Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies

Newcastle and the North East have a unique mix of exceptional heritage and cultural resources, which includes the World Heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall, the Great North Museum, the Bowes Museum, and the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art.

Our International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (ICCHS) is an important centre for interdisciplinary research into museum, gallery and heritage studies and makes full use of the resources on our doorstep as well as taking advantage of our extensive network of research collaborators.

We treat museum, gallery and heritage as an integrated discipline and this perspective enables you to combine a broad vision of the subject area with specialisation in a particular topic. For example, if you are interested in curatorship you may choose to focus on issues relating to types of collections. Or, you may want to explore how museum, gallery and heritage organisations engage with conservation plans, digital media, and educational activities to improve access to their collections for a variety of audiences.

Our key research themes are: cultural politics and policy; identity, community and place; and representation and media. Supervision for research degrees is available in all of these areas. We have been successful in attracting considerable research funding from sources such as UK research councils, the UK government, the European Union and the British Academy so you will join a varied and vibrant research culture in which collaborations with the museum, gallery and heritage sector play an important part. We also have postgraduate funding for our research degrees and taught programmes.

Our postgraduate taught programmes take a practical approach to working in the cultural sector and have strong links with local, regional, and international organisations and employers.

Your compulsory placement will be organised by our Placement Co-ordinator and supported by our extensive network of professional colleagues. Our Art Museum and Gallery Studies programme has two exit routes: one is in art curatorship and the other in education practices in art museum and gallery settings. Our Heritage Studies programme also has two exit routes: one is in heritage management and the other in education and interpretation in heritage settings. Our Museum Studies programmes allow students to specialise in different areas, notably archaeology, art, history, heritage education and interpretation, interpretation and exhibitions, and natural science.

Postgraduate degrees in this subject area: