Program Overview

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Design

Course Overview

A design research degree offers you the opportunity and time to explore innovative research practice through original, critical works. You’ll have the choice to work on your own design, or with staff on international and external projects in collaborative research in our ongoing practice-based projects.

You’ll make research connections that allow you to explore new concepts and meanings in design. For doctoral study, there’s a key need for design to offer experimentation within environmental, social and sustainable futures in the subject and your discipline.

We understand your research may change as you make new connections and as relevant modes of thought and action become important to you through the course of your research. We’ll work with you as you find the appropriate practice for pursuing your research and related form for consolidating and disseminating your findings.

Research Areas

You’ll be supported by staff whose specialisms include:

• Sustainable technology
• The relationship between music and landscape
• Alternative methods of representation
• Augmented aurality and digital tools for sound representation
• Biophilic design for improving health and wellbeing
• Digital and traditional
• The theory and practice of illustration in advertising and design
• Representational drawing and painting techniques
• The atelier system
• Colour theory

This research contributes to the research priority area Being Human: Past, Present and Future and Creative Practice as Research.

Entry Requirements

• MA or MSc by Research/MRes
  • At least a 2.1 honours degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant subject area
• PhD
  • A master’s degree or equivalent in a subject area relevant to the proposed research topic
• Applications from a range of diverse backgrounds
  • We actively encourage applications from students from a range of diverse backgrounds who demonstrate appropriate research experience and achievement
• Research methods training
  • Candidates who do not possess a master’s degree that includes research methods training at an advanced level are required to complete research methods training
• Interview requirements MA/Mres Art/Design related subjects
  • All applicants will be interviewed to ascertain experience, aptitude and current level of innovation, creativity and critical thinking. The interview will also be an opportunity to identify an appropriate supervisory team
• IELTS 6.5 (6.0 writing, 5.5 all other components)
  • EU and international students need IELTS 6.5 overall (with a minimum of 6.0 in writing and 5.5 in any other component) or equivalent
• Research proposal
  • Your application should include a research proposal up to 1,000 words (excluding references/appendices) which follows the structure outlined in the research proposal guide

Fees and Costs

You're viewing fees for the PhD Full Time (4 years) course option. Choose a different course option to see corresponding course fees.

Please be aware that students may have to pay a continuation fee if their study continues after the expected duration of their programme.

Start date | Course code | Fee (UK) Fee per year | Fee (international) Fee per year ---|---|---|--- February 2026 | — | £5,350 | £13,425 October 2025 | — | £5,350 | £13,425 February 2027 | — | TBC | TBC October 2026 | — | TBC | TBC International students can benefit from a range of scholarships and bursaries across many undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Careers

Our postgraduate research students cultivate a diverse set of skills that are highly valued in the UK and internationally, preparing them for successful careers within academia and beyond.

As a postgraduate research student at UoG, you’ll develop and refine a range of skills across research, academic practice, project management and critical analysis to equip you for your future. Whether it’s contributing to ground-breaking academic research or applying problem-solving skills in the workplace, we’ll ensure you’re ready to take on your next challenge.

This versatility opens doors to opportunities across various sectors, from education and research institutions to commercial organisations and NGOs, where you’ll have the confidence to apply your researcher skills and develop innovative solutions to meet your ambitions.

Teaching Staff

Academic Course Leader

Prof Abigail Gardner

Academic Course Leader for Design

Visit academic course leader's profile

Can't see your research area listed?

With research submitted in each of our research areas judged to be internationally excellent according to the results of the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF2021), our research supervisors have a broad range of specialisms across a diverse range of subjects.

Get in touch to find out how we can support your research interests by emailing.

Develop your ideas

Challenge your own practice and ideas in a community of practitioners and academics – with a deep commitment to discourse and exchange around their subject and field(s) of knowledge.

Present your ideas

The School of Creatives can help you with opportunities to present conference papers and participate in seminars, public exhibitions and other forms of critical exchange – all as part of your research process.

Practice as research

We’re dedicated to PaR (Practice as Research) and Design Thinking principles that move the work of the designer from the 20th Century artisan who responds to stimulus into the 21st Century design creative where your actions are at the centre of cultural change.

School of Creative Arts

Explore and collaborate with creatives from across the spectrum. We offer the perfect environment to practice your craft and prepare you to graduate career-ready.

Visit the School of Creative Arts

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"I feel completely supported and part of a community"

“My supervisors have provided invaluable leadership to carry me through my PhD, not with praise and cajoling remarks, but instead, through honest evaluation and their confidence that I have the wherewithal to carry out the work.”

Shelley Campbell, research student