the start of the course.

It is important to check this website for any updates before you apply for a course with us. Read our full disclaimer .

Course location and contact details

Campus location

Stag Hill is the University's main campus and where the majority of our courses are taught. 

University of Surrey Admissions

University of Surrey Guildford Surrey GU2 7XH

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Digital Media PhD

Our digital media research is committed to transdisciplinarity, creative digital practice, the intersection of art and sciences, social technologies and public engagement.

You are currently viewing course information for entry year:

Start date(s):

• September 2024
• January 2025

The Digital Media PhD is part of the Fine Art programme of study. We offer PhD supervision in two main areas of digital media.

Digital arts practice is led by Dr Tom Schofield . It includes topics such as:

• emerging technologies and experimental practice
• art and science practice
• transdisciplinary practice
• interactivity and human-computer interaction in arts practice
• data visualisation and creative practice
• affective computing and creative practice
• applied philosophy
• philosophy of cognition
• contemporary art and media theory
• new production environments and living labs
• open source culture and creativity
• crowdsourcing and creativity

Digital media in museum, gallery and heritage settings is led by  Dr Areti Galani . It includes topics such as:

• online museum, gallery and heritage experiences
• social software and its implications for the cultural sector
• design and use of mobile, personal and ubiquitous technologies in cultural settings
• study and understanding of social museum experiences
• theory and practice of visitor studies
• ethnographic and ethnomethodological approaches in the study of museum experiences

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 2023-24.

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

How you'll learn.

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

We offer a wide range of projects for the master's thesis. These will be provided by our academics. You can also propose your own topic.

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

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

Your future

Our careers service.

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

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 .

You have access to top quality facilities at the University's Culture Lab . Culture Lab’s facilities include a stock of film cameras and editing suites, as well as motion-capture, animation and sound-mixing technology.

Fees and funding

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

For 2024-25 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 2024 by UKRI. The Home tuition fees for this course will be updated after this confirmation. 

If your studies last longer than one year, your tuition fee may increase 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
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• 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

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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 .

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Questions about this course?

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

School of Arts and Cultures Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 3509 Please e-mail Karen Robb ( [email protected] ) and Tom Schofield ( [email protected] )

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

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PhD Program

The Media Arts and Practice PhD program offers a rigorous and creative environment for scholarly innovation as students explore the intersections of cinema, design, emerging media and critical thinking while defining new forms of cinematic experience, research and scholarship for the 21st century.

Core to the program is its transdisciplinary ethos, its open curriculum and its commitment to the union of critical thinking and making. After completing foundational coursework, students design their own curricula, drawing on expertise within all of the divisions and research labs within the School of Cinematic Arts, and in other schools across the USC campus. The areas of research investigated by MA+P PhD students are broad, and currently include attention to these core themes: interactive architecture; media activism; affect; wearables; world building; database documentary; embodiment and tangible interfaces; sustainability and technology; technology and ethics; critical and creative code; sound; design and speculative fiction; games and interactivity; digital historiography; neuro-cinematics; expanded and spatialized cinema; multimodal scholarship; performativity; pervasive/locative media; and immersive journalism.

• View Degree Requirements in the USC Catalogue
• Application Instructions
• Current PhD Student Directory
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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.

M.A. in Digital Art History/Computational Media

General info.

• Faculty working with students: 8 core faculty
• Students: 6 students per matriculating class
• Students receiving Financial Aid: None
• Part time study available: No
• Application terms: Fall
• Application deadlines: March 5

Dr. Mark Olson Director of Graduate Studies for Digital Art History and Computational Media Duke University Smith Warehouse, Bay 10, Room A262A Box 90766 Durham, NC 27708-0764

Email: [email protected]

Digital Art History:  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-dah

Computational Media:  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-cmac

Program Description

The Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies offers two types of degrees under the rubric of Digital Art History and Computational Media. The program builds on courses and well-developed strengths at Duke University, and requires ten (10) courses over three or four semesters in addition to summer research.  Students affiliate with an existing faculty research initiative, from which they will develop their own independent research project for the MA thesis, which combines written and digital project-based components.

The Digital Art History track  engages digital technologies in the research and presentation of art historical questions.  Common themes that can be explored are visualizing process, representing change over time, contextualizing displaced objects, and creating biographies of objects or databases/collections of materials. The ideal candidate for the Digital Art History track seeks to engage digital tools in historical questions about works of art, buildings and cities.  The MA provides a springboard for advanced study in art history, archaeology, architectural history, and visual or media studies.  It also prepares students for future work in fields such as museums education and exhibition design, cultural heritage and preservation, public history, city planning, and architectural design. For more information see  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-dah .

Funding may be available in the second and third semesters contingent on excellent work in the first semester of study.

