art history phd studentships

PhD Program

The UCLA Department of Art History offers a two-stage graduate program toward the PhD. Students are not admitted for a terminal master’s (MA) degree. The MA is awarded in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the PhD and is granted with the successful completion of the first stage of the program, typically at the end of the second year, 6th quarter, in residence. Normative time to degree for the PhD is seven years from the term of admission. For students entering with a MA in hand, the normative time to degree is five years from the term of admission.

All students are required to complete the M.A. requirements in the department. The Graduate Review Committee may waive the M.A. requirements, at the time of admission, for students matriculating with a M.A. degree in Art History or adjacent discipline from another institution. Following Academic Senate policy on duplication of degrees, a student who enters the program with a M.A. degree in Art History from another institution is not eligible to receive a second M.A. degree in Art History from UCLA.

Please see here for the official UCLA Art History Graduate Program Requirements published on the Graduate Division website.

• The student is assigned a faculty mentor upon admission to the program. The mentor is responsible for the student’s course of study and must be consulted at least once each quarter. A change of faculty supervision and/or change in field(s) must be approved by the Graduate Review Committee.
• The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) offers intellectual guidance, approves any exceptions to the program requirements, and adjudicates disputes between a student and his/her faculty mentor. The DGS further serves as Chair of the Graduate Review Committee, which governs the admissions process.
• The Student Affairs Officer (SAO) assists students with all the administrative aspects of moving through the program.
• Each spring quarter, the entire faculty reviews the status of each graduate student to ensure appropriate time-to-degree progress.

Toward the MA

Requirements for the MA

• Satisfaction of the first language requirement.
• Successful completion of AH 200 with a grade of “B+” or better.
• Nine graduate and upper division courses (36 units) completed while in the program. At least six of those courses (24 units) must be at the graduate level, including four graduate seminars. AH 200 may be counted towards the required six courses.
• Successful completion of a qualifying paper (approximately 30 pages) according to the standards and procedures outlined below.

* Typically the above requirements are completed within the first two years of study (6 quarters).

Distribution of Coursework

The nine required courses must include at least two courses from Group A and two courses from Group B noted below.

Qualifying Paper for the MA

• The qualifying paper is a revised and expanded version of a paper written for a class from the first year of coursework. It should be approximately 30 pages in length (excluding footnotes, images, and bibliography) and should demonstrate the student’s ability 1) to formulate a thesis, 2) to present an extended argument, and 3) to conduct original research. Quality of the writing will also be evaluated.
• By the end of the fall quarter of the second year, student selects a class paper from the first year in consultation with his or her advisor to revise and expand as the qualifying paper.
• In the following winter quarter, student enrolls for 4 units of 598 (RSRCH-MASTER THESIS) to work on the paper under the supervision of advisor.
• Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) will contact each student during the winter quarter (usually early February) to appoint a committee of three faculty readers for the qualifying paper, one of which is the student’s advisor. At least one of the faculty readers will have had no classroom contact with the student. All students may suggest potential readers; however, the DGS will balance the student’s request against equity of faculty workload.
• On the first day of instruction of the spring quarter, students submits three copies of the qualifying paper to the Student Affairs Officer (SAO) along with a list of the three readers assigned to review the paper.
• The qualifying papers will be distributed to the three assigned faculty readers and each reader will complete an evaluation form and submit it to the SAO within three weeks of receipt of the paper.
• By the fourth week of the spring quarter, the SAO will make available the papers with reader’s comments to the student and these papers will be added to the student’s permanent file.
• The Graduate Review Committee, taking into consideration the faculty reader evaluations, will determine whether the student will be awarded the MA and permitted to proceed into the PhDprogram. In some cases, the Committee may recommend that the student receive the MA degree but discontinue further graduate study. It is also possible (although very rare) that the student’s work may not be judged adequate to receive the MA.

Completion of the MA

• Prior to the third week of the spring quarter in the second year, the student should complete the “Petition for Advancement to Candidacy for the Master’s Degree” (provided by and returned to the SAO).
• Once the Department has accepted the qualifying paper, the student must file it with Graduate Division by the Monday of the tenth week of the spring quarter, formatted as a thesis.
• Graduate Division guidelines for formatting MA theses are available  here . Workshops on thesis formatting are offered at the beginning of each fall and winter quarters. See the Grad Division website for more information.
• Following the Department’s annual spring review of graduate students, the student must submit a completed form for transfer from the MA to the PhD program (provided by and returned to the SAO).

Toward the PhD

Upon the completion of the MA or starting with a MA from another institution, the student begins the PhD program having chosen a major field of study within art history, often known at the time of application. By the end of the second quarter of residence at the PhD stage, the student also selects a minor field, which may be outside the department (e.g. Architecture, History, Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Archaeology, etc.). The major and minor advisors are responsible for the student’s course of study and completion of requirements within the selected field. Graduate Review Committee must approve any change of advisor(s) or the major and minor fields.

Requirements for the PhD

• Satisfaction of language requirements (minimum 2, including 1 from MA stage; more may be required depending on field of study)
• Completion of 8 graduate and upper division courses (32 units)
• Written comprehensive exams in major and minor fields
• Dissertation prospectus and oral qualifying exam
• Doctoral dissertation

• A total of 8 graduate and upper division courses are required, of which at least 4 must be art history courses at the graduate level.
• Of the nine courses (36 units) required for the MA, students may use a maximum of two of these (8 units) to count towards Ph.D. coursework. Students may also apply courses taken in excess of MA requirements towards fulfilling Ph.D. course requirements. (This does not apply to students who received their MA from other institutions/departments.)
• 5 courses in one field are required to claim it as the major field; 3 courses in one field are required to claim it as the minor field. The minor can also be from outside the department (e.g. Architecture, History, Anthropology, Comparative Literature, Archaeology, etc.).
• Students entering the PhD stage deficient in Art History 200 (Art Historical Theories and Methodologies) or its equivalent must add this to the total requirements. In some cases, Art History 201 (Topics in Historiography of Art History) may be required by faculty/advisor recommendation. Any additional coursework required by the Graduate Review Committee at time of admission must be completed during the first two quarters of residence and may not count toward the minimum course requirements for either the MA or PhD degree.

Written Comprehensive Examinations

• Upon completion of coursework and fulfillment of language requirements, the student takes the PhD written comprehensive examinations in the major and minor fields of study, designed and evaluated by the student’s major and minor advisors respectively.
• The purpose of the examinations is to test the student’s breadth and depth of knowledge in his/her fields of study. If a student fails to pass the examination or part thereof, the failed portion may be repeated once no later than the subsequent quarter of residence. No further repetition will be allowed. The written comprehensive examinations may be taken during any two-week period of the Fall, Winter, and Spring quarters. Typically, students take these exams during the winter quarter of the second year in residence, 5th quarter, in the PhD program.
• The Department offers two formats for the major and minor written exams, the details of which must be worked out in advance between the student and the examiner. Format A: Take-home. 2-3 essay questions to be completed in 1 week (for the minor exam, 1-2 questions to be completed in 3 days). Format B: Sit-down. 2-3 essay questions to be completed in 6 hours (for the minor exam, 1-2 questions to be completed in 3 hours). Many faculty incorporate designing of a syllabus as an exam question and the formats above do not preclude this possibility. Such an assignment would count as one question/essay.
• The specific format and dates for the major and minor exams must be submitted to the Student Affairs Officer at least three weeks in advance using the appropriate departmental form.

Doctoral Committee

• Upon passing the written comprehensive examinations in major and minor fields of study, the student selects a dissertation topic and nominates the members of his/her Doctoral Committee in consultation with his/her advisor.
• This committee minimally consists of the major advisor, now serving as committee chair, two additional members of the art history faculty (normally, but not necessarily, including the student’s minor advisor), and one member from another UCLA department. For details on the acceptable status of these members and for minimum university standards of the doctoral committee,  please see page 14-17 in the Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study manual .
• The student and committee chair must agree on all committee members. Any changes in committee constitution after formal nomination must be reported to and approved by the Graduate Division; replacing the committee chair can only occur by consent or if the faculty member leaves UCLA.
• Please note that the Graduate Division generally approves Committee nominations within 2-3 weeks, and the oral qualifying exam may not be taken before official approval has been received.

Dissertation Prospectus and Oral Qualifying Examination

• The dissertation topic should be identified in discussions with the advisor. These discussions usually evolve organically through the course of study and are highly individualized. Typically, the oral examination is scheduled during the quarter following the successful completion of the written examinations.
• Once the Doctoral Committee has been officially approved by Graduate Division, and after having conducted considerable exploratory research and preparation for his/her dissertation, the student submits to each member of the Doctoral Committee a dissertation prospectus. The prospectus should not be distributed to the full committee without the approval of the student’s committee chair.
• The dissertation prospectus should not exceed 20 pages and include a statement of purpose regarding the art historical topic/problem being addressed (what is at stake in the study), tentative chapter outlines, working bibliography, research plan, methodological strategies, and preliminary schedule for completion.
• Students should submit the prospectus to committee members 2-3 weeks before the oral examination date to allow sufficient time for the prospectus to be reviewed. If any member of the Doctoral Committee finds the prospectus inadequate, he or she must notify the committee chair at least one week prior to the oral examination date. In some cases, the prospectus must be revised and/or the examination date postponed.
• The student is responsible for scheduling the oral exam, consulting with committee members well in advance regarding the date and time of availability of each faculty member. The SAO helps the student reserve an appropriate space for the exam.
• The purpose of the oral examination is to assess the validity and feasibility of the proposed dissertation topic and its methodologies, as well as the soundness of the student’s projected approach to completing the project.
• At the end of the examination, each committee member reports the examination as “passed” or “not passed.” A student may not pass and may not be advanced to candidacy if more than one member votes “not passed” regardless of the size of the committee, or if the major advisor so votes. Upon majority vote of the committee, the oral qualifying examination may be repeated once. Students upon passing the oral examination are formally advanced to candidacy by the Graduate Division.
• At the time of the exam, the Doctoral Committee decides, by unanimous agreement, whether or not to waive the final oral examination (not normally required) and selects, again by unanimous agreement, a minimum of three members, two from the art history faculty and one from an outside department, who will read, approve, and certify the final draft of the dissertation. For details regarding the acceptable status of these certifying members, consult the publication, Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.
• Upon passing the oral examination, the student is officially Advanced to Candidacy (ATC).

Dissertation and Final Oral Examination (if required)

• After advancing to candidacy, the student works on the dissertation in consultation with his/her advisor, committee chair, as well as Doctoral Committee certifying members according to the rules laid out in the above named publication. Upon completion of the dissertation or individual chapters thereof, and with  approval  of the committee chair, the student circulates a copy of the dissertation  in Week 1 of the quarter  for comments and suggestions from the certifying members of the Doctoral Committee.  Each  reader is allowed  four  weeks in which to read it and make corrections and comments, and the student is allowed  three  weeks in which to respond and revise the dissertation. It is incumbent upon the student to communicate in a timely manner with all certifying members of the Doctoral Committee to ensure adequate time for review. Committee members must be consulted as each reader may require more time.  PLEASE REVIEW the timeline for dissertation completion  which clearly outlines the schedule for submission during the student’s final quarter.
• After incorporating into the final draft of the dissertation the recommended changes, the student will circulate the dissertation again among the certifying members of the Doctoral Committee. This draft should be circulated sufficiently in advance of the deadline for filing the dissertation so that each reader is allowed at least two weeks in which to reread it (see quarterly Schedule of Classes for filing deadlines).
• Each certifying member of the committee then decides whether or not to approve the dissertation. In cases where less than the entire committee acts as certifying members, approval of the dissertation must be unanimous. If the entire committee acts as certifying members, the dissertation is considered approved with one negative decision so long as that negative decision is not that of the committee chair. After final approval by the Dean of the Graduate Division, the student files the required number of copies of the dissertation with the Manuscript Advisor of the Office of University Archives. Deadlines for filing the dissertation fall approximately two weeks before the date the degree is to be awarded.
• Note: A final oral examination is not normally required for Art History, but in some cases it may be requested by the Doctoral Committee (determined at the oral qualifying exam), and is held prior to filing the dissertation. All members of the committee must attend and vote. A student may pass with one negative vote so long as that vote is not that of the committee chair. In case of failure, the Doctoral Committee decides, by unanimous agreement, whether or not the candidate may be re-examined.
• Upon filing the dissertation, the student receives the Ph.D.

Language Requirements

The completion of the PhD requires reading knowledge of a minimum of two foreign languages relevant to the student’s field of study (more than two may be required in some cases and must be determined in consultation with the faculty advisor). Applicants are expected to already possess reading proficiency in at least one of the two languages for which they will be responsible. New students shall sit for at least one language exam upon arrival at UCLA.

Students at the MA stage are expected to satisfy their first foreign language requirement by the end of the 3rd quarter in residence. It is highly recommended that they complete the second language requirement by the end of the 6th quarter in residence.

Students at the PhD stage are expected to satisfy their second foreign language requirement by the end of the 1st quarter and any additional languages by the end of the 3rd quarter in residence (or in consultation with the major advisor).

Fulfilling the Language Requirement

Option 1: Pass the Departmental Foreign Language Exam.

The language exam consists of translation of a text of 300-700 words chosen by the examiner to be translated into English in three hours (use of a non-electronic dictionary is allowed). Specific qualities of the language and expected level of proficiency in the field will impact the choice and length of the selected text. The Department expects accurate rendition in English rather than a strict translation, word for word, and values the quality of the translation over the completion of the exam.

Language exams are scheduled four times a year, approximately three weeks prior to finals week during the regular academic quarters. Entering students must sit for the first language exam in the first week of the fall quarter. Exam results will be sent out by email within three weeks of the exam date. If feedback on the exam is desired after the results have been announced, students are welcome to contact the examiner. If a student fails the exam and wants to appeal, he or she should contact the Chair of the Language Committee or Director of Graduate Studies.

Option 2: Complete UCLA courses  French 6, German 6, Italian 6, Spanish 25, or other relevant language classes with a minimum grade of “B”.

The following is a general guideline for language requirements in relation to specific fields of study. The final selection and number of languages is to be determined in consultation with the primary advisor.

