Contemporary Arts

Entry requirements

Master’s Degree: Master’s degree or equivalent in an appropriate discipline

Undergraduate Degree: 2:1 (Hons) degree (UK or equivalent) in an appropriate discipline

We may also consider non-standard applicants, please contact us for information.

If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.

Additional Requirements

As part of your application you will also need to provide

A PhD Proposal form, which you can find on the Departmental website. You will need to upload your completed proposal form to your online application.

Practice based Research applicants are also required to submit a portfolio

Months of entry

October

Course content

The Contemporary Arts PhD at Lancaster offers you an opportunity to undertake research across a wide variety of contemporary arts topics and disciplines, in the interdisciplinary environment of Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts (LICA). As a PhD student you will normally be supervised by a team of two supervisors who will ensure that you receive focused critical feedback and encouragement throughout the programme. In many cases the supervisors will be based in different disciplines within the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA), or in a different department within the university in order to ensure that you have the most appropriate supervisory team for your chosen project.

You can take your Contemporary Arts PhD at Lancaster either in the traditional format of a written thesis, or as a project that combines the written thesis with creative practical work. Many of our academic staff are engaged with practice-based research in the fields of art, film, theatre, design and architecture, and we have a dedicated team of technicians to support you as well as workshops, editing suites and technical resources for our students.

As a PhD student based in LICA and part of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), you will be part of a multidisciplinary community of research students, able to participate in seminars, reading groups, conferences, and research training courses. We also offer opportunities to study for a certificate in higher education teaching.

We encourage you to contact the LICA postgraduate coordinator at pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk or any relevant member of the LICA staff team to discuss your ideas for PhD research.

Information for international students

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.

If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Fees and funding

Learn more at the fees and funding page.