The Computational Media track  emphasizes the study of visualization technologies in the context of media and technology histories, cultural analytics, and new media forms of expression.  Computational Media topics include the manufacture and dissemination of humanities data and its expression, the social and ethical considerations of digital cultural heritage interventions, and the aesthetic and rhetorical value of computational media forms.  The ideal candidate for the Computational Media track seeks deeper understanding of the intersection of quantitative and qualitative modes of historical and cultural research, is actively engaged with hands-on computational media production, and is interested in productive cross-overs between arts and sciences communities. This MA track prepares students for further graduate study in digital humanities and computational media and for training for jobs in media, design, advertising, and technical industries, among others.  For more information see  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-cmac .

The MA program encourages applicants from across the Humanities and Social Sciences whether from established disciplines, such as history, archaeology, and art history, or emerging fields of study, such as spatial history, media arts & sciences, technocultural studies, or cultural geography. See http://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/MA-historical-cultural-visualization  for more information.

• Digital Art History and Computational Media: Master's Admissions and Enrollment Statistics
• Digital Art History and Computational Media: Master's Career Outcomes Statistics

Application Information

Application Terms Available:  Fall

Application Deadlines:  March 5

Graduate School Application Requirements See the Application Instructions page for important details about each Graduate School requirement.

• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts required with application submission; official transcripts required upon admission
• Letters of Recommendation: 3 Required
• Statement of Purpose: Required
• Résumé: Required
• GRE Scores: GRE General (Optional)
• English Language Exam: TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test required* for applicants whose first language is not English *test waiver may apply for some applicants
• GPA: Undergraduate GPA calculated on 4.0 scale required
• Writing Sample: Required (see departmental guidance below)

Writing Sample

Applicants must upload a writing sample electronically via the Departmental Requirements section on the online application.  The writing sample is intended to convey a sense of the applicant’s capacity for scholarly writing. Generally, applicants submit an academic paper that they may have written for an undergraduate course, or an excerpt from a longer work (e.g. an honors thesis), of approximately 10-20 pages.

Optional Components Applicants are encouraged to upload or link to a representative digital art history/computational media work sample or portfolio. Links to representative works can be placed as an addendum to the statement of purpose. 

We strongly encourage you to review additional department-specific application guidance from the program to which you are applying: Departmental Application Guidance

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Digital Arts

The School conducts high-quality significant national and international research and offers excellent opportunities for graduate studies, successfully combining modern engineering and technology with the exciting field of digital media. The digital media group has interests in many areas of interactive multimedia and digital film and animation.

Key information

• Duration 3 to 4 years full-time
• Start date September, January, May
• Location Canterbury

As a postgraduate student in the School of Engineering, you receive support through individual supervision, specialised seminars and colloquia, usually with external speakers. We also offer a range of financial support options .

There is particular strength in web design and development, including e-commerce, e-learning, e-health; and the group has substantial experience in interaction design (e.g, Usability and accessibility), social computing (e.g, Social networking, computer mediated communication), mobile technology (e.g, iPhone), virtual worlds (e.g, Second Life) and video games. In the area of time-based media, the group has substantial interest in digital film capture and editing, and manipulation on to fully animated 3D modelling techniques as used in games and feature films.

Ayda talks about her PhD at the University of Kent.

About the School of Engineering

Established over 40 years ago, the School has developed a top-quality teaching and research base, receiving excellent ratings in both research and teaching assessments.

The School undertakes high-quality research that has had significant national and international impact, and our spread of expertise allows us to respond rapidly to new developments. Our 30 academic staff and over 130 postgraduate students and research staff provide an ideal focus to effectively support a high level of research activity. There is a thriving student population studying for postgraduate degrees in a friendly and supportive teaching and research environment.

We have research funding from the Research Councils UK, European research programmes, a number of industrial and commercial companies and government agencies including the Ministry of Defence. Many of our research projects are collaborative, and we have well-developed links with institutions worldwide.

Everything you need to know.

Entry requirements, study support.

A 2.1 or higher honours degree or MSc with Merit or above in a computing, multimedia and digital arts or a related design subject.

All applicants are considered on an individual basis and additional qualifications, professional qualifications and relevant experience may also be taken into account when considering applications. 

Please see our International Student website for entry requirements by country  and other relevant information. Due to visa restrictions, students who require a student visa to study cannot study part-time unless undertaking a distance or blended-learning programme with no on-campus provision.

English language entry requirements

This course requires a Good level of English language, equivalent to B2 on CEFR.  

Details on how to meet this requirement can be found on our English Language requirements webpage . 

Examples:  

IELTS 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each component 

PTE Academic 63 with a minimum of 59 in each sub-test 

A degree from a UK university 

A degree from a Majority English Speaking Country 

Need help with English?

Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways .

Postgraduate research is a fantastic opportunity and significant investment in your future, enabling you to expand your knowledge, skills and career options – all while making a meaningful impact and contribution to an area you are passionate about.

At Kent, we also recognise the significant financial investment that comes with postgraduate study, and we offer a range of scholarships for our postgraduate researchers, to help keep your mind on your studies, and off your finances.

Scholarships can be broad, or specific to your situation, background or even country – so please do use our scholarships finder to discover the options available to you.

We also have research partnership funding with research councils and government schemes in specific areas of interest that can help you take your research to the next level with additional financial support.

Find out more on our fees and funding page and discover what option is right for you.

Postgraduate resources

Research students in Digital Media work in a dedicated, state-of-the-art studio, equipped with leading-edge MACs and PC workstations, running industry standard software. There is also a photographic studio and a production studio with green screen and motion capture facilities. 

New facilities

The School of Engineering has recently undergone a £3 million redevelopment and modernisation of its engineering and design facilities. This includes an engineering workshop and fabrication facilities, a dedicated makerspace for innovation, collaboration and the development of practical skills, a virtual reality suite, production studio (including photography, video and green screen facilities) and a large teaching and design studio. These changes will deliver modern and advanced teaching and research facilities supporting all Engineering, Design and Digital Arts subjects. 

As a postgraduate student, you are part of a thriving research community and receive support through a wide-ranging programme of individual supervision, specialised research seminars, general skills training programmes, and general departmental colloquia, usually with external speakers. We encourage you to attend and present your work at major conferences, as well as taking part in our internal conference and seminar programmes.

Dynamic publishing culture

Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. Recent contributions include: IEEE Transactions ; IET Journals ; Electronics Letters ; Applied Physics ; Computers in Human Behaviour .

Researcher Development Programme

Kent's Graduate School co-ordinates the Researcher Development Programme for research students, which includes workshops focused on research, specialist and transferable skills. The programme is mapped to the national Researcher Development Framework and covers a diverse range of topics, including subject-specific research skills, research management, personal effectiveness, communication skills, networking and teamworking, and career management skills.

Intelligent Interactions

The Intelligent Interactions group has interests in all aspects of information engineering and human-machine interactions. It was formed in 2014 by the merger of the Image and Information Research Group and the Digital Media Research Group.

The group has an international reputation for its work in a number of key application areas. These include: image processing and vision, pattern recognition, interaction design, social, ubiquitous and mobile computing with a range of applications in security and biometrics, healthcare, e-learning, computer games, digital film and animation.

• Social and Affective Computing
• Assistive Robotics and Human-Robot Interaction
• Brain-Computer Interfaces
• Mobile, Ubiquitous and Pervasive Computing
• Sensor Networks and Data Analytics
• Biometric and Forensic Technologies Behaviour Models for Security
• Distributed Systems Security (Cloud Computing, Internet of Things)
• Advanced Pattern Recognition (medical imaging, document and handwriting recognition, animal biometrics)
• Computer Animation, Game Design and Game Technologies
• Virtual and Augmented Reality
• Digital Arts, Virtual Narratives

See the research projects available within the Intelligent Interactions Research Group . 

Staff research interests

Kent’s world-class academics provide research students with excellent supervision. The academic staff in this school and their research interests are shown below. You are strongly encouraged to contact the school to discuss your proposed research and potential supervision prior to making an application. Please note, it is possible for students to be supervised by a member of academic staff from any of Kent’s schools, providing their expertise matches your research interests. Use our ‘ find a supervisor ’ search to search by staff member or keyword.

Full details of staff research interests can be found on the School's website .

We have developed our programmes with a number of industrial organisations, which means that successful students are in a strong position to build a long-term career in this important discipline. You develop the skills and capabilities that employers are looking for, including problem solving, independent thought, report-writing, time management, leadership skills, team-working and good communication.

Kent has an excellent record for postgraduate employment: over 96% of our postgraduate students who graduated in 2015 found a job or further study opportunity within six months.

Building on Kent’s success as the region’s leading institution for student employability, we offer many opportunities for you to gain worthwhile experience and develop the specific skills and aptitudes that employers value.

The 2024/25 annual tuition fees for this course are:

For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide .

For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact [email protected] .

Your fee status

The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from  UKCISA  before applying.

General information

For students continuing on this programme, fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* 

Additional costs

General additional costs.

Find out more about  general additional costs  that you may pay when studying at Kent. 

Search our  scholarships finder  for possible funding opportunities. You may find it helpful to look at both:

• University and external funds
• Scholarships specific to the  academic school  delivering this programme.

Chevening scholarships

This programme attracts many applications from Chevening scholars. Chevening is the UK Government’s international awards scheme aimed at developing global leaders, and Kent is a Chevening partner. 

For details of the funding available, see our  Chevening Scholarships page .

We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.

Ready to apply?

Learn more about the  application process  or begin your application by clicking on a link below.

You will be able to choose your preferred year of entry once you have started your application. You can also save and return to your application at any time.

Need help deciding?

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Kent ranked top 50 in The Complete University Guide 2024 .

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Kent has risen 11 places in THE’s REF 2021 ranking, confirming us as a leading research university.