African Indigenous African languages, Arabic, French, German, Portuguese Ancient/Mediterranean/Near East Akkadian, Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, Latin Chinese/Korean/Japanese Two East Asian languages, for pre-modern studies additionally literary Chinese or Japanese Byzantine/Western Medieval French, German, Greek, Latin, Italian, Slavic Languages, Turkish, Spanish Indigenous Americas One European language, one indigenous language (e.g., Quechua, Nahuatl, Maya), one other language (depending on topic) Islamic Arabic, Turkish/Ottoman, Persian, French, German Latin America Spanish (mandatory), French, German, Portuguese Modern & Contemporary Europe & America French, German, Spanish, Italian, Russian Renaissance/Baroque/Early Modern Italian, French, Spanish, German, Latin, Dutch, Slavic Languages, Latin and/or Greek (depending on topic) South Asia Sanskrit, Hindi/Urdu, Persian Southeast Asia Thai, Vietnamese, Indonesian

This dialog contains an alert message for the Penn State community.

The College of Arts and Architecture encourages UArts students to explore our undergraduate and graduate degree programs in the visual, design, and performing arts. For additional information, just reach out ; we'll be delighted to learn more about you.

• Undergraduate Degree Programs
• Graduate Degree Programs
• Summer Session Courses
• Accreditation
• Department of Architecture
• Department of Art History
• Department of Graphic Design
• Department of Landscape Architecture
• School of Music
• School of Theatre
• School of Visual Arts
• Stuckeman School
• Research & Creativity
• Centers and Initiatives
• Performances & Exhibitions
• Event Calendar
• Palmer Museum of Art
• Center for the Performing Arts
• Penn State Centre Stage
• Penn's Woods Music Festival
• Penn State Blue Band
• Schools, Units and Offices

This dialog contains the full navigation menu for arts.psu.edu.

College of Arts & Architecture

Resources For

• Parents and Guardians
• Alumni and Friends
• Academic Advising
• Access and Equity
• Digital Learning
• Sustainability

Helpful Links

• Notes from the Dean
• Buy Event Tickets
• Parking at Penn State
• Plan a Visit
• Careers with A&A

Social Media

Art History, Ph.D.

Ph.D. in Art History (+Dual Ph.D.)

TODO FIXME : DRAFT : WORK IN PROGRESS

Become a professional in the field advance your career with an advanced degree..

Advanced study of visual arts spanning periods, cultures, and geographies. The Art History Ph.D. program can deepen your expertise and advance your Art History career.

Program Application Deadline

The deadline for applications for AY 2024–25 is January 15, 2024.

To be assured full consideration, please review all details on program and admission requirements, and ensure that you apply by this deadline.

Earn a Ph.D. in Art History at Penn State

Our Ph.D. students and alumni have earned Fulbright and Getty Fellowships, the Rome prize, tenure-track positions, and curatorial fellowships and jobs. For more than fifty years, our graduates have been writing books, organizing exhibitions, teaching college and pre-collegiate students, and ensuring the preservation and understanding of our cultural heritage. Join us!

The Ph.D. in Art History program will prepare you to broadly influence art and culture through careers as scholars and educators, as museum curators, as public advocates of cultural heritage, and as arts administrators, to name just a few of the professions that recent program alumni have entered. Breadth of knowledge is as essential for museum professionals as it is for academic researchers. For this reason, advanced study of the visual arts and material culture from diverse periods and geographies is required of all graduate students, with Ph.D. candidates attaining deep expertise in at least one field of art historical research. The department’s faculty includes specialists in African, Asian, and European art and the arts of the Americas.

Graduate faculty members and advisors are leading scholars in their fields. Our interdisciplinary program challenges you to think critically and creatively in order to make a meaningful contribution to the field. The Ph.D. in Art History program also offers dual-title Ph.D. options in Asian Studies or Visual Studies.

Nancy Locke

• Professor of Art History
• Director of Graduate Studies in Art History

[email protected]

814-865-4877

Is the Ph.D. in Art History right for you?

A Ph.D. makes possible the highest level of career success in art history. Our program has a track record of excellent outcomes in diverse career paths, with particular success in placing students in academic and museum careers.

We help you ask and answer the big questions in your area of study. Our graduate students have opportunities to teach, research, and work on digital humanities projects with our Center for Virtual and Material Studies. The Palmer Museum of Art also provides internships to prepare you for curatorial work.

Engage with a dynamic cohort of fellow students and a supportive community of scholars.

Degree Options

Dual-title degree options add a significant interdisciplinary breadth to your Ph.D. scholarship. These two dual-title programs develop context through which you can learn to synthesize knowledge within and across disciplinary boundaries in both scholarship and teaching.

Dual Ph.D. and Asian Studies

The primary objective of the dual-title degree program in Asian Studies is to engage critically and substantively with the teaching, research, and scholarship of Asia, a diverse area with a population of some 4.5 billion. The program integrates knowledge and methodology across disciplines of Asian Studies and Art History.

Graduate students are trained in such a way that you will be equipped to represent, understand, analyze, and appraise the crucial and current scholarly issues in Asian Studies in the context of your art discipline focus.

The program aims to produce doctoral graduates with a competitive advantage for employment that relates to Asia in academia, museum, curatorial, and other professional fields.

Graduate Bulletin Links

• Asian Studies Bulletin page
• Graduate Studies information related to the dual-title Ph.D in Art History + Asian Studies .

Dual Ph.D. and Visual Studies

Humanistic study. Technological dynamics. Analyze images, physical and virtual environments, and visual sign systems; histories of visual modes of communication, apprehension, and aesthetic pleasure; and conceptions of the nature of visuality itself. Challenge boundaries. Challenge yourself.

The dual-title Ph.D. in Visual Studies fosters an interdisciplinary approach to humanistic study, which, spurred by technological dynamics that increasingly integrate text and image, engages analysis of specific images, physical and virtual environments, and visual sign systems; histories of visual modes of communication, apprehension, and aesthetic pleasure; and conceptions of the nature of visuality itself. Students in this program analyze and assess visual media that, integrated with texts, are integral to humanistic scholarship and pedagogy today.

Dual-title degree programs increase the intellectual rigor and breadth of graduate work and provide a context in which students learn to synthesize knowledge within and across disciplinary boundaries in both scholarship and teaching. Drawing from knowledge and practices produced across the humanistic disciplines while responding to ongoing challenges to conventional disciplinary boundaries, this degree highlights existing strengths of graduate training in the humanities at Penn State, structures the continuing development of these programs, and credentials our graduates’ training and work with visual forms, environments, and media.

• Visual Studies Bulletin page
• Graduate Studies information related to the dual-title Ph.D in Art History + Asian Studies

Professional Development

Our department is regularly invited to select graduate students to participate in major graduate student symposia, including the Middle Atlantic Symposium in the History of Art at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Barnes Foundation Graduate Student Symposium on the History of Art. Penn State art history graduate students often present papers at scholarly conferences/symposia across the United States and abroad (for which the department provides partial financial support).

Financial Support

• George Dewey and Mary J. Krumrine Endowment This endowment helps support publication projects of art history faculty and graduate students.
• Graduate Assistantships There are about nineteen graduate assistantships filled by graduate students in the Department of Art History each year.
• University Fellowships and Awards Qualified incoming graduate students may also be nominated by the department for University Fellowships, Bunton-Waller Graduate Awards, Graham Fellowships, and other awards. The department also has funds to help support graduate students in their research and travel related to their theses. The department awards dissertation fellowships and travel/research grants totaling over $60,000 to graduate students each academic year.

Summer Opportunities

• Summer Abroad program in Todi, Italy The Department of Art History is a co-sponsor of Penn State’s Summer Abroad program in Todi, Italy, in which graduate students may choose to participate.
• Annie Gooding Sykes Internship This internship is a twelve-week internship offered during the summer. Interns work with museum staff on a variety of curatorial projects, with a particular focus on American works on paper. Students who have completed the ARTH 409 “Museum Studies” course are preferred. One internship with a stipend is offered each summer.
• Silver Trout Curatorial Graduate Internship Program This internship program is a twelve-week internship offered during the summer. Interns work with the museum staff on curatorial projects and initiatives. Graduate students in art history or art education are eligible for the Silver Trout Curatorial Graduate Internship Program. Students who have completed the ARTH 409 “Museum Studies” course are preferred. Two internships with a stipend are offered each summer.

Ph.D. Students

Students currently enrolled in the Ph.D. in Art History programs.

Arunima Addy Degree: PhD in Architecture Research Focus: South Asian architectural and urban history Dissertation title: Diaspora of Indian Temple Architecture Academic Adviser: Madhuri Desai [email protected]

Arunima Addy is currently a PhD candidate in Art History with dual title in Asian Studies. She has been a practicing architect in India, before joining the graduate program at Penn State. Arunima has her research interests in the relationship between the politics of religion and the construction of national identity, specifically with the rising sentiments of Hindu nationalism in India. She looks at visual representations in the built environment to understand how through architectural establishments religion is being used as a political tool to frame an image of the nation. For her dissertation, she is investigating the relationship between the politics of religion and nation-building particularly with respect to changing dynamics of Indian temple architecture in the neoliberal perspective where religion is becoming a global commodity.

Han Chen Degree: PhD in Art History and Asian Studies Research Focus: Modern and Contemporary Chinese and East Asian Art, history of collecting and exhibiting Dissertation title: TBD Academic Adviser: Chang Tan [email protected] | CV

Han Chen is a PhD student specializing in the history of collecting and exhibiting Chinese and East Asian art in the Euro-American context from the late nineteenth-century to the present day. She received her B.A. in 2016 and M.A. in 2019 from China Academy of Art. In 2021, she received her second M.A. from Penn State where she wrote her thesis entitled, “Selling China: A neglected encounter between Huo Mingzhi and France in the early twentieth century.” She has worked for the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State and the Freer and Sackler Gallery of Art as a curatorial intern. Her current interest lies in employing machine learning to realize the image inpainting of photographs of Chinese antiques.

Melanie Clark

Olivia Crawford Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Nineteenth-century European Art and Architecture, Post-colonial Studies, Jewish Studies, Middle Eastern and North African Studies. Dissertation title: TBD Academic Adviser: Nancy Locke [email protected]

Olivia Crawford received her B.A. in Art History and French and Francophone Studies from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville in 2016 and her M.A. in Art History from Penn State University in 2018. She is currently a Ph.D. student in the Department of Art History at Penn State.

Her current research examines representations of colonial and metropolitan Jewish communities in French Orientalist art and architecture. Her dissertation prospectus is forthcoming.

Crawford lives and works in Knoxville, TN.

Noah Dasinger Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Fifteenth-century Italian sculpture Dissertation title: TBD Academic Adviser: Daniel M. Zolli [email protected] | LinkedIn

Noah Dasinger is a first-year Ph.D. student studying Italian Renaissance art and architectural history with a focus on fifteenth-century sculpture. Noah is an Alabama native, and in 2020, he graduated summa cum laude from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, with a Bachelor of Arts. He then obtained a Master of Arts degree from the University of Georgia, Athens. Upon graduation, he received high honors for his thesis, “Symbolic Epigraphy and the New Rome: Humanist Capital Letters on the Tomb of Leonardo Bruni.”

Noah also has extensive training in archival research and early modern Italian paleography both in the United States and abroad. He was a curatorial intern at the Georgia Museum of Art and a research intern at the Medici Archive Project. His current research examines the development, display, and materials used for fifteenth-century Italian tomb sculpture. Noah’s research also investigates early modern workshop practices, materials, processes, and their relationship to commemorative sculpture.

Arielle Fields

Katherine Flanagan

Laura Freitas Almeida

Emily Hagen Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Seventeenth-century Italian architecture Dissertation title: Pietro da Cortona’s Santi Luca e Martina: Rediscovered Relics and the Spectacle of Reform in Seventeenth-Century Rome Academic Adviser: Robin Thomas [email protected] | CV

Emily Hagen is a Ph.D. candidate in art history studying early-modern Italian architecture with an interest in digital humanities. Her research focuses on churches devoted to martyrs’ relics in seventeenth-century Italy and investigates how architecture amplified the fiction of rediscovery in the context of early-modern Catholic reform.

Katherine Koltiska Banerjee

Kyle Marini Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Pre-Contact and Early Modern Latin America, Andean Textiles Dissertation title: TBD Academic Adviser: Amara Solari [email protected] | Instagram | LinkedIn

Kyle is a PhD student in pre-contact and early modern Latin American art history. He specializes in the techniques of production, ritual use, and iconography of Inca textiles. He primarily researches ceremonial objects that have been destroyed to recover a more representative view of Inca visual culture before Spanish occupation of the Andes. This approach is in effort to decolonize modern understandings of the Inca developed from the study of objects that survived arduous extirpation campaigns throughout the Viceroyalty of Peru. By emphasizing objects erased from the archive, he reconstructs a history through the most integral Inca artifacts that ceased to exist precisely because of their visual power. Kyle is also a practicing artist, and he uses remaking as a methodology to envision these lost works and the technical processes used by their creators.

Keri Mongelluzzo Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: History of Photography; Modern Art Dissertation title: Bauhaus/Dream House: The Uncharted Surrealism of New Vision Photography Academic Adviser: Nancy Locke [email protected] | CV | LinkedIn | Academia.edu

Keri Mongelluzzo is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in the history of photography and modern art in Europe. Her dissertation, “Bauhaus/Dream House: The Uncharted Surrealism of New Vision Photography,” examines how French Surrealist sensibilities gained traction with transient artists associated with the Bauhaus, an innovative school of design in interwar Germany. Tracking key Bauhaus figures as they moved throughout Europe and across the Atlantic, “Bauhaus/Dream House” exposes their messy motivations for evoking surrealist themes amidst surges of nationalism and the rise of fascism. To date, Keri’s dissertation research has been supported by the Department of Art History and the Max Kade German-American Research Institute.

Keri’s broader research and curatorial interests in the histories and theories of photography span the medium’s history. She has written steadily on prominent photographers of the twentieth century, like Man Ray and Eugène Atget, presenting papers at the inaugural conference of the International Society for the Study of Surrealism at the Bucknell Humanities Center and the 24th Annual Graduate Student Symposium on the History of Art at the Barnes Foundation. In addition to curating a number of exhibitions of photography at the Palmer Museum of Art, including Myth Meets Modernism: The Manuel Álvarez Bravo Portfolio (2019) and Framing the City (2018), Keri piloted the museum’s first-ever virtual exhibition, Photography = Abstraction , using Google Slides at the onset of the pandemic and presented her work on this and her collaboration on subsequent virtual exhibitions and tours at the College Art Association Annual Conference in February 2021.

Amy Orner Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Eighteenth-Century British Architecture and Urbanism Dissertation title: TBD Academic Adviser: Robin Thomas [email protected]

Amy is a PhD student specializing in eighteenth-century British architecture and urbanism, with a focus on Empire and its effects on architecture. Her research questions consider the social and political influences on architecture, as well as the influence of Empire on Scottish town planning. She received her B.A. in Museum Studies/Art History from Juniata College in 2017, before working as a School Programs Educator for The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC. Amy received her M.A. in Art History from Penn State University in 2022 with her thesis titled, “The Palette, the Patron, and the Hand of the Artist: Artemisia Gentileschi in London.” During her time at Penn State, Amy has worked with the Palmer Museum of Art, the Matson Museum of Anthropology, and as a research fellow in the Center for Virtual/Material Studies.

