digital art phd

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• Interdisciplinary

Interdisciplinary Design and Media, PhD

The PhD in Interdisciplinary Design and Media offers an innovative, globally-aware, human-centered approach to advanced graduate study, focusing on practice-based research and scholarship applied to or conducted through making or creation.

The PhD is designed for entrepreneurial self-starters who seek to break ground and invent new fields through hybrid and integrated approaches to knowledge creation. Four pillars of excellence are emphasized within a research culture:

• Engaging with the nature of human experience through innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to design
• Investigating new forms of digital media and data-driven communication across diverse disciplines
• Articulating how creativity can embrace connections between artistic practices, innovation, entrepreneurship, and research
• Connecting with changing forms of technology and media to foster shared experiences and exchange within local and global communities

The PhD is unique in its focus on practice-based research or scholarship applied to or conducted through making or creation. This is an emerging area that has been applied internationally to a wide range of creative fields and industries, many of which are represented within the College of Arts, Media and Design: music, theatre, design, studio art, games, architecture, journalism, and others. It differs from other forms of knowledge creation in that it rigorously cultivates the creation of artifacts as a mode of producing new knowledge, theories, and methodologies.

Practice-based research integrates fields such as creativity and cognition or human-computer interaction to understand how practice operates, to enact that knowledge in practical applications, and to use the acts of creation themselves as a research methodology. PhD students will be encouraged to conduct their research in—and in some cases create—”living labs” embedded in real-world contexts and through on- and off-campus research partnerships.

The PhD degree program is composed of a common core and pathways of specialization. The core is centered around three areas: design research, which provides a methodology for understanding the ways design and media touch every aspect of daily life at every level of society; ethical practice, which engages with the humanistic concerns of design and cultural production; and experiential learning, which offers students the opportunity to produce research and conduct fieldwork with partner organizations.

Specialized pathways, customized according to the program of study as approved by the PhD advisors and vetted by external experts, include:

• Information design and visualization
• Design research
• Creative research

“The world today needs transdisciplinary creative leaders who pave new ways of thinking and working that will show what the world of tomorrow will look like. The CAMD PhD program in Interdisciplinary Design and Media seeks to cultivate such thought leaders.”

Casper Harteveld

Associate Professor and Associate Dean of CAMD Graduate Studies

More Information

Unique features.

The CAMD PhD in Interdisciplinary Design and Media supports practice-based research that is:

• Interdisciplinary: Transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries by merging, blending, and integrating theories, principles, methods, and techniques from across disciplines and domains.
• Integrative: Cultivating creative practice as a rigorous method for producing new knowledge, theories, and methodologies, embodied through artifacts, performance, and texts.
• Experiential: Incubating “living labs” embedded in real-world contexts, both on and off campus, with local, networked, and global partners.
• Impactful: Generating research within real-world contexts resulting in meaningful social impact.

Program Objectives

• Engage with the nature of human experience through innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to design, media and arts.
• Investigate new forms of digital media and data-driven communication across diverse disciplines.
• Articulate how creativity can embrace connections between artistic practices, innovation, entrepreneurship, and research.
• Connect with changing forms of technology and media to foster shared experiences and exchange within local and global communities.
• Cultivate a research culture dedicated to developing human literacies for new media technologies and collaboration across and beyond the university.

Admissions + Funding

Applications for Fall 2024 are closed. The application deadline for Fall 2025 will be December 1, 2024.  Click here to access the online application portal and further details regarding the application requirements.

Applicants are encouraged to contact a CAMD faculty member in advance of their submission to find support of their application. CAMD faculty members can be found on the CAMD faculty page .

PhD students receive up to five years of funding including a stipend and coverage of tuition for approved courses, as well as the student health insurance plan (NUSHP). All other fees are the responsibility of the student.

Featured Faculty

Art + Design

Dietmar Offenhuber

Chair, Professor

Psyche Loui

Associate Professor

Dean's Office

Brooke Foucault Welles

Associate Dean for Research, Professor

Celia Pearce

Faculty testimonials, psyche loui, associate professor, music.

“The Interdisciplinary Design and Media PhD will provide hands-on learning experiences in artistic and creative cross-disciplinary research, giving practitioners in the arts the language and the research skills to delve into their chosen creative work at the PhD level.”

Dietmar Offenhuber, Associate Professor and Chair

“The knowledge of artists and designers and their methods for creating it are becoming increasingly important in today’s society – we have built the Interdisciplinary Design and Media PhD around the “elastic rigor” of creative researchers and provide the tools to make their voices heard.”

Celia Pearce, Professor, Art + Design

“The Interdisciplinary Design and Media PhD is ideal for self-motivated forward thinkers who want to invent and forge new media, art, design and research practices through integrative blending and appropriation across disciplines. It values creative practice as a form of knowledge creation and provides a platform for people whose work defies categorization.”

Brooke Foucault Welles, Associate Professor

“Big social challenges require creative, interdisciplinary solutions. The Interdisciplinary Design and Media PhD will train future leaders in the tools and creative practices to integrate data, technology, and design into solutions that improve the human experience.”

Program Coordinator

Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Professor

Admissions Contact

Associate Director of Graduate Operations

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School of Art, Design and Architecture

PhD Digital Art and Technology

i-DAT’s underpinning research concerns making ‘data’ palpable, tangible and accessible. It involves creating new experiences through the design and construction of networked, sensing and intelligent ‘things’ and software. Digital Practice is central to exploring the significance that data, its harvesting, processing and manifestation, can play in contemporary culture.

The research is collaborative and participatory at its core, engaging audiences and communities and cultivating a rich transdisciplinary approach through collaborations across the arts and sciences.

Course details

Core modules.

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT1)

Research Skills in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (DRTS800)

This module provides research students the opportunity to explore the creation and interpretation of new knowledge within their field; develop the students’ ability to conceptualise, design and present their theses to merit publication; advance the students’ academic enquiry skills and techniques; and to generate and share the new knowledge within their academic discipline and professional practice.

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT2)

Optional modules

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT3)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT4)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT5)

Research Digital Art and Technology (GSRDAT6)

Entry requirements

Fees, costs and funding, how to apply.

• / Contact us
• ) Apply online
• u Doctoral College
• 6 Studentships

If you would like to discuss your application, at any stage, please contact Professor Mike Phillips . The Doctoral College is able to answer any questions you may have about applying for or undertaking a postgraduate research degree at the University of Plymouth: [email protected]  or +44 1752 587640 .  

The Doctoral College works with staff and students across the entire University to ensure that our diverse community of postgraduate and postdoctoral early career researchers is offered the best possible experience. Find out more about becoming a research student and the University's Researcher Development Programme on the Doctoral College webpages .

Visit Postgraduate research studentships to search for studentships currently available for this programme. 

Postgraduate research opportunities

i-DAT’s research themes and projects provide a rich context for Full Time and Part Time research students from a variety of disciplines, who can either engage with these major initiatives or build their research activity grounded in their own creative practice. i-DAT’s core supervisory team have more than 40 PhD completions in a broad range of areas, such as design, software development, interactive architecture, education/play, architecture, performance and robotics.

Supervisory teams can draw on collaborating research groups (such as eHealth, Geography, Robotics) and i-DAT contributes to the supervision of Professor Roy Ascott’s Planetary Collegium in Plymouth and Shanghai DeTao Node (as well as the historic Nodes in Milan, Zurich, Greece, and Lucern).  i-DAT is the catalyst behind the CODEX international Postgraduate Research network operating in collaboration with Jiangnan University, Nanjing University of the Arts and Soochow University in China.

i-DAT's core research themes:

Phd completions:.

We co-create and share technological prototypes and practices, that push and challenge the boundaries of digital arts and creative media practice.

Some of our people

Professor Mike Phillips

Professor of interdisciplinary arts.

Dr Gianni Corino

Associate professor in interactive media.

Dr Sana Murrani

Associate professor (spatial practice).

Dr Guido Bugmann

Visiting associate professor (reader).

Dr Jane Grant

Associate professor in visual arts.

Dr Mathew Emmett

Associate professor in architecture.

Professor Iain Stewart MBE

Professor of geoscience communication, sustainable earth institute.

Dr Alejandro Veliz Reyes

Associate head of school - knowledge exchange.

Dr Helen Pritchard

Associate professor in queer feminist technoscience and digital design.

Mr Chris Booth

Lecturer in user experience design.

Mr Joel Hodges

Lecturer in game arts & design.

Mr Luke Christison

Researcher - data visualisation.

Mr Musaab Garghouti

Lecturer in 3d visualisation, immersion and simulation.

Dr Andrew Prior

Associate professor digital art & technology.

