Conservatoire Research Degrees - PhD

PhD Supervisors and Specialisms

Professor Jamie Savan is the Director of Research for Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, whilst Dr Carrie Churnside is Research Degrees Coordinator. They are supported by a team of supervisors (appointed from our Research Staff) who have a wide range of specialisms and expertise including:

• Composition
• Music technology
• Music Performance as Research
• Performing arts
• Musicology
  

 Composition

 Our fields of expertise in composition include: 

• experimental and conceptual approaches to existing genres
• interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary work
• jazz composition
• electronic composition
• composition involving live electronics
• queerness and queering in performance

Supervisors include:

• Prof. Joe Cutler (Head of Composition)
• Dr Andrew Hamilton
• Howard Skempton
• Prof. Michael Wolters (Deputy Head of Composition)
• Dr Simon Hall
• Prof. Lamberto Coccioli
• Dr Edmund Hunt
• Dr Joe Wright
• Dr Mike Fletcher

Musicology

Our fields of expertise in musicology include:

• French Music (within our French Music Research Hub), notably:
  • 17th- and 18th-century French music from Lully and Charpentier to Rameau and Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Prof. Shirley Thompson, Prof. Graham Sadler, Christopher Dingle)
  • 20^th-century French music, notably: Messiaen and his pupils, Dutilleux (Christopher Dingle)
• 17th- and 18th-Century Music (within our Forum for Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Music), notably:
• Performance Practices of the Early Baroque (Prof. Jamie Savan)
• 17th- and 18th-century French music from Lully and Charpentier to Rameau (Prof. Shirley Thompson, Prof. Graham Sadler) (intersecting with our French Music Research Hub)
• Italian Baroque Music (Dr Carrie Churnside)
• British Music in the Eighteenth Century (Dr Martin Perkins)
• Late 18^th-century Austro-Germanic music, notably Beethoven (Dr Siân Derry, Dr Matthew Pilcher)
• Performance Practices of the Renaissance (Prof. Jamie Savan)
• Early Music Theory and Fifteenth-Century Music (Dr Adam Whittaker)
• Music Critics and Criticism (Christopher Dingle)
• Music Education (Dr Adam Whittaker, Dr Luan Shaw)
• Piano Performance Practice and Pedagogy in the 19^th and 20^th Centuries (Dr Siân Derry, Dr Matthew Pilcher, Prof. John Thwaites, Dr Daniel Tong)
• 19^th-century Vocal Music (Dr Matthew Pilcher)
• Jazz Studies (in collaboration with Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research) (Prof. Tony Whyton, Dr Pedro Cravinho, Dr Mike Fletcher)
• Arts organizations and new music, especially the BBC; 20th-century British music and culture (Dr Chris Marshall)
• Ethnomusicological approaches to urban musical practices since 1900 (Dr Pedro Cravinho)

Music Technology

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire hosts the Integra Lab, the music interaction design research centre led by Prof Lamberto Coccioli, and supports research in:

• Electronic Music Composition and Performance
• Musician-centred Interaction Design
• Music and Audio Software Development
• Accessible Digital Musical Instruments

Supervisors include:

• Prof. Lamberto Coccioli
• Dr Simon Hall
• Dr Joe Wright
• Dr Edmund Hunt

Performing Arts

The Interdisciplinary Performance Research has research interests including Theatre, Digital Media, Dance and Applied practices, and can support PhDs relating to:

• The contemporary actor
• Histories of actor training
• Interdisciplinary and multimedia performance
• Theatre making and devising
• Dance performance making
• Choreographic practices
• Embodiment studies
• Eco-somatics
• Ecology and performance
• Spirituality, spiritual traditions and performance
• Applied theatre and performance
• Contemporary drama
• Theatre and politics
• Spatial dramaturgies

Supervisors include:

• Prof. Aleksandar Dundjerovic
• Dr Polly Hudson
• Dr Paola Botham
• Dr Gareth Somers

Find out more information on the Centre for Interdisciplinary Performance Research.

Performance as Research

Royal Birmingham Conservatoire welcomes applications from professional-level performers who wish to explore research questions arising from or related to their own performance practice. Proposals in historical performance practice and/or contemporary practice (including jazz) are particularly welcome. The doctoral programme at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire allows for a mixed mode of submission including recordings and live performance alongside a written thesis, the balance and relative weighting of these elements to be determined by the nature of the project.

Entry Requirements

To apply for our Conservatoire PhD research degree we usually expect you to have, or to be working towards, a Masters in a relevant subject area. Exceptional candidates without a Masters but with a strong undergraduate degree in a relevant subject area may be considered.

We also welcome enquiries from potential PhD researchers without formal academic qualifications but with appropriate levels of professional experience.

Please send us an initial PhD enquiry containing your brief PhD research proposal (max. 500 words), and/or any questions or queries you may have.

We will review your initial enquiry to ensure your research proposal complements one of our PhD research interests and if so we will ask you to make a full application.

English Language Requirements

Please refer to our English Language Requirements.

Research proposal guidance

Your research proposal in the full application should address the following areas:

 The Working Title of Proposal

 Context of the Research

Provide a succinct summary of what has already been done in the field. In the case of practice-based projects this will include compositions and performances as well as literature.

 Research Question(s)

What is it that your project sets out to discover? What are your aims and objectives?

 Methodological approach

How will you go about undertaking your proposed project? Which methodological approach(es) will you employ? Provide a provisional timeline.

 Resources Required

Indicate here if you require any specialist resources (e.g. access to studios, performers, specialist software, etc.)

 Potential application and impact of your research

What will be the outcome of your project? How will it benefit the research community? Will the findings be applicable outside of academia? 

 Bibliography

If your project includes practice (composition or performance) you will be asked to provide a portfolio of recent work and may be required to audition.

A day in the life of a PhD student

If you're considering doing a PhD there are probably a lot of questions going through your mind: how am I going to pay for it? Should I quit my job? Will I cope with the workload? But most importantly, what is it really like? Karen Patel, a former PhD student, shares her experiences of juggling life, a part time job and her studies in the video above.

The PhD journey

Full-time students are expected to complete within 3-4 years, whilst part-time students may take 4-7 years. In your first year, you will spend some time reviewing the field and refining your research proposal and projected plan. You will be supported in this through attendance at the PGCert in Research Practice, which runs for the first semester of your studies.

At the end of your first year (second year for PT students) you will complete a Progression Assessment Panel, at which you will present your work to the Conservatoire research community and undergo a viva. Throughout the doctorate you will be undertaking in-depth research in your chosen area, writing as you go. Towards the end of your course (year 3 for FT, years 5-6 for PT students) you will bring your research together and present it in a suitable format (whether that be through composition, performance, or entirely written).

Modes of study

Our PhD programmes are offered full-time or part-time. These modes of study ensure that we can create a PhD research plan around your lifestyle needs.

Full-time PhD Research: three to four years

• You will be expected to complete your research and submit your work for examination within 36-43 months.

Part-time PhD Research: four to seven years

• You would chose part-time PhD research if you opt to study whilst in employment or if full-time study is impractical.
• You will be expected to complete your research and submit your work for examination within 48-72 months.

Examples of classroom activities

As each doctoral project is unique, so is each student’s day-to-day experience. A typical day might include reading, analysis, composition, performance, or critical editing, or any combination of the above. Whatever the nature of your project, all doctorates require independent study and require you to manage an extended, self-directed research project.

We support a range of thesis submissions, including composition portfolio supported by a short written commentary, or a combination of written and performance elements, as well as a traditional written thesis of 80,000 words.