Alicia Skeath Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Dissertation title: TBD Academic Adviser: Adam Thomas

Kenta Tokushige Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Sixteenth-century Italian Military Architecture Dissertation title: Being a Military Architect: Building Fortifications in Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Realm Academic Adviser: Robin Thomas [email protected]

Kenta Tokushige is a Ph.D. candidate in Art History at The Pennsylvania State University. His dissertation entitled, Being a ‘Military Architect’: Building Fortifications in Cosimo I de’ Medici’s Realm, studies the geopolitical role of fortification building under Cosimo I de’ Medici in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the latter half of the Cinquecento by looking at the design process of a fortification as a collaborative project by people of various social status and the way it was represented in multiple forms of art upon its completion. His research traces the correspondence between the patrons, local governors, and architects regarding the decision-making process and examines the intentions of each individual. Additionally, he is exploring the representation and the circulation of information after the completion of the fortification in relation to the espionage of military information.

His research has been supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation and the Susan W. and Thomas A. Schwartz Endowed Fellowship for Dissertation Research.

He completed his B.Arch. and M.A. in Architecture at Waseda University and Master of Architectural History at University of Virginia.

Holli Turner Degree: PhD in Art History Research Focus: Art of Early Modern Southern Europe and Colonial Latin America, the materials and materiality of art, technical art history, theories and practices of conservation, race, and representation in art, decolonial practices in art history Dissertation title: TBD Academic Adviser: Daniel Zolli [email protected]

Holli M. Turner is a doctoral student specializing in early modern art, with a focus on the art of Italy, Spain, and the Americas. Her dissertation will examine the colonial implications of color – broadly understood – in the Venetian artist Titian’s paintings for the Spanish monarchy. This project knits together several core concerns of her work: the materials and materiality of art; the representation of race and ethnicity in art; and the interpretive importance of invisible labor, and laborers, to art’s history. In Summer 2021, Holli is serving as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Research Fellow in Penn State’s Art History department, where she is developing a digital humanities project that tracks Titian’s pigments and their origins.

Holli is a Virginia native that was trained in art history and graphic design before embarking on doctoral study. Her research interests also stem from her own artistry. In her spare time, she paints, illustrates, and creates works through traditional and digital media.

Guides and Resources

• Art History Graduate Handbook

Alumni Success

95 percent of those who earned their Ph.D. since the year 2000 are employed in art history or a related field.

• Of these, 71 percent are teaching at the college level.
• The other 29 percent hold such positions as museum curator or lead historian at a historic center.
• Of those teaching at the college level, 67 percent hold tenure-track or tenured positions.

Legal Statements

• Non-Discrimination
• Equal Opportunity
• Accessibility
• The Pennsylvania State University © 2024

Tate Studentships

Tate hosts a growing number of doctoral students engaged in research at Tate. Students work at Tate in a variety of ways, gaining professional experience and contributing their ideas and knowledge to Tate’s programmes and projects.

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the Tate Collaborative Doctoral Partnership scheme offers fully funded studentships for study towards a Doctoral degree. Successful candidates are jointly supervised by subject specialists at both their Higher Education Institute (HEI) and at one of the 25 museums, libraries, archives or heritage organisations that make up the CDP Consortium .

Tate has up to three AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentships to allocate each year. We are currently in the process of internally selecting research themes for our 2024/25 competition. This page will be updated on 23 September 2024 with research themes. At this point university academics (if relevant, in collaboration with named doctoral candidates) will be invited to submit ideas responding to relevant themes. Submissions deemed feasible and mutually beneficial will be co-developed with Tate supervisors representing relevant themes.

The timeline is as follows:

23 September 2024 – Collaborative Doctoral Research Themes published on this page

18 November 2024 – Collaborative Doctoral Research Themes removed from this page

2 December 2024, 5 pm – Collaborative Doctoral Research Teams (Tate supervisors and university supervisors, if relevant in collaboration with a named doctoral candidate) will be required to submit full proposals

Early January 2025 – Final projects selected by the Tate Doctoral Training Board

October 2025 – Commencement of successful projects

If you have any questions, please email [email protected]. Please note that ideas for doctoral projects will not be accepted until themes are announced on this page.

STAY UPDATED

Current Opportunities

Phd opportunity: adrian henri – early happenings in britain in the 1960 s and 1970 s.

The University of Liverpool and Tate are delighted to offer the following Arts and Humanities Research Council fully-funded PhD studentship: Adrian Henri – Early Happenings in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s

Current studentships

Transnational Curating at Tate Modern: Producing Narratives of East Asian Art in Global Currents

James Wreford

Performativity and Preservation in the Archive of Online Born-Digital Art

Sami Itävuori

Generative AI and the Art Museum: The Online Collection of British Art, Audiences and Visuality

Emily Beswick

‘Diasporic vision’: reading photographs of East and South East Asian communities in Liverpool

Aïcha Mehrez

Addressing legacies of slavery and empire in the contemporary art museum

Damali Ibreck

How can we move towards more equitable organisational and administrative systems in the arts by learning from and supporting familial, transcultural and diasporic formations of memory?

Georgia Millsom

Unexpected salt formation in twentieth-century oil paints

Emma Sharples

Ithell Colquhoun: Making Occultures

Anya Smirnova

Net Art East: Networks, Art and New Media after 1989

Hattie Spires

Revisiting Rhapsodies in Black : British Art and the Harlem Renaissance, 1919–1939

Vanessa Arias Bujia

Digital Engagement with Visual Art in the 21st Century Museum: A Case Study of Tate

Grace Hanrahan

Surface Attached Gels for the Removal of Synthetic Varnishes from Sensitive Acrylic Paints

Sarah Haylett

Documenting Socially Engaged Art: New Forms of Archival Practice in the Contemporary Art Museum

Dirk van de Leemput

The Maintenance of Technologies in Time-based Media Art

Inga Fraser

Towards Artists’ Moving Image? Film Art and Paracinema, Britain 1906–1939

Ego Ahaiwe Sowinski

Conjunctural Encounters and Legacy in the Archive: The Life, Works, Mobilities and Philosophy of Ronald Moody

Hassan Vawda

Religion, Secularism, and the British Art Museum: How does Tate engage the experiences of Muslims in Britain and how can this contribute to being ‘culturally inclusive’?

Janine François

In What Ways Does Art in the Museum Context Provide a Safe Space to Ask Difficult Questions around Culture and Race?

Stella Toonen

Challenging Ways of Working: the Impact of Co-creation Projects on Museum Practice

A Transnational History of Modern Art in Egypt: Flâneuses et flâneurs des deux mondes

Jessie M c Laughlin

Queering Curatorial Learning Practice: Enhancing Access for Young and Diverse Audiences within the Art Museum

Roxy Minter

Picturing Whiteness: Raced Representation in the National Collection of British Art, 1700s – Now

Ellen Pavey

Making the Invisible Visible in the Contemporary Art Museum

Andrew Cummings

Strange Encounters in Contemporary Art from East and Southeast Asia, 1990–Present

Katy Norris

Women as World Builders: Female Artists, Feminism and Social Reform Movements in Britain 1890–1928

Patricia Falcão

Artists, Conservators and Game Developers: A Comparative Study of Software Preservation in Three Domains

International Textile Art from 1960 to 1979

Past Studentships

See a list of projects by past collaborative doctoral students at Tate, ordered chronologically by year of commencement.

Past Tate PhD projects

Commenced 2019, caroline anjali ritchie.

Visionary Mapping in the Work of William Blake University of York Supervised by Professor Jon Mee, University of York and Dr Amy Concannon, Curator, British Art 1790–1850, Tate

Maddy Gilliam

How Does a Gallery Education Programme Adapt to Support Teachers with the Arts During a Pandemic? University of Nottingham Supervised by Professor Pat Thomson, University of Nottingham and Emily Pringle, Head of Research, Tate

Commenced 2017

Rhian addison.

Landscape Artists’ Studios in the Age of Exhibitions, London, 1780–1850 University of York Supervised by Dr Richard Johns, Lecturer in History of Art, University of York and Dr Martin Myrone, Lead Curator (British Art to 1800), Tate

Ambra D'Antone

Translating Collectivity: Surrealism of the Levant Courtauld Institute of Art Supervised by Dr Gavin Parkinson, Senior Lecturer in 20th-century European Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, and Dr Matthew Gale, Head of Displays, Tate Modern

Eloise Bennett

Intermediality: The Transformation of Art and Literature in the International Avant-garde, 1945–1975 University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art Supervised by Professor Neil Cox, University of Edinburgh and Adrian Glew, Archivist, Tate Britain

Art Patronage and Court Influence, 1660–1714 University of Oxford Supervised by Dr Hannah Smith, University of Oxford and Tabitha Barber, Curator (British art to 1800), Tate

Commenced 2015

Kat braybrooke.

Hacking the Museum, Together: Peer-to-Peer Interactions at Shared Machine Shops in UK Cultural Heritage Institutions University of Sussex Supervised by Dr Tim Jordan, Head of University of Sussex School of Media, Film and Music, Dr Caroline Bassett, Director of University of Sussex Humanities Lab, and Dr Rebecca Sinker, Curator, Tate Learning

Karen Di Franco

Embodied Iteration: Materialising the Language of Writing and Performance in Women Artists’ Publishing, 1968–1977 University of Reading Supervised by Dr Ruth Blacksell, Programme Director in the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, the University of Reading and Maxine Miller, Library Collections Manager, Tate Britain

Sofia Gurevich

‘Transmission Authority’: Soviet Book Design and the World of Art Circle, 1917–1930 The Courtauld Institute of Art Supervised by Dr Klara Kemp-Welch, Lecturer in 20th-century Modernism, The Courtauld Institute of Art and Dr Matthew Gale, Head of Displays, Tate Modern

Louisa Hood

Family Learning in Art Galleries The University of Exeter Supervised by Professor Tim Coles, Dr Adrian Bailey, University of Exeter and Dr Emily Pringle, Head of Learning Practice and Policy Research, Tate

Eleanor Jones

Beyond Bloomsbury: Queer/Race/Art King’s College London Supervised by Dr Clare Barlow, Tate Britain and Professor Mark Turner, King’s College London

Patricia Smithen

The Development and Impact of Artist Acrylic Paints in the United Kingdom Courtauld Institute of Art Supervised by Professor Aviva Burnstock, Head of the Department of Conservation and Technology, Courtauld Institute of Art and Dr Bronwyn Ormsby, Senior Conservation Scientist, Tate

Commenced 2014

Technical Narratives: Method, Purpose, Use and Value in the Technical Description and Analysis of Software-Based Art King's College London Supervised by Dr Mark Hedges, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Digital Humanities, King's College London and Professor Pip Laurenson, Head of Collection Care Research, Tate

Acatia Finbow

The Value and Place of Performance Art Documentation in the Contemporary Art Museum University of Exeter Supervised by Professor Gabriella Giannachi, University of Exeter, and Dr Jennifer Mundy, Head of Collection Research, Tate

Canonising British Sculpture: Sir Francis Chantrey and the Chantrey Bequest University of York Supervised by Professor Jason Edwards, University of York, Dr Greg Sullivan, Curator of British Art 1750–1830, Tate, and Dr Caroline Corbeau-Parsons, Assistant Curator of British Art, 1850–1915, Tate

Discursive Sites: Text-Based Conceptual Art Practice in Britain University of York Supervised by Dr Jo Applin, Senior Lecturer in Modern and Contemporary Art, University of York, and Dr Andrew Wilson, Curator of Modern and Contemporary British Art, Tate

Louisa Penfold

Investigating the Value of Experiential Learning and Play in the Design of Learning Spaces for Young Children at Tate University of Nottingham Supervised by Dr Emily Pringle, Head of Learning Practice, Research and Policy, Tate, and Professor Pat Thomson, School of Education, University of Nottingham

Alison Wright

British Sporting and Animal Art, 1760–1840. A Critical History of its Production, Reception, Collection and Display University of East Anglia Supervised by Dr Sarah Monks, University of East Anglia, and Dr Martin Myrone, Lead Curator Pre-1800 British Art, Tate Britain

Commenced 2013

Hazel atashroo.

Creative Communities in Art and Design in the 1980s University of Southampton Supervised by Professor Jonathan Harris, University of Southampton, and Lindsey Fryer, Head of Learning, Tate Liverpool

Helena Bonett

Barbara Hepworth: Practice, Interpretation, Legacy Royal College of Art Supervised by Dr Claire Pajaczkowska, Senior Research Tutor, School of Material, Royal College of Art, Dr Victoria Walsh, Head of Programme, Curating Contemporary Art, Royal College of Art, and Dr Chris Stephens, Curator (Modern British Art) & Head of Displays, Tate Britain

Amy Concannon

The ‘Unnatural’ Landscape: Visualisation of the Urban Scene 1800–50 University of Nottingham Supervised by Nicholas Alfrey, Associate Professor in Art History, University of Nottingham, Steven Daniels, Professor of Cultural Geography, University of Nottingham, Dr David Blayney Brown, Curator (British Art 1790–1850), Tate

James Finch

David Sylvester: Art Writings University of Kent Supervised by Professor Martin Hammer, University of Kent, and Dr Jennifer Mundy, Head of Collection Research, Tate

Modern British Oils: History, Formulation and Use Courtauld Institute of Art Supervised by Professor Aviva Burnstock, Head of the Department of Conservation and Technology, Courtauld Institute of Art, and Dr Bronwyn Ormsby, Senior Conservation Scientist, Tate

Circuit: Investigating Partnerships between Visual Arts and Youth Organisations University of Nottingham Supervised by Dr Emily Pringle, Head of Learning Practice, Research and Policy, Tate, and Professor Pat Thomson, School of Education, University of Nottingham

Commenced 2012

Lina džuverović.

Hybrid Practices: Interdisciplinarity and Pop Art Sensibilities in Yugoslav Art in 1960s and 1970s Royal College of Art David Crowley, Professor and Head of Programme Critical Writing in Art & Design, Royal College of Art and Jessica Morgan, Curator, Tate

Oliver Peterson Gilbert

The Sites of Cultural Production and Impact of British Art and Design Communities Associated with Pop 1956–1974 University of Southampton Supervised by Professor Jonathan Harris, University of Southampton, and Lindsey Fryer, Head of Learning, Tate Liverpool

Sofia Gotti

Counterculture in Pop: South American Art in the 1960s University of the Arts, London Dr Michael Asbury, University of the Arts, London, and Jessica Morgan, Curator, Tate

Commenced 2011

Thomas ardill.