Dr James Sweeting

Lecturer in game studies, funding for postgraduate research students.

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The Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University currently offers a Ph.D. Program in Art History and Visual Culture , and Master's Programs Digital Art History and Computational Media .

The department also participates in an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Computational Media, Arts & Cultures , co-sponsored by the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, the Program in Literature , the Franklin Humanities Institute , and the Information Science + Studies certificate program, and many of the faculty are involved in the MFA in Experimental & Documentary Arts .

The department strives to provide students with the necessary tools to understand the global visual and material cultures of the past and present and with the skills to interpret them for the benefit of the broader community.

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Digital Media PhD

Our digital media research is committed to transdisciplinarity, creative digital practice, the intersection of art and sciences, social technologies and public engagement.

You are currently viewing course information for entry year:

Start date(s):

• September 2024
• January 2025

The Digital Media PhD is part of the Fine Art programme of study. We offer PhD supervision in two main areas of digital media.

Digital arts practice is led by Dr Tom Schofield . It includes topics such as:

• emerging technologies and experimental practice
• art and science practice
• transdisciplinary practice
• interactivity and human-computer interaction in arts practice
• data visualisation and creative practice
• affective computing and creative practice
• applied philosophy
• philosophy of cognition
• contemporary art and media theory
• new production environments and living labs
• open source culture and creativity
• crowdsourcing and creativity

Digital media in museum, gallery and heritage settings is led by  Dr Areti Galani . It includes topics such as:

• online museum, gallery and heritage experiences
• social software and its implications for the cultural sector
• design and use of mobile, personal and ubiquitous technologies in cultural settings
• study and understanding of social museum experiences
• theory and practice of visitor studies
• ethnographic and ethnomethodological approaches in the study of museum experiences

Important information

We've highlighted important information about your course. Please take note of any deadlines.

Please rest assured we make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the programmes, services and facilities described. However, it may be necessary to make changes due to significant disruption, for example in response to Covid-19.

View our  Academic experience page , which gives information about your Newcastle University study experience for the academic year 2024-25.

See our  terms and conditions and student complaints information , which gives details of circumstances that may lead to changes to programmes, modules or University services.

Related courses

How you'll learn.

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

We offer a wide range of projects for the master's thesis. These will be provided by our academics. You can also propose your own topic.

Our mission is to help you:

• stay healthy, positive and feeling well
• overcome any challenges you may face during your degree – academic or personal
• get the most out of your postgraduate research experience
• carry out admin and activities essential to progressing through your degree
• understand postgraduate research processes, standards and rules

We can offer you tailored wellbeing support, courses and activities.

You can also access a broad range of workshops covering:

• research and professional skills
• careers support
• health and safety
• public engagement
• academic development

Find out more about our postgraduate research student support

Your development

Faculty of humanities and social sciences (hass) researcher development programme .

Each faculty offers a researcher development programme for its postgraduate research students. We have designed your programme to help you:

• perform better as a researcher
• boost your career prospects
• broaden your impact

Through workshops and activities, it will build your transferable skills and increase your confidence.

You’ll cover:

• techniques for effective research
• methods for better collaborative working
• essential professional standards and requirements

Your researcher development programme is flexible. You can adapt it to meet your changing needs as you progress through your doctorate.

Find out more about the Researcher Education and Development programme

Your future

Our careers service.

Our award-winning Careers Service is one of the largest and best in the country, and we have strong links with employers. We provide an extensive range of opportunities to all students through our ncl+ initiative.

Visit our Careers Service website

Quality and ranking

All professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by their professional body

From 1 January 2021 there is an update to the way professional qualifications are recognised by countries outside of the UK

Check the government’s website for more information .

You have access to top quality facilities at the University's Culture Lab . Culture Lab’s facilities include a stock of film cameras and editing suites, as well as motion-capture, animation and sound-mixing technology.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2024 entry (per year), home fees for research degree students.

For 2024-25 entry, we have aligned our standard Home research fees with those set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) . The standard fee was confirmed in Spring 2024 by UKRI.

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support.

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance here .

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See  our   searchable postgraduate funding page  for more information.  

What you're paying for

Tuition fees include the costs of:

• matriculation
• registration
• tuition (or supervision)
• library access
• examination
• re-examination

Find out more about:

• living costs
• tuition fees

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section .

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.

Search for funding

Find funding available for your course

Entry requirements

The entrance requirements below apply to 2024 entry.

Qualifications from outside the UK

English language requirements, admissions policy.

This policy applies to all undergraduate and postgraduate admissions at Newcastle University. It is intended to provide information about our admissions policies and procedures to applicants and potential applicants, to their advisors and family members, and to staff of the University.

Download our admissions policy (PDF: 201KB) Other policies related to admissions

Credit transfer and Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) can allow you to convert existing relevant university-level knowledge, skills and experience into credits towards a qualification. Find out more about the RPL policy which may apply to this course

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If you’re ready, you can select Apply Online and you’ll be taken directly to the application portal.

Alternatively you can find out more about applying on our applications and offers pages .

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Find out about how you can visit Newcastle in person and virtually

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We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University.

Visit our events calendar for the latest events

• Get in touch

Questions about this course?

If you have specific questions about this course you can contact:

School of Arts and Cultures Telephone: +44 (0) 191 208 3509 Please e-mail Karen Robb ( [email protected] ) and Tom Schofield ( [email protected] )

For more general enquiries you could also complete our online enquiry form.

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PhD Digital Media Arts

At Surrey, creativity and technology collide. Your skills and talents as a media practitioner, alongside intellectual curiosity, collaborative spirit, technical proficiency and sense of adventure, all come into play as you make use of the state-of-the-art facilities, great workspaces and dedicated multi-disciplinary supervision.

Key course information

October 2024 - full-time, october 2024 - part-time, january 2025 - full-time, january 2025 - part-time, april 2025 - full-time, april 2025 - part-time, july 2025 - full-time, july 2025 - part-time, why choose this programme.

• Our vibrant and expanding Digital Media Arts PhD programme spans film animation, visual effects and computational arts, immersive media, digital acting, motion graphics and movement interfaces, as well as performance capture, machine vision and interactive cinema.
• You'll benefit from our extensive connections to the creative industries through our partnerships with film production companies, animation houses, the VFX community and their facilities and studios, plus industry networks such as BAFTA and the British Film Institute.
• Our Guildford location is a short train journey from central London, and a town which is home to some of the most well-regarded games developers, immersive media producers and web design agencies, including Supermassive, Electronic Arts and Criterion.
• On campus, we share a building and collaborate on a daily basis with the prestigious Guildford School of Acting . We also work closely with colleagues from Surrey’s Engineering programmes and have found touchpoints in nearly every other department Surrey has to offer.
• We belong to TECHNE , an  Arts and Humanities Research Council  (AHRC)-funded doctoral training partnership, which provides access to comprehensive academic and professional training programmes, as well as the possibility of funding for your studies. 
• Surrey’s multi-disciplinary Doctoral College will cater to your academic and institutional needs and is a great way of linking you with fellow postgraduate researchers from Surrey’s wide variety of other disciplines.

Fantastic graduate prospects

100% of our Department of Music and Media postgraduate students go on to employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2023, HESA)

Research excellence

We are ranked in the top 20 for the quality of our research outputs - Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021

Programme details Open

What you will study.

This is a programme which will take you beyond the bounds of mere study. You will develop your own ground-breaking artistic practice into exciting and emerging fields such as virtual production, digital performance, pervasive filmmaking, contemporary animation, immersive audio-visual, experiential installation, digital art, creative computing and AI-based media production.

We will also help you deepen your contextual and theoretical knowledge in these and related fields. As a contemporary media practitioner and theorist, you will be fully encouraged to engage with topical research on current artistic and media practices, diversity, accessibility and cultural impacts.

We will also facilitate training in the latest tools and technologies to assist your creative development and enable you to create profound outputs that have impact.

If you have a proposal which you feel may match our supervision capabilities and expertise, or you are interested in the general areas we cover, please get in touch with us for an informal discussion by contacting  [email protected]  in the first instance.

Your final assessment will be based on the presentation of your research in a written thesis, which will be discussed in a viva examination with at least two examiners. You have the option of preparing your thesis as a monograph (one large volume in chapter form) or in publication format (including chapters written for publication), subject to the approval of your supervisors.

Stag Hill is the University's main campus and where the majority of our courses are taught. 

Research areas Open

Research themes.

