Arts and Media MRes

Program Overview

The MRes in Arts and Media is a cross-departmental postgraduate research degree that offers students the opportunity to undertake research within the disciplines of art and design, performing arts, and media. The program is geared towards facilitating students' research interests and preparing them for further postgraduate research at the MPhil/Doctor of Philosophy level and beyond. Students will have access to a range of traditional and contemporary facilities, including art and photography studios, a metal casting foundry, sound and video editing suites, film and television studios, dance and performance studios, dark rooms, a reprographics room, and specially designed workshops for printmaking, bronze casting, textiles, digital art, and sculpture.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

The MRes in Arts and Media is a cross-departmental postgraduate research degree in the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. It offers an exciting opportunity to undertake research within the disciplines of art and design, performing arts and media. This can be accomplished either through practice-led projects or more traditional text-based approaches. You will begin your studies evaluating the tools of research design and methods through two taught modules, and then will apply these in an extensive research project in an area of arts and media in which you are passionate. The programme is geared towards facilitating your research interests, and you will be matched with staff who share these and will be able to guide you in your explorations and discoveries. The course will prepare students for further postgraduate research at MPhil/Doctor of Philosophy level and beyond. The course is taught through a combination of seminars, tutorials and the close supervision of written and creative work. There is the option of taking the course as an online, distance programme, supported throughout by supervisory support and guidance as well as access to online lectures.

Outline:

The MRes is comprised of 180 credits of Level 7 comprising 40 credits of 'taught' modules and 140 credits of a research project.

Modules:

• Research Project Compulsory: This module provides an opportunity for the exploration of an area within Arts and Media realising an individual research project.
This requires the presentation of a body of work that demonstrates autonomy of concept and realisation. The candidate is expected to critically evaluate the practice they investigate and deploy a wide range of techniques or research appropriate to the inquiry. The outcome of this module will reflect the ambitions of the individual student as identified in a project proposal developed through discussion with the tutor and Programme Leader. Whilst the project proposal provides a useful framework, it does not prescribe the outcome and students are encouraged to experiment and be ambitious in terms of the content, form, and presentation of the work as it develops through the course of the module.
• Module aims: To facilitate the development of a large scale research-led project, to enable the student to interrogate relevant theory and/or practice within Arts and Media, to encourage the documentation of methods and processes in order to engender a thorough understanding of themselves as a practitioner within their chosen discipline.
• Research Proposal Development Compulsory: This module offers opportunities for students to critically appraise methods and subject-specific tools by which research projects are designed and formed.
Using methods explored in the module, students will develop a research proposal of their own, which will provide the foundation for the major research project. Independent learning will be a feature of the module.
• Module aims: To equip students with an understanding of the value of effective research planning, to establish appropriate parameters for research design, as relevant and applicable to the subject-discipline, to provide students with the means to critically appraise research design and method, pertaining to their own research and of others, to provide students with the skills to develop their own research proposal, which draws upon appropriate and subject-relevant methods and tools.
• Research Methods in Arts and Media Compulsory: The module will offer a theoretical overview of research methods in Arts and Media.
Students will engage with theories, concepts and subject-specific methodologies and conventions (pertaining to their discipline), from historical and current vantage-points in order to critically position their own research. Module content will include (but is not limited to): Ethics, Bias and epistemological positioning, Discourse(s), Research design: quantitative, qualitative and practice-based, Data collection and fieldwork, Ethnographic and auto-ethnographic approaches, Visual analysis and engagement with cultural, artistic events. Independent learning will be a feature of the module.
• Module aims: To provide students with a theoretical overview of historical and current approaches to research in arts-based disciplines, to equip students with the skills needed to engage with a range of research theories, concepts, conventions and methods, to develop the concept of 'positioning' in arts and media research, to ensure students are able to reference and synthesise academic theory and practice as appropriate and applicable to the discipline.

Assessment:

Assessment will take the form of written submissions and formal presentations as well as through practice, such as exhibitions, artworks, performances, music events, films, photograph as relevant and appropriate to the discipline under exploration. Subsequent to the major Research Project you may be required by the examiners to defend your submitted work by oral examination and there is a normal expectation that candidates will be interviewed by the external examiner to discuss your project.

Teaching:

The learning within the course will be geared toward enabling you to develop an appropriate critical and analytical framework within which to place and evaluate your own concepts and practical work and the position of these within your research. With this in mind, assessment tasks will be designed to allow you sufficient opportunity to explore this framework. The course will be taught through a combination of online seminars, tutorials and the close supervision of written and creative work. It is a feature of the learning and teaching strategy of the course as a whole that you are given as much freedom as possible to develop work, which is of direct relevance to your research interests.

Careers:

Our previous graduates have used the skills gained on the course to enter the workplace in a variety of roles. Our graduates have gone into lecturing as well as the professional industries, such as choreography, theatre direction and fashion design. A significant number of our graduates have continued onto PhD study.

Other:

Previous students have created exciting, ground-breaking work in the areas of fashion, knitwear, photography, sculpture, composition, contemporary dance, performance art, Hollywood film, horror cinema and electronic dance music. We have an excellent student to staff ratio at our Creative Campus, meaning you have lots of opportunities to connect with our highly regarded and experienced staff. Kingsway also boasts links with influential figures and organisations from local, national, and international agencies. Depending on your area of study, you will have access to a range of traditional and contemporary facilities, including art and photography studios, a metal casting foundry, sound and video editing suites, film and television studios, dance and performance studios, dark rooms, a reprographics room and specially designed workshops for printmaking, bronze casting, textiles, digital art and sculpture.

Tuition Fees and Payment Information:

Home Students

The tuition fees for home students studying Postgraduate Research Programmes (Classroom) in the academic year 2024/25 are £4,786 per year.

International/EU Students

The tuition fees for international students studying Postgraduate Research Programmes (Classroom) in the academic year 2024/25 are £14,644 per year. The University of Chester offers generous international and merit-based scholarships for postgraduate study, providing a significant reduction to the published headline tuition fee. You will automatically be considered for these scholarships when your application is reviewed, and any award given will be stated on your offer letter. For more information, go to our International Fees, Scholarship and Finance section. Irish Nationals living in the UK or ROI are treated as Home students for Tuition Fee Purposes.

Additional Costs

Your course will involve additional costs not covered by your tuition fees. This may include books, printing, photocopying, educational stationery and related materials, specialist clothing, travel to placements, optional field trips and software. Compulsory field trips are covered by your tuition fees. If you are living away from home during your time at university, you will need to cover costs such as accommodation, food, travel and bills.

Bursaries and Funding

The University of Chester supports fair access for students who may need additional support through a range of bursaries and scholarships. Full details, as well as terms and conditions for all bursaries and scholarships can be found on the Fees & Finance section of our website.