The RCA/V&A History of Design programme, run jointly with the Victoria and Albert Museum, has a recognised reputation for leading postgraduate research in the field of design, the decorative arts and material culture, from 1400 to the present. The core research identity is defined by our location in a leading postgraduate institution of art and design and an international museum of design and the decorative arts. At its broadest, this can be said to be the meaning of the designed object in the context of manufacture and consumption, interpreted through publication and exhibition. Staff are leading figures in the field of Design History who are engaged in cross-disciplinary research with methods drawn from, among others, the fields of Anthropology, Art History, History, Philosophy and Material Culture Studies.

At any one time, the Department has about fifteen MPhil and PhD students, who are supervised by members of the History of Design Course Team at the College and V&A Museum. Students pursue research subjects from the field of design and material culture, in areas reflecting the expertise of staff.

In addition, particular strands of research have concentrated on the following areas: design and national identity; design and cultural theory, and design, trade and transmission. Individual members of staff also have research expertise with a materials/media specialisation; for example, crafts, graphics, products and fashion/textiles.

Since September 2006, the Department has been home to the AHRC-funded research project, The Viennese Café and fin-de-siècle Culture, a collaboration with the School of History of Art, Film and Visual Media at Birkbeck College. This multi-disciplinary project will result in an international conference and exhibition in October 2008. This project is an extension of the work of the AHRC Centre for the Study of the Domestic Interior (2001-2006) which the Department hosted. Staff keep a high research profile and have considerable experience in generating symposia and conferences, attending and contributing to conferences internationally, which frequently lead to publication. Exhibitions are also a major form of research outcome.

Research student work has been presented in collections of essays published by Manchester University Press. The first in the series, Interior Design and Identity appeared in 2004 and Design and the Modern Magazine follows in early 2007.