• Emerging media
• Practice research
• Creative production
• Art, science and technology interactions
• Virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality
• New immersive experiences
• Visualisation and serious games
• Interactive storytelling
• Virtual cinematography
• Spectatorship, participation and play
• Interactive cinema
• Digital poetry
• Narrative and character portrayal in video games and interactive media
• Acting and performance for animation, games and film
• Embodied media
• Digital aesthetics
• Post-narrative theory
• Media psychology
• Generativity.

Discover more about our music and media research .

Research centres

• Digital World Research Centre

Academic staff Open

Jon Weinbren

Programme Director for Film, Animation and Digital Arts

Dr Andrew Gilbert

Associate Professor in Computer Vision and Machine Learning

Dr Maria Poulaki

Lecturer in Film and Digital Media Arts

Professor David Frohlich

Emeritus Professor of Interaction Design

Support and facilities Open

Research support.

The professional development of postgraduate researchers is supported by the Doctoral College , which provides training in essential skills through its Researcher Development Programme of workshops, mentoring and coaching. A dedicated postgraduate careers and employability team will help you prepare for a successful career after the completion of your PhD.

As a Digital Media Arts PhD student, you’ll gain access to a wide range of professional film, audio, video, and interactive production facilities , including:

• High-performance GPU-based computing facilities
• Fibre connected film and television studios
• Motion/performance capture
• 4K cine cameras and lenses
• Lighting, sound and grip equipment
• Set-building facilities
• Photogrammetry
• Film and sound editing
• State of the art production software
• Extensive fast media storage
• VR/AR/MR/XR head mounted displays
• Multiple GPU compute.

We have doubled the facilities space for music and media. Our Performing Arts Technology Studios have been upgraded and complemented by a £1.7m investment in state-of-the-art production and media suites.

All studios, edit rooms and acoustic rooms in the new space are linked by a new Dante digital audio network, providing audio interconnection between each room, plus video interconnects for flexible configurations of the recording spaces and studios.

Entry requirements Open

Uk qualifications.

Applicants are expected to hold a minimum of upper second-class (2:1) UK degree and usually an MA in a relevant arts subject or appropriate professional experience.

Candidates submitting proposals that include practice-based research will be required to provide evidence of appropriate experience and expertise.

Country-specific qualifications

International students in the united kingdom, english language requirements.

IELTS Academic: 6.5 or above (or equivalent) with 6.0 in each individual category.

These are the English language qualifications and levels that we can accept. 

If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses , designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here.

Selection process

Selection is based on applicants:

• Meeting the expected entry requirements
• Being shortlisted through the application screening process
• Completing a successful interview
• Providing suitable references.

Fees and funding Open

Fees per year.

Explore  UKCISA’s website for more information if you are unsure whether you are a UK or overseas student. View the  list of fees for all postgraduate research courses.

• Annual fees will increase by 4% for each year of study, rounded up to the nearest £100 (subject to legal requirements).
• Any start date other than September will attract a pro-rata fee for that year of entry (75 per cent for January, 50 per cent for April and 25 per cent for July).

Additional costs

There are additional costs that you can expect to incur when studying at Surrey.

A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan can help with course fees and living costs while you study a postgraduate doctoral course.

Application process

Applicants are advised to contact potential supervisors before they submit an application via the website. Please refer to section two of our  application guidance .

After registration

Students are initially registered for a PhD with probationary status and, subject to satisfactory progress, subsequently confirmed as having PhD status.

Apply online

To apply online first select the course you'd like to apply for then log in.

Select your course

Choose the course option you wish to apply for.

Create an account and sign into our application portal.

Digital Media Arts PhD

Full-time, October 2024

Part-time, October 2024

Full-time, January 2025

Part-time, January 2025

Full-time, April 2025

Part-time, April 2025

Full-time, July 2025

Part-time, July 2025

About the University of Surrey

Accommodation

We have a range of housing to suit all requirements and budgets. There are more than 6,000 rooms available (en-suite, single-sex, studio flat, shared or single).

Student life

At Surrey we offer a friendly university campus set in beautiful countryside, with the convenience and social life of bustling Guildford on your doorstep.

Need more information?

Contact our Admissions team or talk to a current University of Surrey student online.

Code of practice for research degrees

Surrey’s postgraduate research code of practice sets out the University's policy and procedural framework relating to research degrees. The code defines a set of standard procedures and specific responsibilities covering the academic supervision, administration and assessment of research degrees for all faculties within the University.

Download the code of practice for research degrees (PDF) .

Terms and conditions

When you accept an offer to study at the University of Surrey, you are agreeing to follow our policies and procedures , student regulations , and terms and conditions .

We provide these terms and conditions in two stages:

• First when we make an offer.
• Second when students accept their offer and register to study with us (registration terms and conditions will vary depending on your course and academic year).

View our generic registration terms and conditions (PDF) for the 2023/24 academic year, as a guide on what to expect.

This online prospectus has been published in advance of the academic year to which it applies.

Whilst we have done everything possible to ensure this information is accurate, some changes may happen between publishing and the start of the course.

It is important to check this website for any updates before you apply for a course with us. Read our full disclaimer .

Fully Funded MFA and PhD Programs in Art and Design

Last updated March 9, 2022

As part of my series on  How to Fully Fund Your PhD , I provide a list of universities that offer full funding for a MFA and PhD Programs in Art and Design, which, in addition to preparing you to work as a professional artist in your field, can lead to careers in academia, consulting, and curating for museums, among others. With the average cost of a Master’s and Doctoral degree nearing or exceeding $100,000, gaining admission to a fully funded program is ideal.

“Full funding” is a financial aid package for full-time students that includes full tuition remission and an annual stipend or salary for the three to six-year duration of the student’s doctoral studies. Funding is typically offered in exchange for graduate teaching and research work that is complementary to your studies. Not all universities provide full funding to their doctoral students, which is why I recommend researching the financial aid offerings of all the potential PhD programs in your academic field, including small and lesser-known schools both in the U.S. and abroad.

Would you like to receive the full list of more than 1000+ fully funded programs in 60 disciplines? Download the FREE Directory of Fully Funded Graduate Programs and Full Funding Awards !

1. Duke University, PhD in Art History and Visual Culture

(Durham, NC): The Graduate School provides Ph.D. students with a stipend, payment of tuition, and fee support for their first five years of study, as well as health insurance for the first six years if students are on the Duke student medical insurance plan. After their fifth year, students are responsible for tuition and fees, and most of our students obtain external or departmental funding to cover those costs.

2. Illinois State University, MFA in Art

(Normal, Il, IL): The University provides graduate assistantships as a means of financial support. Monthly wages paid in the form of either a stipend or an hourly wage, waiver for 100% of tuition during a semester of appointment, a waiver for up to 12 credit hours of tuition for the summer term immediately following a fall or spring appointment are included.

3. North Carolina State College of Design, PhD in Design

(Raleigh, NC): The PhD in Design program provides generous support for the students, which includes full tuition, stipend, and health insurance. This level of support is a minimum for the three years or more of the students’ study period.

4. Ohio State University, MFA in Visual Arts

(Columbus, OH): Most students accepted into the MFA Program are funded with a Graduate Associate appointment, which requires working 20 hours a week in exchange for a fee authorization (payment of tuition) and a stipend. These appointments may include teaching introductory courses, assisting in department labs, and working for The Arts Initiative.

5. Stanford University, MFA in Art Practice

(Stanford, CA): Through a combination of fellowship funds and teaching assistantships, each Art Practice graduate student normally receives an aid package that includes tuition and stipend as well as small materials grants.

6. Tulane University, MFA in Studio Art

(New Orleans, LA): All admitted graduate students receive a full tuition waiver and a generous assistantship stipend.

7. University of Arkansas, MFA in Studio Art

(Fayetteville, AR): All students in the M.F.A. Studio Art program are fully supported.  We are able to provide full assistantships to all of our M.F.A.’s. The assistantship includes a full tuition waiver and a stipend that will increase next year to $15,000 annually, plus  a Graduate Fellowship in the amount of $4,000 per year,  for a total package of $19,000 of support per year

8. University of California, Davis, MFA in Art Studio

(Davis, CA): The Art Studio MFA Program offers substantial financial support through paid Teaching Assistant positions each quarter and through Art Studio Program Fellowships, made possible by generous private endowments.

9. University of Connecticut, MFA in Studio Art

(Storrs, CT): Fully funded program providing both tuition remission, stipend, and health insurance.

10. University of Georgia, MFA in in Studio Art

(Athens, GA): All full-time students of the three-year MFA program are fully funded. Applicants will be automatically considered for departmental assistantships. Funding is also available from various sources to offset the cost of materials and travel related to graduate research.