Between God, Art and Mammon: Religious Painting as Public Spectacle in Britain c.1800–50 Courtauld Institute of Art Supervised by David Solkin, Professor of the History of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, and Dr Martin Myrone, Lead Curator Pre-1800 British Art, Tate Britain

Ayesha Ghanchi

A Critical Analysis of Artists’ Engagement with Learning Programmes at Tate 1970–2010, as Documented in Tate’s Education Archive Goldsmiths, University of London Supervised by Emily Pringle, Tate Learning, and Dennis Atkinson, Professor of Art in Education and Head of the Research Centre for Arts in Learning at the Department of Educational Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London

Isabella Maidment

Performance, Action, Event University College London Supervised by Briony Fer, Professor of Art History, University College London, and Catherine Wood, Curator of Contemporary Art and Performance, Tate

Rachel Rose Smith

The International Context of the Art of St Ives 1948–60 University of York Supervised by Dr Michael White, Senior Lecturer in History of Art, University of York, and Dr Chris Stephens, Head of Displays, Tate Britain

Ioanna Zouli

Digital Tate: The Uses of Video in the Construction of Audiences London South Bank University Supervised by Andrew Dewdney, Professor of Educational Development, London South Bank University, Victoria Walsh, Tate Research, and Jane Burton, Head of Content and Creative Director, Tate

Commenced 2010

Wendy asquith.

Haiti in Art: Creating and Curating in the Black Atlantic University of Liverpool Supervised by Dr Dmitri van den Bersselaar and Professor Charles Forsdick, University of Liverpool, and Lindsey Fryer, Head of Learning, Tate Liverpool

Hayley Flynn

Landscape in Blake: Visionary Topographies University of Nottingham Supervised by Professor Nicholas Alfrey, University of Nottingham, and Dr David Blayney Brown, Curator, Tate Britain

Sabina Gill

Fotografia Polska: Adventures in Polish Photography since the 1960s University of Essex Supervised by Professor Margaret Iversen, University of Essex, and Dr Simon Baker, Curator (Photography and International Art), Tate

Cora Gilroy-Ware

The Classical Nude in Romantic Britain University of York Supervised by Professor Elizabeth Prettejohn, University of York, and Dr Martin Myrone, Curator, Tate Britain

Robert Sutton

Henry Moore: Sculpture and Media in Twentieth-Century Britain University of York Supervised by Dr Michael White, University of York, and Professor Anne M. Wagner, The Henry Moore Foundation Research Curator, Tate

Stephen Vainker

Experiences and Engagement: An Investigation of Young Persons’ Visits to ARTIST ROOMS on Tour University of Exeter Supervised by Dr Adrian Bailey, University of Exeter, and Dr Emily Pringle, Head of Learning Practice, Research and Policy, Tate

Victoria Young

Art Museum Attendance and the Public Realm: The Agency of Visitor Information in Tate’s Organisational Practices of Making the Art Museum’s Audience London South Bank University Supervised by Professor Andrew Dewdney, London South Bank University, and Dr Victoria Walsh, Head of Adult Programmes, Tate Britain

Commenced 2009

Elena crippa.

When Art Schools Went Conceptual: The Development of Discursive Pedagogies and Practices in British Art Higher Education in the 1960s The London Consortium Supervised by Professor Nigel Llewellyn, Head of Research, Tate

Caroline Good

The Making of a National Art History: British Writers on Art and the Narratives of Nation 1660–1735 University of York Supervised by Professor Mark Hallett, University of York, and Professor Nigel Llewellyn, Head of Research, Tate

Marion Martin

Tragic Hope – Sentiment and Critique in the Art of J.M.W. Turner University of Leicester Supervised by Dr Matthew Potter, University of Leicester, and Dr David Blayney Brown, Curator (18th and 19th century British Art), Tate

Alex Massouras

The Emergence of the Emerging Artist in London, 1960–2010 The London Consortium Supervised by Professor Nigel Llewellyn, Head of Research, Tate

Peter Moore

British Graphic Art, 1660-1735: An Atlantic Perspective University of York Supervised by Professor Mark Hallett, University of York, and Dr Martin Myrone, Lead Curator, pre 1800 British Art, Tate

Stephanie Straine

Drawing Strategies in the 1960s and 1970s University College London Supervised by Professor Briony Fer, University College London, and Dr Mark Godfrey, Curator (Contemporary Art), Tate

Art, Process and Propaganda on the Political Left Liverpool John Moores University Supervised by Dr Alison Rowley, Professor Juan Cruz, Liverpool John Moores University, and Dr Christoph Grunenberg, Director, Tate Liverpool

Commenced 2008

Susannah gilbert.

Latin American Art in an International Context University of Essex Supervised by Professor Dawn Ades, University of Essex, and Tanya Barson, Curator, Tate

Commenced 2007

Bryony bery.

Replicas and Reconstructions: Case Studies in Twentieth-Century Art University College London Supervised by Professor Briony Fer, University College London, and Dr Matthew Gale, Head of Displays, Tate Modern

Corinna Dean

Establishing Tate Modern Cultural Quarter London School of Economics Supervised by Professor Robert Tavernor, London School of Economics, and Donald Hyslop, Head of Regeneration and Community Partnerships, Tate

Tate Modern and the Expansion of ‘New Institutionalism': New Developments in Art and Public Programming Practices Goldsmiths, University of London Supervised by Bernadette Buckley, Goldsmiths, University of London, and Dr Marko Daniel, Curator (Public Programmes), Tate

Commenced 2006

Caroline donnellan.

Establishing Tate Modern: Vision and Patronage London School of Economics Supervised by Professor Robert Tavernor, London School of Economics, and Dr Victoria Walsh, Head of Adult Programmes, Tate

Ali MacGilp

The London Art Market and the Formation of a National Collection at Tate 1926–1950 University of Reading Supervised by Dr Anna Gruetzner Robins, University of Reading, and Robert Upstone, Curator (Modern British Art), Tate

Seph Rodney

Two Rooms: Locating the Meeting Place of the Visitor and the Museum Birkbeck, University of London Supervised by Dr Gordon Fyfe, Birkbeck, University of London, and Dr Marko Daniel, Curator (Public Programmes), Tate Modern

Commenced 2005

Rob knifton.

Centre of the Creative Universe: Liverpool and the Avant-Garde University of Liverpool Supervised by Professor Jim Aulich, University of Liverpool, and Dr Christoph Grunenberg, Tate

Philippa Simpson

The London Art Market, 1790–1815: The New Exhibition Culture and the Staging of the British School Courtauld Institute of Art Supervised by Professor David Solkin, Courtauld Institute of Art, and Martin Myrone, Curator (18th & 19th century British Art), Tate

Further information about Collaborative Doctoral Partnership studentships is available on the Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships website.

To discuss possible research collaborations or projects with Tate, please email [email protected] .

Find out more

Tate research strategy.

Read about Tate’s research strategy and vision to create a vibrant research culture across Tate

Tate Doctoral Studentships

Find out about the scheme and hear about the experiences of some of our doctoral students in this short film

Tate Archive

A wealth of material relating to the history of British art from 1900 to the present

• Skip to Navigation
• Skip to Content

PhD Studentships and Projects

Studentships.

AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship - John Flaxman: Art, Design and the Intermedial Body

AHRC-funded PhD in partnership with the Houses of Parliament (2019-22)

Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with the National Gallery, London (2017-20)

Collaborative Doctoral Partnership with Tate (2017-20)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Tate (2015-18)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Hull Museums (2015-18)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with the Burrell Collection (2014-17)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Tate (2014-17)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Tate Britain (2014-17)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with the National Gallery, London (2012-15)

St Stephen's Chapel Project - AHRC-funded PhD (2012-2015)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Tate Britain (2011-14)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Glasgow Museums (2011-14)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with the National Gallery, London (2011-2014)

Displaying Victorian Sculpture/AHRC-Funded PhD - 'Displaying Italian Sculpture' (2011-14)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Tate Britain (2010-13)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with York Art Gallery (2010-13)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with Yorkshire Museum (2010-13)

Collaborative Doctoral Award with the National Maritime Museum (2010-13)

Collaborative PhD with Tate Britain (2010-14)

Project Doctoral Award with Tate Britain (2009-2012)

Project Doctoral Award with Tate (2009-2012)

York C20: An Architectural Gazetteer of Twentieth-Century York (2022)

Exhibition – Making a Masterpiece: Bouts and Beyond, 1450-2020 – York Art Gallery (2019)

'Spotlight' Display – The Bauhaus and Britain – Tate (2019)

International Conference – Reassessing Burne-Jones (2019)

Tate Catalogue Entry – Mrs Claude Johnson by Ambrose McEvoy (2018)

Exhibition – Refuse/Refuge – York Art Gallery (2018)

Talk and Screening – Liquid Traces: The Left-to-Die Boat Case (2018)

Curator’s talk to friends of york art gallery – refuse/refuge (2018).

Exhibition - Turner and the Whale - Hull Maritime Museum (2017-18)

Library Display – Sculpture in the Time of Cholera: William Calder Marshall in Rome 1836-8 – Henry Moore Institute (2017)

Symposium - Turner and the Whale (2017)

Lecture - Turner and the Whale (2017)

Exhibition Catalogue - Turner and the Whale (2017)

Exhibition Booklet - Making Sense of Albert Moore (2017)

Conference – Rethinking Albert Moore (2017)

Exhibition Catalogue - Flaming June (2016)

Conference – Invention and Imagination in British Art and Architecture, 600-1500 (2014)

Library Display - ‘The Drowned Man’: Edward Onslow Ford’s Monument to Percy Shelley 1893 - Henry Moore Institute (2013)

Symposium: Displaying Victorian Sculpture (2012)

About yahcs, information.

Department of History of Art

PhD/MPhil in History of Art

Work in a supportive and stimulating research environment alongside staff who are experts in art history.

Pursue your research ambitions among passionate colleagues in one of the largest postgraduate art history communities in the UK.

We welcome students from all backgrounds, with a great range of intellectual interests. This includes students who are seeking an academic career and those who require a further professional qualification. We also welcome applicants who wish to extend their art-historical interests while pursuing other kinds of employment, as well as those who are seeking to develop an academic interest in their retirement.

Your research

The PhD requires a dissertation of not more than 90,000 words, to be submitted by full-time students after three years' study (full-time) or six years (part-time). We also offer a distance-learning variant if you're unable to travel to or in live York.

histart-admissions​@york.ac.uk

Related links

• Research degree funding
• Accommodation
• International students
• Life at York
• How to apply

Partnerships with museums and galleries

support your learning and research through collaborative expertise and enhanced access to collections and studentship opportunities.

=79th in the world

for the broad subject of arts and humanities (QS World University Rankings by subject, 2024).

1st in the UK

for research impact and environment in history of art - the support we give to researchers (Times Higher Education’s ranking of the latest REF results, 2021).

Humanities Research Centre

provides a fantastic research environment for postgraduate students in the humanities, and for postdoctoral scholars. The postgraduate work space is open 24/7.

Explore funding for postgraduates in the Department of History of Art.

Supervision

Explore the expertise of our staff and identify a potential supervisor.

Training and support

As an art history researcher at York, you'll have access to a range of training and resources to support you with your work. There are  plenty of innovative research activities for you to get involved in. These include research seminars, conferences, activities organised by our departmental research schools, study days and reading groups.

You'll also benefit from the rich array of research and training sessions at the  Humanities Research Centre .

Course location

This course is run by the Department of History of Art. You will be based on Campus West, with some teaching taking place at King's Manor. 

If you're studying by distance learning, you'll be required to attend campus at least twice a year for registration, training, meetings with the thesis advisory panel and the annual PhD conference.

Careers and skills

Our dedicated careers team offer specific support including a programme of professional researcher development and careers workshops , and 1:1 career support sessions. They will help you to develop your employability portfolio and to engage in activities that will build up your skills and experience within and outside your research work.

Career opportunities

• art sales specialist
• museum educator
• conservator

Entry requirements

You should have a 2:1 or first-class undergraduate degree, or equivalent. For the PhD, you should also have or be currently completing an MA degree, and we normally require an MA dissertation mark, where one is awarded, of at least 65 or equivalent.

Exceptions can be made if you've had an unusual career profile, but still have substantial related experience.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language, you must provide evidence of your ability.

Check your English language requirements

Apply for the PhD in History of Art

Apply for the PhD in History of Art (distance learning)

Apply for the MPhil in History of Art

Find a supervisor

Before you apply, you should contact a potential supervisor for your research. We welcome enquiries and encourage you to get in touch as early as possible. However, a scattershot approach - emailing all staff members regardless of the relationship between their research interests and yours - is unlikely to produce positive results. You're advised to make your research proposals as specific and clear as possible.

Sample of writing

You should submit a 1,500-word sample of academic writing. Where possible, the subject should concern art history, but if your background lies in other areas, we would welcome work in another field such as literature or history.

Personal statement

We are keen to hear about your academic and other experience. Please explain your interest in the subject, which may include approaches as well as periods or artists. Explain what has attracted you to our programme and what you would like to do here. If possible, please tell us your cohort position in your previous degree, based on your final award mark (for example, 2nd in a cohort of 50).

We'll invite you for an interview at York with your potential supervisor and the Director of Research Programmes, either before or after your submission.

You should be prepared to discuss the research proposal in depth, although we recognise that details may change over the course of your degree. You should be prepared to be flexible in adapting your interests to the sources and expertise available to you.

Overseas applicants will be interviewed by phone or Zoom.

If you need guidance, please email   [email protected] .

Have a look at the supporting documents you may need for your application.

Find out more about how to apply .

Discover York

We offer a range of campus accommodation to suit you and your budget, from economy to deluxe.

Discover more about our researchers, facilities and why York is the perfect choice for your research degree.

Graduate Research School

Connect with researchers across all disciplines to get the most out of your research project.

Meet us online or on campus

Find out all you need to know about applying to York

Scholarships

Find scholarships to support your studies [Add dept funding page link]

Fully Funded PhD Programs in Art History

As part of my series on  How to Fully Fund Your PhD , I provide a list of universities that offer fully funded PhD programs in Art History. Through a PhD in Art History, you could work as an Art Director, Writers and Author, Postsecondary Art Teacher, curator, and many more.

