PhD Arts Management and Cultural Policy / Programme details

Our PhD Arts Management and Cultural Policy programme links together these interdisciplinary fields to support research into the organisation of the arts, creative and cultural practices and their relationship to broader society, power relations and governance.

The programme is one of a suite of PhD programmes within the Institute for Cultural Practices, which was launched in 2009 with the aim of providing an axis for engagement, collaboration and partnership between arts and cultural management professionals, sector organisations and higher education through its teaching and research programmes.

The ICP works closely with Manchester-based, regional and national cultural partners and bodies and is developing partnerships overseas.

Research supervision interests for this PhD programme include:

• popular music, cultural policy and regeneration;
• the role of research in the arts management practice;
• the relationships between higher education and the creative economy;
• Audience, engagement and participation evaluation frameworks;
• Local cultural policy, planning and strategy.

Find out more about research at the ICP .

Graduate School

All of our postgraduate students become members of the Graduate School when you start at Manchester. It has dedicated facilities for students and offers opportunities to collaborate with other postgraduates.

Supervising staff

• Dr Abigail Gilmore

Abigail works on research, consultancy, knowledge exchange and public engagement with arts and cultural communities.

Her main research focus is on relationships between cultural participation and place-making, and the use of research and evidence in cultural policy and local cultural strategies.

She also works on partnerships and collaborative work between higher education institutions and the creative economy. Her PhD was in popular music and urban cultural policy.

• Dr Simon Parry

Simon's research interests include applied theatre with a focus on drama and theatre in education, drama within the context of public engagement with research, contemporary science in performance, and approaches to arts evaluation.

He is currently working with colleagues at the University of Derby and Isinglass Consultancy in researching Y Touring Theatre Company's Theatre of Debate programme, which aims to stimulate debate among young people about ethical issues raised by scientific research using a combination of theatre and digital media.

This project is part of a wider investigation into the role of theatre and performance in mediating public engagement with contemporary scientific research, which was initiated in the Creative Encounters programme documented in a book published by the Wellcome Trust.

Research and teaching in arts management is supported by rich resources within our library. Manchester is home to one of the UK's five National Research Libraries - one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the UK and widely recognised as one of the world's greatest research libraries.

Find out more about libraries and study spaces for postgraduate research students at Manchester.

We also have one of the largest academic IT services in Europe - supporting world-class teaching and research. There are extensive computing facilities across campus, with access to standard office software as well as specialist programmes, all connected to the campus network and internet.

Every student is registered for email, file storage and internet access. If more demanding computer access is required, our specialist computing division can provide high-end and specialist computing services.

The Graduate School offers dedicated state of the art facilities to research students, including common rooms and workstations.

Find out more about facilities for Institute for Cultural Practices students.