11. University of Michigan, MFA in Art & Design

(Ann Arbor, MI): The Stamps School offers generous financial support to graduate students, in addition to teaching and research assistantships, stipends, and discretionary funds.

12. University of South Florida, MFA in Studio Art

(Tampa, FL): Every current graduate student in the School of Art & Art History receives a full tuition waiver plus either a scholarship OR a graduate assistantship. The USF School of Art & Art History offers two graduate degree programs: Master of Arts in Art History and Master of Fine Arts in Studio Art.

13. University of Oregon, MFA in Art

The Department of Art provides generous funding for MFA Candidates during their three years of study. All students in good standing are given free tuition through a combination of Graduate Employee Fellowship support and tuition remissions.

Choosing the right graduate program is important and involves multiple factors. As a next step, we recommend that you read How To Choose The Right Graduate Program .

© Victoria Johnson 2020, all rights reserved.

Related Posts:

• Fully Funded MA and MFA in Graphic Design
• Fully Funded Master's Programs in Anthropology
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in Mathematics
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in School Psychology
• Fully Funded PhD Programs in Political Science

Fully Funded PhD Programs

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Digital Art

Photo credit: Niloufar Emamifar 

Morehshin Allahyari

Enrique Chagoya

Paul DeMarinis

Shane Denson

Jan Krawitz

Camille Utterback

M.A. in Digital Art History/Computational Media

General info.

• Faculty working with students: 8 core faculty
• Students: 6 students per matriculating class
• Students receiving Financial Aid: None
• Part time study available: No
• Application terms: Fall
• Application deadlines: January 30

Dr. Mark Olson Director of Graduate Studies for Digital Art History and Computational Media Duke University Smith Warehouse, Bay 10, Room A262A Box 90766 Durham, NC 27708-0764

Email: [email protected]

Digital Art History:  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-dah

Computational Media:  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-cmac

Program Description

The Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies offers two types of degrees under the rubric of Digital Art History and Computational Media. The program builds on courses and well-developed strengths at Duke University, and requires ten (10) courses over three or four semesters in addition to summer research.  Students affiliate with an existing faculty research initiative, from which they will develop their own independent research project for the MA thesis, which combines written and digital project-based components.

The Digital Art History track  engages digital technologies in the research and presentation of art historical questions.  Common themes that can be explored are visualizing process, representing change over time, contextualizing displaced objects, and creating biographies of objects or databases/collections of materials. The ideal candidate for the Digital Art History track seeks to engage digital tools in historical questions about works of art, buildings and cities.  The MA provides a springboard for advanced study in art history, archaeology, architectural history, and visual or media studies.  It also prepares students for future work in fields such as museums education and exhibition design, cultural heritage and preservation, public history, city planning, and architectural design. For more information see  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-dah .

Funding may be available in the second and third semesters contingent on excellent work in the first semester of study.

The Computational Media track  emphasizes the study of visualization technologies in the context of media and technology histories, cultural analytics, and new media forms of expression.  Computational Media topics include the manufacture and dissemination of humanities data and its expression, the social and ethical considerations of digital cultural heritage interventions, and the aesthetic and rhetorical value of computational media forms.  The ideal candidate for the Computational Media track seeks deeper understanding of the intersection of quantitative and qualitative modes of historical and cultural research, is actively engaged with hands-on computational media production, and is interested in productive cross-overs between arts and sciences communities. This MA track prepares students for further graduate study in digital humanities and computational media and for training for jobs in media, design, advertising, and technical industries, among others.  For more information see  https://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/ma-cmac .

The MA program encourages applicants from across the Humanities and Social Sciences whether from established disciplines, such as history, archaeology, and art history, or emerging fields of study, such as spatial history, media arts & sciences, technocultural studies, or cultural geography. See http://aahvs.duke.edu/graduate/MA-historical-cultural-visualization  for more information.

• Digital Art History and Computational Media: Master's Admissions and Enrollment Statistics
• Digital Art History and Computational Media: Master's Career Outcomes Statistics

Application Information

Application Terms Available:  Fall

Application Deadlines:  January 30

Graduate School Application Requirements See the Application Instructions page for important details about each Graduate School requirement.

• Transcripts: Unofficial transcripts required with application submission; official transcripts required upon admission
• Letters of Recommendation: 3 Required
• Statement of Purpose: Required
• Résumé: Required
• GRE Scores: GRE General (Optional)
• English Language Exam: TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo English Test required* for applicants whose first language is not English *test waiver may apply for some applicants
• GPA: Undergraduate GPA calculated on 4.0 scale required
• Writing Sample: Required (see departmental guidance below)

Writing Sample

Applicants must upload a writing sample electronically via the Departmental Requirements section on the online application.  The writing sample is intended to convey a sense of the applicant’s capacity for scholarly writing. Generally, applicants submit an academic paper that they may have written for an undergraduate course, or an excerpt from a longer work (e.g. an honors thesis), of approximately 10-20 pages.

Optional Components Applicants are encouraged to upload or link to a representative digital art history/computational media work sample or portfolio. Links to representative works can be placed as an addendum to the statement of purpose. 

We strongly encourage you to review additional department-specific application guidance from the program to which you are applying: Departmental Application Guidance

List of Graduate School Programs and Degrees

Art (Digital Technology), MFA

• Program description
• At a glance
• Degree requirements
• Admission requirements
• Tuition information
• Application deadlines
• Program learning outcomes
• Global opportunities
• Career opportunities
• Contact information

MFA, audio, design, models, motion

The MFA in art with a concentration in digital technology combines technological and artistic goals and is designed for students with skills and experience in both realms; the program is offered by the School of Art in collaboration with the School of Arts, Media and Engineering. The School of Art supplies graduate-level courses in digital audio, video, photography, printing, interactive sculpture and rapid prototyping. Graduate courses offered by the School of Arts, Media and Engineering focus on topics such as interactive media, sensing and understanding activity, perception and cognition, programming and media installations. The curriculum provides artists with a foundation in contemporary art, a visiting artist and scholar lecture series, professional development workshops, teaching opportunities and pedagogical training. It fosters global awareness, civic engagement, social responsibility and collaborative action. Coursework is designed to advance discourse across a range of fields and shared research interests, including representation, identity, advanced technology, material studies, ecology, sustainability and science.

Students gain a foundation in digital media and have hands-on experiences in creating new digital tools. They work closely with faculty to develop knowledge, expand technical skills, and participate with communities to engage in impactful research and sustain a lifelong professional arts practice. Students are also provided world-class studio space at Grant Street Studios , which is located in the cultural hub of downtown Phoenix and includes a common wood shop, printmaking presses, photography darkroom, ceramics kilns, computer lab and 3D print lab.

The Master of Fine Arts program culminates in a solo thesis exhibition in one of the four School of Art galleries . Students can explore prior thesis projects on the School of Art exhibitions website.

Students in this program benefit from the vast resources afforded by a Research I university. Graduates are encouraged to engage with faculty across all disciplines and with world-renowned researchers from a variety of departments across ASU. Students also have access to the vibrant community of museums, galleries, businesses, and cultural organizations in Phoenix as well as in nearby Los Angeles, Santa Fe and Denver. Augmenting the curriculum are internships offered by a wide variety of arts organizations. Special initiatives also add dynamic opportunities for professionalization, and for students to learn from and connect with artists and curators. The School of Art galleries, the Ceramics Research Center and Archive , and the ASU Art Museum support a robust schedule of public exhibitions and visiting artist and scholar lectures. These events offer students the opportunity to develop their knowledge and appreciation of contemporary art and culture while building a professional network.

The Master of Fine Arts program emphasizes collaboration and immersive learning, providing students access to specialized facilities and collections that offer an invaluable resource for examining the ways in which history has shaped contemporary ways of seeing.

Applicants can visit School of Art advising support to learn more about the program and connect with graduate coordinators.

• College/school: Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts
• Location: Tempe

60 credit hours and an oral comprehensive exam

Graduate credit is subject to committee approval and includes:

36 graduate studio credit hours in the major areas of concentration, of which 18 credit hours are ART studio classes and 18 credit hours are graduate-level courses in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering 6 credit hours of ART 621 In Practice 6 credit hours of graduate-level art history 6 credit hours of ART 680 Practicum and 6 credit hours of AME 593 Applied Project, leading to either a final exhibition or an applied project

Applicants must fulfill the requirements of both the Graduate College and the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts.

Applicants are eligible to apply to the program if they have earned a bachelor's or master's degree from a regionally accredited institution.

Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in the last 60 hours of their first bachelor's degree program or a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.00 (scale is 4.00 = "A") in an applicable master's degree program.

