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The Illustrated Guide to a PhD: 12 Simple Pictures That Will Put the Daunting Degree into Perspective

in Education | June 20th, 2017 14 Comments

Matthew Might , a com­put­er sci­ence pro­fes­sor at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Utah, writes: “Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. stu­dents what a Ph.D. is. It’s hard to describe it in words. So, I use pic­tures.” In his Illus­trat­ed Guide to the PhD , Pro­fes­sor Might cre­ates a visu­al nar­ra­tive that puts the daunt­ing degree into per­spec­tive. Any­one who has already pur­sued a Ph.D. will see the wis­dom in it. (Or at least I did.) And young, aspir­ing aca­d­e­mics would be wise to pay it heed.

You can see a con­densed ver­sion of the the illus­trat­ed guide above. Or fol­low it in a larg­er for­mat below.

Imag­ine a cir­cle that con­tains all of human knowl­edge:

By the time you fin­ish ele­men­tary school, you know a lit­tle:

By the time you fin­ish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bach­e­lor’s degree, you gain a spe­cial­ty:

A mas­ter’s degree deep­ens that spe­cial­ty:

Read­ing research papers takes you to the edge of human knowl­edge:

Once you’re at the bound­ary, you focus:

You push at the bound­ary for a few years:

Until one day, the bound­ary gives way:

And, that dent you’ve made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks dif­fer­ent to you now:

So, don’t for­get the big­ger pic­ture:

Keep push­ing.

You can find Mat­t’s Illus­trat­ed Guide host­ed on his web site . This guide/reality check is pub­lished under a Cre­ative Com­mons License. You can also buy a print ver­sion for $6.50 . The mon­ey goes to char­i­ty.

This guide first appeared on our site in 2012. But, with all of the wis­dom it packs into a small space, it seemed worth bring­ing back.

by OC | Permalink | Comments (14) |

Related posts:

Comments (14), 14 comments so far.

I always knew a Ph.D. was like the nip­ple on a big tit.

Ha! That’s fun­ny. I was just com­ment­ing, “Imag­ine that‑a total­ly phal­lic rep­re­sen­ta­tion of how to com­plete a Ph.D.

Reminds me of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNIbhRufPQI

I did a Mas­ter’s in His­to­ry and stopped there. The thing that used to both­er me about some of my Profs was that if I asked a ques­tion that popped into my head based upon what we were look­ing at, often the answer would be “sor­ry, not my area.” While I get pro­fes­sion­al sub-cat­e­gories and such, some­times it feels as if a PhD is nar­row­ing the focus a lit­tle too far. I think there is, how­ev­er, a dif­fer­ence between the Human­i­ties and the Sci­ences in this.

It’s a penis try­ing to hatch from an egg? This per­son has for­got­ten biol­o­gy.

Look at it this way… they’re hon­est about what they don’t know… you’ll get many less edu­cat­ed peo­ple will give you an answer that may or may not be accu­rate at all.

It depends on the top­ic. Any good aca­d­e­m­ic from Sci­ence or Human­i­ties will know the lim­i­ta­tions of their knowl­edge; know when that they don’t know.

Also take it as an invi­ta­tion to explore that top­ic your­self.

I like this illus­tra­tion. I have often tried to explain to par­ents and admin­is­tra­tors why advanced degrees don’t nec­es­sar­i­ly trans­late to bet­ter high school teach­ers and this would have helped.

Came here from Phi­los­o­phy Mat­ters on FB

What a bril­liant dis­play of aca­d­e­m­ic arro­gance; there is no social brain to who’s expan­sion we con­tribute. That bub­ble starts anew with every birth and grows to the lim­its of its sur­round­ings. If PhD’s dont real­ize that their goal in life is to enhance those sur­round­ings for the greater growth of future bub­bles then their doc­tor­ate is worth­less because they have learned noth­ing.

Karen, You were doing a Mas­ter’s and were unhap­py because you failed to get an imme­di­ate answer to a ques­tion that popped into your head?? One of the biggest dif­fer­ences between the begin­ning of the edu­ca­tion­al process and the end is that nobody is spoon-feed­ing you any more towards the end. If the ques­tion mat­ters then a library exists for you to research it (these days Wikipedia is often a good place to start to find rel­e­vant resources). If a Mas­ter’s did­n’t teach you to find knowl­edge your­self, then it was worth­less.

No, they haven’t. You only have a dirty mind.

I had a dou­ble Ph.D.mentor once advise that High School stu­dents don’t know that they don’t know shit. Under­grads don’t know shit. Mas­ters Grad­u­ates have an idea that they don’t know shit in gen­er­al. Ph.D.‘s know how to research in specifics how much shit they haven’t begun to know in a very iso­lat­ed sub­set of all the shit to be known. #invert­ed­tri­an­gle #hour­glas­so­fun­der­stand­ing #X

A friend has a say­ing: get­ting a PhD is about learn­ing more and more about less and less until you know almost every­thing about almost noth­ing.

Oh, my flam­ing Aunt .… Is this what I spent 30 years teach­ing … or were they not pay­ing atten­tion most of the time?

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The illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

Every fall, I explain to a fresh batch of Ph.D. students what a Ph.D. is.

It's hard to describe it in words.

So, I use pictures.

Read below for the illustrated guide to a Ph.D.

Update : Print version , slides and translations , CC licensing terms .

Update : People tell me this post is the "sequel" to this one, and I'm looking for a postdoc in (glyco)biology interested in saving lives. Let's talk if interested.

