Program Overview

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Culture, Media & Creative Industries Research

Key information

Award: MPhil, PhD Study mode: Full time, Part time Campus: Strand Campus Duration: PhD expected to be 3 years FT, October to October, February to February or June to June

Overview

Culture, Media & Creative Industries at King's carries out world-leading research across the field of culture, media and the analysis of particular creative industries. Specialisms include cultural work, creative cities, visual cultures, popular culture, cultural and creative industries policy, cultural management, entrepreneurship and cultural production, cultural regeneration, cultural history, culture and identity, and inter-sectionally and culture. Our approach is international in perspective, interdisciplinary in nature, and is characterised by a productive engagement of the theoretical, historical and empirical.

The PhD in Culture, Media & Creative Industries is a programme for those seeking an academic career or who wish to become professionals in the cultural, media or creative sectors.

Research Excellence

• Latest Research Excellence Framework rankings: CMCI was ranked third in the UK for research power. Our Faculty of Arts & Humanities is one of the most prestigious of its kind, ranked sixth in Europe (QS World University Rankings, 2023).
• Current staff: 47
• Current PhDs: 50

External Funding Sources

Our current and former PhD students have successfully received funding from the following external sources:

• London Interdisciplinary Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (ESRC)
• London Arts and Humanities Research Council (LAHP)
• National and regional governments and funding bodies.

Selected Books Written by CMCI PhD Supervisors

• Beyond the Screen: Emerging Cinema and Engaging Audiences by Sarah Atkinson
• Duke Ellington's America by Harvey G Cohen
• Besides the Screen: Moving Images through Distribution, Promotion and Curation by Virginia Crisp
• The Aesthetic Economy: Markets in Clothing and Fashion Modelling by Joanne Entwistle
• Work That Body: Male Bodies in Digital Culture by Jamie Hakim
• Cultural Policy in South Korea: Making a New Patron State by Hye-Kyung Lee
• Migration and Identity in British East and Southeast Asian Cinema by Wing-Fai Leung
• Convergent Chinese Television Industries by Lisa Lin
• Hollywood Stardom by Paul McDonald
• Manifestations of Queerness in Video Games by Gaspard Pelurson
• Topographies of Suffering: Buchenwald, Babi Yar, Lidice by Jessica Rapson
• Gender and Memory in the Globital Age by Amza Reading
• Repudiating Feminism by Christina Scharff
• Creating Preschool Television: A Story of Commerce, Creativity and Curriculum by Jeanette Steemers
• The Space that Separates: A Realist Theory of Art by Nick Wilson
• Emotion, Care and Enthusiasm in “Unloved” Museum Collections, by Anna Woodham et al.

Head of Group/Division

Dr Virginia Crisp

How to Apply

1. Find a Supervisor

• Identify a potential supervisor who you would like to work with
• Contact the potential supervisor to establish if they might be interested in taking your enquiry any further. Please note that not all academic staff will be available for supervision.
• If yes, please email them a 1500-word proposal (max) setting out:
  • the topic/issue they propose to research,
  • the rationale for doing so (including its importance and originality, as well as any gaps in the literature),
  • the proposed methodology (i.e. what, why and how?),
  • a prospective chapter outline, and
  • a concluding section showing why this research should be conducted at King's.

Please also send a latest CV with your proposal. Your prospective supervisor will review the proposal and if they would like to take it further, they will invite you to a short interview (online or offline). A final decision will be taken at departmental level, subject to review by the CMCI PGR recruitment panel.

2. Personal Statement and Supporting Information

You will be asked to submit the following documents in order for your application to be considered:

• Research Proposal: The proposal should explain in some detail precisely the field of study that you want to contribute to and current research gaps, what you want to do and how you propose to do it.
• Previous Academic Study: A copy (or copies) of your official academic transcript(s), showing the subjects studied and marks obtained. If you have already completed your degree, copies of your official degree certificate will also be required.
• References: One academic reference is required. A professional reference will be accepted if you have completed your qualifications over five years ago.
• Travel Plan: If applying for the joint programme please include the names of your supervisors from both institutions and include a completed travel plan form.
• Other: Please your full CV (Resume) to help us to get a far more detailed view of you and your accomplishments.

