Birkbeck, University of London

HISTORY OF ART (MPHIL / PHD)

The Department of History of Art 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
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). Research skills training is offered both within the Department and the School of Arts, 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.

Read about our current MPhil/PhD students and their areas of research.

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