Design PhD

Your Design PhD at Lancaster can focus on one of a wide range of topics within Design or on a research topic that crosses different disciplines.

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. Your supervisors are likely to be members of Imagination Lancaster, our specialist design-led research centre. In some cases your second supervisor will be based in a different discipline within the School of Arts, or a different department within the University in order to ensure that you have the most appropriate supervisory team for your chosen project.

You may wish to take a look at the research interests of our staff and think about potential topics and supervisors.

In the past, many of our Design PhD students have conducted field research in other parts of the UK and overseas, including the US, Turkey, Malaysia, Thailand and China. We encourage our Design PhD students to develop their work into papers for presentation at international design conferences and for publication in academic journals.

You can take your Design PhD at Lancaster either in the standard format of a written thesis, or as a project that combines a written thesis with creative practical work. Many of our academic staff are engaged with practice-based research in the fields of design, art, theatre and film, 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 the School of Arts, 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.

We encourage you to contact the School of Arts postgraduate team or any member of the design staff to discuss your ideas for PhD research.