Imagine a circle that contains all of human knowledge:

By the time you finish elementary school, you know a little:

By the time you finish high school, you know a bit more:

With a bachelor's degree, you gain a specialty:

A master's degree deepens that specialty:

Reading research papers takes you to the edge of human knowledge:

Once you're at the boundary, you focus:

You push at the boundary for a few years:

Until one day, the boundary gives way:

And, that dent you've made is called a Ph.D.:

Of course, the world looks different to you now:

So, don't forget the bigger picture:

Keep pushing.

There's a bit more below, but I also wrote a follow-up 5 years after the illustrated guide which may be of interest -- HOWTO: Get tenure .

Related posts

• HOWTO: Get tenure .
• Recommended reading for grad students .
• What every CS major should know .
• How to get into grad school .
• Advice for thesis proposals .
• Productivity tips for academics .
• Academic job hunt advice .
• Successful Ph.D. students: Perseverance, tenacity and cogency .
• The CRAPL: An open source license for academics .
• The shape of your problem .

Get it in print; fund students; save lives

By request, a print version of The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. is on sale.

Any and all proceeds will fund graduate students whose work may impact the discovery, diagnosis or treatment of genetic disorders.

Any and all proceeds will fund graduate students (and postdocs) doing work in biology that may impact treatment of diseases of cellular metabolism.

Update : If you're interested in being that postdoc , get in touch with me!

It is available at $6.50 thanks to Hewlett-Packard's high-quality on-demand publishing service, MagCloud.

It's sixteen pages, saddle-stitch bound and in full color.

It's a good gift for new students, the recently defended and relatives thereof.

Why biology?

If you zoom in on the boundary of human knowledge in the direction of genetics, there's something just outside humanity's reach:

My wife and I chose to start funding these graduate students after we learned that our son has a rare, fatal genetic disorder.

It may be too late for my son, but it's not too late for other children.

Even one child suffering is one child too many.

The only way to end this kind of suffering is science.

And, the best way to do science is through graduate students.

Update : When I first wrote this post, my son's specific disorder was unknown. Thanks to a scientific advance made in genetic diagnostics--specifically exome sequencing--we were able to isolate the mutations in my son's genome and determine that he is the very first documented case of a new disease: N-glycanase deficiency. One small dent in the circle of knowledge; one giant leap for my son. You can read the full story in a new post: Hunting down my son's killer .

License: Creative Commons

I receive numerous requests to reproduce this work, and I'm happy to grant them all, subject to three small conditions:

• Please attribute the original work to me (Matt Might) and link back to this page in your reproduction: http://matt.might.net/articles/phd-school-in-pictures/ as The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D.
• When you attribute, please also link my name, Matt Might , to: http://matt.might.net/
• And, don't forget the "Keep pushing," at the bottom!

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.5 License .

That means you can share, copy, modify and reproduce this work as long as you attribute the original work to me and link back to it as outlined above.

However, you may not sell this work, or use it for commercial purposes. You may only distribute it free of charge. If you're not sure whether your use is a "commercial purpose," please send me an email.

If possible, please host the images on your own server instead of linking back to mine.

If you use it in a presentation, I'd love to hear feedback.

Here's an example attribution that satisfies the legal requirements:

Matt Might , a professor in Computer Science at the University of Utah , created The Illustrated Guide to a Ph.D. to explain what a Ph.D. is to new and aspiring graduate students. [Matt has licensed the guide for sharing with special terms under the Creative Commons license .]

If it helps, here's the corresponding HTML, which you can modify to suit your site's needs:

And, of course, thank you for sharing!

Please let me know if you translate this post into another language.

• A slideshow version in PDF .
• French translation (by Sara Mathieu-C. )
• Urdu translation (by Adnan Masood )
• Japanese translation (by Kimikazu Kato )
• Brazilian Portuguese translation (by Kleber Jacinto )
• Spanish translation (by Ismael Peña-López )
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• Simplified Chinese translation by (Sijia Zhao)
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• Hebrew translation (by Regev Elya ).
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• Catalan translation by Sebas Mas.
• Finnish translation by Joutsiniemi Anssi.
• Basque Translation by Jesus Romo .

• Jun 8, 2021

How to draw your research with simple scientific illustrations

Turn sketchbook ideas into scientific masterpieces: a student’s journey

You know the phrase. A picture speaks a 1000 words.

And often, a research paper speaks for much longer than it really needs to. SEVERAL thousand words more beyond what you may want to know. So why don’t we try and make your long story short with your very own scientific illustrations and infographics? And the good news is that you don’t need to be a fancy high-level artist to draw for YOUR science.

Not a Picasso? No problem! But you could be a Da Vinci - most people know him as a famous painter, but he was equally versed in the sciences.

Let us take you through the process of becoming a scientist just like him, one step at a time.

In this blog, Dr. Juan Miguel Balbin, Science Communicator at Animate Your Science, talks about his experiences and life lessons growing up with a sketchbook, and the fundamentals of making simple scientific illustrations to add visibility to your research.

The boy with a sketchbook, now a scientist with a lab book

As a scientist you’ve gone through school. Several levels of school more than what you originally intended. For now let’s cast our minds back to primary school (or elementary for our global readers!). We all had a pencil case with several coloured pencils, broken and blunt ones, and maybe some notes you’d sneakily pass around in class.

For me, I had a sketchbook in there that was just a little bigger than the size of my hand.