Fully funded PhD programs provide a funding package for full-time students that includes full tuition remission and an annual stipend or salary for the three to the six-year duration of the student’s doctoral studies. Funding is typically offered in exchange for graduate teaching and research work that is complementary to your studies. Not all universities provide full funding to their doctoral students, which is why I recommend researching the financial aid offerings of all the potential Ph.D. programs in your academic field, including small and lesser-known schools both in the U.S. and abroad.

You can also find several external fellowships in the  ProFellow Database  for graduate and doctoral study, as well as dissertation research, fieldwork, language study, and summer work experience.

Would you like to receive the full list of more than 1000+ fully funded programs in 60 disciplines? Get your copy of our FREE Directory of Fully Funded Graduate Programs and Full Funding Awards !

PhD Programs in Art History Offering Full Funding

University of california, los angeles.

(Los Angeles, CA): The UCLA Department of Art History offers four and five-year funding packages to selected incoming students that consist of a combination of fellowships and Teaching Assistantships (currently $28,000 per year plus registration fees/tuition).

The University of Chicago

(Chicago, IL): The annual stipend for art history Ph.D. students is $32,000 over 12 months. Students also receive full tuition and health insurance premium coverage. Funding is granted to students in good academic standing for the duration of the program. Art history Ph.D. students typically serve as teaching assistants. Research and conference travel grants are available at various stages.

Columbia University

(New York, NY): All admitted students receive full funding, including tuition and stipend. Standard fellowships are for five years and involve teaching or other types of department service during at least three of the five years. Students are very often successful in obtaining further support from competitive fellowships offered by Columbia and other competitions.

Florida State University

(Tallahassee, FL): Doctoral applicants are automatically considered for teaching assistantships with full tuition waivers for a minimum of three years. Applicants may also be nominated by the department for prestigious University fellowships offered each year to a select number of incoming graduate students with outstanding scholastic records.

The Graduate Center, CUNY

(New York, NY): Nine students are admitted per year to the Ph.D. Program in Art History. Of these, seven will be awarded Graduate Center Fellowships (GCFs) and two will be awarded tuition-only Fellowships. The GCFs are a five-year package of $26,128 per year (including healthcare).

University of Minnesota

(Minneapolis, MN): All accepted students are guaranteed five years of funding through a combination of teaching assistantships, research assistantships, and fellowships. Assistantships provide an annual stipend, a full-tuition scholarship, and health insurance. Students who win external fellowships are allowed to save a year of their UMN funding for a sixth year.

Northwestern University

(Evanston, IL): The Graduate Program in Art History offers a full-time Ph.D. and the Department provides its Ph.D. students with full financial aid for five years as well as travel grants for conference presentations and archival research.

The University of Texas at Austin

(Austin, Texas): The faculty’s goal is to support all admitted Ph.D. students with a combination of Teaching Assistantships, Assistant Instructor positions, Graduate Research Assistant positions, and scholarship funds so they can earn their degree with as little outside cost as possible.

Tulane University

(New Orleans, LA): Students in the Ph.D. program are fully funded. The student may wish to seek additional funding from other sources to support graduate study, research travel, and hosting visiting lecturers.

Washington University in St.Louis

(Saint Louis, MO): Students accepted into the Ph.D. program who remain in good standing are guaranteed six years of full funding in the form of University Fellowships, with an annual stipend of $28,152 (2021-22) and full tuition remission. Advanced Ph.D. students may also offer summer courses through University College to gain valuable independent teaching experience.

Need some tips for the application process? See my article  How To Get Into a Fully Funded PhD Program: Contacting Potential PhD Advisors .

Also, sign up to discover and bookmark more than 1900 professional and academic fellowships in the  ProFellow database .

© ProFellow, LLC 2021, all rights reserved.

Related Posts:

• Fully Funded PhD Programs in History
• Fully Funded Master's Programs in History
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in School Psychology
• Fully Funded PhDs in Teaching English as a Second Language
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in Mathematics

Fully Funded PhD Programs , PhD in Art History

Slaying Your Biggest Fears About Applying to Grad School

Helping nashville schools during the pandemic: the urban leaders fello..., find and win paid, competitive fellowships.

Be alerted about new fellowship calls for applications, get insider application tips, and learn about fully funded PhD and graduate programs

Fellowship Resources

• Calls for Applications
• Upcoming Fellowship Deadlines
• Fellowships Database
• Interviews with Fellows
• International Fellows Network
• Graduate Funding Directory

Fellowship Tips

• What is a Fellowship?
• Fully Funded Course
• Graduate School Funding
• Fellowship Application Tips
• Fulbright Application Tips
• Fellowship Application Guide
• Our Mission, History & Values
• ProFellow Winner Testimonials
• Fully Funded Course Testimonials
• Fellowship Industry Report
• Advertise With Us
• Terms & Privacy

ProFellow is the go-to source for information on professional and academic fellowships, created by fellows for aspiring fellows.

©2011-2024 ProFellow, LLC. All rights reserved.

• Find a course
• Undergraduate study
• Postgraduate study
• MPhil/PhD research
• Short courses
• Entry requirements
• Financial support

How to apply

• Come and meet us
• Evening study explained
• International Students
• Student Services
• Business Services
• Student life at Birkbeck
• The Birkbeck Experience
• Boost your career
• About Birkbeck
• Contact Birkbeck
• Faculties and Schools
• ReciteMe accessibility

History of Art

Application options include:

Course Overview

Birkbeck has an international reputation for its research in medieval, Renaissance and modern art. Our range of interests include: nineteenth- and twentieth-century design history; photography; museology; gender and representation; and interdisciplinary topics, particularly relationships between: art and film; art and anthropology; and art and medicine.

Current research is concentrated in the following areas:

Early Modern Art and Architecture in Southern and Central Europe

• Urbanism, architecture and visual culture in Medieval Europe
• Visual cultures of fifteenth-century Europe
• Art in Early Modern Italy

Architecture

• Medieval architecture in Central and Eastern Europe
• Institutional and domestic space in early-twentieth-century Vienna
• Brutalism and twentieth-century British architecture

Photography

• Daguerrotypes and nineteenth-century commercial photography
• Photography and gender
• Photography and sculpture
• Twentieth-century British photojournalism
• 1970s radical photographic practice

  Museums and Memory Studies

• Museums, monuments and memorialisation
• Monuments and trauma
• Micro-museums

  British Art

• Eighteenth-century portraiture and conversation pieces
• Nineteenth-century optical technologies
• Twentieth-century art, photography and architecture

Within History of Art, research seminars and events are organised through the following Research Centres:

• History and Theory of Photography Research Centre
• Architecture, Space and Society Centre
• Eighteenth-Century Research Group
• The Material Texts Network
• Birkbeck Centre for Medical Humanities
• Centre for Museum Cultures

An MPhil/PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation. The MPhil thesis is not more than 60,000 words; the PhD thesis is not more than 100,000 words. The thesis requirements for a practice-based project vary according to the nature of the research and can be discussed with the admissions tutors. Both the MPhil and the PhD are assessed by a viva voce examination.

At Birkbeck, you are initially registered on an MPhil and you upgrade to a PhD after satisfactory progress in the first year (full-time) or second year (part-time). We offer research skills training, along with seminars and events specifically designed to meet the needs of research students.

You need to find a suitable academic supervisor at Birkbeck , who can offer the requisite expertise to guide and support you through your research. Find out more about undertaking a research degree at Birkbeck .

We hold open days and evenings  for prospective students interested in our programmes throughout the year.

Key information

History of art mphil/phd: 7 years part-time, on campus, starting 2024-25.

• October 2024
• January 2025

History of Art MPhil/PhD: 4 years full-time, on campus, starting 2024-25

Find another course:

• Birkbeck’s research excellence was  confirmed in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework , with 83% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
• Birkbeck was ranked  as one of the top four universities in the UK for its Art and Design research in the 2021   Research Excellence Framework .

Entry Requirements

Good degree, usually including history of art.

A 2000-word research proposal must be submitted with your application.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, the requirement for this programme is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 7.0, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement,  we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services  to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our  English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country .

Visa and funding requirements

If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
• Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

International students who require a Student visa should apply for our full-time courses as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

For full information, read our visa information for international students page .

Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country .

Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

History of Art MPhil/PhD: 7 years part-time or 4 years full-time, on campus, starting in academic year 2024-25

Academic year 2024–25, starting october 2024, january 2025, april 2025.

Part-time home students: £2,539 per year Full-time home students: £4,786 per year Part-time international students : £7,525 per year Full-time international students: £14,885 per year

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases. For more information, please see the College Fees Policy .

If you’ve studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a discount on the tuition fee of this course.

Fees and finance

PhD students resident in England can apply for government loans of over £26,000 to cover the cost of tuition fees, maintenance and other study-related costs.

Flexible finance: pay your fees in monthly instalments at no extra cost . Enrol early to spread your costs and reduce your monthly payments.

We offer a range of studentships and funding options to support your research.

Discover the financial support available to you to help with your studies at Birkbeck.

International scholarships

We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. Discover if you are eligible for a scholarship .

Our research culture

We have a lively postgraduate culture, and students meet regularly to participate in reading groups, writing groups and special research skills seminars. There is an annual research forum, where professionals in related fields share their expertise. We also run a postgraduate seminar series, where internationally renowned scholars present current research.

Additionally, we advertise a number of teaching assistant part-time posts on an annual basis. Areas of teaching are related to the requirements of our undergraduate programme. You are expected to participate in our research events, including attending lectures, research skills sessions and other classes/workshops as appropriate.

You will have access to outstanding technical research support and facilities. The  Peltz Gallery  is a flexible exhibition space for digital and material displays, small-scale performances, lectures and meetings. A range of advanced technical resources is also available in the  Vasari Research Centre . The  Architecture, Space and Society Centre  aims to provide a focus for the research activities taking place within Birkbeck and beyond in the area of architectural, design and landscape history. The  History and Theory of Photography Research Centre  facilitates, exchanges and showcases research on the history and theory of photography at Birkbeck and in the wider community.

Birkbeck's location in Bloomsbury offers excellent access to specialist libraries in the University of London, including the University of London Library, Institute for Historical Research, Warburg Institute, School of Oriental and African Studies, and the major national resource of the British Library. You will also have easy access to specialist art libraries not far from Birkbeck, including the library of the Courtauld Institute of Art, the British Architectural Library and the National Art Library at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A).

The great visual resources of the British Museum, National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, Tate Gallery, V&A, commercial galleries like the Barbican Gallery, ICA, Hayward Gallery and Royal Academy, and temporary exhibition galleries also make London a particularly good place in which to undertake research. We also have links with Cambridge Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology, Charles Dickens Museum, English Heritage, the Imperial War Museum, Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, Sir John Soane's Museum, the Wallace Collection and the Wellcome Collection.

Read more about  our vibrant research culture .

Follow these steps to apply to an MPhil/PhD research degree at Birkbeck:

1. Check that you meet the entry requirements, including English language requirements, as described on this page.

2. Find a potential supervisor for your MPhil/PhD research. You can look at the Find a Supervisor area on this page for an overview, or  search our Experts’ Database  or  browse our staff pages  for more in-depth information. You may also find it helpful to  view the research projects of our current students .

3. Contact the academic member of staff - or the department they teach in - for an informal discussion about your research interests and to establish if they are willing and able to supervise your research. (Please note: finding a potential supervisor does not guarantee admission to the research degree, as this decision is made using your whole application.)  Find out more about the supervisory relationship and how your supervisor will support your research .

4. Draft a research proposal. This needs to demonstrate your knowledge of the field, the specific research questions you wish to pursue, and how your ideas will lead to the creation of new knowledge and understanding.  Find out more about writing a research proposal .

5. Apply directly to Birkbeck, using the online application link on this page. All research students are initially registered on an MPhil and then upgrade to a PhD after making sufficient progress.

Find out more about the application process, writing a research proposal and the timeframe .

Application deadlines and interviews

You can apply throughout the year for registration at the beginning of term (October, January or April).

If you wish to apply for funding, you will need to apply by certain deadlines. Consult the websites of relevant bodies for details.

Recent research topics.

• Canadian surrealism 
• Imperial exhibitions 1922-1936 
• Sixteenth-century Venetian art 
• The space of imagination: reading in French painting 1850-1900 
• Selling England by the pound: the Hepworth Manufacturing Company 
• Aesthetics and film 
• Gender and race in late nineteenth-century British art 
• Landscape 1918-1928 
• Modernism à la mode : women, movies and modern style 
• The historical documentary in post-war British television 
• Photographic collections compiled by women 
• Experiments in black and white: OP Art, Bridget Riley and Britain in the 1960s 
• Richard Dadd: the art of the insane 
• History of art in an electronic environment 
• Bereavement, identity and monuments 
• The role of media for immigration in post-war Britain (1945-1980) 
• Popularising high culture 
• Art and law

Apply for your course

Apply for your course using the apply now button in the key information section .

Finding a supervisor

A critical factor when applying for postgraduate study in history of art is the correlation between the applicant’s intellectual and research interests and those of one or more potential supervisors.

Find out more about the research interests of our academic staff:

• Suzannah Biernoff, MA, PhD : history of the body, vision and emotion; relationships between war, modernity and visual culture.
• Dorigen Caldwell, MA, PhD : sixteenth-century Italian art and culture; symbolism; art and patronage.
• Professor Fiona Candlin, BA, MA, PhD : small, independent 'micro museums'; museology.
• Professor Mark Crinson, MA, PhD : modern architecture; post-WW2 British art and architecture; architecture in the British Empire; Victorian architecture; race and modern architecture.
• Professor Patrizia di Bello, MA, PhD : history of photography; nineteenth-century art and visual culture; aspects of nineteenth- and twentieth-century women's art; feminist and psychoanalytical art criticism.
• Professor Steve Edwards, MA, PhD : history and theory of photography; capitalist culture in nineteenth-century Britain; contemporary art and contemporary capitalism; marxist theory; documentary; historiography; radical aesthetics.
• R obert Maniura, BA, PhD : European Renaissance art and pilgrimage.
• Professor Lynda Nead, BA, PhD : nineteenth- and twentieth-century British art; aspects of gender and visual representation in the modern period; art and the city; art and film.
• Zoë Opačić, MA, PhD : medieval art and architecture; relationship between architecture, public ritual and urban planning.
• Mara Polgovsky Ezcurra, BA, MPhil, PhD : non-Western art histories, race, gender, colonial legacies, cultural transference, and migration, modern and contemporary art Latin American.
• Professor Kate Retford, MA, PhD : eighteenth-century British art and culture; use of visual evidence in history; portraiture, gender and the country house.

PhD Art History Admission

The Department welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of life experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. Review of applications is holistic and individualized, considering each applicant’s academic record and accomplishments, letters of recommendation, and admissions essays in order to understand how an applicant’s life experiences have shaped their past and potential contributions to their field.

