Digital Media at Newcastle focuses on practice-led interdisciplinary research in art and technology and creative applications of new technologies. Our staff have international experience, having previously worked at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Programme (ITP), Sony Computer Science Laboratory in Paris, and the Equator Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration.
Our staff are committed to public engagement, participation and collective action and they have published, exhibited and performed at arts centres, festivals and conferences worldwide.
Our research strengths include: sensor-based interactivity with media; mobile media; user experience and ethnographic study of technology; new media installation and exhibition; public screens; physical computing; and exhibition design. The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 classed 85 per cent of our research as ‘world leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’, placing us in the top five universities in the UK in terms of research quality. Research projects are funded by grants from bodies such as the UK research councils (AHRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC), the Arts Council, Regional Development Agencies and the European Commission. We also have links with STEIM (the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music), the Copenhagen Institute for Interaction Design, ISIS Arts and Northern Film and Media, as well as other international institutions devoted to technology and arts research and practice.
Staff and students are based in Culture Lab, an on- campus interdisciplinary research facility and world-class art and technology centre. It provides an environment where academics, postgraduates and practitioners can work creatively and step outside traditional subject boundaries.
Students on the PhD programmes come from a range of degree subjects including languages, film, music, art history, fine art, multimedia technology and computing. Some are artists and professionals who may not have a degree but do have significant experience. We offer a broad spectrum of opportunities including interactive/generative art, digital performance, interaction design, digital film, imaging and music.