Overview
Our research degree will allow you to explore your own interests in fine art - from the history of art to painting and printmaking - supported by the expertise of our staff at Cambridge School of Art.
Informed by your particular discipline, you’ll critically contextualize your work, clarifying both theoretical and practical research-based inquiries, and producing distinctive contributions to the research field.
You’ll be allocated two supervisors, with additional staff members available if necessary. Our supervisors are experienced in most areas of contemporary fine art, including recent issues in painting and the expanded field of contemporary practice; objects, installation and the virtual; interdisciplinary work with sound and video; performance art practices and their relationship to liveness and documentation; the interdisciplinary nature of printmaking; and landscape, mapping, and ambulatory practices.
At Cambridge School of Art, you’ll be part of a vibrant and growing community of researchers at the Ph.D. level. We provide various research forums that accentuate the discursive and interdisciplinary nature of research, including the Fine Art Research Unit (FARU), which holds regular seminars and informal presentations for postgraduate and research students, and the StoryLab Research Institute.
At our FARU sessions, you can present your work-in-progress, as well as hearing staff-led papers, and engaging in discussions on our current research and related topics. You’ll benefit from our strong links with institutions in the UK and abroad, including Kettle's Yard, Cambridge Arts Picturehouse, and the Cambridgeshire Film Consortium; Tate Britain, Tate Modern, Camberwell College of Arts and Central St Martins in London; ERBA Valence and ENSA Bourges, France. You’ll also have access to many exhibition and conference opportunities.
Your department and faculty
At Cambridge School of Art, we combine the traditions of our past with the possibilities afforded by the latest technologies.
Using our expertise and connections in Cambridge and beyond, we nurture creativity through experimentation and risk-taking to empower the makers and creators of the future.
Our academics excel at both practice and theory, making a real impact in their chosen fields, whether they are curating exhibitions, designing book covers, or photographing communities in Africa. They are also regularly published in catalogs, books, journals, and conference papers, their research classed as being of ‘international standing’, with some elements ‘world-leading, in the most recent Research Excellence Framework.
Specialist facilities
You’ll have the chance to work in our printmaking and sculpture workshops, photography darkrooms, life drawing studio, and computer suites for video production and digital imaging, as well as four Mac suites with Adobe Creative Suite software and high-quality 27-inch monitors.
You’ll also have access to the world-famous University of Cambridge Library as well as our own campus library resources, and local art galleries like Kettle's Yard. And you’ll be able to use our Faculty’s Ph.D. room, where all our doctoral students can meet up to work and take an active part in our postgraduate student community.
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