PhD Music (Electroacoustic Composition) / Overview

Year of entry: 2024

Degree awarded
Doctor of Philosophy
Duration
3 years [full-time], 6 years [part-time]
Entry requirements
  • Bachelor's (Honours) degree at 2:1 or above (or overseas equivalent); and 
  • Master's degree in a relevant subject – with an overall average of 65% or above, a minimum mark of 65% in your dissertation and no mark below 55% (or overseas equivalent)
  • Any strong, relevant work experience will be considered on a case by case basis.

Full entry requirements

How to apply

Apply online  

Please ensure you include all  required supporting documents  at the time of submission, as incomplete applications may not be considered. 

Application Deadlines 

For consideration in internal funding competitions, you must submit your completed application by  12 January 2024. 

If you are applying for or have secured external funding (for example, from an employer or government) or are self–funding, you must submit your application before the below deadlines to be considered. You will not be able to apply after these dates have passed. 

  • For September 2024 entry:  30 June 2024 
  • For January 2025 entry:  30 September 2024

Programme options

Full-time Part-time Full-time distance learning Part-time distance learning
PhD Y Y N N

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Programme description

Our PhD Music (Electroacoustic Composition) programme will see you produce a portfolio of electroacoustic works and a written commentary under the supervision of our academics.

Your supervised research will normally be related in some way to the research interests of a member of staff. These currently include but are not limited to:

  • Fixed media/acousmatic electroacoustic composition
  • Multi-channel spatial formats
  • Data sonification and audification
  • Interactive music systems
  • Audio-visual music
  • Game-audio and VR-based electroacoustic music
  • Arts-science and interdisciplinary electroacoustic music

You will be assigned a research panel consisting of your supervisor, a co-supervisor and advisor who will meet with you on a regular basis to monitor your progress.

Electroacoustic postgraduate students are based in the NOVARS research centre and the associated electroacoustic music studios, and you will be expected to take part in the academic community of the department and the University by participating in seminars and presenting your research at regular intervals.

Workshops and performances of postgraduate compositions are arranged through the department. These will primarily be supported by student involvement with MANTIS (Manchester Theatre in Sound) and may also involve Psappha, the University's ensemble-in-association, and the Quatuor Danel, the quartet-in-residence, among other professional and student performers.

Find out more about our Music research , our staff and what our current PhD postgraduate research students are working on.

Open days

Find out what it's like to study at Manchester by visiting us on one of our  open days.

Fees

Fees for entry in 2024 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2023 were as follows:

  • PhD (full-time)
    UK students (per annum): £4,712
    International, including EU, students (per annum): £21,000
  • PhD (part-time)
    UK students (per annum): £2,356

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

Please note for the majority of projects where experimentation requires further resource: higher fee bands (where quoted) will be charged rather than the base rate for supervision, administration and computational costs. The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive and, therefore, you will not be required to pay any additional bench fees or administration costs.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of the course for UK/EU students (fees are typically fixed for International students, for the course duration at the year of entry). For general fees information please visit: postgraduate fees . Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your project.

Scholarships/sponsorships

There are a range of scholarships, studentships and awards to support both UK and overseas postgraduate researchers, details of which can be found via the links below.

To apply University of Manchester funding, you must indicate in your application the competitions for which you wish to be considered. The deadline for most internal competitions, including AHRC NWCDTP and School of Arts, Languages and Cultures studentships is 12 January 2024. 

All external funding competitions have a specified deadline for submitting the funding application form and a separate (earlier) deadline for submitting the online programme application form, both of which will be stated in the funding competition details below.  

For more information about funding, visit our funding page to browse for scholarships, studentships and awards you may be eligible for.

Contact details

School/Faculty
School of Arts, Languages and Cultures
Contact name
Humanities Doctoral Academy Admissions
Email
Website
https://www.humanities.manchester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-research/
School/Faculty

See: About us

Programmes in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of programmes in related subject areas.

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