Digital Media Arts PhD

At Surrey, creativity and technology collide. Your skills and talents as a media practitioner, alongside intellectual curiosity, collaborative spirit, technical proficiency and sense of adventure, all come into play as you make use of the state-of-the-art facilities, great workspaces and dedicated multi-disciplinary supervision.

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Key course information

Entry requirements
See full entry requirements
Start date
April 2027
Attendance
Full-time
Duration
48/48 months
UK fees
£5,238*
Overseas fees
£24,300
Subject area
Film production
Funding
Funding information

Why choose this programme?

  • Our vibrant and expanding Digital Media Arts PhD programme spans film animation, visual effects and computational arts, immersive media, digital acting, motion graphics and movement interfaces, as well as performance capture, machine vision and interactive cinema.
  • You'll benefit from our extensive connections to the creative industries through our partnerships with film production companies, animation houses, the VFX community and their facilities and studios, plus industry networks such as BAFTA and the British Film Institute.
  • Our Guildford location is a short train journey from central London, and a town which is home to some of the most well-regarded games developers, immersive media producers and web design agencies, including Supermassive, Electronic Arts and Criterion.
  • On campus, we share a building and collaborate on a daily basis with the prestigious Guildford School of Acting. We also work closely with colleagues from Surrey’s engineering programmes and have found touchpoints in nearly every other discipline Surrey has to offer.
  • Our distance-learning route allows you to pursue doctoral research with full academic support, remote supervision, and access to online resources, without needing to relocate or interrupt your professional and/or caring commitments.
Find out more information

Statistics

Top 20 in the UK

Surrey is ranked 19th in the UK for the quality of our research outputs (Research Excellence Framework 2021)

Course details

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What you will study

This is a programme which will take you beyond the bounds of mere study. You will develop your own ground-breaking artistic practice into exciting and emerging fields such as virtual production, digital performance, pervasive filmmaking, contemporary animation, immersive audio-visual, experiential installation, digital art, creative computing and AI-based media production.

We will also help you deepen your contextual and theoretical knowledge in these and related fields. As a contemporary media practitioner and theorist, you will be fully encouraged to engage with topical research on current artistic and media practices, diversity, accessibility and cultural impacts.

We will also facilitate training in the latest tools and technologies to assist your creative development and enable you to create profound outputs that have impact.

Assessment

Your final assessment will be based on the presentation of your research in a written thesis, which will be discussed in a viva examination with at least two examiners.

You have the option of preparing your thesis as a monograph (one large volume in chapter form) or in publication format (including chapters written for publication), subject to the approval of your supervisors.

Location

You can study for your PhD in person here in Surrey on our Stag Hill campus or by distance learning online.

Research areas

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Research themes

  • Emerging media
  • Practice research
  • Creative production
  • Art, science and technology interactions
  • Virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality
  • New immersive experiences
  • Visualisation and serious games
  • Interactive storytelling
  • Virtual cinematography
  • Spectatorship, participation and play
  • Interactive cinema
  • Digital poetry
  • Narrative and character portrayal in video games and interactive media
  • Acting and performance for animation, games and film
  • Embodied media
  • Digital aesthetics
  • Post-narrative theory
  • Media psychology
  • Generativity.

Discover more about our music and media research.

Research centre

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Digital World Research Centre

Academic staff

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Dr Andrew Gilbert

Associate Professor in Computer Vision and Machine Learning

Read profile

Dr Maria Poulaki

Lecturer in Film and Digital Media Arts

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Support and facilities

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Research support

The professional development of postgraduate researchers is supported by the Doctoral College, which provides training in essential skills through its Researcher Development Programme of workshops, mentoring and coaching. A dedicated postgraduate careers and employability team will help you prepare for a successful career after the completion of your PhD.

Facilities

As a Digital Media Arts PhD student, you’ll gain access to a wide range of professional film, audio, video, and interactive production facilities, including:

  • High-performance GPU-based computing facilities
  • Fibre connected film and television studios
  • Motion/performance capture
  • 4K cine cameras and lenses
  • Lighting, sound and grip equipment
  • Set-building facilities
  • Photogrammetry
  • Film and sound editing
  • State of the art production software
  • Extensive fast media storage
  • VR/AR/MR/XR head mounted displays
  • Projection
  • Multiple GPU compute.

We have doubled the facilities space for music and media. Our Performing Arts Technology Studios have been upgraded and complemented by a £1.7m investment in state-of-the-art production and media suites.

