51 PhD programmes in Visual Arts in England, United Kingdom

The Open University UK art history discipline has a strong record of pioneering and world-class research in Modern and Contemporary Art and Theory.

The Art and Media course at University of Plymouth welcomes applications for both practice-led and more traditional forms of doctoral research across art and media including interdisciplinary practices, philosophical, curatorial and pedagogic research.

Undertaking the Art and Design (Distance Learning) degree at University of Huddersfield means joining a creative, collaborative research community.

Theatre and Drama in the Department of Literature, Film and Theatre Studies at University of Essex is led by a vibrant group of theatre practitioners and who all work professionally in the theatre industry alongside their University teaching.

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

The Performance Practice MPhil/PhD programme from The University of Exeter offers you an opportunity to extend and reflect on your creative performance practice. The area of study is entirely dependent upon your expertise, and could include playwriting, acting, directing, physical theatre, dance theatre, music theatre, or music performance.

The Postdigital Cultures programme offered by Coventry University investigates the social, cultural, political, and technological dimensions of postdigital society, exploring how digital systems shape contemporary life, institutions, communities, and futures.

The Global and Cross Cultural Art degree at The Open University UK has a tradition of teaching and research that explores how art, people and ideas become distinctive through their movement across the globe.

The Arts Management and Cultural Policy programme at The University of Manchester links together these interdisciplinary fields to support research into the organisation of the arts, creative and cultural practices and their relationship to broader society, power relations and governance.

The Art History and Visual Culture MPhil/PhD programme from The University of Exeter draws on our established, internationally recognised research activity in Art History and Visual Culture.

Art is where cultural, creative and historical characteristics are expressed–in timeless works that ultimately belong to us all. Cultural Art History at Warnborough College fully explores the cultural cross-fertilization of traditions manifested in works of art—and the influences underlying their production.

This Conservation of Cultural Heritage programme at University of Lincoln is designed for students who have a passion to pursue a conservation or heritage-based research project defined by themselves, but with the support of an academic environment and supervisors.

The Department of Art History at The Open University UK welcomes proposals situated in 18th-century art, architecture and design in this Eighteenth-Century Art and Visual Culture programme.

The Art and Design research at Nottingham Trent University is dynamic and imaginative. We have an outward looking research culture, with a strong focus on art and design practice as a significant contributor to cultural enrichment, social dynamics and economic vitality.

​​This Cultures and Creative Practice programme from University of Nottingham will be particularly relevant to creative practitioners from a broad range of fields who wish to utilise the time and resources offered by doctoral study to develop and critically reflect on their practice and enhance their careers in a relevant creative sector.

 Our PhD Film Studies (Creative Practice) at University of Essex draws on this unique tradition, offering supervision for students in all fields of our wide-ranging staff research expertise, including an exceptional variety of approaches to mainstream and experimental practice, global cinemas, and comparative media.

The Fine Art (DFA) programme of the University of East London has been running for over 20 years. It is designed for artists working across a range of media and methodologies who wish to make their practice the basis for doctoral study.

The School conducts high-quality significant national and international research and offers excellent opportunities for graduate studies, successfully combining modern engineering and technology with the exciting field of digital media.

A PhD in Art and Design from Birmingham City University, will help you create opportunities to develop research skills that support professional practice, research and/or academic careers within the fields of art, design and the creative industries.

The Dramatherapy programme offered by Anglia Ruskin University explores therapeutic practices that use drama, performance, and creative expression to investigate psychological, social, and cultural experiences through advanced research.