Music PhD

The Department of Music and Media is a respected authority in musical research and sound technology. Thanks to our renowned expertise in musicology, performance, and composition, and the prestige of the Institute of Sound Recording, we can count many household names in entertainment, audio technology and the recording industry among our partners, collaborators, and alumni.

Research in music brings together a broad range of interconnected subject areas, focussed in our internationally acclaimed research centres housed in state-of-the-art facilities:

• Digital World Research Centre
• Institute of Austrian and German Music Research
• Institute of Sound Recording
• International Guitar Research Centre.

The Department is highly collegiate, with a close-knit and supportive academic environment. Academic members of staff are well known internationally for their exceptionally strong research profiles.

We belong to TECHNE, an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded doctoral training partnership, which provides access to comprehensive academic and professional training programmes, as well as the possibility of funding for your studies.

100 per cent of our music and media postgraduate research students go on to employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes survey, 2023).

Our research degrees prepare you for success at each stage of your PhD project development. The structure of our Music PhD is designed to provide intensive graduate preparation for a future career and is suitable for either part-time or full-time candidates.

As a postgraduate researcher within our Department, you will conduct a research project within one of our areas of research strengths. Completion of the programme entails submission of a thesis, the submission of practice if undertaking a practice-based PhD, and an oral viva with external examiners.

PhD students on all programmes in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences can expect three levels of research training: university-level, department-level and subject-specific.

University-level training is provided by the Postgraduate Skills Development Programme and the University Library including a PhD induction, workshops on writing skills and preparation for the confirmation and viva. There is also an annual student-led University postgraduate conference.

Department-level training is offered in the form of interdisciplinary seminars, reading groups, visiting speaker events and conferences.

You will also receive subject-specific training that will vary depending on your programme.

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.

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.