Music - Postgraduate Research Opportunities

The Department of Music offers promising candidates the opportunity to carry out research in one of the most dynamic institutions in Britain, with supervision from world-leading academics and access to outstanding facilities. Our world-class facilities include the £16 million Bramall Music Building, which is home to the Music Department and also features the 450-seat Elgar Concert Hall, the most adaptable space of its kind in any university in the UK. The building also contains a suite dedicated to the study and performance of early music, five electroacoustic studios and a large rehearsal room.

We offer three routes to postgraduate research in Music:

• Music Performance Practice PhD/MA by Research (On Campus or by Distance Learning)
• Musical Composition PhD/MA by Research (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)
• Musicology PhD/MA by Research (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)

Each programme offers both a PhD and MA by Research option. The MA by Research programme requires you to prepare a thesis of up to 40,000 words on a topic of your choice under the expert guidance of an academic member of staff. The PhD, the most advanced research degree, comprises of a thesis of up to 80,000 words on a subject of your choice, again under the expert supervision of an academic member of staff.

You can study all programmes on campus or by distance learning. Please note that if you are studying with us by distance learning, there is a compulsory annual visit to campus (every two years for part-time PhD students).

Research interests of staff include:

Research in the Music Department engages both directly with musical life today, via composition and critical understanding, and the ways in which music has played a role in society from the medieval period to the late twentieth century and have expertise a wide range of areas and approaches/.

For full research interests of staff, please read our staff profiles or visit the 'Research' tab on each programme's webpage.