Research degrees in the School of Media and Communication

Join our supportive research community, immerse yourself in a topic you’re passionate about and contribute an original piece of research to the field of media and communication.

As a postgraduate researcher in our School, you’ll work closely with your supervisor to answer some of the most pressing questions facing societies today. Explore our research areas and find a supervisor who might be able to support you throughout your research and help you get to the next stage in your career.

We also offer practice-led PhDs in film, photography and other screen-based media, with opportunities for collaboration with the Centre for Practice-Led Research in Arts.

Studying for a PhD allows you to explore an aspect of media and communication that fascinates you in great depth, and make a meaningful contribution to your chosen field. It’s a necessary qualification if you’re aspiring to have a career in academia.

Duration

If you research full-time, you'll usually complete your PhD in three years. Part-time research degrees are normally completed in five years.

Structure

Your first year

For the first 12 months (or 18 months if you're researching part-time), you'll be enrolled as a provisional postgraduate researcher and you’ll have regular meetings to check your progress and to make sure you're developing the right skills for your research. You'll produce a detailed research proposal, establish a feasible timescale for your project and write a literature review. This work is submitted to a panel of examiners who will assess it and provide you with feedback and advice on the progress of your research. 

This process is called 'transfer' and is an important means of monitoring the progress of your work and assessing whether your proposal has enough weight to be accurately explored through a PhD.

Following a successful transfer

You'll enrol as a full postgraduate researcher, complete your research and write your thesis.

Your thesis

You'll complete an extensive independent research project, using your findings to produce a thesis of around 100,000 words. Throughout, you'll receive guidance from supervisors who are active researchers in your area of interest.

Your thesis should make an original contribution to knowledge through, for example, gathering and analysing new facts or by interpreting existing information in an important new way.

The degree of Doctor of Philosophy is awarded on the basis of this thesis, and your viva voce, where you’ll present and discuss the rationale, methods and findings of your original study with an examining panel.

Practice-led research

We welcome PhD applications that include a practical element, especially in the areas of filmmaking, photography, screenwriting, immersive and interactive storytelling, digital performance and production, and community co-production.

For a practice-led PhD, you’ll produce a body of work which demonstrates an original contribution to knowledge and scholarship. This will comprise a substantial creative practice produced in pursuit of the degree, displaying critical understanding and being worthy of public presentation or publication.

You’ll also produce a written submission of 15,000 to 50,000 words. This will provide an exploration of the research question(s) and will indicate how the research is embodied in and through the practice.