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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
• Centre for Digital Media Cultures .

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.

Emma Stibbon

My supervisory interests are writing the field of Fine Art, specialising in drawing and printmaking. My research is rooted in landscape, focusing on environments that are undergoing change and transformation. I undertake this through field-based research, frequently in dialogue with scientists. 

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 2023–24

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.

Secondary Menu

• MA in Digital Art History

The Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, in connection with the Wired! Lab for Digital Art History & Visual Culture , offers a Digital Art History track as part of Master of Arts degree in Digital Art History/Computational Media . The department also offers a track in Computational Media .

The 18-month Digital Art History program integrates historical disciplines and the study of cultural artifacts with digital visualization techniques for the analysis and presentation of research. The program builds on courses and well-developed strengths at Duke University, and requires 10 courses over three semesters in addition to summer research. Students affiliate with an existing faculty research initiative, from which they will develop their own independent research project for the M.A. thesis. Common themes that unite the various projects are the visualization of process, the representation of change over time, recontextualizing displaced objects and object biographies.

The M.A. prepares students for future work in such fields as public history, city planning and architectural design, cultural heritage, museum exhibition design and visualization-based journalism, and provides a springboard for more advanced study in art history, archaeology, architectural history and visual studies. Limited funding may become available in the form of grants and assistantships to students upon positive progress in the program.

Contact us for more information.

Who Should Apply

The ideal candidate seeks engagement with digital humanities, digital art history, digital architectural history and digital archaeology, and conceptualizes digital visualization as a way of doing research. The program encourages applicants from across the Humanities and Social Sciences, whether from stablished disciplines, such as history, archaeology, and art history, or emerging fields of study, such as spatial history, media arts & sciences, and cultural geography.

To apply, prospective students must submit an online application through the Duke University Graduate School. Applications must include a statement of purpose , three letters of recommendation , a writing sample, as well as transcripts . For the 2023 application cycle, scores from the GRE General exam are optional. International applicants must submit English language proficiency test scores if English is not their first language.

The statement of purpose should convey an applicant’s interests in our program and their reasons for wanting to pursue master’s level graduate study in digital art history.  The personal statement can and should be written from a first-person perspective, highlighting the applicant’s strengths and relevant background/experience.

The   writing sample   is intended to convey a sense of the applicant’s capacity for scholarly writing. Generally applicants submit a paper that they may have written for an undergraduate course, 10-20 pages.  In the case of longer written materials, applicants submit a sample of 10-20 pages, with a paragraph explaining how the selection fits within the longer work.  The topics vary depending on the academic background of the applicant, but ideally they relate in some way to -- and reflect the student’s  interest and prior training in -- digital art history.

More information on application requirements can be found at the Graduate School’s Online Application FAQ .

Please note that Duke University does not provide financial support for master’s-level graduate study, but applicants are urged to compete for national and foundation awards or seek student loans. Questions about financial aid should be directed to the Graduate School’s financial aid coordinator . In addition, many MA students take on teaching and research assistant positions, or other jobs on campus, after they arrive. Limited funds to support thesis-related research may also be available.

M.A. Degree Requirements

Typical program of study.

See recommended graduate seminars and electives

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Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS)

Dr. Matthew Davis DAHU Theme Coordinator 250.807.9638 [email protected]

Digital Arts & Humanities

Master of Arts (MA), Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Graduate Program Overview

Digital Humanities, broadly speaking, refers to “the nexus of fields within which scholars use computing technologies to investigate the kinds of questions that are traditional to the humanities…or ask traditional humanities-oriented questions about computing technologies” ( Fitzpatrick ).

Similarly, Digital Arts is a highly integrated practice combining strong theoretical frameworks with specific acts of making in graphic design, digital photography, digital video and audio editing, web design, 2D and 3D animation, digital writing, and mobile application development. Combining the two fields in one degree facilitates dialogue between creative and humanistic studies — a conversation that is central to the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies.

Research undertaken in this graduate program brings together the Humanities, aspects of the Social Sciences, and the Creative Arts. It employs computing technologies and makerspace methods to address such topics as social justice, access, sustainability, heritage, ethics, labour, ecology, creativity, curation, collaboration, interaction, making, pedagogy, and reading, while posing vital questions about computing technologies themselves.

Applications for the program open September 1 st with a deadline of Jan. 15 th each year.   Keep up to date on events and information on our DAHU Facebook page and on our DAHU Instagram page . 

The MA interdisciplinary degree in digital arts and humanities draws upon a well-established network of researchers as the foundation for this program. Graduate students have access to the expertise of diverse, nationally and internationally recognized researchers from a variety of faculties and disciplines in a coherent, thematic framework.

