PhD/MPhil

The overriding aim of undertaking PhD and MPhil study is to make an original contribution to knowledge. The programmes do not follow a prescribed course of study but benefit from close supervision and a range of research training that is designed to support the project being undertaken, and provide wider opportunities for professional development as a researcher.

Our vibrant multidisciplinary environment includes performance and new work in dance, drama and music, performing arts education and policy, Scottish music, historically-informed performance, musicology, and a range of other specialist areas.

Following a historic agreement between RCS and the University of St Andrews, we offer research degrees leading to the awards of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil). These programmes are validated and awarded by the University of St Andrews.

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland offers opportunities for suitably qualified students to work towards the achievement of research degrees in appropriate areas of enquiry. Applications will only be successful if it is clear that the proposed research can best be undertaken within a Conservatoire context, in which performance and/or creation is held central.

The specific areas for research degrees are:

• the processes and methodologies of developing new performance work (music/drama/music theatre), including collaborative and devised performance
• performance
• musical composition, in all genres, for live, electro-acoustic and mixed media
• Scottish music
• methodologies of specialist performance training, including the use of IT
• socio-cultural studies of performance
• performance education and pedagogy

Research degree students do not follow a prescribed course of study, but benefit from close supervision and a range of research training that is designed to support the programme of research being undertaken, and provide wider opportunities for professional development as a researcher. In addition, an external supervisor is normally appointed to provide further support for, and an additional perspective on, your research.

The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is housed in a modern, specially designed building and has some of the best performance and rehearsal facilities of any conservatoire in Europe.

The Royal Conservatoire library contains one of the most comprehensive performing arts collections in the UK. The collections feature extensive print and online material covering all Conservatoire subject disciplines and wider multi-disciplinary research materials. The RCS Archives is also a unique research resource, rich in both the depth and diversity of holdings. ICT facilities and a study lab for research students are available.

Conservatoire research students also have access to the extensive library resources held by the University of St Andrews. Students also have access to the specialist academic training through the University’s Centre for Academic, Professional and Organisational Development (CAPOD).

All research students undertake training within the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland through participating in a number of study days held throughout the academic year and engaging in The Exchange Talks series. The resources of the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities (SGSAH), of which the Conservatoire is a member, can also be accessed.

Head to our Campus and Facilities page to find out more.

Tuition fees for academic year 2024/25

You can find tuition fees for entry in September 2024 on our fees and funding page.

Please note, all EU students commencing study in Scotland will pay fees at the Overseas rate.

Because of a long-standing agreement between the UK and Republic of Ireland, new students from the Republic of Ireland starting their studies will be eligible to pay the UK fee.

Sources of external funding

Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership

Outstanding applicants applying for PhD study at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland may be eligible to be nominated for Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding through the Scottish Graduate School of Arts and Humanities (SGSAH) Doctoral Training Partnership. Successful applicants receive full funding in the form of a generous stipend, tuition fee waiver, and research training and expenses. Visit our Apply page for more information.

For more information about alternative funding sources, including external scholarships and bursaries, please visit our Fees and Funding page.

The RCS International and Student Experience team are available to advise and assist applicants and current students in respect of queries about funding your studies at RCS. Please email or telephone +44 (0)141 270 8281/ +44 (0)141 270 8223 for further information.

Admission to doctoral level programmes is normally on the basis of a first degree at 2(i) level or higher (or the overseas equivalent) in the relevant subject or a relevant postgraduate qualification. However, where a prospective student lacks a suitable first degree, alternative mechanisms for assessing qualifications and preparedness, reflecting professional or other work experience, may be used. Increasingly the UK research councils in several disciplines require that funded students on doctoral programmes have first completed an approved masters programme that prepares the student for doctoral work. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is committed to the principles of the Accreditation of Prior Learning, including experiential learning, and will bring those to bear on the admissions process for its doctoral students.

Applicants for whom English is a second language must demonstrate an IELTS score of 7.0.

We accept a wide range of qualification, including international qualifications. If you wish to check the suitability of your qualification/experience, please contact us at doctoraladmissions@rcs.ac.uk.

