Music PhD
Key information
Full-time - 4 years
- Start dates:
- July 2024
- October 2024
- January 2025
- April 2025
Part-time - 8 years
- Start dates:
- July 2024
- October 2024
- January 2025
- April 2025
Why choose this programme
The Department of Music and Media is a respected authority in musical research and sound technology. Thanks to our renowned expertise in musicology, performance, and composition, and the prestige of the Institute of Sound Recording, we can count many household names in entertainment, audio technology and the recording industry among our partners, collaborators, and alumni.
Research in music brings together a broad range of interconnected subject areas, focussed in our internationally acclaimed research centres housed in state-of-the-art facilities:
- Digital World Research Centre
- Institute of Austrian and German Music Research
- Institute of Sound Recording
- International Guitar Research Centre.
The Department is highly collegiate, with a close-knit and supportive academic environment. Academic members of staff are well known internationally for their exceptionally strong research profiles.
We belong to TECHNE, an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded doctoral training partnership, which provides access to comprehensive academic and professional training programmes, as well as the possibility of funding for your studies.
100 per cent of our music and media postgraduate research students go on to employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes survey, 2023).
What you will study
Our research degrees prepare you for success at each stage of your PhD project development. The structure of our Music PhD is designed to provide intensive graduate preparation for a future career and is suitable for either part-time or full-time candidates.
As a postgraduate researcher within our Department, you will conduct a research project within one of our areas of research strengths. Completion of the programme entails submission of a thesis, the submission of practice if undertaking a practice-based PhD, and an oral viva with external examiners.
PhD students on all programmes in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences can expect three levels of research training: university-level, department-level and subject-specific.
University-level training is provided by the Postgraduate Skills Development Programme and the University Library including a PhD induction, workshops on writing skills and preparation for the confirmation and viva. There is also an annual student-led University postgraduate conference.
Department-level training is offered in the form of interdisciplinary seminars, reading groups, visiting speaker events and conferences.
You will also receive subject-specific training that will vary depending on your programme.
Assessment
Your final assessment will be based on the presentation of your research in a written thesis, which will be discussed in a viva examination with at least two examiners. You have the option of preparing your thesis as a monograph (one large volume in chapter form) or in publication format (including chapters written for publication), subject to the approval of your supervisors.
Research support
The professional development of postgraduate researchers is supported by the Doctoral College, which provides training in essential skills through its Researcher Development Programme of workshops, mentoring and coaching. A dedicated postgraduate careers and employability team will help you prepare for a successful career after the completion of your PhD.
Research themes
- Composition
- 20th-century concert music, especially Mahler and 20th-century English composers
- Performance studies and techniques
- Guitar history, practice, and composition
- Popular music styles, particularly rock, jazz, electronic dance music
- Analysis
- Aesthetics of sound and music
- Contemporary music and its composition and performance
- Critical musicology
- Music for screen
- Biography
- Improvisation.
Our academic staff
See a full list of all our academic staff within the Department of Music and Media.
Department
Research centres and institutes
Research facilities
Facilities include industry-specification sound-recording studios, music-practice rooms, edit suites, and venues for concert performance and musical theatre.
We have doubled the facilities space in the Department of Music and Media. Our Performing Arts Technology Studios have been upgraded and complemented by a £1.7m investment in state-of-the-art production and media suites.
All studios, edit rooms and acoustic rooms in the new space are linked by a new Dante digital audio network, providing audio interconnection between each room, plus video interconnects for flexible configurations of the recording spaces and studios.
Entry requirements
Applicants are expected to hold a good honours degree and usually an MA in a relevant arts subject or appropriate professional experience.
International entry requirements by country
English language requirements
IELTS Academic: 6.5 or above (or equivalent) with 6.0 in each individual category.
These are the English language qualifications and levels that we can accept.
If you do not currently meet the level required for your programme, we offer intensive pre-sessional English language courses, designed to take you to the level of English ability and skill required for your studies here.