Program milestones

• establishing a faculty supervisory committee
• completing coursework
• preparing, presenting and defending a thesis research proposal
• completing thesis research and writing, and defending the work

Coursework requirements

18 credits of coursework are required, including:

• Proseminar in Interdisciplinary Studies (IGS 524)
• Theme Seminar in Digital Arts and Humanities (IGS 502)
• One research methods course, (IGS 501 or IGS 506, or another methods course approved by the supervisory committee)
• Additional coursework, selected in consultation with the student’s supervisor (9 credits)

THESIS REQUIREMENTS

Students are required to submit a Thesis Proposal of 2,500 words with a four-page bibliography to the Graduate Programs and Planning Committee; it is developed in consultation with your supervisor. The thesis requires an oral defense administered by the College of Graduate Studies.

The PhD degree is centered on participating faculty and students convening on a regular basis to share ideas, learn about each other’s work, identify opportunities for collaboration, and broaden their interdisciplinary expertise. Faculty scholars all have experience with digital arts and humanities research, and are committed to the interdisciplinary nature of the program.

• selecting and completing coursework
• passing an oral candidacy exam
• completing thesis research and writing, and defending the work.

COURSEWORK REQUIREMENTS

12 credits are required for the PhD degree, including:

• Additional coursework, selected in consultation with the student’s supervisor (3 credits)

DISSERTATION REQUIREMENTS

Students must also complete a dissertation after passing an oral candidacy exam. Students are required to submit a Doctoral Planning Report with a four-page bibliography to the Graduate Programs and Planning Committee; it is developed in consultation with your the student’s supervisor.

Career Possibilities

Our MA students will gain a host of skills that prepare them for careers in education, consulting, governmental and non-governmental organizations, industrial sectors, and more. With the research, teaching, making, and analytical skills they gain in the Digital Arts and Humanities theme, our PhD students will be prepared to pursue academic and alternative academic career paths.

Research & Supervisors

This IGS degree draws on the expertise of nationally and internationally recognized faculty researchers with experience with interdisciplinary digital arts and humanities research.

Our research focus includes:

• Creative Writing
• Cultural Studies
• Data Visualization
• Digital Humanities
• Digital Media
• Indigenous Media Arts
• Media Studies
• Visual Arts

Please contact a potential faculty supervisor before you start the application process. We look forward to hearing about your research interests and career goals.

Ifeoma Adaji | Computer Science |  [email protected] Research interests: Designing and developing behavior change systems and persuasive technologies such as serious games and mobile/web applications; modelling the behaviour of online users in social networks and e-commerce systems; data science; social computing; ethics and trust in persuasive technologies.

Diana Carter  | Spanish | [email protected] Research interests: Digital corpus linguistics; bilingual code-switching; sociolinguistics; the relationship between language, gender identity and education.

Jodey Castricano  | Cultural Studies, English | [email protected] Research interests: 19th-century studies, including gothic studies and psychoanalysis (Freud/Jung); critical animal studies; ecofeminism; critical and literary theory, film and media studies; feminist and queer theory; ethics; social activism.

Jonathan Cinnamon  | Geography |  [email protected] Research interests: digital geographies; data studies; GIS and society; science and technology studies; urban studies; surveillance; digital/visual methods; alternative urbanisms

Aleksandra Dulic  | Visual Art | [email protected] Research interests: Visual Art, New media, video, drawing 2D; Media for Social Change; Climate Change; Interactive Art; Experience Design

Liane Gabora | Psychology | [email protected] Research interests: Creativity; concepts, especially how they combine and adapt to new contexts; origins of modern cognition; cultural evolution; computer models of the above.

Suzanne Gott | Creative Studies, Art History | [email protected] Research interests: African art and visual culture; African women and popular culture; African museums and tangible/intangible cultural heritage.

Neha Gupta | Anthropology | [email protected] Research interests: Archaeology; Post-colonial and Indigenous studies of cultural heritage; Digital and Geospatial Methods and Practice; Landscape and Settlement Archaeology; Canada and India.

Hussein Keshani  | Art History and Visual Culture | [email protected] Research interests: Art History & Visual Culture; South Asia and the Islamic World; Islamic Art History; South Asian art and architecture, Islamic history.

Daniel Keyes  | Cultural Studies, English | [email protected] Research interests: Film, television and media studies; critical whiteness studies; critical and literary theory; cultural studies; studies in the suburban culture of North America; cultural studies in music; postcolonial and decolonization studies; drama and theatre studies; digital culture; Canadian literature.

Sarah Kraeutner | Psychology | [email protected]

Research interests: Neuroplasticity, Imagery, and Motor Behaviour

Francis Langevin | French, Languages and World Literatures | [email protected] Research interests: Plurilingual, Pluricultural Pedagogy; Contemporary French, French Canadian & Québécois Culture, Literature & Society (régionalité); Literary Theory (Values, Narratology, Style); Inclusive Language

Patricia Lasserre | Computer Science | [email protected] Research interests: Active learning techniques for computer science; developing tools for learning, computational thinking and design thinking; application of HCI tools and techniques to improve teaching and learning.