Application fee

£26.50

Audition

Applicants for doctoral study should apply through UCAS Conservatoires. Please then submit your proposal online via Acceptd. The Guide for Applicants and template of the online proposal form can be found here.  Those applicants who meet the admissions criteria and whose proposed research projects accord with the Royal Conservatoire’s research priorities and context will be interviewed/ auditioned. With the safety of our students, applicants and staff as our priority, all interviews will take place online. At least two supportive references from appropriately qualified persons will also be required. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland may require an applicant to provide additional material in support of their application prior to, or following, their interview/audition.

An interview/audition panel will be chaired by a specialist member of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland staff and will include other members of staff or external advisers as appropriate. An interview panel will normally be chaired by the Head of Research and will include at least one other member of staff or external adviser as appropriate. At the conclusion of the interview/audition process, the panel will formulate a recommendation to the Research Degrees Committee regarding the application.

Policy

We have a number of policies and statements which you should read when applying to study at the Royal Conservatoire.

Please select the links below to read each policy.

• Feedback policy.
• Equality and diversity
• Applicants with disabilities
• Guidance for applicants with criminal convictions
• Admissions policy

Dr Laura Bissell
Lecturer in Contemporary Performance Practice and Lecturer in Research

Laura Bradshaw
Lecturer in Contemporary Performance Practice

Professor Stephen Broad
Head of Research and Knowledge Exchange

Professor Joshua Dickson
Head of Traditional Music

Dr Emily Doolittle
Athenaeum Fellow

Dr Rachel Drury
Lecturer in Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts

Professor Celia Duffy

Dr Laura Gonzalez
Athenaeum Fellow

Professor Roy Howat
Senior Research Fellow

Deborah Keogh
Knowledge Exchange Manager

Professor Alistair MacDonald
Composition Tutor

Dr Stuart MacRae
Composition Lecturer

Professor Rita McAllister

Dr Karen McAuley
Researcher

Helen McVey
Head of BMus Programme

Dr Jill Morgan
Lecturer in Learning and Teaching in the Performing Arts

Professor Arnold Myers
Senior Research Fellow

Dr Oliver Searle
Interim Head of  Composition

Dr Marc Silberschatz
Head of Classical and Contemporary Text

Dr Lori Watson
Lecturer in Traditional Music

Dr Bethany Whiteside
Research Lecturer and Doctoral Degrees Co-ordinator

Applicants for doctoral study should apply through UCAS Conservatoires. Please then submit your proposal online via Acceptd. The Guide for applicants and template of the online proposal form can be found here.  Those applicants who meet the admissions criteria and whose proposed research projects accord with the Royal Conservatoire’s research priorities and context will be interviewed/ auditioned. With the safety of our students, applicants and staff as our priority, all interviews will take place online. At least two supportive references from appropriately qualified persons will also be required. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland may require an applicant to provide additional material in support of their application prior to, or following, their interview/audition.

An interview/audition panel will be chaired by a specialist member of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland staff and will include other members of staff or external advisers as appropriate. An interview panel will normally be chaired by the Head of Research and will include at least one other member of staff or external adviser as appropriate. At the conclusion of the interview/audition process, the panel will formulate a recommendation to the Research Degrees Committee regarding the application.

The Sounds of Science: a practice-based PhD exploring the use, purpose and potential of music in science centres

Project-type: Interdisciplinary practise-based PhD

Funding for: Scottish, UK and International Students, covering tuition and living expenses

Duration: 3.5 years full time (or 7 years part time)

Location: Glasgow, St Andrews, and Dundee, Scotland

Funded by: Scottish Graduate School for the Arts and Humanities Collaborative Doctoral Award

Applications due: June 7 2021

Starting date: October 1, 2021

Summary: In this fully funded, practice-based PhD, a student with a background music composition, sound design, and/or sound-based installation and an interest in science communication will explore how sound and music can be used to create effective learning environments at Dundee Science Centre (DSC). The student will be supervised by an interdisciplinary team consisting of Dr Rachel Drury (music psychology) and Dr Emily Doolittle (music composition and interdisciplinary science-arts research) at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Dr Bede Williams (music and interdisciplinary collaboration) and Dr Mhairi Stewart (public engagement and science communication) at St Andrews University, and Rebecca Duncan (head of development) at Dundee Science Centre.