All applicants must submit:

• graduate admission application and application fee
• official transcripts
• an art and digital technology resume
• current resume or curriculum vitae
• statement of intent
• statement and evidence of work demonstrating digital technology skills beyond end user applications
• three letters of recommendation
• proof of English proficiency

Additional Application Information An applicant whose native language is not English must provide proof of English proficiency regardless of their current residency via a TOEFL score (iBT® taken in a testing center).

Admission is a two-step process. Although applicants fill out one application through the online graduate application process, they must be admitted to the Master of Fine Arts program and to the Graduate College.

The portfolio must be of 20 images sized with maximum dimension of 1024 pixels; video files of less than 60 MB each; and an image list that accompanies the portfolio. The method for submission for the portfolio is online via SlideRoom: https://asuherberger.slideroom.com/#/Login . Applicants may upload images (.jpg), video (.mov, .wmv, .fly), music (.mp3) or PDF documents.

The statement of intent should not exceed 1,000 words and should address the applicant's artistic interests, reasons for applying to graduate school in general, and the ASU School of Art in particular, and the applicant's professional goals.

The letters of recommendation should be from faculty members with whom the applicant has studied or from recognized professionals in the field. All instructions for the letters of recommendation must be followed when submitting the application to the Graduate College.

Applicants should see the program website for application deadlines.

Prospective students should demonstrate accomplishments in art and technology, particularly in having developed new digital technology for the arts.

Program learning outcomes identify what a student will learn or be able to do upon completion of their program. This program has the following program outcomes:

• Apply concept development and knowledge of material practice in their focused media area to contextualize their research.
• Demonstrate professional preparedness by developing a comprehensive toolkit for self-promotion that will position them for success in the field of art and design.
• Demonstrate how their cohesive body of artwork fits within the context of the digital and fine art world holistically.

More and more ASU graduate students are pursuing Global Education opportunities . Although participating in a Global Education program as a graduate student presents unique challenges, it can also provide a meaningful opportunity to deepen the educational experience and connect an international opportunity with a student's career aspirations.

Graduates are prepared to initiate creative careers as artists, scholars and educators in the public and private sphere --- a degree in the arts offers students a pathway to a rich and varied choice of careers. Studio art graduates find employment opportunities as artists in the field, selling their works through commercial galleries and commissions, and to private collectors; as museum or gallery professionals, art dealers and directors; as private school art teachers or college professors; and as community-based artists (venues might include health care settings, nonprofit agencies, and local and national public arts). Master of Fine Arts degree holders have the credentials necessary for teaching courses in their discipline at colleges and universities. They also are fully prepared to enter the art market or art administration, or to work in other competitive creative fields. Graduates of this program also go on to start their own galleries or small businesses, or exhibit at notable institutions; some have been awarded prestigious grant and residency opportunities. Graduates of the concentration in digital technology are also engaged as technology consultants, freelance artists and technologists, and they join a variety of art and technology collaborations.

A graduate degree is essential for many professional positions. A master's degree prepares individuals to teach at the community college level; to practice and publish as an art critic or writer; to enhance one's own practice as an artist; or to gain entry into employment in museums, archives, historical societies, art libraries, auction houses, publishing companies and academic presses. A doctorate is a necessity for employment as a university or college instructor and for responsible administrative and curatorial positions in the museum and publishing world.

School of Art | ART 102 [email protected] 480-965-8521

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DXARTS Ph.D - Degree Timeline & Requirements

Degree timeline , phase one:  coursework & qualifying exam an critique.

One to two-year period of study, depending on a student's previous training and accomplishments. 

Coursework in an interdisciplinary core curriculum chosen from DXARTS and partner departments.  Students will devise a course of study in this phase with advice and approval of their primary faculty advisor.  Phase One students must take at least four courses from the list of 400 and 500 level DXARTS courses approved by faculty advisor, and must also register for Research Studio (DXARTS 500) every quarter.  

Qualifying Exam and Critique

Upon completion of the above requirements and no later than the 6th quarter of study students will present a selection of their work done during Phase One to their Critique Committee in the following format:

The Qualifying Written Examination:

• Field One : on the history and theory of the candidate's mediums of engagement.
• Field Two : on the importance of their particular arts practice providing a brief comparative perspective between personal arts philosophy and a broader reflection of current invention, innovation, and experimentation in their areas of engagement.

The Qualifying Critique:  

Phase one completion requirements: .

   Total Credit Hours in Phase One: minimum 30

•    Passing of Qualifying Exam

Phase Two: General Exam For Doctoral Candidacy

One to two-year period of continued study and artistic production which begins after successfully passing the Qualifying Critique.

Coursework with increasing focus on a small number of specific areas accompanied by significant semi-independent research and creative work. Students  must also continue to register for Research Studio (DXARTS 500) every quarter.

General Exam

The General Examination for Doctoral Candidacy is administered after the student has passed the Qualifying Critique. The exam is typically taken at the end of the student's third year . Prior to the General Examination at the end of phase two, six quarters of full-time study must be completed (Some students may require longer preparation before being approved to take the General Examination). Part-time quarters may be added together to equal full-time 10 credit quarters, but three out of four consecutive quarters must be full-time. None of the credits earned for this requirement may be in DXARTS 800 (Final Doctoral Project) credits.  The General Exam is comprised of the following components: 

Application of Technique:

• This part of the exam will take place over a four to seven-day period. The student will be given a project to accomplish within their primary areas of focus.

Oral Exam: 

• If the student's Supervisory Committee has decided that the Application of Technique part of the exam was completed successfully, the student will take the Oral Exam no less than 1 week after the beginning of the project period and no more than 2 weeks afterwards. This part of the General Exam is approximately 1.5 hours. The student may be questioned about their carrying out of the application component of the exam as well as a range of technical and creative subjects pertinent to Digital Arts and Experimental Media.

The purpose of the General examination is:

To determine whether the student has acquired the necessary background in at least two major areas of Digital and Experimental Arts as well as background appropriate for his/her proposed research.

To determine whether the student is able to draw on this background to continue to progress in their research and creative work in a primarily independent manner.

To determine whether the proposed area of research and creative work have the potential of leading to an original and substantial work of art which explores new aesthetic domains based on the invention of new and advanced technical means.

Phase Two Completion Requirements: 

 Six quarters of full-time study must be completed prior to General Exam (Some students may require longer preparation before being approved to take the General Examination).

Part-time quarters may be added together to equal full-time 10 credit quarters, but three out of four consecutive quarters must be full-time.

None of the credits earned for this requirement may be in DXARTS 800 (Final Doctoral Project) credits.

Phase Three: Final Project

Proposal of final project.

By the end of the quarter following the General Exam the student must submit a formal proposal for the Final Doctoral Project. The project proposal will state the theoretical and practical problems the student will explore, as well as the research methods and technologies that the student will develop and employ. It will explain how the work will constitute original aesthetic and conceptual explorations, as well as demonstrate the manifestation of innovative approaches to the use and development of technology and/or science in the Arts.

Final Project and Examination

The Final Project will be comprised of a major work of art work representing an advance in the field. Art works must be accompanied by thorough written documentation describing the processes, technologies, techniques, and conceptual frameworks. In all cases, the Final Project must constitute an original contribution to methods, applied techniques and theories of the generative arts.

The Final Examination has two components:

Final Project Presentation: 

• The nature of this presentation will vary widely depending upon the nature of the work. For example the public presentation could be a showing of the work in a gallery or museum setting, a concert or theatrical presentation, a public space setting, or some other non-traditional and experimental venue designed by the candidate. This presentation is the concrete expression of the student's individual research goals, intellectual investigation, technical skill and artistic vision assembled during their tenure as a DXARTS doctoral student. The student must have written approval by the Supervisory Committee that the actual presentation qualifies as the formal Final Project Presentation.

Oral Defense of Final Project: 

• This will be public presentation in the form of an Oral Exam of approximately 1.5 hours during which the candidate will give a professional level presentation about all aspects of the Final Project. The Exam will include questions from the Supervisory Committee and Oral Defense attendees present during the presentation of the Final Project. Successful completion of the Oral Exam results in conferral of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Digital Arts and Experimental Media.

Degree Requirements

Complete 60 credits of DXARTS approved courses (not including the DXARTS 800 credits). At least 30 of the credits earned must be at the 500 level. At least 30 must be in graded 400 and 500 level courses.

Maintain a minimum 3.0 GPA in DXARTS courses. At the discretion of the Program Director in consultation with DXARTS faculty students who fall below a 3.0 GPA may be allowed a probationary period during which they must show improvement or be terminated from the program.

The student must pass the General Exam. Registration as a graduate student is required during the quarter the exam is taken.

