The research themes and interests of the CHS programme reflect its role as a college-wide provider of critical and historical discourse to all MA students at the RCA. CHS staff are thus authorities in the disciplines of fine and applied arts, architecture and design, fashion and communications, but their emphasis is on nurturing a commentary that acknowledges the shared concerns of these disciplines in an international contemporary framework. Narratives of the city and of objects are fundamental themes.
Research in CHS is by thesis; however, in an environment where the majority of programmes are studio-based, the approach is to fully engage with the theoretical positions that art and design practice embodies. The writing of a thesis in CHS is viewed as a complementary form of reflective practice to the development of studio work in other programmes. Practitioners might choose to base their research in CHS where their purpose is to write a thesis that takes them beyond the specificities of a particular discipline. Researchers are also welcomed from outside the art-school environment, for example from universities with art history, material culture, environmental and architectural or cultural studies programmes.
For more information about being a research student and the support provided by the College, see Doing a Research Degree.
Current and recent PhD and MPhil research in CHS includes:
British art criticism, art institutional collections and the reception of product design in the past fifty years; ‘eco-aesthetics’, a new interpretation of fine art practice in the light of environmental and participatory networks; and extensive comparative studies of urban development and its impact on cultural identity in London, Paris, Lisbon and Brussels.
Zeigam Azizov, MPhil by thesis
Christine Atha, PhD by thesis
Cristina Bogdan, MPhil by thesis
J J Charlesworth, PhD by thesis, AHRC Doctoral Award
Brigit Connolly, MPhil by thesis, RCA Bursary (HEFCE)
Duncan Cook, PhD by thesis
Kim Dhillon MPhil by thesis
Amanda Game, MPhil by thesis
Paolo Giudici, MPhil by thesis, RCA Bursary (HEFCE)
Lucy Gundry, MPhil by thesis, RCA Bursary (HEFCE)
Claire Jamieson, MPhil by thesis
Dionea Rocha Watt, PhD by thesis
Eszter Steierhoffer, MPhil by thesis, RCA Bursary (HEFCE)
Juliet Thorp, MPhil by thesis