University Application Materials

The application for admission as well as general information about applying is available from the Graduate Admissions website; please visit  Graduate Admissions  to apply. Prior to applying you must first determine if you are eligible -  application eligibility (undergraduate degree requirements) . International applicants, please also see  Bechtel International Center  and Graduate Admissions  International Applicants  for more information and any additional application requirements. Prospective students may apply beginning in late September (please verify the precise date on the  Graduate Admissions  website). The following documents are required by the university and can not be waived; please click on the links for more detailed information about each:

Letters of Recommendation : Three letters of recommendation are required. The department does not accept applicant recommendation via a letter service (i.e. Interfolio or other service). It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that letters are submitted to the electronic application by the published deadline. Please only submit three letters.

Transcripts : Upload a scanned copy of your official transcript(s) with the online application. Applicants must upload transcripts from every post-secondary institution attended as a full-time student and for at least one academic year. Transcripts from current degree programs also need to be submitted.

Statement of Purpose : You must indicate in the first sentence of your SOP the name of the program to which you are applying and the area you wish to study (e.g. PhD in Art History – Modern). The Statement of Purpose should describe succinctly your reasons for applying to the proposed program at Stanford, your preparation for this field of study, research interests, future career plans, and other aspects of your background and interests which may aid the admissions committee in evaluating your aptitude and motivation for graduate study. Applicants can include and mention faculty members, with overlapping research interests whom they would like to work with and why, in their statement of purpose. The Statement of Purpose must be: 1,000 words or less; single-spaced; formatted with 1-inch margins and 12-point, Times New Roman font.

Application Fee : The application fee $125, is non-refundable, and must be received by the application deadline (fee waivers are available to eligible students. Please see  Graduate Fee Waivers  for more information). The Department does not offer fee waivers outside of the process at the Graduate Fee Waivers page. Please do not contact the department requesting to waive the application fee.

GRE Scores: Graduate Record Exam (GRE) General Test is no longer required for admission to the Department of Art & Art History.

TOEFL Scores : Required when first language is not English; IELTS is not accepted. Please note that the department can NOT waive the TOEFL requirement. If you wish to submit a request for TOEFL waiver, please see  GRE and TOEFL Requirements . It is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the scores are submitted to the electronic application by the published deadline.  (Note: To bypass the entry of TOEFL scores in the application, enter a future test date. You can add in the additional information section of the application that you have received a waiver from Graduate Admissions.)

Online Application

* Please note all application materials, once submitted as part of your application, become the property of Stanford University. Materials will not be returned and copies will not be provided for applicants nor released to other institutions. Please keep a copy for your records. Re-applicants must submit new supporting documents and complete the online graduate application.

Writing Sample Requirement

In addition to the University application materials listed above, applicants in Art History are required to submit a writing sample.  You should upload your writing sample along with your online application (only one writing sample will be accepted). It should be 20 pages maximum, including illustrations and bibliography – neither papers over this limit nor entire Master’s theses will be accepted.

Start Your Application

For admission in Autumn Quarter of the next academic year, all required application materials, including your test scores and recommendation letters, must be received on-line by no later than  December 1 at 9:00 pm (PT).

Note: The Graduate Admissions period opens in late September each year for applications to be submitted by the published deadline in December (for matriculation beginning in the following academic year). After April 15th each year, the Graduate Admissions period is closed, and the online application will reopen during the following September.

Selection Process

Application review takes place between mid-February and mid-March; applicants are notified by e-mail of their status around March 15th. Accepted students are admitted for the following Autumn Quarter; no applicants for mid-year entrance will be considered.  You will be contacted via e-mail regarding your application status after the deadline; please do not contact the Department in this regard. Applicants who are chosen as finalists for admissions are asked to make themselves available for an individual interview by faculty via Skype.  Admitted prospective students are invited for a campus visit intended to introduce them to faculty, current graduate students, and to members of the larger Stanford community involved in the arts.  Library, museum and other facilities are part of this introduction to the PhD program in Art History at Stanford.

The Art and Art History Department recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

Knight-Hennessy Scholars

Join dozens of  Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences  students who gain valuable leadership skills in a multidisciplinary, multicultural community as  Knight-Hennessy Scholars (KHS). KHS admits up to 100 select applicants each year from across Stanford’s seven graduate schools, and delivers engaging experiences that prepare them to be visionary, courageous, and collaborative leaders ready to address complex global challenges. As a scholar, you join a distinguished cohort, participate in up to three years of leadership programming, and receive full funding for up to three years of your PhD studies at Stanford. Candidates of any country may apply. KHS applicants must have earned their first undergraduate degree within the last seven years, and must apply to both a Stanford graduate program and to KHS. Stanford PhD students may also apply to KHS during their first year of PhD enrollment. If you aspire to be a leader in your field, we invite you to apply. The KHS application deadline is October 11, 2023. Learn more about  KHS admission .

• My Account |
• StudentHome |
• TutorHome |
• IntranetHome |
• Contact the OU Contact the OU Contact the OU |
• Accessibility hub Accessibility hub

Postgraduate

• International
• News & media
• Business & apprenticeships

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

• Art History

You are here

• School of Arts & Humanities
• Postgraduate Research

How do I apply for a PhD in Art History?

Check the deadline for submissions via the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership - Open University/AHRC PhD Studentships webpage. If you intend to study part-time AND do not wish to apply for public funding you may register to start on 1 February 2024  instead of October, and the deadline is more flexible. Contact us in good time if you are unsure.

Before the deadline, your chance of success increases the earlier that you start writing your research proposal. You need to do some preparatory work with the aid of these webpages and links, to check that your ‘big idea’ has the potential to be supervised by current members of the department, and that you can begin to answer the basic questions we use to assess the potential of your project.

Look at the  staff pages  to find out more about the research we do and to identify potential supervisors. Then you are ready to make contact with us, either directly to a potential supervisor, or to the academic who directs postgraduate research within the department via the email  [email protected] . We will respond quickly, and if we are able to identify a good fit and a good idea, we will help you develop your application further.

When you are ready, check the relevant deadline, complete the application form, finalise your proposal document, and email it back to us. We will then formally assess your application and may invite you to an interview. This will be the deciding point in whether to accept your application to register as a doctoral student. If we accept you, this is a decision independent of any funding needs you may have.

Please read the following for further advice on writing your proposal and for answers about registering at the OU for a PhD.

Find out more about 'How to prepare a research project in Art History?' .

• Study with Us
• Outreach and Schools

•   Open Arts Objects
•   @OU_ArtHistory

Request your prospectus

Explore our qualifications and courses by requesting one of our prospectuses today.

Request prospectus

Are you already an OU student?

Go to StudentHome

The Open University

• Study with us
• Work with us
• Supported distance learning
• Funding your studies
• International students
• Global reputation
• Sustainability
• Apprenticeships
• Develop your workforce
• Contact the OU

Undergraduate

• Arts and Humanities
• Business and Management
• Combined Studies
• Computing and IT
• Counselling
• Creative Arts
• Creative Writing
• Criminology
• Early Years
• Electronic Engineering
• Engineering
• Environment
• Film and Media
• Health and Social Care
• Health and Wellbeing
• Health Sciences
• International Studies
• Mathematics
• Mental Health
• Nursing and Healthcare
• Religious Studies
• Social Sciences
• Social Work
• Software Engineering
• Sport and Fitness
• Postgraduate study
• Research degrees
• Masters in Social Work (MA)
• Masters in Economics (MSc)
• Masters in Creative Writing (MA)
• Masters in Education (MA/MEd)
• Masters in Engineering (MSc)
• Masters in English Literature (MA)
• Masters in History (MA)
• Masters in International Relations (MA)
• Masters in Finance (MSc)
• Masters in Cyber Security (MSc)
• Masters in Psychology (MSc)
• A to Z of Masters degrees
• OU Accessibility statement
• Conditions of use
• Privacy policy
• Cookie policy
• Manage cookie preferences
• Modern slavery act (pdf 149kb)

Follow us on Social media

• Student Policies and Regulations
• Student Charter
• System Status
• Contact the OU Contact the OU
• Modern Slavery Act (pdf 149kb)

© . . .

For the best experience, we recommend you update your browser. Visit our accessibility page for a list of supported browsers. Alternatively, you can continue using your current browser by closing this message.

• Programme finder

Application process

• Scholarships and awards
• Open events

The RCA experience

• International students
• Short courses
• Teaching dates & College hours
• Student policies, procedures and regulations
• Research projects
• Research centres
• Support for research
• Research Excellence Framework (REF)
• Research degrees
• Executive education
• Case studies
• InnovationRCA
• Collaboration with industry
• Research commercialisation
• Studio projects
• Terra Carta Design Lab projects
• RapidFormRCA
• News and events
• Media centre
• About the RCA
• Organisation
• Work at the RCA
• Sustainability
• Freedom of information
• Visiting the RCA
• About this website
• --> Pre-Master's
• --> Taught Master's
• --> Postgraduate research
• --> Short courses
• --> Part-time programmes
• --> School of Architecture
• --> School of Arts & Humanities
• --> School of Communication
• --> School of Design
• --> Apply to study at the RCA
• --> Eligibility and key dates
• --> English language requirements
• --> Funding your studies
• --> Application process: frequently asked questions
• --> Information for offer holders
• --> Where will the RCA take you?
• --> Careers support
• --> Our campus
• --> Facilities
• --> Learning environment
• --> Student support team
• --> Disability support
• --> Dyslexia support
• --> RCA BLK
• --> Student wellbeing
• --> Students' Union
• --> Accommodation in London
• --> Cost of living
• --> Student Visa
• --> Before you arrive in the UK
• --> CAS Number: frequently asked questions
• --> EAP (English for academic purposes) Pre-sessional courses
• --> Working in the UK after your studies
• --> The RCA and international agents
• --> Summer Schools
• --> Executive education masterclasses
• --> Art & design short courses
• --> Custom executive education
• --> IN SESSION: talks
• --> Participant testimonies
• --> Frequently asked questions
• --> Terms and conditions
• --> The Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design
• --> Intelligent Mobility Design Centre
• --> Materials Science Research Centre
• --> Computer Science Research Centre
• --> RCA Robotics Laboratory
• --> CLIMAVORE x Jameel at RCA
• --> Research students
• --> About InnovationRCA
• --> Start-up companies
• --> Our services
• --> College mission
• --> Governance
• --> Policies and codes of practice
• --> Equality & diversity
• --> Corporate publications
• --> Archive & collections
• --> Suppliers
• --> How to apply
• --> Staff benefits
• --> HR & payroll systems for casual workers
• --> Accessibility
• --> Data protection, privacy & cookies
• --> Terms & conditions
• Register your interest in studying
• Support GenerationRCA
• Visit our application portal

Funding for MPhil and PhD students

Potential sources of funding to help you join the RCA’s thriving research community.

People at work

With the Government's Doctoral Loan and the continued support available via the Arts and Humanities Research Council, there are more financial support options than ever before. In this section you can find information about both of these funding strands.

London Arts and Humanities Partnership

London Arts and Humanities Partnership (LAHP) is an AHRC-funded doctoral training partnership supporting PhD studies in the arts and humanities. LAHP supports all arts and humanities discipline-based projects (including both practice and thesis routes), as well as candidates specialising in interdisciplinary research. Our research and training environment encourages doctoral researchers to develop new methodologies. In addition, our network of partnerships with leading organisations in the cultural sector provides an outstanding resource for future LAHP students. The RCA particularly supports applications in the following AHRC areas: Cultural & Museum Studies, Information & Communications Technology, Art History, Design, Visual Arts, Media, Film Studies, and Ethnography & Anthropology.

Details of the studentship

LAHP studentships will comprise:

• Home Students: full fees waiver, stipend, access to additional funding opportunities, and a training events programme (for up to three years full-time/six years part-time). 
• EU Students: full fee waiver, access to additional funding opportunities, and a training events programme (for up to three years FTE/six years part-time). 

Note that successful applicants will be required to submit their project for examination no less than 12 months after their funded period ends.

Eligibility

London Arts & Humanities Partnership (LAHP) applications are open to new students, and existing RCA students.

• New applicants who are NOT yet studying at the RCA: you need to have made your application to study at the RCA by 1 December if you wish to apply for LAHP funding. Please note this application is in addition to an application for the LAHP funding.  
• Existing RCA PhD students: Existing students with no less than 50 per cent of their period of study remaining (excluding the continuation/writing-up period), at the start of the AHRC award will need to submit an application directly to LAHP.

Please see the LAHP website for further derails.

How to apply

• Applications for funding open in November. Applications open via the LAHP application portal
• Applicants MUST have submitted an application for PhD study at one LAHP partner institution before the application deadline (please note application deadlines for individual institutions might be different. Please check directly with your own institution).
• Applications for 2024 entry closed on 26 January 2024 at 5pm
• We advise you to read the eligibility criteria carefully on the LAHP website to ensure they meet and understand the requirements. 

Find more information on how to apply and submit your application via the LAHP website .

Successful applicants

Successful applicants who will be awarded a LAHP studentship will be informed in Spring 2024.

In addition to the RCA, partner institutions include King’s College London, London School of Economics and Political Science, Queen Mary University of London, the Royal College of Art, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London, the Royal College of Music and the School of Advanced Study (University of London), in formal partnership with the Museum of London, the Metropolitan Police and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships

Collaborative Doctoral Partnerships are allocations of AHRC-funded collaborative research studentships made to a museum, library, archive or heritage organisation, or group of such organisations to allocate to collaborative projects that support their work and objectives

Visit  Arts & Humanities Research Council website  for more information on current studentships

The Paul Mellon Centre Scholarships

MPhil Scholarship and PhD Scholarship  opportunities as part of the PMC’s ‘New Narratives’ scheme, designed to increase the diversity of perspectives among scholars within the field of British Art History.

Funding guides

The alternative guide to postgraduate funding.

One of the most useful resources for discovering funding opportunities is The Alternative Guide to Postgraduate Funding . This is an external resource that the RCA subscribes to and makes available for our students. You can log in with your RCA email or request the pin number from Student Support ( [email protected] ).  

Grants Online

Grants Online is one of the UK's most comprehensive and up to date information resources for grant funding. With nearly 5,000 funding schemes available within the UK, there's a lot of information to keep on top of. Grants Online is a regularly updated source for the latest funding opportunities.

UK Government Doctoral Loan

Students who normally reside in England and study for a PhD may be eligible for a Doctoral Loan from Student Finance England.