The student must complete a Final Project that is a substantial and original contribution in both artistic and technical domains. The student must take at least 27 credits of DXARTS 800 (Final Doctoral Project) over a period of at least three quarters before taking the Final Doctoral Exam.

The student must pass the two-part Final Exam. Registration as a doctoral student is required during the quarter the exam is taken.

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Art Education, Ph.D.

Ph.D. in Art Education (+Dual Ph.D.)

TODO FIXME : DRAFT : WORK IN PROGRESS

Elevate your scholarship and the art education profession..

The Ph.D. in Art Education prepares students to become innovative researchers, informed educators, and leaders in higher education, schools, communities, and museums. At Penn State, you’ll enjoy all the resources of a large research university within a close-knit, collegial environment of faculty and fellow students committed to making an impact on the field of art education.

Program Application Deadline

The deadline for applications for AY 2023–24 is January 15, 2023.

To be assured full consideration, please review all details on program and admission requirements, and ensure that you apply by this deadline.

Earn a Ph.D. in Art Education at Penn State

Take your experience and research in art education to the next level. Penn State’s Ph.D. in Art Education–including unique dual-title options that incorporate African American and Diaspora Studies or Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies –is ideal if you want to build on your experience in the field through original research projects that make significant contributions to art education theory and practice.

Coursework in art education and related disciplines such as philosophy, curriculum and instruction, sociology, anthropology, and other fields provides necessary theoretical and methodological background for dissertation research. Doctoral students are required to complete 32 credits of graduate coursework (20 of which are to be completed in art education), pass their Qualifying Examination, English Competency Examination, Comprehensive Examination, Final Examination, and submit a dissertation.

Faculty bring a range of teaching, research, and administrative experience from across the country and around the world. The international student body provides students with insight into a range of art teaching practices. You’ll benefit from all the resources of a large research university while studying as part of the collaborative, close-knit community within the Penn State School of Visual Arts.

Applicants apply for admission to the program via the Graduate School application for admission . Requirements listed here are in addition to Graduate Council policies listed under GCAC-300 Admissions Policies .

The language of instruction at Penn State is English. English proficiency test scores (TOEFL/IELTS) may be required for international applicants. See GCAC-305 Admission Requirements for International Students for more information.

Students who seek admission to the graduate program must make formal application to The Graduate School and admissions committee of the Art Education program. To be admitted without deficiencies, the student is expected to have completed either a baccalaureate degree in art education or a program considered by the admissions committee to provide an appropriate background for the application’s degree objectives. Related programs include work in studio art, art history, art education, education, museum education, etc. Deficiencies may be made up by course work that is not counted as credit toward an advanced degree. Students pursuing graduate degrees may simultaneously take course work leading to teaching certification and art supervisory certification. The students who plan to teach art education at the college level should note that some institutions require professors to hold a public school art teaching certificate and to have had public school teaching experience.

Students with a minimum 3.00 junior/senior grade-point average (on a 4.00 scale) and with appropriate course backgrounds will be considered for admission. The most qualified applicants will be accepted up to the number of spaces that are available for new students. Exceptions to the minimum 3.00 average may be made for students with special backgrounds, abilities, and interests. Transcripts should indicate high attainment in appropriate academic and creative work. Letters of recommendation should attest to scholarship and ability to work independently. In addition to the above requirements, there are specific requirements for each degree program:

M.S. and Ph.D. Application Materials

• Completed official Penn State Graduate School Application for Admission .
• professional objectives
• how these objectives would be furthered by graduate study,
• the areas in which research and creative work are planned,
• what the applicant hopes to do with the graduate degree he or she is seeking to attain, and
• evidence that the applicant is prepared to undertake graduate level work.
• Submit an example of scholarly writing.
• Submit three (3) letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation should attest to the applicant’s scholarship and ability to work independently.
• Submit official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended .
• Submit a Portfolio (optional). Applicants may submit images of their creative works that represent arts-based research or images that illustrate their conception of art.
• Indicate in your Statement of Professional Intent if you would like to be considered for an Assistantship/Fellowship.

M.P.S. Application Materials

• Statement of purpose in pursuing the M.P.S. in Art Education.
• Three letters of recommendation.
• Teaching portfolio to include teaching philosophy and a sample of curricular materials developed by the applicant.
• A critical reflective written response to an article provided in the GRADS application site. The response should outline the key arguments made by the author(s), a critical evaluation of the logic and assumptions in the article, and a connection to the applicant’s own instructional or professional experience.
• Curriculum vitae with evidence of professional leadership and service.
• Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions attended , including official military transcripts (if applicable). (All college or university transcripts are required regardless of the length of time that has passed, the grades earned, or the accreditation of the institutions attended.)
• International applicants whose first language is not English or who have received a baccalaureate or master’s degree from an institution in which the language of instruction is not English, please refer to GCAC-305 Admission Requirements for International Students .

https://bulletins.psu.edu

Ph.D. in Art Education Handbook

Graduate courses carry numbers from 500 to 699 and 800 to 899. Advanced undergraduate courses numbered between 400 and 499 may be used to meet some graduate degree requirements when taken by graduate students. Courses below the 400 level may not. A graduate student may register for or audit these courses in order to make up deficiencies or to fill in gaps in previous education but not to meet requirements for an advanced degree.

Art Education (AED) Course List

Graduate assistantships available to students in this program and other forms of student aid are described in the Tuition & Funding section of The Graduate School’s website. Students on graduate assistantships must adhere to the course load limits set by The Graduate School.

Current Cohort Bios

Dissertations

Aaron Knochel

• Associate Professor of Art Education

[email protected]

814.863.7309

Is the Ph.D. in Art Education right for you?

The Ph.D. in Art Education is for scholars who want to delve deeper into art education research topics. Students in the program conduct original research with the potential to impact art education theory and practice.

The program fosters collaboration, collegiality, and innovation within a close-knit environment where students also enjoy all the resources of a large research university.

Degree Options

Penn State’s Art Education program offers the opportunity to pursue one of two extraordinary dual-title Ph.D. degree options – Art Education + African American and Diaspora Studies, or Art Education + Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Either of these novel, interdisciplinary options will position you to make a lasting impact on the art education profession.

Dual Ph.D. and Diaspora Studies

This dual-title Ph.D. is for scholars who want to delve deeper into art education research topics with a focus on African American life, art, and visual culture. Students in the program conduct original research with the potential to impact art education theory and practice, as well as the field of African American and diaspora studies.

In addition to art education and African American and diaspora studies, course work covers related disciplines such as philosophy, curriculum and instruction, sociology, anthropology, and other fields, providing the necessary theoretical and methodological background for a dissertation. Students must complete 47 credits.

Faculty bring a range of teaching, research, and administrative experience from across the country and around the world. The international student body provides students with insight into a range of art teaching and research practices.

Graduate Bulletin Links

• African American and Diaspora Studies Bulletin page.
• Graduate Studies information related to the dual-title Ph.D. in Art Education + African American and Diaspora Studies.

Dual Ph.D. and Gender Studies

The dual-title graduate degree in Art Education + Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies is for students who want to focus on feminist and non-binary perspectives and pedagogy in their art education research.

Coursework in art education, gender and sexuality studies, and related disciplines such as philosophy, curriculum and instruction, sociology, anthropology, and other fields provides necessary theoretical and methodological background for thesis and dissertation research.

Faculty for the dual-title degree program bring a range of teaching, research, and administrative experience from across the country and around the world. The international student body provides students with insight into a range of teaching practices.

• Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Bulletin page .
• Graduate Studies information related to the dual-title Ph.D. in Art Education + Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies.

Guides + Resources

• Art Education Ph. D. Handbook
• The Graduate School At Penn State

Considering the Ph.D. in Art Education? Consider this.

You’ll make an impact on the discipline through your research.

• Faculty bring experience from across the country and the world.
• Dual-title Ph.D. options layer diverse, interdisciplinary perspectives with Art Ed scholarship.
• Enjoy SoVA’s close-knit environment, along with all the resources of a major research university.
• Program fosters collaboration, collegiality, and innovation.
• Penn State has sponsored the annual Graduate Research in Art Education (GRAE) conference since 2005.

Legal Statements

• Non-Discrimination
• Equal Opportunity
• Accessibility
• The Pennsylvania State University © 2024

We have 10 Digital Media (art) PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

Communication & Media Studies

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Digital Media (art) PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships

Phd in art, design and media, self-funded phd students only.

The PhD opportunities on this programme do not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

PhD Research Programme

PhD Research Programmes present a range of research opportunities shaped by a university’s particular expertise, facilities and resources. You will usually identify a suitable topic for your PhD and propose your own project. Additional training and development opportunities may also be offered as part of your programme.