Project description:

Science centres exist to educate and enthuse the public, in particular children, about science, through informal learning. They typically encourage visitors to interact freely with exhibits, including making all the noises associated with play and discovery. Though this kind of free interaction can facilitate learning, it can also create a noisy atmosphere which may disturb focus, and can ultimately discourage visitors. As Robert Fry asks, ‘If interactive museums are concerned with experiential learning, why do the places we inhabit so often allow an atmosphere of acoustic chaos?’¹ In this fully-funded, practice-based PhD project, a student with a background in music composition, sound design, and/or sound-based installation and an interest in science communication will design and create a series of compositions, sound installations and/or sound interventions for different parts of Dundee Science Centre (DSC), which seek to facilitate learning while also striving to mitigate the effects of unpredictable and noisy sounds coming from multiple directions. By working directly on the sound design with DSC, the student will aim both to make DSC a more inviting, aesthetically pleasing environment, and to enhance the potential for effective learning to take place.

In the first year of their PhD the student will complete a literature review, and conduct in-person reviews of existing scientific installations in the UK and mainland Europe which incorporate sound and/or music. The student will also spend considerable time in DSC, observing the physical layout, exhibits, and the way visitors and staff use the space. For the second and third year of the project, the student will determine the needs of DSC in discussion with key staff, and will design and implement three large-scale installations for different areas of DSC. Depending on the background and interests of the student, this could include (but is not limited to) creating recordings of instrumental music, writing songs with educational content, creating interactive installations, writing music which interacts with the flow of visitors, creating an acoustic background which integrates the diversity of unpredictable sounds heard throughout the day, and/or creating music for DSC’s off-site outreach activities. They will take into account the principles of inclusive design, which recognise that making sure the (sonic) environment meets the varied individual needs of visitors will in fact enhance the experience for all.² In the final 6 months of the PhD the student’s focus will shift towards evaluating the effect of their sound and/or music installations on the experiences of different demographics of visitors, and of staff. The student’s final submission will be mixed mode, consisting of a portfolio of the three musical/installation works, and a written commentary addressing the conception, creation, and effectiveness of each of these works.

We welcome applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds. The successful applicant will have a strong background in music composition, sound design, and/or sound-based installation art,?as well as an interest in science education, but formal qualifications could be from any of a wide array of fields, including music, fine arts, sound design, museum studies, communication, education, psychology, or any of the sciences. Candidates may be coming directly from a prior degree, or may have considerable professional experience as a musician, sound designer, or educator. Accessibility and inclusion are at the core of the DSC’s mandate: as such we are particularly seeking applicants with a strong commitment to creating an inclusive sound environment, and to communicating with the DSC and DSC attendees about the needs of the community.

¹ Fry, R (2002). Delightful Sound and Distracting Noise: The Acoustic Environment of an Interactive Museum. J. Museum Ed. 27:1, 14-17.

² Heylighen, A et al. (2008). The Sound of Inclusion: A Case Study on Acoustic Comfort for All. Designing Inclusive Futures. doi:10.1007/978-1-84800-211-1_8

Qualifications

Essential:

• Hold at least a 2:1 undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline (as required by the funder)
• Have completed or on course to complete a Master’s Degree in a relevant discipline/ and/or demonstrate equivalent, relevant professional experience
• A strong background in music composition, sound design, and/or sound-based installation art.
• An interest in science and engaging audiences with science
• Comfort with and experience in collaborative working
• Comfort with working in multiple and interdisciplinary contexts
• Commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

Desirable:

• Experience with a diversity of audiences
• Experience with assessing utilization of space and the needs of the people who inhabit it
• Experience evaluating the outcomes of a soundscape with various stakeholders including visitors and staff

Application process:

Download the application form and instructions. Please email  e.doolittle@rcs.ac.uk with any further questions.

Interviews of selected applicants will take place in mid-June, and the supervisory team will work with the selected student to submit a final form to SGSAH before July 2, 2021.