Application requirements
Applicants are advised to contact potential supervisors before they submit an application via the website. Please refer to section two of our application guidance.
After registration
Students are initially registered for a PhD with probationary status and, subject to satisfactory progress, subsequently confirmed as having PhD status.
Selection process
Selection is based on applicants:
- Meeting the expected entry requirements
- Being shortlisted through the application screening process
- Completing a successful interview
- Providing suitable references.
Fees
Start date: July 2024
Full-time
- UK
- £4,712
- Overseas
- £18,600
Part-time
- UK
- £2,356
- Overseas
- £9,300
Start date: October 2024
Full-time
- UK
- To be confirmed
- Overseas
- £22,500
Part-time
- UK
- To be confirmed
- Overseas
- £11,250
Start date: January 2025
Full-time
- UK
- To be confirmed
- Overseas
- £22,500
Part-time
- UK
- To be confirmed
- Overseas
- £11,250
Start date: April 2025
Full-time
- UK
- To be confirmed
- Overseas
- £22,500
Part-time
- UK
- To be confirmed
- Overseas
- £11,250
- Annual fees will increase by 4% for each year of study, rounded up to the nearest £100 (subject to legal requirements).
- Any start date other than September will attract a pro-rata fee for that year of entry (75 per cent for January, 50 per cent for April and 25 per cent for July).
View the list of fees for all postgraduate research courses.
Additional costs
There are additional costs that you can expect to incur when studying at Surrey.
Funding
A Postgraduate Doctoral Loan can help with course fees and living costs while you study a postgraduate doctoral course.
Apply online
If you are applying for a studentship to work on a particular project, please provide details of the project instead of a research proposal.
Read our application guidance for further information on applying.
To apply online first select the course you'd like to apply for then log in.
1. Select your course
Select the course you wish to apply for.
2. Sign in
To apply online sign in or create an account.
Course | Status |
---|---|
Music PhD Full-time, July 2024 | Applications open Closing date: Friday 19 April 2024 |
Music PhD Part-time, July 2024 | Applications open Closing date: Friday 19 April 2024 |
Music PhD Full-time, October 2024 | Applications open Closing date: Monday 1 July 2024 |
Music PhD Part-time, October 2024 | Applications open Closing date: Monday 1 July 2024 |
Music PhD Full-time, January 2025 | Applications open Closing date: Friday 18 October 2024 |
Music PhD Part-time, January 2025 | Applications open Closing date: Friday 18 October 2024 |
Music PhD Full-time, April 2025 | Applications open Closing date: Friday 28 February 2025 |
Music PhD Part-time, April 2025 | Applications open Closing date: Friday 28 February 2025 |
Code of practice for research degrees
Surrey’s postgraduate research code of practice sets out the University's policy and procedural framework relating to research degrees. The code defines a set of standard procedures and specific responsibilities covering the academic supervision, administration and assessment of research degrees for all faculties within the University.
Download the code of practice for research degrees (PDF).
Terms and conditions
When you accept an offer to study at the University of Surrey, you are agreeing to follow our policies and procedures, student regulations, and terms and conditions.
We provide these terms and conditions in two stages:
- First when we make an offer.
- Second when students accept their offer and register to study with us (registration terms and conditions will vary depending on your course and academic year).
View our generic registration terms and conditions (PDF) for the 2023/24 academic year, as a guide on what to expect.
Disclaimer
This online prospectus has been published in advance of the academic year to which it applies.
Whilst we have done everything possible to ensure this information is accurate, some changes may happen between publishing and the start of the course.
It is important to check this website for any updates before you apply for a course with us. Read our full disclaimer.
Course location and contact details
Campus location
Stag HillStag Hill is the University's main campus and where the majority of our courses are taught.
University of Surrey Admissions
Contact Admissions TeamAddress
University of Surrey
Guildford
Surrey GU2 7XH