Program Overview

Program Overview

The PhD in Communication, New Media, and Cultural Studies is a joint program between the departments of Communication Studies and Media Arts and English and Cultural Studies. This interdisciplinary program understands that the problems faced today are fundamentally problems of communication and culture. The program aims to teach students to read, critique, and create culture, media, and communication, which is critical to seeing things and doing things in new ways.

Program Details

• The program is offered by the Faculty of Humanities.
• The program contact can be reached through the provided phone and email icons.
• The program offers a PhD degree in Communication, New Media, and Cultural Studies.

Degree Options

Communication, New Media, and Cultural Studies (PhD)

• The PhD program brings together three interdisciplinary fields that originated in attempts to understand and debate big problems using tools from the arts, humanities, and social sciences.
• Students complete coursework, including a required seminar on professionalization activities, and field examinations in their area of specialization.
• The dissertation can take the form of written work and/or a creative project.
• The program draws faculty members from Communication Studies and Media Arts, English and Cultural Studies, and other departments in the Humanities to act as supervisors.
• Students graduating from the program may enter various academic, artistic, or professional fields.

Areas of Research

• New media arts
• Digital media & code art
• Communications law and policy
• Copyright history
• Diasporic and international media
• Critical approaches to race, ethnicity, disability, gender, and sexuality
• Feminist media and technology
• Critical disability studies and health humanities
• Television and radio studies
• Political economy
• Networked creativity
• Augmented Reality
• Sound art
• Performance
• Visual culture
• Critical environmental studies
• Physical computing
• Animation and design
• Political communication
• Media management
• Digital games studies
• Participatory culture
• Digital cultural theory
• Reputation and brand management
• Public relations management
• Media literacy
• Audience research
• Media and activism
• Popular music studies
• Professional communications
• Crisis management

Program Length and Requirements

• The program typically takes 4 years to complete.
• Required credentials include a Master’s Degree in Communication Studies, Cultural Studies, New Media, or a related discipline.
• The program type is project or thesis-based.
• The program is available full-time.
• Typical entry is in September.
• The typical deadline for application is January 15.

Scholarships

• Bertram Scholarship: Offers $20,000 to PhD students conducting research into organizational governance.
• Dr. J. A. Campbell Young Investigator Award: Offers $5,000 for research into celiac disease and/or gluten sensitivity.
• Fulbright Canada Student Awards: Offers awards for Canadian citizens to study and/or conduct research in the United States.
• Health Research Postdoctoral Opportunities: Provides a comprehensive list of funding sources for postdoctoral fellows in the Faculty of Health Sciences.
• Iranian Student Memorial Scholarship: Offers an award to international graduate students from Iran who demonstrate academic excellence.
• John Charles Polanyi Prize: Offers up to five prizes to outstanding researchers in the early stages of their career.
• Lyle Makosky Values and Ethics in Sport Fund: Offers an award to applicants who are high-performance athletes, post-secondary students active in sport, or sport practitioners.
• Manulife Life Lessons Scholarship Program: Offers scholarships to students who have experienced the death of a parent or guardian with little to no life insurance.
• Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security: Offers scholarships to master’s and PhD students conducting research on food insecurity in Canada.
• Mary Buzzell Graduate Scholarship for Resilient Aging: Offers a scholarship to an outstanding student enrolled in any Master’s Degree program at McMaster University who is preparing for a career in the multidisciplinary field of Aging.
• McMaster Graduate General Bursary: Offers a bursary to graduate students who demonstrate financial need.
• McMaster Institute for Research on Aging (MIRA) Postdoctoral Fellowship: Offers a postdoctoral fellowship for research on interdisciplinary, impact-driven approaches in the study of optimal aging.
• MIRA Graduate Scholarship Program: Offers funding to support interdisciplinary research on aging led by McMaster researchers.
• Mitacs-JSPS Summer Program: Offers opportunities for full-time graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in Canada to pursue collaborative research in Japan.
• Rainbow Fund: Offers an award to graduate students who identify as 2SLGBTQIA+ students and demonstrate financial need.
• Senior Women Academic Administrators of Canada Graduate Student Award of Merit: Offers awards to women graduate students who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in the university or general community.
• The Barkleys of Avonmore Scholarship: Offers a scholarship to a graduate student from a developing country to pursue advanced studies at McMaster University.
• The Brooke and Irene Townsend Scholarship (Humanities): Offers a scholarship to graduate students in the Faculty of Humanities who demonstrate academic excellence and innovative research.
• The Dr. Colin Webber Graduate Scholarship: Offers a scholarship to master’s or doctoral students who demonstrate interest in bone research.
• The Edna Howard Bursary: Offers a bursary to full-time students in any program who demonstrate financial need.
• The H. Vincent Elliott Memorial Travel Bursary: Offers a travel bursary to students registered in a Master’s or PhD program who demonstrate financial need.
• The James F. Harvey and Helen S. Harvey Travel Scholarships: Offers travel scholarships to graduate students who demonstrate academic excellence.
• The Lambda Scholarship Foundation Canada Graduate Award: Offers a scholarship to a graduate student who identifies as a member of the queer, trans community and is Black, racialized, or Indigenous.
• The Myra Baillie Academic Grant: Offers a grant to a graduate student in any degree program who attains an “A” average and demonstrates financial need.
• The School of Graduate Studies Grant in Aid for Research Travel: Offers a grant to support research travel for graduate students.
• Wilson Leadership Scholar Award: Offers a leadership development and career launcher program for graduate students.