Fiona McDonald | Anthropology | [email protected] Research interests: Visual anthropology; anthropology of art; sensory ethnography; material culture; curatorial studies; museum studies; textiles; oral history; contemporary Indigenous art; informal science learning and the environment; anthropocene; water rights; open access and digital publishing; North America & Aotearoa New Zealand.

Emily Murphy | Digital Humanities | [email protected] Research interests: Digital Humanities; text encoding; digital editing; actor-network theory; feminist and intersectional DH; critical and creative making; digital pedagogy; the body and digital culture; twentieth-century literature and culture; high, middlebrow, and popular modernisms; literature of the Spanish Civil War; women’s writing; adaptation and media-specificity; dance, movement, and physical culture; history of psychiatry and psychoanalysis; celebrity culture; little magazines and the slicks; life writing.

Elena Nicoladis l Psychology l [email protected] Research interests: Bilingual first language learning; second language learning; gestures

Francisco Peña  | World Literatures, Spanish | [email protected] Research interests: Spanish Literature, Literary Studies, Biblical Studies, Religious Studies, History of Ideas, literary study of the Bible, the influence of the Bible in Medieval and Early Modern Spanish literature, and Jewish/Christian relations in Medieval Iberia.

Christine Schreyer | Anthropology | [email protected] Research interests: linguistic anthropology; First Nations language and culture; land claims and Aboriginal Title; ethnolinguistics, ethnohistory, social memory, oral history, landscape and traditional land use studies; works with First Nations communities on language issues such as language maintenance and revitalization of endangered languages.

Karis Shearer  | English | [email protected] Research interests: Canadian poetry; literary audio; cultural studies; critical pedagogy; feminist and gender theory; American poetry; modernism; performance and theatre studies; digital culture; creativity; social activism.

Megan Smith | Media Studies | [email protected] Research interests: New media art, virtual reality, physical computing, critical design, geo-location.

Miles Thorogood  | Media Studies | [email protected] Research interests: Visual Art, Digital Media; interactive sound art; technology-based art; creative coding

Bryce Traister | English | [email protected] Research interests: American Literature, especially the colonial and antebellum periods; religious studies; American Cultural Studies; science fiction.

Michael Treschow | English and Cultural Studies | [email protected] Research interests: Old English Language and Literature. Paleography and the digital editing of texts. Mystical Theology and suffering. Tolkien.

Annie Wan  | Creative Studies, Media Studies |  [email protected]

Research interests: Innovating Artistic and Socially Motivated Design through Creative Media by means of Gamification in Digital Heritage Preservation, Museums Archives and Digital Conservation; Employing Creative Media for the Socially Disadvantaged by means of Adopting Extended Realities and Intelligence Technologies for well- being.

Tania Willard | Creative Studies, Visual Arts | [email protected] Research interests: Visual Arts, Indigenous contemporary art, Indigenous languages, contemporary art, relational aesthetics, socially engaged practice, curatorial.

Kyong Yoon | Cultural Studies | [email protected]  Research interests: Social network sites; Race, Ethnicity, Reputation on Internet; Smartphones & Youth; Virtual Ethnography.

Our facilities include:

• Centre for Culture and Technology (CCT)
• The AMP Lab
• The SoundBox Project and the Spoken Web

Emily Murphy

The pull of academia carves a pathway for digital humanities

Miles Thorogood

A pioneer in teaching across disciplines

Students & Thesis

The Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies (FCCS) cares about the experiential learning and well-being of our students, and about fostering their academic and research excellence.

In fact, FCCS is a significant generator of artistic and cultural events with one of the most active and robust communities on campus and off—in Kelowna, the Okanagan Valley and beyond. Follow our DAHU program on Facebook and Instagram  to keep up to date on events and connect with our community on campus and beyond.

As a domain of scholarship, creative activity, and teaching, Digital Arts & Humanities is wide-ranging and interdisciplinary in nature. FCCS encourages graduate students to become well-rounded scholars, educators, and public intellectuals. During their degree, students will have the opportunity to conduct original research, learn to become effective educators, and work as Teaching Assistants, as well as acquire knowledge in the professional practices of writing for publication, academic CV development, grant writing, networking, and community-engaged research skills.

Students have participated in initiatives on our campus such as the SSHRC funded Textual Editing and Modernism in Canada Summer Institute and the Summer Indigenous Art Intensive, learning valuable skills and receiving the opportunity to connect with colleagues from around the world.

There are opportunities for experiential graduate courses that move outside the traditional classroom, be it in the local area or be it in remote locations such as the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on Vancouver Island.

FCCS engages in and supports research and creative activity, ensuring that our students and faculty members are given the necessary support to make significant scholarly contributions to the academy and society as a whole. The Digital Arts and Humanities theme draws upon a robust, interdisciplinary network of faculty experts in research and pedagogy to support, mentor, and train graduate students in the pursuit of research and research-creation.

