Design - MPhil/PhD

Research is central to the School of Design, providing MPhil and PhD candidates with a rich variety of staff research interests, and we specialise in areas including: place, body and environment; design and digital technologies; materiality and making; mechanics of narrative; design anthropology; design history and theory; and contemporary film theory and practice.

Whichever area your research engages with, you will either carry out a practice-based MPhil or PhD that offers you the opportunity to explore the research problem through a practical portfolio and textual output. Alternatively you can produce a fully text-based output. Both routes can be studied at PhD-level over three years full-time, or six years part-time. At MPhil-level full time study is two years, or four years part-time.

By its very nature, MPhil/PhD-level research is determined by individual research interests, however you will be supported by a supervisory team who will assist you throughout your period of study. Alongside this you will become an active member of the research community in the School of Design, across Edinburgh College of Art, and the University of Edinburgh as a whole.

These opportunities include a wide range of lectures, seminars, conferences, and workshops, including innovative research methods training, and the development of transferrable professional skills.