All studios, edit rooms and acoustic rooms in the new space are linked by a new Dante digital audio network, providing audio interconnection between each room, plus video interconnects for flexible configurations of the recording spaces and studios.

Entry requirements

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UK qualifications

Applicants are expected to hold a minimum of upper second-class (2:1) UK degree and usually an MA in a relevant arts subject or appropriate professional experience.

Candidates submitting proposals that include practice-based research will be required to provide evidence of appropriate experience and expertise.

Country-specific qualifications

International students in the United Kingdom

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English language requirements

IELTS Academic: 6.5 or above (or equivalent) with 6.0 in each individual category.

These are the English language qualifications and levels that we can accept.

If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses, designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here.

Selection process

Selection is based on applicants:

  • Meeting the expected entry requirements and providing all relevant documents including a satisfactory research proposal
  • Being shortlisted through the application screening process
  • Completing a successful interview
  • Providing suitable references.

Fees and funding

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Fees per year

Explore UKCISA's website for more information if you are unsure whether you are a UK or overseas student. View the list of fees for all postgraduate research courses.

* Please note: any start date other than September will attract a pro-rata fee for that year of entry (75 per cent for January, 50 per cent for April and 25 per cent for July).

Fee options

UK
£5,238
Overseas
£24,300
UK
£5,238
Overseas
£24,300
UK
£2,619
Overseas
£12,200
UK
£2,619
Overseas
£12,200
UK
£5,238
Overseas
£24,300
UK
£5,238
Overseas
£24,300
UK
£2,619
Overseas
£12,200
UK
£2,619
Overseas
£12,200
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£25,300
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£25,300
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£12,700
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£12,700
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£25,300
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£25,300
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£12,700
UK
To be confirmed
Overseas
£12,700
  • Annual fees will increase by 4% for each year of study, rounded up to the nearest £100 (subject to legal requirements).

Additional costs

There are additional costs that you can expect to incur when studying at Surrey.

Funding

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan can help with course fees and living costs while you study a postgraduate doctoral course.

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Application process

Applicants should contact potential supervisors before submitting an application via the website. Please refer to section two of our application guidance.

Apply online

To apply online first select the course you'd like to apply for then log in.

  1. Select your course

    Choose the course option you wish to apply for.

  2. Sign in

    Create an account and sign into our application portal.

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time, April 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 17 January 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time with Distance Learning, April 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 17 January 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time, April 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 17 January 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time with Distance Learning, April 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 17 January 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time, July 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Friday 16 April 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time with Distance Learning, July 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Friday 16 April 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time, July 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Friday 16 April 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time with Distance Learning, July 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Friday 16 April 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time, October 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 11 July 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time with Distance Learning, October 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 11 July 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time, October 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 11 July 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time with Distance Learning, October 2027

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 11 July 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time, January 2028

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 10 October 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time with Distance Learning, January 2028

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 10 October 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time, January 2028

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 10 October 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

Digital Media Arts PhD

Part-time with Distance Learning, January 2028

Status

Applications:
open
Closing date:
Sunday 10 October 2027
Select

If you are applying through a studentship, there may be an earlier deadline listed on the studentship advert which should be followed. The above closing date is the last day that any applications for this entry point can be submitted.

Apply

After registration

Students are initially registered for a PhD with probationary status and, subject to satisfactory progress, subsequently confirmed as having PhD status.

About the University of Surrey

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At Surrey we offer a friendly university campus set in beautiful countryside, with the convenience and social life of bustling Guildford on your doorstep.

Need more information?

Contact our Admissions team or talk to a current University of Surrey student online.

Code of practice for research degrees

Surrey’s postgraduate research code of practice sets out the University's policy and procedural framework relating to research degrees. The code defines a set of standard procedures and specific responsibilities covering the academic supervision, administration and assessment of research degrees for all faculties within the University.

Terms and conditions

When you accept an offer to study at the University of Surrey, you will be agreeing to follow our policies and procedures, student regulations, and terms and conditions.

We provide these terms and conditions at the offer stage. You will be asked to accept these when you accept the offer made to you. You will be provided with these terms and conditions again at registration by way of reminder.

Disclaimer

This online prospectus has been published in advance of the academic year to which it applies.

Whilst we have done everything possible to ensure this information is accurate; some changes may happen between publishing and the start of the course.