Royal College of Art

Location
London, UK

Since
1995 (research)

Disciplines
visual arts, design, architecture, fashion, photography, curating

Degrees offered
MPhil, PhD

Number of third cycle students
134 (2008-2009)

Structure
RCA is fully a postgraduate institution. Approx. 12% of its students are research students. All research student activities are coordinated and monitored by the Research Office, but research students are enrolled at one of the RCA’s twenty departments.

Requirements
Applicants for the MPhil must normally have a good relevant undergraduate degree; applicants to the PhD an MA. Students are normally accepted onto the MPhil register for at least one year of full-time study, prior to successful transfer onto the PhD register.
There is the choice of MPhil or PhD by project or by thesis.
Required length of thesis:
MPhil by project 5-20.000 words by thesis 30-40.000 words
PhD by project 25-40.000 words by thesis 40-80.000 words

Publications and conferences
Research RCA (2007) showcases the work of RCA research students.

Supervision
An MPhil student will usually have one supervisor, or two if the nature of the work is interdisciplinary and more than one expert is required. A PhD student has a team of two, or sometimes three, supervisors. The main supervisor is always located within the department where the student is based. RCA supervisors have no more than six research students at any one time.

Funding and stipendia
The College is eligible to submit six applications to the annual AHRC Studentship Competition, which funds individual PhDs. The College also applies annually to the AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award scheme, which funds individual PhDs for specific projects in collaboration with a relevant nonacademic partner (e.g. a museum).

www.rca.ac.uk/research