Media and Arts Technology

Our PhD in Media and Arts Technology is an innovative inter-disciplinary programme in the sciences and technologies that transform the creative sector, with a special focus on Sound, Music, Media and Interaction. Its mission is to produce post-graduates that have world-class skills in technical and scientific research, creativity, building and using software and hardware, and are prepared to contribute to the world’s Digital Economy.
The Media and Arts Technology four year Ph.D. comprises three main components:

• Advanced taught modules
• An advanced placement project with one of our partners in the creative digital sector
• A PhD research project

The first year follows the American model with a strong emphasis on taught modules. There are six in the first two semesters, then a five-month internship with companies such as BBC, BT, Cinimod, United Visual Artists and Inition. Core modules are Interactive Digital Multimedia Techniques (including Max MSP, Arduino and raspberry Pi), Sound Recording and Production Techniques (audio piece on Logic), Digital Arts documentary (documentary made with expert production advice and edited on Final Cut) and Research Methods. There are two additional optional modules chosen from a long list such as Java programming, Design for Human Interaction and Digital Audio Effects.

At the beginning of year 2 you finalise your PhD topic. In years 2 and 3, you will take three further specialist option modules to support your research. These can be from other Schools in Queen Mary, like Geography, Drama and Film, as well as from our own School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science.
For this second round of applications we are offering scholarships to applicants who are ordinarily resident in the UK (i.e. have lived and worked in the UK at least the last three years). 

Requirements

• A full academic transcript (a record of courses taken and grades achieved)
• Applicants must submit documentation of GRE results obtained during the last five years, showing scores for all sections of the examination
• Resume / Curriculum Vitae
• Two academic referees to send confidential reference letters to econpgadm@qmul.ac.uk
• A research proposal (1000 words)
• If English is not your first language we require an IELTS score of 6.5 overall with no mark less than 5.5 in the individual components.

Scholarships

A number of fully-funded places are available for all UK resident candidates to apply for (resident in the UK for at least the last three years) and three to four places for EU/International students to apply for. The stipend last year was £16,262 per annum tax free and all fees for the programme are also included, we do also consider self-funding students.

You should be able to demonstrate academic achievement at the level of a first class honours degree or high level pass at Masters and excellent critical and analytic skills. You should also have a clear aptitude for interdisciplinary research including some programming or mathematical ability. We especially welcome applicants with interests in: media content, semantics for audio video and music, computational linguistics, cognitive science, cultural studies, experimental and social psychology, linguistics, media and communications, political science and social computing, Interactive Art and Architecture.