How is visual music evolving? From experimental film making to assemblages of old A/V equipment, bespoke combinations of software and hardware to off the shelf units and live performance.

Phd research project.

PhD Research Projects are advertised opportunities to examine a pre-defined topic or answer a stated research question. Some projects may also provide scope for you to propose your own ideas and approaches.

This project does not have funding attached. You will need to have your own means of paying fees and living costs and / or seek separate funding from student finance, charities or trusts.

Investigating the science of synaesthesia and crossmodal experience as a basis of robust parameters for a visual language of sound.

The language of visual music: an historical re-evaluation of the visual music canon in search of the origins of correlations between sound and vision., photography and digital marketing for fashion, film studies phd (option of joint phd with hong kong university), arts research programme.

Arts Research Programmes present a range of research opportunities, shaped by a university’s particular expertise, facilities and resources. You will usually identify a suitable topic for your PhD and propose your own project. Additional training and development opportunities may also be offered as part of your programme.

Digital Humanities by Practice

Funded phd programme (students worldwide).

Some or all of the PhD opportunities in this programme have funding attached. Applications for this programme are welcome from suitably qualified candidates worldwide. Funding may only be available to a limited set of nationalities and you should read the full programme details for further information.

Humanities Research Programme

Humanities Research Programmes present a range of research opportunities, shaped by a university’s particular expertise, facilities and resources. You will usually identify a suitable topic for your PhD and propose your own project. Additional training and development opportunities may also be offered as part of your programme.

Designing Meaningful Mixed Reality Experiences

Culture, media & creative industries phd, ai (de)gendered selfies, their psychological effects and prevention.

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Events See all →

Driskell and friends.

The Arthur Ross Gallery presents the work of artist, scholar, and curator David Driskell and explores his relationships with other artists. Friends include: Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Keith Morrison, James Porter, and Hale Woodruff.

6:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

Arthur Ross Gallery, 220 S. 34th St.

Garden Jams

5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Penn Museum, 3260 South St.

July 2024 Wellness Walk

8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.

Benjamin Franklin Statue by College Hall

ICA Summer 2024 Opening Celebration

7:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

Institute of Contemporary Art, 118 S. 36th St.

Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences

Studying the benefits of virtual art engagement

James pawelski and katherine cotter talk to penn today about their research into digital art galleries..

The everyday visitor to an art museum may not know how many seconds or minutes they spent looking at a given painting or whether they spent more time with purple art or green art. But by placing participants in a virtual art gallery and using an open-source tool, researchers from the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project at the Positive Psychology Center have been able to track this kind of data and match behavior with questionnaire responses.

Studying virtual art galleries and their wellbeing benefits is a relatively new line of inquiry for the Project, a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab. Some digital art experiences take the form of an online picture catalog of artwork while others “are almost like Google Maps Street View, where you can click through,” says Katherine Cotter , associate director of research.

Cotter and James Pawelski , principal investigator and founding director of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, talked with Penn Today about their research into digital art engagement.

How did you begin studying virtual art galleries?

Pawelski: This is a case of necessity being the mother of invention. When we brought Katherine on as a part of the Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, we had great plans and support to conduct research in the Philadelphia Museum of Art to see how visits there affected the visitor’s wellbeing. Unfortunately, the pandemic had other ideas. 

A lot of art museums pivoted very quickly to making their exhibitions available online. Katherine had a colleague who had a very creative and dedicated partner who offered to create a virtual platform for study during the pandemic. He followed through and OGAR—the Open Gallery for Arts Research—was born. We then helped to co-develop it to add more functions. 

Because of these various projects that museums had undergone—putting their art online, making it accessible virtually—these opportunities were not going to go away when the pandemic was over. Instead, they realized this is a very powerful way of engaging audiences who can’t come, or can’t come today, to the art museum. We’ve been in conversations with a variety of art museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and their digital folks there, and thinking, “How can we continue to use this platform to study the wellbeing effects of engaging with art?”

For people interested in exploring art from the comfort of their homes, what are some of your favorite virtual art experiences?

Cotter: One that I think is also really cool is Google Arts & Culture because they have such high-resolution images. You can scroll in so close to see the brushstrokes. James and I also taught a course for the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia around this topic of visual art and flourishing on their online platform, which also has some of these really nice zoom-in features. They’re doing a lot of robust online teaching and programming on a variety of topics.

How does this work fit into the larger Humanities and Human Flourishing Project, and what does human flourishing mean in the context of engaging with art?

Pawelski: The Humanities and Human Flourishing Project is interested in looking at connections between arts and culture and various positive outcomes. These can range from physiological outcomes—Does it have an effect on your cortisol levels? Does it have an effect on your heart rate?—to neuroscientific effects. What happens in our brains as we walk into an art museum or as we go onto OGAR? 

We have a very broad notion of what we mean by these flourishing outcomes, and we have five different key pathways that we’ve identified. The first one is immersion; it’s hard to be changed by an experience in the arts and humanities if you’re not paying attention to it. The others include being able to express your feelings and your thoughts, acquiring long-term skills that you can put to use elsewhere, connecting with others, and reflecting on what the experience means to you.

You recently published a study on the wellbeing benefits of virtual art galleries. Can you talk about the design of the study and the digital art gallery that you used?

Cotter: This was a gallery put together with OGAR where we partnered with the Philadelphia Museum of Art to utilize their collection and create a set of galleries featuring 30 artworks. Part of what we were interested in was what happens in the virtual gallery but also what happens when people have repeated engagement. We had people complete a series of four gallery visits, and each gallery was different, so they were seeing new art each time. 

We see that people—across time—are having changes in their positive emotions, their negative emotions, and what we call aesthetic emotions, so feeling moved or in awe, or getting goosebumps or chills. But what seems to be particularly important is their immersion levels. People who are more immersed in these experiences overall have greater positive emotion, lower negative emotion, and more of these aesthetic feelings. 

All five personality traits—openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism—were uniquely linked to immersion, so people who are higher in these traits are reporting greater immersion. An interesting lack of effect was that none of these things was associated with people’s interest in art coming in, so it didn’t mean you had to be highly engaged with art or highly interested in art to see these benefits. 

Pawelski: Another aspect of our work that I think is really valuable is that if you go to an art museum and you ask these questions, that’s great, but you have to keep in mind that you have a biased sample. These are people who have decided, for whatever reason, that this is the way they’re going to spend their day. What is it about those people versus the other people driving by who have not decided to do that? Can you really generalize from that self-selected population to everyone? But with the work that we’re doing with OGAR, these are people who are representatively selected.

Are there particular benefits to a virtual art engagement compared to an in-person experience?

Cotter: There are unique affordances to the digital. I can go to three different international museums in the same day if I want to and not have to spend all that money on airfare to get to them. 

I got a not-infrequent number of responses from people doing this study saying they haven’t been to a museum in a long time because of physical or geographic accessibility, and they’re like, “It was so nice to view art again because I couldn’t.” I think there’s also some of these broader accessibility factors that come into play. If you want to go to a museum, they’re open at certain times; the internet’s always open. There’s mobility considerations as well; there’s not always a lot of spots to sit in the galleries, or they’re often taken.

Pawelski: I think in some ways, our attitudes about art need to catch up with our attitudes about music. I don’t think anybody would say, “You’re listening to Spotify? Why would you do that? That’s kind of nuts. You’re not actually with the musician? You’re not actually at the concert?” 

We have incredible richness available to us in music. Why not take advantage of a similar kind of richness that we have available to us in art?

The power of protons

Campus & Community

To Penn’s Class of 2024: ‘The world needs you’

The University celebrated graduating students on Monday during the 268th Commencement.

Class of 2025 relishes time together at Hey Day

An iconic tradition at Penn, third-year students were promoted to senior status.

Picturing artistic pursuits

Hundreds of undergraduates take classes in the fine arts each semester, among them painting and drawing, ceramics and sculpture, printmaking and animation, photography and videography. The courses, through the School of Arts & Sciences and the Stuart Weitzman School of Design, give students the opportunity to immerse themselves in an art form in a collaborative way.

Penn celebrates operation and benefits of largest solar power project in Pennsylvania

Solar production has begun at the Great Cove I and II facilities in central Pennsylvania, the equivalent of powering 70% of the electricity demand from Penn’s academic campus and health system in the Philadelphia area.

From concept to creation: How AI is shaping the future of art in digital Hollywood

Shaun Foster, professor and program director in RIT's 3D digital design program, recently attended Digital Hollywood: The AI Summer Summit and shares his insights.

