Art and Music

Research in the Department of Art and Music encompasses a diversity of established specialisms in areas including Art and Design History, Contemporary Art and Creative Practice, Music Festivals and the Cultural Economy, Popular Music studies, and Fashion Design and Material Culture. Our research staff have contributed to the university sector-wide Research Excellence Frameworks (REF) in 2008, 2014 and 2021 and have published, presented, and exhibited world-leading and internationally significant research in Art and Design, Cultural Theory, Photography, Music Fesivals, and Music Business. We have worked with acclaimed museums and galleries, publishers and cultural organisations including Southampton City Art Gallery, Southampton Cultural Development Trust, The V&A London, The Fondazione Prada Venice, The Neubauer Collegium, University of Chicago, Palgrave MacMillan, Edinburgh University Press, I B Tauris, Bloomsbury, Sage, Intellect, and Routledge.

The culture of research underpins everything that we do, informing our undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and strengthening our reputation through positively impacting on our publics, and communities locally and internationally. We aim to foster a supportive, friendly, enterprising and stimulating research environment for our Postgraduate Research student community and academic colleagues alike.

We have two established Research Groups in the Department that foster and support both academic colleagues and our PGR students’ developing research interests.

Art, Environment and Social Change responds to the currency of debate surrounding ecological crisis, inequality, place, health and wellbeing. Through regular discussions and channelling ideas and researchers’ practices into collective bodies of works such as exhibitions and publications, the group aims to consider the lived experiences of our environment.

Music, Creativity and the Cultural Economy is an inclusive and interdisciplinary research group focused on examining the cultural and creative industries and creative practice, with a particular focus on music, but encompassing all forms of creative and cultural activity.

Music, creativity and the cultural economy are areas of rich contemporary scholarly concern, casting light on a range of social, cultural, political and business issues. Furthermore, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport reported in 2022 that creative and cultural work accounts for around 1 in 8 UK businesses, and almost 2.3 million jobs. Members of the group have published extensively on music history, culture and business, as well as on cultural heritage, journalism, fan cultures and media.

We welcome prospective inquiries for PhD study and collaborative research.

Our research areas include:

• Art and design: history, theory and creative practice
• Art and the lived experience of the environment
• Popular music histories, cultures, technologies, and performance
• Music business, performing arts, drama and theatre
• Music festivals and the ecologies of live music
• Digital and creative technologies
• Cultural economies, audiences and fandom