Artist lesson #1 : No piece of art in the world is completely original

I liked to draw, but I wasn’t the best at it. I had friends who could draw hyperrealistic animals or put together entire comic book strips. Me? I wasn’t super original. I’d draw characters from my favourite video games or TV shows growing up. But I always felt like I was “copying” from something that already existed. Was I a fraud because I couldn’t come up with my own unique ideas? Little did I know at the time that every artist “copies” and dare I say “steals” ideas as inspiration for their own style. It’s only human to be influenced.

So anyone can draw if your imagination is up for the task!

Artist lesson #2 : Start doodling with a simple medium that’s accessible to you

Eventually my sketchbook ran out of pages, so I wondered if I could go digital. I first tinkered a lot with Microsoft Paint (the classic one that needed Windows XP or older!) as well as Microsoft PowerPoint. These were great starting points for someone wanting to test out digital art and to learn about bitmap vs vector graphics .

Artist lesson #3 : Refine your way of drawing with new tools as you progress

In the end, doodles in Paint and PowerPoint could only go so far when it came to looking professional. So, in high school I picked up classes for Adobe Illustrator (AI) which was industry-standard stuff in graphic design. AI was a fantastic tool to equip myself with to really get that polished look in my work.

But one thing didn’t change. I still drew very simple things, just using new toys.

Artist lesson #4 : Thinking like a scientist makes art easier

I realised that I had a very methodological way of drawing where I would reverse-engineer an image in my mind and list the shapes it was made up of. Wait, was this how an artist thinks? I wasn’t sure. Perhaps this style of thinking paved the way for me on the path to becoming a scientist with a little bit of art and graphic design under my belt. Take the Twitter bird for example!

Artist lesson #5 : If you can draw, you fill a very special niche on a team

Fast forward to University, and I came across the concept of scientific posters. I had a group assignment where we needed to make a poster about insecticide resistance in moths. Nobody else wanted to be responsible for making the poster, so I put my hand up for the job. My group was thankful for someone with a graphic design skillset. I didn’t know what a poster was really meant to look like, except that it shouldn’t be an intimidating wall of text where you would have to squint to see the Size 8 No Spacing Times New Roman.

Instead, we filled it up half-way with pictures and catchy titles while giving a good oral commentary. No intimidating text, just a gigantic moth in the middle of the poster (apologies to those with a phobia!). We scored a very high mark, and it set the bar high for every science poster after.

Artist lesson #6 : Art is your ticket to a good first impression

Heading into my PhD, I was being trained to be a clear and concise scientist. Creativity was gauged on research novelty, not by how prettily I could label up some tubes. What was an artist doing here? Then came my first lab meeting where I presented my initial project proposal. I’ve seen everyone else do theirs, but I wanted to try something different - my own way.

My slides had colourful illustrations of genetically-modified malaria parasites that I would engineer to glow green and red - this was the moment I made my artwork known to my research group and they loved it! However for more formal seminars, the “traditional” slides were needed. Yes that meant reverting back to a bunch of statistics and references. Oh well.

Artist lesson #7 : A story is told better when you use art to show what’s happening

The next step was to present at scientific conferences and excite people with my research! But how could I possibly do this with a project that had mostly negative results? Why was hypothesis A wrong? Because of reasons B and C? How could I tell people this was really hard? With little data on me, I sought to fill up the gaps in my posters and PowerPoints with visual introductions to my topic, drawn schematics of my experiments and used these to tell my story.

And it worked well. Really well.

My storytelling worked well enough to be awarded two prizes at two separate events for the same seemingly basic research project. You don’t need to cure cancer or make a Da Vinci-level painting to make an impact, I certainly didn’t. There’s room for artists of all skill levels in science.

Hopefully at this point you’ve been inspired to give scientific illustrations a try! Let’s now talk about the process of making your graphics and why scientists might hesitate to give drawing a go. I guarantee your next grant or presentation will be GLOWING with these tips.

Identify what shapes make up your research object

“but i haven’t got any drawing skills”.

If you can draw basic shapes, you’re all set. Really, that’s it, plus a healthy dose of imagination. Basic shapes form the basis of any complicated (or simple) drawing.

Okay sure, maybe an owl’s a bit too much. But you can see it’s just made up of a million different shapes. And just like any science experiment there’s method to the madness, so hold on to your pencil and paper. What shapes make up your “owl”?

Let’s draw a cell for example, a red blood cell (my specialty!). A simple red circle is a good place to start. But then you go back into Google Images and find that these cells aren’t just red circles, they’ve got some dimension to them, with a little bit of a dip in the center. So, draw another red circle, but make it a little darker to make it fancy.

Voila! You now have a mostly medically-accurate red blood cell. Of course, you could always add more details, but the point is that beauty lies in simplicity, and science loves to keep things clear, concise and simple . But simple doesn’t need to mean boring and made in a rush. See our article on graphical abstracts to see why you don’t rush these things.

So no, we’re not drawing owls unless you specifically work on owls. Be relieved.

“My work is too complicated for me to turn into a picture.”

In that case, let’s make it less complicated by using symbols.

