PhD Art History and Visual Studies

Our Art History and Visual Studies PhD programme offers the opportunity to conduct in-depth research in an area of particular interest.

Our research interests are wide-ranging. Strengths include:

medieval Italy;
Italian and Northern Renaissance;
Renaissance print culture;
history of architecture;
art and science;
British art in the 18th and 19th centuries;
Romanticism and its reception;
the history and theory of the avant-garde;
art and sexuality;
modernism and post-colonialism;
art and psychoanalysis;
poststructuralism;
history and theory of photography;
experimental art-writing;
contemporary Chinese art
post-conceptual contemporary art
modern art in India.
You will prepare your thesis under the guidance of two supervisors. Progress is monitored at regular meetings of your research panel (two supervisors plus an independent reviewer). The aim of the programme is to support you in becoming an independent research. We encourage you to disseminate your work at seminars and conferences, and in recognised journals or equivalents publications.

The programme culminates in the submission of an 80,000-word dissertation that makes an original contribution to art historical knowledge.

As a post-graduate researcher in the department of Art History and Cultural Practices, you will join a vibrant community with access to exciting research seminars and other events, such the Visiting Pilkington Professor series and the Whitworth Studies series.

Find out more about our research , our staff and what our current postgraduate research students are working on.