England

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Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate the Art History research area
We are a diverse group of researchers with wide-ranging interests across art, architecture, design history and visual and material culture. We share a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research, an open and inclusive approach, and we like to find new ways of looking at the past and making connections with the present.
We run a highly successful MA in Art History, from which we recruit many of our PhD students. Our interests range from prehistory to the present, taking in rock art, Byzantine icons, the Ottoman Empire, Renaissance and early modern Italy, the Netherlands, Britain and Scandinavia, eighteenth-century France and the burst of global connections sustained across the world from the medieval period and to the present day.
In all periods, we emphasize our commitment to reflecting on power relations, mainly through attending to processes of colonisation and post-colonisation. We carry this into our active scholarship on questions of equality, diversity and inclusion in art, architecture, design and visual culture today.
Many of our PhD students pursue their research after completing their doctorate, with outcomes including publications and working across academia and the Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums (GLAM) sector. Several students in receipt of AHRC funding have been successful in obtaining placements with heritage bodies.
Most of our full-time research students are based at our Milton Keynes campus; for details of residence requirements for different modes of study see Full-time study and Part-time study. It is, however, also possible to study for a full-time or part-time PhD as a distance learner.
Explore specific areas of research, current and prospective projects, entry requirements, fees and funding, available supervisors, how to apply and contact details for advice.
Eighteenth-century art and visual culture
Global and cross-cultural art
History of architecture and design
Medieval and early modern art and visual culture
Modern and contemporary art and theory
Consider linked topics from other research areas.
British and Irish history since the 18th century
Classical reception studies
Early modern Britain and Europe
Empire and postcolonial studies
Material culture
War and peace in the 20th century
Pursuing a research degree in Art History at the OU has been very rewarding. Throughout my time as a research student at the OU, I have benefitted from high-quality supervision and the wide range of training on offer. A mixture of in-person and online seminars and conferences organised by the lively and nurturing art history department have provided me with valuable opportunities to develop skills and knowledge.
Embarking on a collaborative doctoral award based at the OU has really helped me develop as a scholar. Alongside the expertise of my supervisors, research centres related to early modern studies, objects, and museums have allowed me to work with scholars beyond my immediate field. Beyond this, the OU's generous research grant has allowed me to follow my research to archives in Scotland and across England and contributed to a visiting fellowship to the Peabody Essex Museum in the US, which has been foundational to my thinking.