Contemporary Arts

The Contemporary Arts PhD at Lancaster offers you an opportunity to undertake research across a wide variety of contemporary arts topics and disciplines, in the interdisciplinary environment of Lancaster Institute for Contemporary Arts (LICA). As a PhD student you will normally be supervised by a team of two supervisors who will ensure that you receive focused critical feedback and encouragement throughout the programme. In many cases the supervisors will be based in different disciplines within the Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA), or in a different department within the university in order to ensure that you have the most appropriate supervisory team for your chosen project.

You can take your Contemporary Arts PhD at Lancaster either in the traditional format of a written thesis, or as a project that combines the written thesis with creative practical work. Many of our academic staff are engaged with practice-based research in the fields of art, film, theatre, design and architecture, and we have a dedicated team of technicians to support you as well as workshops, editing suites and technical resources for our students.

As a PhD student based in LICA and part of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), you will be part of a multidisciplinary community of research students, able to participate in seminars, reading groups, conferences, and research training courses. We also offer opportunities to study for a certificate in higher education teaching.