Symbols are easy to understand and will allow your audience to quickly get a hold on the topic you’re presenting. You can use symbols to illustrate your literature review, methodology, or even as icons for your dot points. Let’s try and make these, using shapes.

microscope (circles and rectangles)

chemical flask (triangles and rectangles)

viral particle (triangles in an icosahedron)

leaf (pointy oval)

atomic models (three ovals and circles)

For researchers who work on more abstract or non-tangible topics, we’ll have to be a little more creative. But this is the fun part! Allow me to introduce metaphorical symbols - your new best friend. These represent broader concepts and methods that could closely tie with your topic and methods. Take these for example.

magnifying glass (representing “investigation”, circles and rectangles)

gears (representing “mechanisms”, circles and squares)

keys (representing the keys to “unlocking the unknown”, circles and rectangles)

thought bubble (representing “hypotheses”, circles)

stopwatch (representing “time needed for a study”, circles and rectangles)

lightbulb (representing “novelty”, circles, rectangles and lines)

ladder (representing “progression”, rectangles)

stick figures (representing “participants”, you know how to make this!)

check boxes (representing “tasks” in your study, squares and rectangles)

Once you have your individual symbols together, you could display them as a scientific infographic like this.

Then give yourself a pat on the back, you’ve earned it for making your first set of scientific illustrations!

“I don’t know what software to use to make my drawings”

Worry not, you likely already have something you can use! Many researchers love to use Microsoft PowerPoint to arrange figures because they’ve already been trained in it. PowerPoint is a fantastic starting point for making illustrations using the Insert shape tool.

Levelling up past PowerPoint? Try out InkScape for free to gain that edge in your vector artwork. We also recommend Affinity Designer which you can access with a one-time payment! Affinity Designer allows you to tinker with both bitmap and vector graphics for that added flexibility.

The holy grail is definitely the Adobe Creative Suite of software products, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Adobe InDesign. For starters, try out Illustrator! A free trial is available, so give it a try before you commit to a subscription!

“I haven’t got the time to learn to make these myself”

Understandable, completely understandable. Though I would bet that if you’re reading this blog right now that you would be keen to give it a try with some trial and error.

There are also online resources, such as BioRende r , which provide you with base illustrations that you can move around and assemble into a figure yourself.

Alternatively, we’re at your beck and call. Have a look at our gallery to get an idea of the services we provide so we could draw your research for you!

Other tips for new venturing scientific illustrators

An illustration is only good if it can be easily understood! Pair it with an equally descriptive figure legend and/or very clear labels.

Visibility is everything - make sure it is suitably large for your purpose, and is coloured in a way that matches the palette for your poster/presentation etc.

Your pictures tell a story , but they need you to narrate them. Use your illustrations as a tool to better structure your oral narrative.

Once you’re confident with illustrating, why not breathe life into them in a video abstract or animation ?

Take-away points

Every artist starts out simple!

You can draw anything if you can pick out what shapes to use to make an image.

You can tell a story by drawing simple symbols and icons.

We’re only at the tip of the iceberg with what you could do to make scientific illustrations. If you found this blog useful, perhaps you'd consider subscribing to our newsletter ?

Until next time!

Dr Juan Miguel Balbin

Dr Tullio Rossi

#scientificillustration #Twitter

Related Posts

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How to Make Cool Animated Science Videos in PowerPoint

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Scientific Illustrations: A Complete Guide for Researchers

As a researcher, writing reports and articles is a big part of your job. Academics and scientists everywhere spend the majority of their time either doing research or writing about it. However, there is one aspect of reports and articles that we don’t think about very often, and that is scientific illustrations. We write articles and reports to convey our ideas to a variety of audiences—academics, fellow scientists, and the public. Everyone who has read a report or article recognizes that illustrations, figures, graphs, and infographics are an invaluable factor in clearly presenting ideas. Until recently, there haven’t been many good tools that make it easy to create clear and interesting scientific illustrations. But with the rise of digital technology, this is changing. In this article, we will look at ways you can create detailed and helpful illustrations to better present your ideas and research. We will also examine the latest tools for scientists and researchers to make such illustrations.

Scientific Illustrations: Where to Begin?

The first place to begin with a scientific illustration is research about the subject. Before you can draw something, you need to have a thorough understanding of it. If you are illustrating a process or an organ, it can help to break it down into smaller parts first so you can think about the best way to present it. Once you have all the information you need, make some preliminary sketches on paper. You can think of this step as similar to writing an outline for an article. You will need to have a good idea of what you want your illustration to look like before you start dealing with digital illustration tools.

When you’re making preliminary sketches, it’s important to keep your target audience grain mind first and foremost. Are you making this illustration for fellow academics or other scientists who already have a detailed understanding of the material? Or are you creating it for the general public? Determining your target audience will make it clear what information you need to include and what information you can leave out of your illustration.

Finally, before you turn to digital tools, remember that the purpose of a scientific illustration is not to introduce new materials. Scientific illustrations are used to present the information in your article in a way that is easier to understand for your audience. The illustration should clarify the topic of your research. For example, if you are writing about the way a stent opens up blocked arteries in a heart, then you can create an illustration showing the key components and highlighting the function of the stent.

Digital Tools for Scientific Illustrations

Once you have your preliminary ideas sketched out, it’s time to turn to digital tools. Most researchers are familiar with tools such as PowerPoint and Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. While PowerPoint is good for making slideshows, it falls short when it comes to making actual illustrations. Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator are wonderful tools, but they are difficult to learn and can be expensive. Fortunately, some recent innovators have created illustration tools especially for scientists .

