England

Please tell us where you live so that we can provide you with the most relevant information as you use this website.
If you are at a BFPO address please choose the country or region in which you would ordinarily be resident.
Accessibility statement
An image to illustrate the Art History research area
We are a wide-ranging group of researchers, across art, architecture, visual culture and design history. With a strong commitment to interdisciplinary research, an open and inclusive approach, 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 then the burst of global connections sustained across the modern world to the present day.
In all periods, we emphasize our commitment to reflecting on power relations, mainly through attending processes of colonisation and post-colonisation. We carry this into our active scholarship on questions of equality, diversity and inclusion in art, architecture and design today.
Many of our PhD students pursue their research after completing their doctorate, with outcomes including publications and working across academia and the GLAM sector (Galleries, Libraries, Archives and Museums). Several students on the Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Programme have been successful in obtaining placements with heritage bodies during their studies via the DTP.
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.
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.
Ancient and modern receptions of antiquity
British and Irish history since the 18th century
Early modern Britain and Europe
Empire and postcolonial studies
Greek and Roman 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.
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.