Doctoral Loan Key Facts:

• A loan of £29,390 is available.
• The loan is paid in termly instalments over the duration of the programme (until you submit your thesis).
• For full-time programmes you will initially be put on a four-year programme, for part-time programme, a seven-year programme. If your programme length changes, your remaining payments will be rescheduled.
• The loan is not means-tested (i.e. it is not based on your income).
• If you are in receipt of Research Council funding (or will be) you are not eligible for the Doctoral Loan.
• If you already have an equivalent (or higher) level qualification you will not be eligible for the Doctoral Loan. This is regardless of when or in which country the previous qualification was studied.
• If you are not studying the full PhD programme, you will not be eligible for the Doctoral Loan.
• If you have previously received a Doctoral Loan (even if the programme was not completed) you will not be eligible for another Doctoral Loan except in certain circumstances.
• You will only start to repay this loan from the April after you have left the programme, or the April four years after the programme started (whichever is sooner).
• Repayments are 6% of anything earned over £21,000.
• You can apply online at GOV.UK - Doctoral Loan for your Doctoral Loan.
• Applications usually open in June and will take around four to six weeks to be processed.
• To find out more visit GOV.UK - Doctoral Loan .

If you reside in Wales, then you can find out more about the funding available to you here:

Student Finance Wales

For more information on how to apply, visit Applying for student finance: PhD

Progression discount

Full-time UK, EU and International students who have completed a Master’s degree at the RCA will be eligible for a £1,000 discount on Research degree tuition fees for up to three years of study. The Research degree must be started within five years of graduation.

Other funding opportunities

We have a number of funding or part-funding opportunities that arise during the year and these will be advertised here and on jobs.ac.uk . For more information, contact the Research office or Student Support office.

Related content

Paying your fees

Funding your studies

Get in touch if you'd like to find out more about studying at the RCA.

Alternatively, use our A–Z index

Attend an open day

Discover more about your subject

PhD Art History and Visual Studies

Year of entry: 2024

• View full page

International applicants must provide one of the following:

• Bachelor's (Honours) degree at 2:1 or above (or overseas equivalent); and 
• Master's degree in a relevant subject – with an overall average of 65% or above, a minimum mark of 65% in your dissertation and no mark below 55% (or overseas equivalent)

Full entry requirements

Please ensure you include all  required supporting documents  at the time of submission, as incomplete applications may not be considered. 

Application Deadlines 

For consideration in internal funding competitions, you must submit your completed application by  12 January 2024. 

 If you are applying for or have secured external funding (for example, from an employer or government) or are self–funding, you must submit your application before the below deadlines to be considered. You will not be able to apply after these dates have passed.

• For September 2024 entry:  30 June 2024
• For January 2025 entry:  30 September 2024

Programme options

Programme overview

• 91% of our research activity was recognised as 'world leading' or `internationally excellent' REF2021.
• Be part of a vibrant teaching and research environment, where the interests of academic staff, students and professionals converge.
• Take advantage of our strong working relationships with museums and galleries throughout Britain and abroad.
• Explore original art in Manchester's many galleries.

Please enable JavaScript to watch this video.

We will be conducting our Humanities PGR virtual open week in October 2024. Find out more about future events and postgraduate research sessions by signing up for our email alerts.

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:

• PhD (full-time) UK students (per annum): £4,786 International, including EU, students (per annum): £21,500
• PhD (part-time) UK students (per annum): £2,393

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

Please note for the majority of projects where experimentation requires further resource: higher fee bands (where quoted) will be charged rather than the base rate for supervision, administration and computational costs. The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive and, therefore, you will not be required to pay any additional bench fees or administration costs.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of the course for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your project.

Scholarships/sponsorships

There are a range of scholarships, studentships and awards to support both UK and overseas postgraduate researchers, details of which can be found via the links below.

To apply University of Manchester funding, you must indicate in your application the competitions for which you wish to be considered. The deadline for most internal competitions, including AHRC NWCDTP and School of Arts, Languages and Cultures studentships is 12 January 2024. 

All external funding competitions have a specified deadline for submitting the funding application form and a separate (earlier) deadline for submitting the online programme application form, both of which will be stated in the funding competition details below.  

For more information about funding, visit our funding page to browse for scholarships, studentships and awards you may be eligible for. 

• AHRC North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (NWCDTP) PhD Studentships - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• School of Arts, Languages and Cultures PhD Studentships 2024 Entry - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• China Scholarship Council - The University of Manchester (CSC-UoM) Joint Scholarship Programme - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• Paul Nash Bursary (Art History and Cultural Practices) 2024 Entry
• Trudeau Doctoral Scholarships 2024 Entry
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (High Income Countries)
• Humanities Doctoral Academy Humanitarian Scholarship 2024 Entry
• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships (Least Developed Countries and Fragile States)
• School of Arts, Languages and Cultures New Generation PhD Studentships - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry
• President's Doctoral Scholar (PDS) Awards - Competition Closed for 2024 Entry

Contact details

See: About us

Programmes in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of programmes in related subject areas.

• Art History and Visual Studies

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview, english language.

International applicants must provide one of the following: 

• IELTS test minimum score – 7.0 overall, 7.0 in writing. 
• TOEFL (internet based) test minimum score – 100 overall, 25 in all sections. 
• Pearson Test of English (PTE) UKVI/SELT or PTE Academic minimum score – 76 overall, 76 in writing. 
• To demonstrate that you have taken an undergraduate or postgraduate degree in a majority English speaking nation within the last 5 years. 
• Other tests may be considered.

Please note, CAS statements are only issued when all conditions of the offer have been satisfied, offer accepted, and a PDF copy of passport received.

English language test validity

Other international entry requirements.

We accept a range of qualifications from different countries. For these and general requirements including English language see entry requirements from your country.

The University requires you to reside within a commutable distance from Manchester during your time as a registered student, unless you are on approved fieldwork/a formal placement or are on a period of Submission pending. This is to ensure that you are able to meet attendance expectations and participate in wider research activities within your discipline area and/or School.

Other entry requirements

Application and selection, how to apply, advice to applicants.

• Develop your own research proposal and project title. 
• Find a supervisor by browsing our academics’ profiles, and reach out directly to discuss if they are interested in supporting your research. 
• Consider how you plan on funding your research and discuss this with your supervisor. 
• A 1,500 word PhD research proposal.
• Copies of the academic transcript and certificate from both your Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. If your Master’s degree is pending, please provide an interim transcript. 
• An up to date academic CV, detailing your education and qualifications; employment history; publications; and any other relevant information. 
• You must nominate two academic referees (including one from your most recent institution). Your referees will be contacted directly via the Referee Portal following submission of your application form. You may wish to contact your referees to request they submit your reference in a reasonable timeframe as this forms part of the review process. 
• International applicants must additionally provide English Language evidence (e.g IELTS). 

Interview requirements

As part of the offer making process applicants will be required to undertake an interview assessment. This may be in the form of an in–person interview, or video call. 

 The interview is designed to assess your knowledge and understanding of the broad topic area, the viability of your proposed research and its intellectual contribution, alongside the fit of your project with the supervisory team. You also may be asked to identify and address any potential ethical considerations in relation to your proposed research, and discuss how best to progress your ideas in line with University of Manchester ethics guidance.

The interview panel will consist at minimum of your primary supervisor and an independent interviewer.

Re-applications

If you applied in the previous year and your application was not successful, you may apply again. Your application will be considered against the standard programme entry criteria for that year of entry. 

 In your new application you should demonstrate how your application has improved. We may draw upon all information from your previous applications or any previous registrations at the University as a student when assessing your suitability for your chosen programme.

Programme details

Programme description.

This 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 researcher. 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 postgraduate 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.

Special features

Research Environment

Art History and Cultural Practices at Manchester is one of the leading departments in the UK for research in the subject according to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

• 91% of our research activity was recognised as 'world leading' or `internationally excellent'.
• 100% of our impact case studies were judged to be 'outstanding'.
• 100% of our research environment was judged to be 'world leading' or 'internationally excellent'.

Find out more about our Art History Research .

Additional programme information

Humanities Doctoral Academy

Our Humanities Doctoral Academy combines the strengths of our four schools to bring expertise, knowledge, support and high-quality services for postgraduate researchers.  

We are a community of academic leaders and postgraduate researchers across all levels in the Faculty of Humanities. The Doctoral Academy Hub houses our specialist professional service teams who support postgraduate researchers throughout the programme journey.   

This includes admissions, registration, student experience, progression, examination, and graduation. We collaborate closely with other University directorates including Manchester Doctoral College, Researcher Development team, and the corresponding Doctoral Academies in the Faculty of Science and Engineering and the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health. Together we provide the best experience and support for your studies and research.

Equality, diversity and inclusion  is fundamental to the success of The University of Manchester, and is at the heart of all of our activities. 

We know that diversity strengthens our research community, leading to enhanced research creativity, productivity and quality, and societal and economic impact. 

We actively encourage applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds and from all sections of the community, regardless of age, disability, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexual orientation and transgender status. 

All appointments are made on merit. 

The University of Manchester and our external partners are fully committed to equality, diversity and inclusion.

Teaching and learning

Coursework and assessment.

The award of your PhD follows three years of successful supervised research. The maximum length of the PhD thesis is 80,000 words.

Related research

Art History and Cultural Practices at Manchester is one of the leading departments in the UK for research.   

In the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) Art History and Visual Studies was assessed as part of The University of Manchester's 'Art and design: history, practice and theory' submission.  

91% of our research was judged to be in the highest two categories (4*) 'world-leading' or (3*) 'internationally excellent'.  Our research impact was also judged to be strong, with 100% judged to be (4*) 'world-leading' or (3*) 'internationally excellent'.  

The University of Manchester was ranked in the top 10 in the UK in terms (by grade point average) among the 86 departments assessed under Unit of Assessment 32.   

Find out more about our Art History research .

What our students say

Manchester is home to one of the UK's five National Research Libraries - one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the UK and widely recognised as one of the world's greatest research libraries.

The city also has outstanding museums and galleries: the Whitworth and the Manchester Museum are both part of the University. Manchester Art Gallery boasts an internationally celebrated Pre-Raphaelite collection. Also nearby are the Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art, the Lowry Arts Centre, and the Imperial War Museum North.

Find out more about libraries and study spaces for postgraduate research students at Manchester.

We also have one of the largest academic IT services in Europe - supporting world-class teaching and research. There are extensive computing facilities across campus, with access to standard office software as well as specialist programmes, all connected to the campus network and internet.

Every student is registered for email, file storage and internet access. If more demanding computer access is required, our specialist computing division can provide high-end and specialist computing services.

Find out more about our facilities for Art History students.

Disability support

Career opportunities.

A research degree in Art History enhances employment opportunities in many fields connected with the visual arts, architecture and material culture.

These include art galleries, the art trade and auction houses, the heritage industry, architectural conservation, publishing, art criticism and aspects of arts administration, as well as university and higher education.

In recent years our doctoral graduates have gone on to prestigious post-doctoral positions at the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Freud Museum, the British Museum, and the National Gallery as well as obtaining positions at universities such as North Carolina, Imperial College London, and the Manchester School of Architecture. Some graduate have gone into related fields in arts consultancy, publishing, and film production.

The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help support you with your goals for the future.

English Heritage

• https://www.facebook.com/englishheritage
• https://twitter.com/englishheritage
• https://www.youtube.com/user/EnglishHeritageFilm
• https://instagram.com/englishheritage

PHD Studentships

English Heritage and Historic England hold a Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). Every year, we offer AHRC-funded PhD studentships, co-supervised by English Heritage and Historic England experts.

The programme provides the opportunity to align practical research with heritage protection outcomes and helps to address the skills shortages in the heritage profession. 

We also run a number of PhD placements through Doctoral Training Partnerships.  

Collaborative Doctoral Partnership

Every year, English Heritage and Historic England offer a number of funded PhD studentships which support the work of our organisations. These studentships are focused on priority areas of our reseach agendas, and are based on proposals from academics based at UK universities. 

The successful student candidates are jointly supervised by their university and experts from either English Heritage or Historic England. They spend a significant period of time researching at or with the organisations. 

The studentships last for four years, including up to six months’ work placement. 

We currently have two studentships open for applications:

• Imperial, Conservation of Metal Surfaces - Applications close 19 May 2024
• University of York, ‘Curating Armageddon’: Revealing the Heritage Significance of Dover Castle’s Cold War Collections - Applications close 30 May 2024

Proposing a CDP studentship

Every year English Heritage and Historic England issue a joint call for proposals. These must be based on the list of CDP research areas that we issue each year.

Proposals for studentships must be made by a university-based researcher who will act as co-supervisor for the PhD. Each submission should be made in collaboration with a named member of staff from Historic England or English Heritage. 

We encourage proposals that demonstrate academic originality, are appropriate for collaborative study at doctoral level, and fall into the AHRC subject remit. 

A panel of internal and external experts will judge the proposals. Those that are successful will be advertised as studentships for suitably qualified students to start in October of the following academic year. 

Please note that we do not accept CDP proposals from potential students.

PhD Placements from Doctoral Training Partnerships

Doctoral Training Partnerships are consortia of higher education bodies which receive funding from UK Research and Innovation’s Research Councils to provide PhD studentships. These partnerships work alongside organisations in the heritage sector to present students with opportunities for research. 

English Heritage welcomes proposals for placements for DTP students from the following affiliated consortia:

• AHRC Doctoral Programme Scotland
• Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership
• Consortium for the Humanities and the Arts South-east England (CHASE)
• London Arts and Humanities Partnership
• North West Consortium
• Northern Bridge Doctoral Partnership
• South West and Wales Consortium 
• The London and South-East Doctoral Research Consortium (TECHNE)
• The Midlands Three Cities Consortium
• The White Rose College of the Arts and Humanities
• University of Oxford AHRC

Useful links

• Historic England Research
• The Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Consortium
• UK Research and Innovation

English Heritage provided a hugely supportive environment within which to undertake my PhD research. I could not have asked for a better supervisor, nor more support from fellow English Heritage colleagues. The research was significantly aided by the privileged access to the property, in-house research, and the knowledge and expertise of colleagues. I thoroughly recommend English Heritage to prospective PhD candidates.

Research at English Heritage

Our Researchers

Conservation

Study at Cambridge

About the university, research at cambridge.