The hottest tool right now is BioRender , which was created by a group of women in Toronto who recognized the need for a simple illustration program for scientists. BioRender has a library of more than 30,000 life-science icons, which includes anatomical drawings and pictures of everything from SARS-CoV-2 virus particles to fruit flies. The program allows you to drag and drop icons easily and also has special drawing tools. The founders created the program after recognizing the need for it in fast-growing fields like immunology and microbiology that don’t have standard tools for illustrating, unlike engineering or chemistry. However, it does come with an institutional price tag of USD $35 a month or USD $99 for five users.

But BioRender isn’t the only company trying to meet the need for better tools to illustrate scientific concepts. EDrawSoft offers professional scientific diagrams and templates and is great for physics, mathematics, and chemistry. Gimp is another popular illustration software offering tools for high-quality image manipulation . Gimp’s popularity isn’t only because of its variety of tools and ability to work across platforms like Linux. It is also free. However, it’s often considered an alternative to Adobe Photoshop, meaning beginners might have a difficult time getting started. InkScape is another free tool popular for scientists who want to edit vector graphics. Cacoo is great for collaboration as it has the ability to create diagrams as well as edit and comment in real-time. These are just a few of the many tools available now to make high-quality images and scientific illustrations.

Tips for Making Eye-Catching Scientific Illustrations

Once you have identified the best tool for your purpose and learned the basics, it’s time to think about what makes a good scientific illustration. The short answer is: a good scientific illustration should present information clearly in an eye-catching way. It should enhance the understanding of the viewer, not make it more confusing. You can use color, but there’s no need to use the whole rainbow—color sparingly applied can highlight the most important aspects of your illustration. Scientific illustrations can also make use of text to help viewers understand what they are looking at. A great illustration can add a whole new dimension to the presentation of your research, leaving a strong impression on your audience.

As more journals accept illustrations along with articles, the demand for the skill of scientific illustration is also growing. The founders of BioRender highlight what a well-paying field scientific illustration is . Shiz Aoki is one of very few people in the world with an actual degree in medical illustration from Johns Hopkins University. The program only produces six graduates per year. Before Aoki started BioRender, she ran a medical illustration firm that charged between USD $1000 to USD $10,000 for commissions. For many scientists and researchers struggling to make ends meet due to the fallout from the coronavirus epidemic, freelancing in scientific illustration may offer a lucrative side hustle. With the number of tools available, investing some time in learning this new skill now can boost your career in more ways than one.

Do you create illustrations for your articles and presentations? What tools have you found helpful or difficult? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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Illustration Graduate Programs in America

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Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts

Syracuse, NY •

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• • Rating 5 out of 5   1 review

Master's Student: It has been amazing. All my teacher’s are supportive and giving me the tools to succeed in my future career. They know about outside opportunities I should follow as well. It is fantastic and I love it here. ... Read 1 review

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SYRACUSE, NY ,

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Fashion Institute of Technology

New York, NY •

• • Rating 4.13 out of 5   8 reviews

Current Master's student: I am an international student and overall, my experience has been great. However, I was expecting the classes to be more advanced and less theoretical. I feel that some of the classes explore concepts that have been covered during undergraduate programs (marketing basics, research concepts, entrepreneurial concepts). Also, some of the concepts and case studies could be more up-to-date. I also wish the assignments were less focused on academics (APA style etc) and more focused on practical issues such as strategies, problem solving ideas etc... However, the professors are very committed and passionate about their courses and I appreciate that. They make me feel excited about the classes even if I take them at night. ... Read 8 reviews

NEW YORK, NY ,

8 Niche users give it an average review of 4.1 stars.

Featured Review: Current Master's student says I am an international student and overall, my experience has been great. However, I was expecting the classes to be more advanced and less theoretical. I feel that some of the classes explore... However, the professors are very committed and passionate about their courses and I appreciate that. They make me feel excited about the classes even if I take them at night. .

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College of Fine Arts and Design - University of Central Oklahoma

Edmond, OK •

University of Central Oklahoma •

University of Central Oklahoma ,

EDMOND, OK ,

Maryland Institute College of Art

Baltimore, MD •

• • Rating 4.56 out of 5   16 reviews

Alum: I absolutely loved my time at MICA, however I have heard it has changed significantly since I graduated on 2011. I cannot overstate how inspired I was by my professors, classmates, and community. I have had no problem getting a job since college. ... Read 16 reviews

BALTIMORE, MD ,

16 Niche users give it an average review of 4.6 stars.

Featured Review: Alum says I absolutely loved my time at MICA, however I have heard it has changed significantly since I graduated on 2011. I cannot overstate how inspired I was by my professors, classmates, and community. I... .

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School of Visual Communication - Savannah College of Art and Design

Savannah, GA •

Savannah College of Art and Design •

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Savannah College of Art and Design ,

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College of Visual and Performing Arts - University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Dartmouth, MA •

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth •

• • Rating 3 out of 5   2 reviews

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth ,

DARTMOUTH, MA ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 3 stars.

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Academy of Art University School of Illustration

San Francisco, CA •

Academy of Art University •

Academy of Art University ,

SAN FRANCISCO, CA ,

School of Visual Arts

• • Rating 4.6 out of 5   20 reviews

Master's Student: A well-designed, engaging program to match the realistic, contemporary needs of the professional field ... Read 20 reviews

20 Niche users give it an average review of 4.6 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says A well-designed, engaging program to match the realistic, contemporary needs of the professional field .

