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Course information

Department

Social, Therapeutic and Community Studies

Length

3 years full-time or 4-6 years part-time

Course overview

This PhD will allow you to pursue research in dance movement psychotherapy.

For the MPhil/PhD in Dance Movement Psychotherapy, your research should usually combine a written thesis with practice-based elements.

Supervision

You'll have a primary supervisor in dance movement psychotherapy, and – depending on the focus of your research – you may have a second supervisor in another relevant department, for example Art, Educational Studies, Psychology, or Sociology.

You'll meet your supervisors regularly for discussion and guidance, and may also present your work in various research student groups and/or forums. To help you settle into the research community at Goldsmiths, you'll attend the Goldsmiths Research Methods Training Course. 

Areas of research

Research supervision is currently available in the following areas:

  • Dance movement psychotherapy theory, practice and research
  • Cross-cultural issues, intersectionality and diversity practice as research
  • Group work, community practice and working with specialist populations
  • History and development of the profession in the UK and internationally
  • Occupational choice, career development and role change of art therapists and art therapy trainees
  • Embodied intersubjectivity and kinaesthetic empathy
  • Critical disability studies
  • Mental health, dementia, mothers and babies, working with children, forensics
  • Eco-feminist, phenomenological, new materialist and post-humanist research methods
  • Eco-psychology and the environmental body.

Find out more about research degrees at Goldsmiths.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Panagiotis Pentaris or Marina Rova.

Structure

You'll initially be registered on the programme of MPhil/PhD in Dance Movement Psychotherapy, with progress to PhD status being subject to the assessment of research ability. You'll be subject to an annual review of progress, the details of which are summarised in the Goldsmiths Code of Practice for Postgraduate Research and Training. 
 
In year 2 (or equivalent for part-time students), this review will be a Transfer of Registration assessment. The possible outcomes of this assessment are as follows: 

  • Transfer to PhD status.
  • An agreed plan of remedial action, leading to a second and final upgrade attempt, to an agreed timescale, normally within three months of the original interview (or six months if studying on a part-time basis). This is the expected outcome if a transfer is not agreed at the first attempt.
  • Recommendation that the candidate prepare for a submission for the degree of MPhil, if and when their work is likely to fit the criteria for this degree.
  • Recommendation for termination of registration.

You'll be assessed by a thesis and viva voce.

Entry requirements

You should normally have (or expect to be awarded) a taught Masters in Dance Movement Psychotherapy. 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 a 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 7.0 with a 7.0 in writing 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
  • 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.

How to apply

Apply now

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you'll need to have: 

  • Details of your education history, including the dates of all exams/assessments
  • 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
  • A personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online
  • Contact potential supervisors from STaCS department and name a supervisor in the application who is willing to oversee your project’.

  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 apply for a research programme, we advise you to get in touch with the programme contact, listed above. It may also be possible to arrange an advisory meeting.

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.

Research proposals

Along with your application and academic reference, you will also need to upload a research proposal at the point of application. 

Your research proposal should respond to each question set out in our STaCS departmental research proposal form. 

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. 

Find out more about applying.

Staff

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