Course information

Length

3-4 years full-time or 7-8 years part-time

Course overview

The Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship has a strong research base in all areas of cultural policy; creative, cultural and social entrepreneurship; cultural diplomacy; and arts management.

The Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) provides a unique environment to study and research, with world leading academic thinkers within a university globally recognised for its research excellence.

ICCE is the editorial home of leading journals Theory Culture & Society – ranked No.1 in Cultural Studies over the last five years – and Body & Society.

The department welcomes proposals from highly qualified individuals who wish to pursue PhD degrees. These research projects should be of the highest quality, in keeping with Goldsmiths' reputation as a leading producer of exceptional research.

We are particularly interested in hearing from people interested in carrying out research into:

  • cultural and creative entrepreneurship
  • creative industries
  • business models for the creative economy
  • social entrepreneurship
  • cultural tourism
  • culture and regeneration
  • cultural relations and diplomacy
  • audience development
  • cultural policy
  • consumer culture
  • the body
  • visual culture
  • urban culture

Current PhD studies being undertaken in ICCE include:

  • 21st century competencies
  • leadership of arts and cultural organisations
  • personalisation of the arts offer
  • value and how to assess this in the creative industries
  • audience development
  • the business of comedy
  • applied conceptual art
  • cultural diplomacy
  • urban mobility experience and transport
  • urban culture and the open city
  • food culture

Find out more about research degrees at Goldsmiths.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact ICCE.

Structure

Overview

You'll be supervised by a full-time member of staff, generally agreed during the preliminary discussions regarding your research with the ICCE Director. PhD theses are up to a maximum of 100,000 words.

You should aim to complete and submit your PhD thesis within the time-frame specified by Goldsmiths. This is normally three to four years for full-time students and four to six years for part-time.

A thesis for the award of MPhil may be submitted after two years of full-time or three years of part-time study. Registration can be changed from full-time to part-time status, and vice-versa, with the agreement of your supervisor. You'll be required to complete the appropriate form for change of status available from the Admissions Office or from the ICCE Administrator.

Research training programme

All students enrolled in the MPhil/PhD programme are initially required to attend a weekly seminar in research methodology conducted by the Goldsmiths Graduate School. These seminars are designed to bring together research students with diverse interests in a cooperative and stimulating environment.

Its objectives include training students for the Spring Review Week, written and oral presentations, preparation for upgrading procedures and publication of articles.

Assessment

Examination is by thesis and a viva.

What our students say

Edward Dixon

Goldsmiths provide a rich learning environment with an academic staff that was welcoming and approachable

Since completing my studies at Goldsmiths I have returned to Jamaica to become a Director with the Centre for Entrepreneurship Thinking and Practice at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus. Although in its infancy, the Centre is poised to become the lead research organisation examining the broader areas of entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship and the broader social economy in Jamaica and the English Speaking Caribbean.  The work of the Centre is of increased significance in light of the need to examine the responses to challenges such as that which has been brought on by the Coronavirus pandemic. My experience at Goldsmiths has placed me in good stead to contribute to the research agenda of the centre, which includes shaping policy, practice and pedagogy.

Goldsmiths provide a rich learning environment with an academic staff that was welcoming, approachable and always interested in finding out about my progress. The organisation also helped me to hone my academic skills through my attendance to and organisation of conferences through initiatives such as the Graduate School Fund. It also provided me with an extensive network of fellow PhDs and academic staff, whose experience I can tap into in order to advance my career.

Occupation: Director with the Centre for Entrepreneurship Thinking and Practice at The University of the West Indies, Mona Campus

Entry requirements

You should normally have (or expect to be awarded) a taught Masters in a relevant subject area. 

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Fees, funding & scholarships

Annual tuition fees

These are the fees for students starting their programme in the 2024/2025 academic year.

  • Home - full-time: £TBC
  • Home - part-time: £TBC
  • International - full-time: £TBC

If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office, who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.

