MPhil and PhD students in Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies are based in the International Centre for Cultural and Heritage Studies (ICCHS), a leading academic centre for research and teaching at Newcastle.

ICCHS is internationally renowned for its research, securing significant support (around £3m since 2008) from a variety of funders, such as the UK Research Councils and the European Commission. We have a thriving, high-profile interdisciplinary research community made up of postgraduate research students and experienced academic researchers who are key figures in their fields.

Our academic supervisors have significant experience and expertise in interdisciplinary research and practice in the UK and abroad. Through our emphasis on empirical research and having a grounding in professional practice, our research alumni have been successful in securing careers in academia, governmental organisations, and the cultural and creative industry sectors worldwide.

Our research students pursue a variety of topics that explore both historical and contemporary issues with local, national and international dimensions. They have also consistently achieved high submission and completion rates in their chosen programme of study. Recent student research topics in ICCHS include:

• attitudes towards human remains
• constructions and uses of Welsh identity in American museums
• the social roles and regulation of art museum education in China and Taiwan
• the management and interpretation of archaeological sites in Turkey
• meaning making around historic photographic collections on Flickr

Key research themes

Our key research themes are:

Cultural politics and policy

• factors that determine how cultural policy is constructed, institutionally, locally, regionally, nationally and internationally
• how management strategies affect heritage resources
• the impact of large-scale constitutional change upon cultural policy
• intended and unintended consequences of implementing international conventions, charters and instruments
• contribution of research to cultural policy construction
• the intersection of political movements and agendas with heritage
• definitions and attributed values of heritage

Identity, community and place

• construction and representation of identities, places and communities through heritage
• how heritage is used by, and for, communities
• relationships between notions of place and identities, communities, and heritages locally regionally, nationally and internationally
• principles of community museology and ecomuseology practice in different contexts
• relationships between heritage tourism and identities, communities and places
• identities produced through the consumption of heritage
• relationship between identity construction and wellbeing

Media and representation

• how media works in heritage organisations and how organisations work as media
• factors shaping the production, morphology and consumption of media and media representations in heritage organisations
• representations made possible through institutional technologies specific to heritage organisations and how they are analysed to understand culture, society and knowledge
• study and design of digital heritage applications and digital cultural engagement

Delivery

Attendance on this programme is flexible and agreed between you and your supervisors depending on the requirements of your research project. The main focus of the programme is a piece of independent research carried out by you with the support of your supervisory team.

You will also undertake research methods training and be encouraged to participate in our research activities. You will be able to carry out fieldwork away from Newcastle, in other UK locations or abroad. The programme is supported by Blackboard, our virtual learning environment.

Find out more about our tuition fees, including how to pay them and available discounts.

EU students starting at Newcastle in 2018 will pay the UK (Home) tuition fee for the full duration of their course.

Funding opportunities

If you have lower English Language scores, you may be accepted onto a pre-sessional English course. 

You need to submit a research proposal with your online application. For information about the application process see the School of Arts and Cultures website or read our guidelines for producing a research proposal (PDF: 41.5KB) from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science Graduate School.

When making your online application, please insert one of the following programme codes on the 'Programme of Study' page:

• 8834F (PhD, full time)
• 8836P (PhD, part time)
• 7018F (MPhil, full time)
• 7019P (MPhil, part time) 

Then select ‘PhD Media, Culture and Heritage’ and the ‘Research Area’ Museum, Gallery and Heritage Studies.

Start dates

There are usually two possible start dates, although in some circumstances an alternative start date can be arranged:

• January
• September

There is no application closing date for this course, but specific deadlines for funding apply.

We suggest international students apply at least two months before the course starts. This is so that you have enough time to make the necessary arrangements.

Deposit

If you live outside the UK/EU you must:

• pay a deposit of £1,500
• or submit an official letter of sponsorship

The deposit is payable after you receive an offer to study at Newcastle University. The deposit is non-refundable, but is deducted from your tuition fees when you register.

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