Postgraduate research

Postgraduate research in Media Arts normally involves researching and writing a dissertation of about 100,000 words under the supervision of a member of the department in no more than four years.  By agreement with the department, postgraduate research may also combine traditional research with creative practice in combinations such as a feature length screenplay or produced documentary with a related thesis. Such research is an exercise in original, independent investigation, not a taught programme. Applications are welcome from well-qualified students considering MPhil or PhD research in any area related to film and television studies, cultural theory and media practice. Staff in Media Arts are particularly interested in supervising projects in the following broadly defined areas:

• British film and television
• Film and television policy
• European cinema, in particular, East and West German cinema, Irish cinema, European migrant and diasporic cinema, European auteurs
• Transnational cinema
• Middle Eastern cinemas
• Media, democracy and terrorism in the Arab world
• Hollywood cinema and television
• Screen genres, in particular, the gothic, fantasy, the western, science fiction, war films, political drama and ‘serious’ television
• Cultural theory, modernism and postmodernism
• Cinema and national identity, particularly in regard to the cinemas of the US, UK, Europe and the Middle East
• Gender, sexuality and cinema
• Psychoanalysis and screen media
• Representations of the Holocaust in film and television
• Film, history and memory
• Celebrity culture
• The theory and practice of film and video production
• The theory and practice of documentary
• The theory and practice of screenwriting

For further information about academic staff and their research interests and publications, please refer to this webpage|.