Course summary
The PhD degree at The Courtauld is an ambitious, rigorous, and internationally renowned programme with a global outlook and unparalleled strengths in art history, conservation and curating. It enables postgraduate researchers to redefine the boundaries of art history, conservation and curating by promoting innovative and interdisciplinary research. At the Courtauld you will join a diverse cohort of over 100 postgraduate researchers drawn from the UK and internationally to study a wide range of topics and approaches in an intellectually stimulating research-intensive environment. You will benefit from the supervision of subject experts who work at the forefront of their respective fields. Members of faculty have extensive experience of advanced research including curating major exhibitions of historic and contemporary art, editing and publishing in leading academic journals, winning competitive research grants, speaking publicly in a great variety of institutions and events, and working in archives and collections worldwide. Learn more about our Faculty here. Alongside close supervisory guidance, you will benefit from researcher training, cohort and network-building activities, and professional development opportunities, designed to support you at all stages of your doctoral degree. At the Courtauld, you will become part of a vibrant intellectual community. A rich programme of research events hosted by the Research Forum will give you access to cutting-edge new research and ideas and the opportunity to build your academic network. Postgraduate researchers play an active role in inviting speakers, devising and convening research activity, and participating in events for academic and public audiences. Postgraduate researchers are valuable members of our dynamic research clusters, which bring together specialist researchers from within and beyond the Courtauld to exchange and develop new knowledge and innovative ideas. Major research centres, including the Manton Centre for British Art and the Courtauld Centre for the Art of the Americas, represent world-leading concentrations of research expertise and new thinking. Our active research partnerships with a range of organisations across the cultural sector, including the National Trust and English Heritage, enable applied understanding of advanced research. Courtauld postgraduate researchers develop a wide range of professional experience. They edit and produce the postgraduate journal Immediations and have opportunities to contribute curatorially in our gallery project space and prints and drawings room. Postgraduate researchers can also gain valuable teaching experience on our BA Art History degree and via our creative public programmes. Find out more about our current PhD students here: https://courtauld.ac.uk/research/postgraduate/postgraduate-research
Modules
The PhD programme is structured to help you attain the required skills you need to undertake your research and write your PhD thesis. This allows you to maintain and build momentum in your writing and to complete your thesis within the three, or at maximum four-year time span allotted. Year One seminars take place over the course of Autumn and Spring terms. Your cohort will come together on a weekly basis to explore theoretical and practical methods and approaches to research through readings, presentations, and discussions. Alongside seminars, you will also attend the skills course, a series of sessions that provide guidance on aspects of the PhD course and training with skills such as referencing programmes, image management and photography, using social media in your research, presenting at conferences, teaching, publishing, and archival research. During the first year you may also take language classes, either at the Courtauld or through neighbouring institutions such as LSE, SOAS, Kings, and the Geothe Institute. Important courses take place within the University of London, including about historical skills and archives, palaeography, public speaking, and oral histories. Sessions held by ReSkIN, an organisation of the visual arts community across the University of London, are another important component of the first year programme, providing information about writing and research on the visual arts and the opportunity to meet local scholars working on topics in the visual arts. In the third term of the first year you will submit your first year monitoring paper. This consists of a chapter of your research, an outline of your thesis, and plan for the next two years of work; it will be read by your supervisory team and discussed at a formal meeting with them in early June. You have to pass this monitoring exercise to proceed to the following year. It is an important milestone in your PhD research, and the focus for your research and writing in the first year. Year Two often includes extended research or field work trips abroad. Training in languages or other skills may continue, and students may also be involved with working as teaching assistants and other opportunities for building professional experience. You will continue to meet regularly with your supervisory team. There is a further monitoring event during the second year that may take a variety of forms, but most often involves some sort of presentation of your research to faculty and research students. Year Three will focus on completing and revising your chapters: this can be the most intense year for writing. You will meet with your supervisory team regularly and will also be required to take part in the Third Year Postgraduate Symposium attended by MA and PhD students and faculty from across the Institute.
Entry requirements
Academic Requirements: PhD applicants are expected to have achieved a Master’s degree in a subject relevant to their proposed research. Those with Master’s degrees awarded in the UK are normally expected to have received at least 65% overall, with at least 70% in the dissertation or thesis. English Language Requirements: If your first language is not English, we require proof of English language proficiency. Please see the English Language Requirements page. Procedure PRE-APPLICATION First, applicants must identify a potential supervisor at the Institute who is an expert in the relevant field. A list of current Courtauld staff can be found on our Faculty pages. Before you can submit a full PhD programme application, you must send a Pre-Application and your CV to [email protected] The pre-application enables important consultation with your prospective supervisor before proceeding to the full application, and also confirms the availability of the supervisor, as there are strict limits on how many PhD students any one supervisor may take in a given year. A Pre-Application will consist of the following: Research Title Name of Proposed Supervisor(s) Research Proposal Summary of 300 words setting out the substance of the proposal We will assess your pre-application and discuss your proposal with your preferred supervisor before providing feedback. Your pre-application will provide the foundation for further discussions with your preferred supervisor or, should that individual be unavailable for supervision or deemed not an ideal fit, for introduction to other potential supervisors. Please do not send more than one pre-application proposal. We will be accepting pre-application proposals for the 2026/27 academic year from 1 September 2025 onward. Following the submission of your application, your proposed supervisor will contact you to schedule an interview with members of Faculty. Pre-application Deadline: 17 November 2025 FULL PROGRAMME APPLICATION Once you are invited to submit a Full Programme Application, you will be provided with a link to the main Programme Application Portal. Full Programme Application Deadline: 8 January 2026 Please note that students requiring a student route visa to study in the UK are not permitted to study part-time.
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| England | £6930 | Whole course |
| Northern Ireland | £6930 | Whole course |
| Scotland | £6930 | Whole course |
| Wales | £6930 | Whole course |
| EU | £26460 | Whole course |
| International | £26460 | Whole course |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
Part time studies carry fees of £3465 and £13230 for home and international students respectively. Please be aware that it is not possible to undertake Part-Time study if you require a Student VISA to study with us, due to VISA regulation restrictions.
Sponsorship information
Alumni Loyalty Scheme: This scheme is open to any graduate of the Courtauld Institute of Art admitted to a postgraduate programme of study. Recipients will receive a 10% loyalty discount off their tuition fee for the duration of the course. Scholarships: The Courtauld is pleased to offer a number of Research Scholarships which vary in amount and qualifying criteria. Applications are welcomed from Home, EU and Overseas applicants and students. Find out more here: https://courtauld.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/ph-d-funding-and-scholarships/ Collaborative Doctoral Awards: The Courtauld are delighted to occasionally offer Collaborative Doctoral Awards. These are specific, one-off projects proposed by a Courtauld-based academic to work in collaboration with an organisation outside of higher education. We typically offer one Collaborative Doctoral Award each year – details will normally be published in April/May. Please check periodically for new award announcements. Previous awards have included: Imperial Intimacies: Portraiture and the East India Company 1757-1857 – AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (with Tate) New Media Art Histories in Asia – AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award Global Surrealism: Tracing International Networks – AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award Net Art East: Post-Socialist Networks and New Media – AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award Associated programme costs: See General Associated Programme Costs. Depending on their research project, postgraduate researchers may have to plan extended research trips. If postgraduate researchers are not in receipt of a scholarship that includes travel costs, these will be self-funded, however, the Courtauld can offer small travel grants and other sources of funding may become available, including UKRI funding. These are announced year-on-year by the Research Manager.
Provider information
Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London
The Courtauld
Vernon Square
Penton Rise
London
WC1X 9EW