Attending the Digital Hollywood session was a remarkable experience, filled with insightful discussions and innovative ideas about the future of Al in the creative industry. Shaun Foster , professor and undergraduate program director of 3D digital design in RIT's School of Design and a Generative Al Fellow, found the conversations both enlightening and inspiring. Here are some key takeaways from the session .

The evolution of Al in creative processes

One of the major themes of the panel was Al's transformative power in enhancing creative processes. Tools like MidJourney, Stable Diffusion, and OpenAl's GPT models are revolutionizing how artists and creators generate content. However, the consensus among the panelists was clear: while these tools are powerful, they often require customization to meet specific artistic needs. AI engineering expert Hassan Farhat highlighted how his team developed specialized frameworks to achieve desired results, reducing the guesswork involved in using generic models.

Generative Al and real-time 3D

In my own work at RIT, I've been exploring the intersection of generative Al and real-time 3D creation. This involves using Al to generate preliminary models and environments, which can then be refined and customized by human artists. This approach not only speeds up the creative process but also opens up new possibilities for rapid iteration and experimentation. As I mentioned during the session, the ability to reach an 80% quality level quickly is a game changer, allowing artists to focus their efforts on the final 20% where their unique creative touch makes the most difference.

Collaboration and democratization

A recurring theme was the potential of Al to democratize content creation. Rachel Joy Victor emphasized how Al tools enable individuals without traditional artistic skills to visualize and create their ideas. This democratization is empowering a new generation of "prompt artists" who can use language and Al to generate compelling visuals and narratives. This is particularly exciting for educational settings, where students can experiment with these tools to bring their visions to life.

Challenges and ethical considerations

Despite the enthusiasm, there were also discussions about the challenges and ethical implications of Al in the creative industry. One concern is the potential for homogenization of artistic styles, as many Al-generated images tend to look similar due to the nature of their compensation to creators whose work is used to train these models. Ensuring that artists retain control over their intellectual property and are fairly compensated is crucial for the sustainable development of Al technologies.

Future directions

Looking ahead, panel moderator and founder of Showdog Studio , John Attard , reiterated that the integration of Al into the creative pipeline is going to continue to evolve. There is potential for even greater collaboration between Al and human creators, with Al handling repetitive and time-consuming tasks, allowing artists to focus on higher-level creative decisions. The development of smaller, specialized models, as advocated by Hassan Farhat, could lead to more tailored and efficient workflows.

Moreover, the combination of Al with other emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) promises to further expand the horizons of what is possible in digital content creation. The ability to create immersive, interactive experiences will open up new avenues for storytelling and audience engagement.

The evolution is real

The Digital Hollywood session underscored the incredible potential of Al to transform the creative industry. While there are challenges to address, the opportunities for innovation and democratization are immense. As we continue to explore and refine these technologies, it is essential to keep ethical considerations at the forefront and ensure that the benefits of Al are accessible to all creators.

Attending this session has reaffirmed my belief in the importance of integrating Al into creative education and practice. At RIT, we will continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, preparing the next generation of artists and technologists to thrive in this exciting new landscape.

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Digital Humanities on the Rise

Digital humanities scholar Victoria Szabo talks about some of the latest digital arts and history projects at Duke that are allowing students to learn in new ways

When Victoria Szabo began working in the digital humanities in the 1990s, the Internet was just emerging, and inaccessible information was suddenly accessible.  

Rare texts and images that were seen primarily in libraries are now widely available. That prompted scholars to learn digital skills such as coding and programming.

Duke’s arts and humanities faculty members harnessed this momentum in a variety of ways, launching a series of digital, long-term arts and history projects. Szabo, a research professor in the Art, Art History & Visual Studies Department, has seen the rise of the digital humanities at Duke up close. She spoke with Duke Today recently about her observations.   

 Here is a condensed version of the interview:  

How wide ranging are the digital humanities in academia?   

You have people in English doing their version of digital humanities, which might be more text-analysis oriented. Like instead of reading one book, maybe you're reading 100 books at a time remotely. Our department, art, art history and visual studies, tends to be much more involved in art and architectural history. We're doing more work with images and media than other people might be more interested in, like in archaeology, where maybe they're doing virtual reconstructions or things like that. So, it's kind of diversified alongside all the different disciplines. And then what brings it all together is the fact that you can do this stuff digitally and you can present it and share it, but then the specific methods vary based on what you do in the discipline to begin with. 

If you were a student here at Duke now taking digital humanities classes, how could you learn differently from five or 10 years ago?   

We have more things available online. So, when I teach a class, people don't usually buy books anymore or even print stuff out. They're just reading it online. They get kind of mad if you expect them to look at a book.

And in the classroom, you can all look at those resources. One of the things that that we do a lot is try and think about how you can learn by making. If you’re studying a text or a historical period or an image, maybe you're not only reading about it or writing about it, but you’re also making a creative project. That or a digital project that helps you to understand it. So, if you’re creating an annotated edition of a text, maybe you’re adding in web elements. Or, if you’re doing an analysis of an image, you can create hotspot areas and explain them. And then in the process of doing that, you, the instructor, can learn because you’re someone who’s helping to create educational materials at the same time. So, this kind of active learning also applies even for things like the history of architecture.   

“The making process in digital humanities becomes important to the learning process. Even if the thing you make isn’t all that awesome, like maybe you’re not going to put it in a museum, it’s still the process of doing.” Victoria Szabo

 So, the making process in digital humanities becomes important to the learning process. Even if the thing you make isn’t all that awesome, like maybe you’re not going to put it in a museum, it’s still the process of doing. And that’s why so many of our courses tend to have that mixture of making something as well as studying it.  That’s a big difference that’s become more and more accepted.   

Can a student major in the digital humanities?  

 In a way, yes. We recently created an interdepartmental major and minor called Computational Media, which sits between Computer Science and Visual and Media Studies. This curricular path builds upon ongoing relationships across the two programs and offers a way forward for students who want to specialize in doing digital humanities and computational media in greater depth from both the computational and humanistic perspectives.  In addition, we have an MA in Digital Humanities/Computational Media and an interdisciplinary PhD in Computational Media, Arts & Cultures that are related. So, we have opportunities at all levels – from first year students to PhDs. 

Some opportunities are related to games. We have a FOCUS cluster; it’s called Virtual Realities, Fictional Worlds and Games . The first-year students were super excited about that because it allowed them to take seriously something that they thought of as their hobby or their activity and turned it into an object of critique. So that was popular. Then, classes that are related to people learning how to do virtual worlds, creation or game engine design.  

  Can you share an example of how digital media has shaped our history?    

I think about what the equivalent is of the Gutenberg Bible . The rise of printing that was the distribution of knowledge. I don't know if there’s like any one thing.   

I think having a much richer understanding of the cultural history and the landscape that we get out of digital access is one of the most transformative things, and it’s really simple because it’s not even talking about making all this digital stuff. It’s just talking about access. And that’s why I ended up going in digital humanities myself, trying to figure out how to tell a fuller story.   

What is your new project focusing on Durham all about?   

The project that we’re doing is about Durham in 1924 and trying to give a portrait of the city a hundred years ago. We’re calling this exhibition that we’re creating for the Rubenstein Library “A Worthy City.” 

 The reason we’re calling it that is because when the Duke [family] gave all this money to turn Trinity College into Duke University , they had all these aspirations for what the university would look like. But the city itself needed to be transformed. It had been, and it still is a manufacturing place. It was a tobacco distribution center. It was a railroad stop. It was all of that. But then it was also trying to become this place that’s worthy of an elite university.

And so, what does that mean? That means things that we would now see as gentrification happening. Transformation of the landscape, the built environment. And the change of the university changes the dynamics of what the neighborhoods look like.   

And if you listen to the Duke leaders, of course, they’re going to talk about this wonderful celebratory arc of this small regional school to this international powerhouse. And that’s true. But there were also people who are already here whose lives were impacted and changed by the insertion of Duke and another higher education institutions into the area.   

A Digital Portrait of Durham From Long Ago “A Worthy Place: Duke, Durham, and the World in the 1920s and 30s” will open in the Chappell Gallery in Rubenstein Library in January 2025. It will emphasize archival materials from the Perkins Library Collections and how these materials help tell the story of the city at the time of  Duke’s inception as a university. There will be interactive digital maps and other media in the exhibit space, and we will also have a related, corresponding online exhibition on the web, which will be accessible via QR codes from the exhibit and from a URL we’ll share publicly and via postcards. 

Aneesa Shaw is a current N.C. Central University student who worked this summer as a Charmaine McKissick-Melton Fellow in University Communications and Marketing.