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College of Arts and Sciences - Marywood University

Scranton, PA •

Marywood University •

• • Rating 3.75 out of 5   4 reviews

Master's Student: I’m in Marywood’s MSW program and I feel that so far, I’m learning all that I need to and that I’m learning things that will really be beneficial in the future. With COVID going on, it’s clear to me that Marywood has students best interest at heart which is why they are virtual learning. ... Read 4 reviews

Marywood University ,

SCRANTON, PA ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 3.8 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says I’m in Marywood’s MSW program and I feel that so far, I’m learning all that I need to and that I’m learning things that will really be beneficial in the future. With COVID going on, it’s clear to me... .

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School of Animation and Motion - Savannah College of Art and Design

The de sole school of business innovation - savannah college of art and design.

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University of Gloucestershire

• 4 years Full time degree: £3,400 per year (UK)
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University of central lancashire.

• 3 years Full time degree: £5,000 per year (UK)
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Soas university of london.

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,860 per year (UK)
• 6 years Part time degree: £2,430 per year (UK)

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Manchester metropolitan university.

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,850 per year (UK)
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Sheffield hallam university.

• 4 years Full time degree: £4,712 per year (UK)
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University of worcester.

• 3 years Full time degree: £4,950 per year (UK)
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• RSDP4001: Developing as a Researcher
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• RSDP4003: Approaches to Research 2
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Bangor university.

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Anglia ruskin university.

• 2 years Full time degree: £4,712 per year (UK)
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University of Brighton

Mphil/phd art and design, university of chester.

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University for the creative arts.

• 3 years Full time degree: £5,670 per year (UK)

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Aberystwyth university.

• Principles of Research Design (10 Credits) - Core
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Arts university bournemouth.

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The University of Brighton is a creative and intellectually vibrant focus for a PhD in art and creative practices.

The School of Art and Media in Brighton has a long history of internationally-recognised work, has been a pioneer of practice-based and inter-disciplinary methods, and joins with other disciplinary areas to offer expert supervision.  

Past successes in PhD in Art and Creative Practices at the University of Brighton include PhDs in the areas of fine art, illustration, graphic design, visual communication, photography and film, digital and interactive arts, 3D design and craft, fashion and textiles, design and communication, drawing on the staff of different schools and sharing a creative vision and ethos that permeates the whole university.

Apply to 'Arts' on our PhD portal

Apply with us for funding through the AHRC Techne Doctoral Training Partnership

Key information

As an Art and Creative Practices PhD student, you will benefit from

• a supervisory team comprising 2-3 members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism you may also have an additional external supervisor from another school, research institution, or industry
• access to and induction to research approaches from a variety of related fields, including social science, environmental science, media, design and the humanities
• access to a range of electronic resources via the university’s Online Library, as well as to the physical book and journal collections housed within the university libraries
• a range of colleagues using arts practices for research investigation, including a regular presentation day of research in these fields
• various spaces and facilities for exhibition and public engagement.

Academic environment

Our research and enterprise has, at its heart, an engagement with making and critical thinking that brings together creative inquiry, experimentation with material, process and technology with theory and critical writing. It provides new ways of understanding creative processes that offer insights into cultural and human emotion, thought and action.

Research activities within Art and Creative Practices include the production of innovative artefacts, both digital and physical, design, craft, inclusive practices, exhibitions, installation and performance, as well as creative writing, published texts, books and journal articles. Characterised by a blend of scholarship, knowledge exchange, traditional and cutting-edge practices, our research has been influential in collaborative developments with diverse communities and partners locally, nationally and internationally. It is our belief that knowledge generated through the development of creative and critical practice enhances and shapes every aspect of our contemporary culture and future lives.

We promote research excellence and support individual and collaborative research initiatives that through productive enterprise networks help to enhance society’s understanding of human culture and creativity. 

We welcome applications for PhD study in which practice plays a central role, as well as those applications that bring elements of practice into a more traditional thesis submission. As a research student, you will part of a community of learning with active participation in a range of intellectual and social events. All PhD students working on arts-based topics are integrated into the university’s wider research culture and we will provide you with opportunities to present ‘work in progress’ and network with other researchers.

Research themes in Art and Creative Practices

Researchers within the School of Art and Media are engaged in arts practice work across a wide range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary areas and, along with specialists in the history and theory of art, design, literature, creative writing and autoethnography from the School of Humanities and Social Science, and wider engagement with schools specialising across the sciences, we encourage interdisciplinary projects and cross-disciplinary engagements. Our particular areas of specialism currently include:

• artistic engagements with environment, memory, narrative,
• arts practices and science, health and wellbeing
• research into, through and with drawing
• inclusive arts practice and social contexts
• interactive digital arts and audience engagement
• networked media arts practices and interventions
• mediated performances, visions and the role of the body as site
• politics of representation, curatorship and exhibition making
• creative writing and autoethnography

Explore our Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence:

• Centre for Arts and Wellbeing
• Centre for Design History
• Centre for Digital Media Cultures .

Some of our supervisory staff 

Gavin ambrose.

My supervisory interests lie in the development of new approaches to Graphic Design pedagogy. I have expertise in typography, printing, editorial design and graphic systems and conventions. I'm especially interested in the emergence of new approaches to the landscape of contemporary Graphic Design practice and how the role of the Graphic Design has shifted towards a bricoleur approach to contempory communication. Graphic Design is a pervasive subject that is integrated in our daily lives, but arguably the subject of little critical enquiry. An emerging research community and unified research clustering is beginning to address this shortfall, and Doctorate Level study will help to further this body of knowledge.

