Art PhD

Your PhD at Lancaster could focus on one of a wide range of topics within Fine Art or on a subject that crosses different disciplines. As a PhD student you will normally be supervised by a team of two supervisors who will ensure that you receive focused critical feedback and encouragement throughout the programme. In some cases the second supervisor will be based in a different discipline within the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA), or a different department within the university in order to ensure that you have the most appropriate supervisory team for your chosen project.<br/><br/>We have supervised PhD projects on an exciting variety of topics within painting, drawing, sculpture, new media, art/science, and socially engaged practice. These have previously included: sculpture and new materialism; relationships between drawing, graphic practices and biomedical imaging; health and therapeutic landscapes; ontological experiments in material activism; Deleuzes transcendental realism in painting; creative communities in online spaces; identity and contemporary Iranian art; transferences and translations between visual languages of indigenous Latin American textiles and geometric abstract painting, improving scientific literacy, agency and resilience with participatory art practice; and new visual languages of landscape.<br/><br/>You can take your Fine Art PhD at Lancaster either in the form of a written thesis, or as a project that combines the written thesis with creative practical work. Many of our academic staff are engaged with practice-based research in the fields of art, film, theatre and design, and we have a dedicated team of technicians to support you as well as workshops, editing suites and technical resources for our students.<br/><br/>As a PhD student based in LICA and part of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), you will be part of a multidisciplinary community of research students, able to participate in seminars, reading groups, conferences, and research training courses. We also offer opportunities to study for a certificate in higher education teaching.