Main menu
Staff & students
In this section

Course information

Department

Computing

Length

4 years full-time; September start

Scholarship information

Funding available

Course overview

Develop the skills and strong relationships with leaders in the UK digital games industry that will help you pursue a successful career in games.

As part of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (IGGI) – a collaboration between Goldsmiths, the University of York, and the University of Essex – we are training the next generation of researchers, designers, developers and entrepreneurs in digital games.

It's a unique opportunity for you to undertake PhD research in collaboration with our 60 industrial games partners and world-leading academics.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr Jeremy Gow.

Structure

The doctoral programme combines practical skills training with advanced teaching in cutting-edge research topics and the chance to contribute original research to a growing academic area. 

There are 12 weeks of taught modules in the first year, covering:

  • Game design
  • Game development
  • Research skills

You'll also undertake two industrial placements during the programme. This will give you first-hand industrial experience that will influence your research projects.

You could decide to carry out leading-edge research in emerging areas that could include:

  • Embodied interaction
  • Intelligent games/Believable characters
  • Gamification
  • AI for game design

 

Entry requirements

Visit the IGGI website for entry requirements.

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 2020/21 academic year.

  • Home - full-time: £4407
  • Home - part-time: £2203.5
  • EU - full-time: £4407
  • EU - part-time: £2203.5
  • International - full-time: £15500

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 if you require a Tier 4 student visa, however this is currently being reviewed and will be confirmed in the new year. Please read our visa guidance in the interim for more information. 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.

Scholarships

Studentship

This course offers a studentship covering tuition fees and an annual stipend of approximately £15,726 that will enable you to work directly with over 60 industry partners through placements and collaborative research projects.

This funding comes as part of our membership of the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Intelligent Games and Game Intelligence (IGGI), which aims to train the next generation of researchers, designers, developers and entrepreneurs in digital games. 11 studentships will be available through IGGI each year.

You apply for the studentship on the IGGI website.

How to apply

You apply for this programme via the IGGI website.

 

Find out more about applying.

Staff

Supervisors in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths include:

You can find a list of all current MPhil/PhD Intelligent Games & Game Intelligence supervisors based at Goldsmiths, Essex and York universities on the IGGI website.

Careers

Develop the skills and strong relationships with leaders in the UK digital games industry that will help you pursue a successful career in games.

Once you've completed your PhD, you'll have developed highly employable skills.

You'll be able to lead and define the state of the art in gaming, and will have the skills needed to shape the industry into one that is both technologically advanced and research aware. 

You'll also benefit from the relationships you developed with the UK digital games industry, which could form the basis of a network of professional contacts that is likely to be very useful in the future.

Similar programmes

MA Computational Arts

Study a degree which develops your arts practice through the expressive world of creative computation. It provides you with the historical foundations, frameworks and critical skills to produce a series of projects for public exhibition. It is delivered by Computing.

MA Computer Games Art & Design

This MA responds to the pressing need for a high quality postgraduate degree serving the computer games and entertainment industries. The emphasis is on games design, art and animation, and will also develop the fundamentals of computer programming, entrepreneurship/business, and your own practice. You'll also be able to work with industry partners.

View more programmes

Related content links