I am interested in supervising on enquries into:

• Graphic Design practice, both as an act of creation but also as a force for change;

• The changing topography of the Graphic Design landscape, and the changes to the 'role' of the graphic Designer as a contemporary communicator and creator;

• Shifts in typographic practice and relationships of Graphic Design to the broader influences of social and economic factors including globalisation and homogenisation;

• The role of communication as an emerging research practice;

• Self regulation and ‘rule’ or convention generation with in the industry;

• The role of ‘play’ and ‘failure’ in design Graphic Design practice, and in particular how these actions are navigated and understood by learners and educators;

• The emergence of alternative, less formal approaches to education and the role of the ‘Art School’ in this developing landscape.

Dr Martin Bouette

My work investigates the role of entrepreneurship in the development of creative careers as a business owner and researcher. This has included investigating the gap between education and employment for creative practitioners as well as exploring models of learning to support entrepreneurial development.

Current and recent PhD students:

Claire Dawson - An exploration for clothing reuse in the circular economy (2023 -  present)

Martin Irorere -  Sustainability in making material innovation in textiles, for the circular model in the fashion industry (2021 - 2023) 

Erika Wong – Art World Hegemony and Access: Competing Perspectives on the Value of The Creative Class (2016 – 2020) Brighton University

Veerapong Klangpremjit – Interactive Packaging Development (2014 – 2020) University for the Creative Arts

Akapan Thienthaworn – Design Management in UK and Thai SMEs (2011 – 2019) University for the Creative Arts (completed)

Amy Cunningham

My supervisory interests include fine art, video, multi-media installation, sound, voice, performance, site-specific art and cultural histories of technology.

Dr Jules Findley

Postgraduate supervision in Textiles, Fashion, Fashion Communication, Drawing, encompassing embodied materiality, my work in handmade paper and practice-based, installation art. More recently,  substantial research as co-investigator with an AHRC project in sustainabile materials in Fashion and Textiles. I am interested in waste in the Fashion, Textiles, Accessories and Leather industries, together with materials, circular economy, reuse and repurposing.  

Recent PhD supervision:

University of Brighton - Claire Dawson - Research Title: 'Clothing Reuse in the Circular Econonmy: An exploration of the challenges and opportuniteis for UK high street fashion brands' - [March 2023 - July 2029]

University of Brighton - Martin Irorere - Research Title: 'Closing the Fashion Sustainability Gap through textile Recycling: Evaluation of UK Gen-Z consumer attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance of textile recycling'. - [March 2021 - July 2026]

Anglia Ruskin University - Amanda Lavis - Research Title: 'Woven Language: A practice-based research investigation Exploring the Textile Praxis in Children's Book Illustration' [March 2021 - expected completion 2025]

External PhD Viva examination experience, University of Chester October 2020 - Georgina Spry -  'A New Felt Presence: Making and Learning as part of a Community of Women Feltmakers' 

Doctoral student supervision and examination

Meaningfully Engaged? Exploring the particpatory arts practices of adults with profound and multiplul learning disabilities (PMLD)  PhD Thesis by Melaneia Warwick completed in 2018

External examiner, Royal Holloway, Janyne Lloyd, PhD thesis title The Role of Reminiscence Arts in the Lives of Care Home Residents Living with Dementia 2016

Dr Charlotte Gould

My PhD supervisory interests are in Digital Media Arts and Visual Communication. My specific research interests cover interactive storytelling, augmented reality, digital and tangible media,  open interaction, play, participation, immersive environments, virtual reality and 360 video, audience agency and sustainability.

Dr Ole Hagen

In addition to fine art practice, I'm interested in consciousness studies, philosophy of mind, ontology and religious stuies such as Buddhist philosophy. My own PhD covered continental thought, such as phenomenology, poststructuralism, Derrida and Deleuze, but also philosophy of science.

Dr Asa Johannesson

I am interested in supervising PhD and MRes students in the following areas: feminist photographic practices and theories, queer methodologies, queer photographic practices and theories, queer activism and representation, new materialism, posthumanism, photography and ontology, non-dialectical contemporary philosophy, process-led photographic research. 

Dr Helen Johnson

Helen supervises PhD and MD students with an interest in arts-based interventions in healthcare, education and wellbeing, and/or the use of creative, arts-based research methods.  She is interested in talking to doctoral applicants who are interested in researching creativity and the arts, with foci including: art therapy; arts interventions for health and wellbeing, including invisible chronic and contested conditions; social prescribing; creativity and the lived experience of dementia; arts education; spoken word and poetry slam; art worlds/communities; arts inclusivity; everyday creativity; and the artistic process.   She is also interested in supervising students who wish to work with creative, arts-based and/or participatory methods, including: poetic inquiry; autoethnography; photo voice; photo elicitation; collaborative poetics; and participatory action research.  Helen currently supervises four doctoral candidates, who are researching: the lived experiences of women with borderline personality disorder (including creative coping strategies); neurologic music therapy with young people with juvenile dementia; black people's experiences of intimacy and psychosis; and decolonial praxis in museum learning.  She has previously supervised and examined work covering topics that include: perceptions of frailty in the undergraduate medical curriculum; the impact of austerity policies on homeless people; spoken word with young offenders in a Macedonian prison; the performance and perception of authenticity in contemporary UK spoken word poetry; and NHS staff experiences of work. 

