We welcome applications from prospective students within the fields of film, television, media, gaming, publishing and cultural studies.

The Centre benefits from a number of specialist research clusters made up of a variety of theoretical and practice-based researchers, and as a research student you will have the opportunity to join these clusters and take part in a range of our research activities, including symposia, conferences and public engagement events. Our research clusters comprise: Digital Materialities, Film & Social Context, and Play & Multiplatform.

Proposals are therefore welcome from prospective PhD students interested in the Research Centre's core areas of specialism, including:

  • Digital cultures and materialities
  • Media arts and practice
  • Film and its social contexts
  • Gender and representation in the media
  • Gameplay and videogame studies
  • Multiplatform and transmedia industries
  • Global music cultures

We also welcome proposals that have an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach embedded that draw on the expertise across Bath Spa University, for example within the University’s other fields such as Environmental Humanities or Creative Writing.

AHRC South, West and Wales Doctor Training Partnership

Bath Spa University is part of the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW2), a consortium of universities  funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council to provide postgraduate studentships and training. The programme offers 200 awards across five student cohorts. 

Interested in appyling for a fully-funded PhD Award?

Film, Television and Media is one of the subject areas covered by SWW2. Find out more about the SWW2 scheme.

We're very happy to discuss your research proposal and potential routes for securing funding. Please direct initial enquiries to Dr Charlie Tweed (c.tweed@bathspa.ac.uk), Higher Degrees Tutor for Film and Media at Bath Spa University.

Our PhD community

Vasileios Chatzimakris

Indeterminate Mix: Exploring Ways of Incorporating Indeterminacy in the Context of Mixed Media Performances

Conor Ogilvie Davidson

A Study into Innovation Resistance toward Autonomous Cars in the UK

Louis Ledesve d'Heudiere

Spontaneously Realising the Unspontaneous: Developing a Compositional Strategy that Exploits Reduced Exposure between Performers and Scores

Ralf Dorrell

Beyond Chord Symbols: An Exploration of Alternative Ways of Integrating the Improvising Soloist into Notated Big Band Jazz Compositions

Ngozi Ejims

Evaluating the Impact of Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding in Nigeria's Film Industry

Leah Holmes

Reflections of History, Culture and Society in Japanese Animation

Mark Langley

Unravelling Cleopatra: Sensationalism and the Collapse of a Studio

Oogoo Maia

Embodiment and Vigilance in the Notation, Rehearsal and Performance of Improvised and Indeterminate Music

Amy Mallett

Models of compositional approach for contemporary musical theatre: A practice-led study of the artistic and pragmatic constraints faced by the composer-collaborator, and how these shape process and product

James Manning

Super Mario (Un)Making: Mapping the Ephemerality of Videogames

Michael Pennington

Videogames as a Primary Source: Collective Memory and Representations of Britain and War

Jon Pigott

Materials, Systems and Autonomy in Electromechanical Sound Art