It’s not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.

If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment.

Additional costs

In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page.

There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments.

Funding opportunities

Find out more about postgraduate fees and explore funding opportunities. If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

AHRC studentships

How to apply

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

If you would like to apply for an MPhil/PhD programme at ICCE, first you should have a look at our departmental web page and our staff profiles to make sure there is a good “fit” between your suggested research questions and ICCE’s areas of interest. Moreover, it is essential that your proposal fits with staff expertise. This will ensure you a high-quality research experience.

Before submitting your application you'll need to have: 

  • Details of your education history, including the dates of all exams/assessments; we would normally expect applicants to have a Master's degree with a high grade
  • The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively an electronic copy of your academic reference
  • Contact details of a second referee
  • personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online

          Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement

  • If available, an electronic copy of your educational transcript (this is particularly important if you have studied outside of the UK, but isn’t mandatory)
  • Details of your research proposal

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

Before you start at Goldsmiths, the actual topic of your research has to be agreed with your proposed supervisor, who will be a member of staff active in your general field of research. The choice of topic may be influenced by the current research in the department or the requirements of an external funding body. 

If you wish to study on a part-time basis, you should also indicate how many hours a week you intend to devote to research, whether this will be at evenings or weekends, and for how many hours each day.

Your research proposal

Along with your application details, personal statement and academic reference, you should also upload a research proposal at the point of application. 

This should be in the form of a clear, concise and coherent statement of the proposed area of research of at least five pages and no more than seven pages of A4 and should include: 

1) A working title for your research project.

2) A clear statement about what you want to work on and why it is important, interesting, relevant and realistic. Detail your main research objectives; these could be articulated as hypotheses, propositions, research questions, or problems to solve. What difference do you think your research will make? Is your research achievable in the time allocated? (e.g. 3 years full‐time)

3) Some background knowledge and context of the area in which you wish to work, including key literature, key people, key research findings. Think about how your work links to the work of others in the same or related fields?

4) Some consideration of the methods/approach you might use. Describe how will you conduct your research? Will you use existing theories, new methods/approaches or develop new methods/approaches?

5) Some indication of the strategy and timetable for your research project and any research challenges you may face. What would be the main stages of your project and what would you expect to do in each year of your PhD?

6) A short list of the key references which support your research proposal. References should be listed in an appropriate convention (e.g. Harvard). Such references should be used throughout your research proposal to demonstrate that you have read and understood the work of others. Other relevant material that you are aware of, but not actually used in writing your proposal, can also be added as a bibliography. 

When to apply 

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place conditional on you achieving a particular qualification. 

If you're applying for external funding from one of the Research Councils, make sure you submit your application by the deadline they've specified. 

Applicants will be interviewed, by telephone or Skype for those not based in the UK. If this is the case, we will contact you to arrange a suitable time for the interview. 

Contact us  

If you would like to make an inquiry about MPhil/PhD study before submitting an application, please contact us. In order to allow us to respond to your message efficiently, you may want to include the following information: 

Introduce yourself: Who are you and what activities/organisations are you currently engaging with? What is your academic background? Have you received some research training in the past? What is your main discipline at the moment? 

Indicate your subject area(s) of interest: Describe which general subject area within ICCE. 

Describe your research interests: Which research areas and questions are you interested in? Which theoretical and conceptual approaches seem relevant to you? What kind of data might you need for your project?

Find out more about applying.

Staff

Careers

Careers

Possible careers include:

  • Academia
  • Research
  • Practice-orientated work
  • Development work
  • Work in social innovation and social economy
  • Work in the arts and cultural sector and cultural and creative industries
  • Publishing

Find out more about employability at Goldsmiths

Similar programmes

MA Creative & Cultural Entrepreneurship

The MA Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship should be attractive if you either wish to develop a business arising from an existing creative practice or to understand how to create the infrastructure and environment for new creative businesses.

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