• Undergraduate courses
• Events and open days
• Fees and finance
• Postgraduate courses
• How to apply
• Postgraduate events
• Fees and funding
• International students
• Continuing education
• Executive and professional education
• Courses in education
• How the University and Colleges work
• Term dates and calendars
• Visiting the University
• Annual reports
• Equality and diversity
• A global university
• Public engagement
• Give to Cambridge
• For Cambridge students
• For our researchers
• Business and enterprise
• Colleges & departments
• Email & phone search
• Museums & collections
• Course Directory

PhD in History of Art

Postgraduate Study

• Why Cambridge overview
• Chat with our students
• Cambridge explained overview
• The supervision system
• Student life overview
• In and around Cambridge
• Leisure activities
• Student unions
• Music awards
• Student support overview
• Mental health and wellbeing
• Disabled students
• Accommodation
• Language tuition
• Skills training
• Support for refugees
• Courses overview
• Department directory
• Qualification types
• Funded studentships
• Part-time study
• Research degrees
• Visiting students
• Finance overview
• Fees overview
• What is my fee status?
• Part-time fees
• Application fee
• Living costs
• Funding overview
• Funding search
• How to apply for funding
• University funding overview
• Research Councils (UKRI)
• External funding and loans overview
• Funding searches
• External scholarships
• Charities and the voluntary sector
• Funding for disabled students
• Widening participation in funding
• Colleges overview
• What is a College?
• Choosing a College
• Applying overview
• Before you apply
• Entry requirements
• Application deadlines
• How do I apply? overview
• Application fee overview
• Application fee waiver
• Life Science courses
• Terms and conditions
• Continuing students
• Disabled applicants
• Supporting documents overview
• Academic documents
• Finance documents
• Evidence of competence in English
• AI and postgraduate applications
• Terms and Conditions
• Applicant portal and self-service
• After you apply overview
• Confirmation of admission
• Student registry
• Previous criminal convictions
• Deferring an application
• Updating your personal details
• Appeals and Complaints
• Widening participation
• Postgraduate admissions fraud
• International overview
• Immigration overview
• ATAS overview
• Applying for an ATAS certificate
• Current Cambridge students
• International qualifications
• Competence in English overview
• What tests are accepted?
• International events
• International student views overview
• Akhila’s story
• Alex’s story
• Huijie’s story
• Kelsey’s story
• Nilesh’s story
• Get in touch!
• Events overview
• Upcoming events
• Postgraduate Open Days overview
• Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD Study webinars
• Virtual tour
• Research Internships
• How we use participant data
• Postgraduate Newsletter

Primary tabs

• Overview (active tab)
• Requirements
• How To Apply
• Testimonials

Course closed:

History of Art is no longer accepting new applications.

A doctoral degree at the Department of History of Art offers the opportunity for independent research under the supervision of an expert departmental member of staff.  The Department of History of Art has the expertise and welcomes candidates in many areas including medieval, Renaissance and early modern, eighteenth and nineteenth century, modern and contemporary art, and historiography and methodology.

As well as the research and skills training programme offered by the Faculty of Architecture and History of Art, candidates have the opportunity to attend suitable courses in associated skills, such as modern languages, palaeography, the use of bibliographic and other databases, and computer skills.

The examination constitutes the oral examination of a thesis not exceeding 80,000 words for the PhD on a subject approved by the Degree Committee for the Faculty.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the programme, candidates will have become leading academic authorities in their chosen field.  They will have acquired excellent skills, experience and knowledge suited to undertaking post-doctoral work (research and/or teaching) or for moving into another related profession outside the academy.

To continue to read for the PhD following the MPhil in History of Art & Architecture, students must achieve an overall total score of at least 70%.  Continuation is also subject to the approval of the proposed research proposal, and the availability and willingness of an appropriate supervisor.

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the  Postgraduate Open Day  page for more details.

See further the  Postgraduate Admissions Events  pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.

Key Information

3-4 years full-time, 4-7 years part-time, study mode : research, doctor of philosophy, department of history of art, course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, michaelmas 2024 (closed).

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Funding Deadlines

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2024, Lent 2025 and Easter 2025.

Similar Courses

• History of Art and Architecture MPhil
• Latin American Studies PhD
• Modern British History MPhil
• Asian and Middle Eastern Studies (Japanese Studies) MPhil
• Latin American Studies MPhil

Postgraduate Admissions Office

• Admissions Statistics
• Start an Application
• Applicant Self-Service

At a glance

• Bringing a family
• Current Postgraduates
• Cambridge Students' Union (SU)

University Policy and Guidelines

Privacy Policy

Information compliance

Equality and Diversity

Terms of Study

About this site

About our website

Privacy policy

© 2024 University of Cambridge

• Contact the University
• Accessibility
• Freedom of information
• Privacy policy and cookies
• Statement on Modern Slavery
• University A-Z
• Undergraduate
• Postgraduate
• Research news
• About research at Cambridge
• Spotlight on...

• Your contribution Submit Review
• Reviews Publications Exhibitions Conference Reports
• Archive Web-Site H-Net Discussion Logs
• Registration
• About us Editorial Board Subscription Your contribution Technical instructions Copyright

PhD Studentship, Department of Art History, University of Aberdeen

University of Aberdeen Application deadline: May 13, 2024

Fully-funded (UK & International) PhD Studentship (4 years) in the Department of Art History at the University of Aberdeen: A visual history of Sir Charles Lyell’s notebooks

Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), the author behind the Principles of Geology (1830-33), played a prominent role in shaping our planetary understanding during the nineteenth century, that of earth as an interconnected system involving life and its environment. His scientific contributions are numerous, but include an early explanation of climate change, ground-breaking explanations of co-seismic earth movements, and the theory of gradual “backed-up building” of volcanoes. In addition, what is particularly interesting to this project are his studies, written and visual, of 19th century glaciers and landscapes.

Taking a historical approach to science, especially geosciences, this project expands upon the archival turn in glaciology (Zumbühl et al 2008, Headland et al 2023) and interdisciplinary opportunities afforded within environmental art history (Gapp 2021). It also offers a unique opportunity to study unpublished materials aimed at studying and understanding the history of geology at a time of heightened scientific and cultural interest. This PhD project is framed around a hitherto untapped resource, notably the collection of 266 scientific notebooks (or “laboratory thought books”) spanning 1825 to 1874 that document Lyell’s international fieldwork. These notebooks have yet to be critically examined and their importance within both geosciences and art history assessed. This project will involve a study of the drawings and writings contained within these volumes, alongside the 1000s of geological and mineral specimens collected by Lyell and held within the University of Edinburgh’s School of GeoScience Cockburn Museum, and the wider British, Scandinavian, and central European image cultures contemporary with Lyell’s studies. As glaciers, coastlines, and inland landscapes and their surrounding communities are increasingly impacted by climate change, this project adopts an interdisciplinary framework for engaging archival materials, visual and written, to better comprehend, frame, and assess past, present, and future geological environments.

Applicants should have either a master’s degree or a first or upper-second class honours degree in a relevant subject. We invite applications from candidates of all backgrounds who have an interest in art history, geology, environmental history, the history of science, or cultural geography. They will also have a strong interest and demonstrable skills in one or more of the following: visual or object analysis, handling archival materials, museum collections, GIS.

Given the interdisciplinary nature of this project, the student will have a genuine interest in working as part of an inter-departmental team and within a vibrant research community at Aberdeen, as well as alongside other post-graduate students. International travel will form a large component of this project and so a desire to spend time abroad is highly advantageous.

We encourage applications from all backgrounds and communities, and are committed to having a diverse, inclusive team.

Funding Notes This 4 year studentship is funded by The Development Trust, University of Aberdeen. Funding will cover tuition fees, a Research Training and Support Grant (RTSG) of £20,000, and stipend based on RCUK rates (currently £18,622 per annum for 2023/2024). Eligibility is not constrained by nationality. Funding for international students does not cover visa costs (either for yourself or for accompanying family members), immigration health surcharge or any other additional costs associated with relocation to the UK.

References Gapp, I. (2021). A Woman in the Far North: Anna Boberg and the Norwegian Glacial Landscape. Kunst og Kultur 104, no.2, 82-96. doi: 10.18261/issn.1504-3029-2021-02-02 Headland, R., Hughes, N., & Wilkinson, J. (2023). Historical occurrence of Antarctic icebergs within mercantile shipping routes and the exceptional events of the 1890s. Journal of Glaciology, 1-13. doi:10.1017/jog.2023.80 Lyell, Sir Charles. 1830-1833. The Principles of Geology. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Volume. John Murray. Zumbühl, H.J., Steiner, D., and Nussbaumer, S.U. (2008). 19th century glacier representations and fluctuations in the central and western European Alps: An interdisciplinary approach. Global and Planetary Change 60, no.1-2, 42-57. doi: 10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.08.005

Reference: JOB: PhD Studentship, Department of Art History, University of Aberdeen. In: ArtHist.net, Apr 19, 2024 (accessed Jul 23, 2024), <https://arthist.net/archive/41685>.

Latest Reviews

Kroesen, justin e. a.; kuhn, stephan (hrsg.): die sammlung mittelalterlicher kirchenkunst, hackmann, lisa: paul delaroche — das phänomen globaler berühmtheit im 19. jahrhundert, christoph büchel, monte di pietà, venedig, karl foerster. neue wege – neue gärten, graul, jana: neid. kunst, moral und kreativität in der frühen neuzeit.

We have 45 History PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

History & Archaeology

All locations

Institution

All Institutions

All PhD Types

All Funding

History PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

Embarking on a PhD in History is an exciting and rewarding journey that allows you to delve deep into the past, uncovering hidden stories and shedding new light on historical events. If you have a passion for history and a desire to contribute to the field, pursuing a PhD in History could be the perfect path for you.

What's it like to study a PhD in History?

Studying a PhD in History is a rigorous and intellectually stimulating experience. As a doctoral student, you will have the opportunity to conduct original research, contribute to historical scholarship, and engage in critical analysis of primary and secondary sources. You will work closely with your supervisor, who will guide and support you throughout your research journey.

One of the key aspects of a PhD in History is the production of a substantial thesis. This thesis is typically based on extensive research and presents an original argument or interpretation of historical events. It requires meticulous attention to detail, critical thinking, and strong analytical skills. Additionally, you may have the opportunity to present your research at conferences and publish your findings in academic journals, further contributing to the field of history.

Entry requirements for a PhD in History

To pursue a PhD in History, you will generally need a strong academic background, usually a first-class or upper second-class honours degree in History or a related discipline. Some universities may also require a Master's degree in History or a related field. Additionally, a well-crafted research proposal outlining your intended research topic and objectives is typically required as part of the application process.

PhD in History funding options

Funding for PhDs in History may be available from various sources, including governments, universities and charities, business or industry. See our full guides to PhD funding for more information.

PhD in History careers

A PhD in History opens up a wide range of career opportunities. Many graduates go on to pursue academic careers, becoming professors, lecturers, or researchers at universities and research institutions. Others find employment in museums, archives, libraries, or cultural heritage organizations, where they contribute to the preservation and interpretation of historical artifacts and documents. Furthermore, the skills acquired during a PhD in History, such as critical thinking, research, and communication, are highly valued in fields such as journalism, publishing, policy-making, and consultancy.

Embarking on a PhD in History is not only a chance to deepen your understanding of the past but also a stepping stone towards a fulfilling and impactful career in the field of history. It offers the opportunity to contribute to historical knowledge, engage in intellectual debates, and make a lasting impact on the discipline.

From “hero” to “traumatized victim”? Spanish refugee children and debates about refugee mental health in the mid-twentieth century, 1936-c.1950

Phd research project.

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

Funded PhD Project (Students Worldwide)

This project has funding attached, subject to eligibility criteria. Applications for the project are welcome from all suitably qualified candidates, but its funding may be restricted to a limited set of nationalities. You should check the project and department details for more information.

Lady Elizabeth Cruickshank Memorial Studentship on women in the UK legal profession

Funded phd programme (students worldwide).

Some or all of the PhD opportunities in this programme have funding attached. Applications for this programme are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide. Funding may only be available to a limited set of nationalities and you should read the full programme details for further information.

Professional Doctorate

A professional doctorate combines academic research with professional and vocational practice and reflection. The qualification is equivalent to a PhD, but usually involves more formal teaching and training in addition to producing an original thesis. Applicants are often more experienced professionals seeking to advance their careers or transmit practical knowledge to an academic setting. Many study part-time alongside their existing roles.

Cumbria and Transatlantic Slavery, 1700-1833

Professional doctorate of education (edd), awaiting funding decision/possible external funding.

This programme is waiting to confirm funding from a university or external source. This may depend on attracting suitable students and applications are welcome. Please see the programme details for more information.

The Scottish Sheriff Court in the Seventeenth Century

Self-funded phd students only.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Migration and Medical Climatology: the climatic pull upon those leaving Scotland in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

Truth and being laid bare: the use of nudity in philosophy, documentary practice and knowledge co-production, history of classical film theory, ‘puppets and clowns’ celebrity and political activism in historical perspective, fully-funded four-year phd in history and civilisation, social sciences research programme.

Social Sciences Research Programmes present a range of research opportunities, shaped by a university’s particular expertise, facilities and resources. You will usually identify a suitable topic for your PhD and propose your own project. Additional training and development opportunities may also be offered as part of your programme.

PhD programmes in Liberal Arts

Arts research programme.

Arts Research Programmes present a range of research opportunities, shaped by a university’s particular expertise, facilities and resources. You will usually identify a suitable topic for your PhD and propose your own project. Additional training and development opportunities may also be offered as part of your programme.

PhD Modern War Studies

The PhD opportunities on this programme do not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

PhD Research Programme

PhD Research Programmes present a range of research opportunities shaped by a university’s particular expertise, facilities and resources. You will usually identify a suitable topic for your PhD and propose your own project. Additional training and development opportunities may also be offered as part of your programme.

PhD Military History

FindAPhD. Copyright 2005-2024 All rights reserved.

Unknown    ( change )

Have you got time to answer some quick questions about PhD study?

Select your nearest city

You haven’t completed your profile yet. To get the most out of FindAPhD, finish your profile and receive these benefits:

• Monthly chance to win one of ten £10 Amazon vouchers ; winners will be notified every month.*
• The latest PhD projects delivered straight to your inbox
• Access to our £6,000 scholarship competition
• Weekly newsletter with funding opportunities, research proposal tips and much more
• Early access to our physical and virtual postgraduate study fairs

Or begin browsing FindAPhD.com

or begin browsing FindAPhD.com

*Offer only available for the duration of your active subscription, and subject to change. You MUST claim your prize within 72 hours, if not we will redraw.

Do you want hassle-free information and advice?

Create your FindAPhD account and sign up to our newsletter:

• Find out about funding opportunities and application tips
• Receive weekly advice, student stories and the latest PhD news
• Hear about our upcoming study fairs
• Save your favourite projects, track enquiries and get personalised subject updates

Create your account

Looking to list your PhD opportunities? Log in here .

Filtering Results