We have a strong commitment to innovation and interdisciplinarity and to actively seeking opportunities to build interdisciplinary capacity that can connect with the growing tech and cultural industry sector in the Valley.

To examine the work of previous UBC Okanagan graduate students, search on  cIRcle , the University’s digital repository for research and teaching materials.

Meet Our Students

The Digital Arts and Humanities theme currently includes students at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels. Our students have provided profiles for you to discover more about them and their research.

PhD Candidate 

Ahlam’s visual artworks consist of conceptual sonic sculptures, digital remediate artworks, 3D calligraphy, and algorithmic 3D printed sculptures. She also collaborates with museums to improve the experience of low vision visitors and to re-imagine of artworks through digital technology.

Jon Michael Corbett

Jon Corbett has a well-established career in technology as a web programmer. He completed his BFA at the University of Alberta, and his MFA at UBCO in 2015, merging his technology skills with his artistic practice. He is currently pursuing his PhD, continuing this exploration. His research proposal focuses on the lack of cultural representation in programming languages, and he is building an Indigenous computer programming language based on the Cree language and syllabary.

Tara Nicholson

Her PhD research will produce a connected body of exploratory landscape studies linking escalating changes within the Anthropocene. Examining rewilding, resurrection biology and extinction studies while witnessing connected waves of Indigenous and setter-allied land activism, Nicholson will explore the role of art within activism and how the interpretation of climate research can affect its outcomes.

Sepideh Saffari

Najam Ul-Assar

PhD Student

Kaytlyn Barkved

Judith Burr

Ahlam Bavi, PhD Student

Using digital technology and 3D modelling to make museum art collections more accessible

Judith Burr, Masters Alumna

Digital Arts & Humanities alumna used podcasting to create her thesis about living with fire

Admission Requirements

Admission to UBC graduate programs is competitive. Applicants must meet the following criteria.

MASTER OF ARTS (MA) APPLICANTS 

Applicants to the master’s program are expected to hold:

• the academic equivalent of a four-year bachelor’s degree from UBC, with a B+ (76%) average or better in their third- or fourth-year classes, or
• at least 12 credits in third- and fourth-year classes in their intended field of study, with an A (80%) or better average.

Applicant background training must be sufficient for advanced work in their chosen field.

DOCTORAL (PHD) APPLICANTS 

PhD applicants will normally have a master’s degree in a related field, with a B+ (76%) average or better, and clear evidence of research ability or potential. Applicant background training must be sufficient for advanced work in their chosen field.

MORE INFORMATION

Visit the UBC Okanagan Academic Calendar * for full admission and program requirements information. The calendar is a comprehensive guide to all programs, courses, services and academic policies at the University of British Columbia.

* In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct. 

MASTER OF ARTS (MA) APPLICANTS 

Applicants to the master’s program are expected to:

• hold the academic equivalent of a four-year bachelor’s degree from UBC
• demonstrate superior academic standing

Applicants from a university outside Canada at which English is not the primary language of instruction must present evidence of competency to pursue studies in the English language prior to being extended an offer of admission. Acceptable English language proficiency tests for applicants to graduate studies are listed in the Academic Calendar .

PhD applicants are expected to hold the academic equivalent of a two-year master’s degree from UBC in a related field and to demonstrate superior academic standing. Applicant background training must be sufficient for advanced work in their chosen field.

Visit the  UBC Okanagan Academic Calendar * for full admission and program requirements information. The calendar is a comprehensive guide to all programs, courses, services and academic policies at the University of British Columbia.

* In case of a discrepancy between this webpage and the UBC Calendar, the UBC Calendar entry will be held to be correct.

Required Grades and Credential Guide

Grades and degree credentials required by UBC vary by country. Search the Required Grades and Credential Guide —a guide to assist international students in estimating their eligibility.

International Advisors

An international student advisor can answer questions about immigration, medical insurance and the transition to UBC’s Okanagan campus in Kelowna, BC. Visit the Global Engagement Office’s website to meet the team.

Tuition & Funding

Tuition amounts presented here are estimates only and all fees are subject to change. For official tuition amounts and fee information, visit the UBC Okanagan Academic Calendar *, a comprehensive guide to all programs, courses, services and academic policies at the University of British Columbia.

Tuition is paid three times a year at the beginning of each term, as per the Academic Calendar: Winter Term 1, Winter Term 2, and Summer Term.

Funding Opportunities

Graduate student stipends are funded through a combination of internal and external funding awards, Teaching Assistantships and Research Assistantships.

Although funding and stipend amounts are not guaranteed, UBC’s Okanagan campus has a number of assistantships available for qualified students. Talk to your potential supervisor about funding opportunities.

Students are expected whenever possible to apply for relevant scholarships and fellowships.