Joint PhDs - Application Advice

Applicants for the joint PhD programme must contact the relevant departments at both universities before submitting an application in order to discuss the suitability of their topic for the joint programme and to locate potential supervisors. Applications should initially be submitted to the proposed home institution only, ie where the student will start and finish their programme.

Application Closing Date

We encourage you to apply as early as possible so that there is sufficient time for your application to be assessed. We may need to request further information from you during the application process.

• February 2025 entry – 20 October 2024 for Overseas fee status and 20 November 2024 for Home fee status
• June 2025 entry – 20 March 2025 for Overseas fee status and 11 April 2025 for Home fee status
• October 2025 entry – 25 July 2025 for Overseas fee status and 25 August 2025 for Home fee status
• February 2026 entry – 20 October 2025 for Overseas fee status and 20 November 2025 for Home fee status
• June 2026 entry – 20 March 2026 for Overseas fee status and 11 April 2026 for Home fee status

Fees or Funding

UK Tuition Fees 2024/25

• Full time tuition fees: £6,168 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)
• Part time tuition fees: £3,084 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)

International Tuition Fees 2024/25

• Full time tuition fees: £24,786 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)
• Part time tuition fees: £12,393 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)

UK Tuition Fees 2025/26

• Full time tuition fees: £6,600 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)
• Part time tuition fees: £3,300 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)

International Tuition Fees 2025/26

• Full time tuition fees: £27,100 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)
• Part time tuition fees: £13,550 per year (MPhil/PhD, Culture, Media, & Creative Industries)

Study Environment

Base Campus

Strand Campus

Located on the north bank of the River Thames, the Strand Campus houses King's College London's arts and sciences faculties.

Culture, Media & Creative Industries (CMCI) at King's carries out world-leading research across the field of culture, media and the analysis of particular creative industries. Specialisms include cultural work, creative cities, visual cultures, popular culture, cultural and creative industries policy, cultural management, entrepreneurship and cultural production, cultural regeneration, cultural history, culture and identity, and inter-sectionally and culture. Our approach is international in perspective and is characterised by a productive engagement of the theoretical and empirical.

CMCI is also developing, in concert with Digital Humanities, research into digital cultures, particularly into social networks, digital identities and digital activism.

We work in an inter-disciplinary mode: although we are based in the Faculty of Arts & Humanities, much of our research has roots in the social sciences.

Postgraduate Training

Joint PhDs - Benefits of Collaboration

Our joint PhD programme with the Humboldt University Berlin offers students the opportunity to enjoy full supervision at both institutions. The Joint-PhD also organises international colloquia and workshops at which students can present and discuss their work with peers and academic staff across the institutions involved. The programme builds on an extensive network of existing institutional links, joint teaching experience and collaborative graduate programmes between King’s and the partners universities.

Applications are welcome from across a whole range of areas in culture, media and creative industries with a substantial German element.

Joint PhDs - Subjects/Specialisms Available for Joint Study

Entry Requirements

UK Requirements

• A strong undergraduate degree ideally a Bachelors Degee with 1st Class honours.
• A Master's degree with high Merit/Distinction, with particularly high results (70% in the UK system) in the dissertation.

Equivalent International Qualifications

Select a country to view equivalent international qualifications.

English Language Requirements

English language band: C

To study at King's, it is essential that you can communicate in English effectively in an academic environment. You are usually required to provide certification of your competence in English before starting your studies.

Nationals of majority English speaking countries (as defined by the UKVI) who have permanently resided in this country are not usually required to complete an additional English language test. This is also the case for applicants who have successfully completed an undergraduate degree (of at least three years duration), a postgraduate taught degree (of at least one year), or a PhD in a majority English speaking country (as defined by the UKVI) within five years of the course start date.

For information on our English language requirements and whether you need to complete an English language test, please see our English Language requirements page.