Dr Uschi Klein

Dr Uschi Klein is interested in supervising PhDs in the broad areas of photographic histories and practices, visual and material culture, resistance politics, cultural memory and marginalised communities. She is especially but not exclusively interested in supervising research projects that focus on the lived experience of Eastern European totalitarian systems.

Dr Jayne Lloyd

Jayne is interested supervising practice-based PhD research into collaborative or participatory arts practices with marginalised groups, arts in health and social care settings, arts-research and arts practices located in both gallery and community settings.

Dr Philippa Lyon

My main supervisory interests are in the understanding and applications of drawing in clinical settings, the use of drawing as a tool of learning, approaches to arts/health research, the relationship between drawing and writing and creative/visual research methods.

I am currently supervising:

Vanessa Marr (PhD, School of Art and Media) with Jessica Moriarty;  

Caehryn Tinker (PhD, School of Art and Media) with Heidi von Kurthy and Kay Aranda;

James Murray (PhD, School of Art and Media) with Gavin Fry and Duncan Bullen;

Lindsay Sekulowicz (AHRC Collaborative Doctorate, School of Humanities and Social Science) with Claire Wintle at Brighton, William Milliken and Mark Nesbitt at Kew Gardens and Luciana Martins at Birkbeck;

Muna Al-Jawad (PhD by Publication) with Jayne Lloyd;

Duncan Bullen (PhD by Publication).

I worked for a 3 year period as a learning mentor for a PhD student in the School of Art and Media. They completed successfully in February 2024.

I have supervised 4 PhD students to completion: Dr Simon Bliss, Jewellery, Silver and the Applied and Decorative Arts in the Culture of Modernism, 2019; Dr Gavin Fry, Male textile artists in 1980s Britain: a practice based inquiry into their reasons for using this medium, 2018; Dr Curie Scott, Elucidating perceptions of ageing through participatory drawing: a phenomenographic approach, 2018; Dr Sarah Haybittle, Correspondence, trace and the landscape of narrative: a visual, verbal and literary dialectic, 2015.

I have been an independent chair for two PhD examinations (Andrew Cross and Ada Hao) and have examined seven PhDs: Mingyi Wang, University of Brighton, 2023 (internal examiner); Jane Shepard, University of Brighton, 2022 (internal examiner); Melissa Cheung, University of Sydney, Australia, 2019 (external examiner); Louisa Buck, University of Brighton, 2018 (internal examiner); Samantha Lynch, University of Brighton, 2018 (internal examiner); Mike Sadd, University of Brighton, August 2015 (internal examiner); Tanja Golja, University of Technology Sydney, Australia, January 2012 (external examiner).

I've acted as internal examiner for three MRes students: Claire Scanlon, 2019; Diana Brighouse, 2015; and Mark Lander, 2014.

I have also been an independent reader for MPhil/PhD transfers and Annual Progression Review reader for 5 students.

Dr Simon McEnnis

Dr McEnnis is interested in postgraduate supervision in journalism and media studies. He is particularly keen on projects that explore professional and citizen journalism, digital and social media practice, blogging and influencer culture, media analysis, sports journalism or sports media. 

Roderick Mills

My supervisory interests cover the emerging areas of Illustration as an expanded field of practice including GIFs, animation, and the burgeoning self-publishing scene, through to traditional forms of graphic storytelling. I am interested in enquiries into situated illustration, both in terms of site specific work and ethnographic approaches, to how illustrators can use technology to go beyond the printed page. The importance of drawing as means of enquiry is another interest alongside performative aspects of live transcriptions and the use of workshops to engage with communities.

Dr Jessica Moriarty

One of my key passions is working with PhD students on creative practice, autoethnography and creative writing pedagogy. I have supported doctoral students working on transdisciplinary projects and work that seeks to challenge conventional academic discourse. At the moment, I am honoured to be working with students who are looking at queering the colonial, creativity and Bronte, Santiago de Cuba as moving archive, diverse narratives from Brexit, feminist romance, autoethnographic arts-based work, stories from care, autoethno-drag, identity and hybridity in fiction, and queer bodies in performance.

Xavier Ribas

Xavier Ribas is interested in developing postgraduate research in the following areas: contested sites and histories, legacies of colonialism, border territories, geographies of extraction, environmentalism, climate justice, art and activism. 

Dr Naomi Salaman

Contemporary art 

Contemporary art and feminist perspectives

The history of vision

The Art School; art education; art theory.

Prof Paul Sermon

My research and supervisory interests cover Fine Art, Digital Media, Performance and Visual Communications related subjects. Since joining the University of Brighton in 2013 I have taken on six PhD students as their lead supervisor, with completions in May 2016, March 2018 and April 2019. These PhD students have been undertaking practice-based research in a range of specific areas such as digital storytelling, interactive media, virtual reality and networked performance art. In my role as a PhD supervisor and Postgraduate Research Coordinator in the School of Art I bring our PhD students together through collaborative workshops, symposia and exhibitions, such as the group PhD show ‘Digital Encounters’ for the British Science Festival, Brighton in September 2017. I have had six PhD completions as lead supervisor to date, as well as two external completions and I continue to gain PhD Viva experience, with over thirteen PhD external examiner appointments.

Emma Stibbon

My supervisory interests are writing the field of Fine Art, specialising in drawing and printmaking. My research is rooted in landscape, focusing on environments that are undergoing change and transformation. I undertake this through field-based research, frequently in dialogue with scientists. 

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.  

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Sign in to our online application portal to begin.

Fees and funding

 Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2023–24

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page .

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.