Teaching Assistantships (TA)

Paid TA positions allow graduate students to develop skills in teaching, supervision, facilitation, and student assessment. Teaching assistants may lead seminars, help teach undergraduate courses, or assist in student evaluations and marking. Teaching assistants are mentored by their supervisor and via the Centre for Teaching and Learning .

Research Assistantships (RA)

As paid research assistants, graduate students assist their supervisor or other researchers in conducting high-level research, which often contributes to the student’s thesis. RAs are typically funded by the supervisor’s external grants, contracts, and sometimes, other sources of funding.

The College of Graduate Studies administers merit-based graduate awards at the Okanagan campus. The College manages a number of award competitions each year and administers payment of all internal awards and selected external awards.

External Awards

All prospective graduate students (Domestic and International) should explore and apply for external awards and fellowships, including awards offered by Canada’s three research councils: CIHR , NSERC and SSHRC .

Graduate scholarships and awards may also be available from foundations, private companies or foreign governments (check with your country’s education authority).

How to Apply

Find a supervisor.

Please contact prospective supervisors before starting an application. Admission to the program requires the support of a faculty supervisor, as well as meeting program-specific criteria for admission requirements.

Please note: Interested applicants are encouraged to begin contacting potential supervisors.

A complete application package will contain:

• Online application and application fee
• Unofficial transcripts for all post-secondary institutions attended are required for the application package, however, if admitted, students are required to submit official transcripts to the College of Graduate Studies.
• Statement of Intent
• English language test (for non-native speakers of English)
• CV or resumé
• Two letters of reference (applicants may submit the online application form at any time during the call for applications – doing so triggers the invitation to referees – and continue to upload supporting documents until the deadline.)
• Please provide one example of your scholarly writing, such as a term paper or a substantial scholarly paper AND/OR submit electronic portfolio of artistic work (3-5 samples of artistic production and/or links to digital work).

Applying takes time. Students are advised to start the application process two months in advance of the application deadline.

For full consideration, students should submit all application materials by the following deadlines:

Applicants who wish to enter the program in the second semester of the academic year or in the summer semester should consult with the theme coordinator to determine if accommodation is possible.

Apply to UBC today!

Ubc's okanagan campus.

The University of British Columbia is a global centre for research and teaching, consistently ranked among the 40 best universities in the world. At UBC’s Okanagan campus, you gain all the benefits of attending a globally respected university while studying in a close-knit learning community.

DYNAMIC CITY

UBC’s Okanagan campus borders the dynamic city of Kelowna, a hub of economic development with a population of about 150,000 people—the fourth fastest growing population in Canada. In fact, the Okanagan Valley is rated one of the best communities in Canada to grow your business.

More than 160 buses travel daily from campus to key locations such as Kelowna’s cultural district and thriving downtown waterfront. The campus is two minutes from the Kelowna International Airport, one of the top 10 busiest airports in Canada.

UBC Okanagan is situated within the First Nations territory of the Okanagan Nation, whose spirit of stewardship for the land is reflected in the university’s respect for sustainability.

NATURAL BEAUTY

A diverse natural region with sandy beaches, beautiful farms, vineyards and orchards, and snow-capped mountains, the Okanagan Valley features sweeping stretches of lakeside and endless mountain trails for biking and hiking.

Check out this 360-degree video: Kelowna From Above (best viewed using desktop Chrome or Firefox or YouTube’s mobile app).

CAMPUS HOUSING

Full-time UBC Okanagan students can live in residence, which offers modern living with easy access to academic and personal support. Residences are surrounded by hiking and biking trails, plus panoramic views of the campus and valley.

• Student Residence
• Important Housing Dates

OFF-CAMPUS HOUSING

• Living Off Campus Resources
• Kelowna Off Campus Student Housing Facebook group*

* UBC does not verify or endorse information shared on this third-party website, which is offered here as a public resource only.

College of Graduate Studies: CoGS offers orientation events to support you in your first steps as a graduate student at UBC’s Okanagan campus.

Stay active: Take advantage of the many opportunities to get involved and play—from workout space in the new Hangar Fitness and Wellness Centre and our 1,561 square-metre gymnasium, to athletic courts, intramurals, fitness classes, and nationally ranked varsity athletics. Have a ball in Sports and Recreation .

Relax: The Graduate Collegium is a gathering place where grad students can hang out, eat lunch, spend time with their fellow students, and attend or host special events. The lounge-style room is open seven days and week and is outfitted with comfortable furniture, kitchen facilities, and individual and group-work spaces.

College of Graduate Studies : Your hub for administrative support and such things as graduate workshops for professional development and for assisting you from the admissions process through to your graduation.

Centre for Scholarly Communication : Supports graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, staff, and faculty in disseminating their research. The Library’s CSC provides one-on-one consultations and workshops, including writing support for theses, dissertations, journal articles, and grant proposals.

Centre for Teaching and Learning : Provides support related to teaching, TA training, and use of technology in educational programming.