Postgraduate research

Research strength

We've been awarded over £1.3 million in research grants from international funding bodies, including two large-scale AHRC-funded projects:

• ‘In Place of War’ explores theatre in sites of conflict
• ‘Performance, Learning and Heritage’ considers the uses of performance as a medium of learning in museums and historic sites

Practice-based research

Drama plays a leading role in the development of practice-based research and has now extended similar explorations into theatre and screen studies.

Research areas

Our degrees focus on the main three strands of research in drama at Manchester: Theatre Studies, Applied Theatre and Screen Studies.
We also have research expertise in areas of theatre history, especially late 19th century popular performance and women in 20th century theatre.

Interdisciplinarity

Our innovative skills training programme 'artsmethods@manchester' provides a research environment that crosses discipline boundaries.

• artsmethods@manchester

Many of our PhD students are co-supervised with colleagues in other subject areas across the University.

• Find out more about the research interests of our supervisors

Students enrolled on our postgraduate research programmes are currently working on a range of drama-based projects:

PhD Anthropology, Media and Performance

• Kriston Jackson - ‘American Roads: Everyday Effects on the Vernacular Roadside’ (supervised by Dr Joannes Sjöberg and Dr Andrew Irving).
• Amira Karaoud - 'Women of Colour Artist in the UK: Body Enclosure and the Stage' (supervised by Dr Andrew Irving and Dr David Calder).
• Haeweon Yi - 'Foraging resilience: Performing Body in Mycological Relationships' (supervised by Professor Stephen Scott-Bottoms and Dr Johannes Sjoberg).

PhD Applied Theatre

• Lyndsay Muir - ‘Applied Theatre with Trans People’ (supervised by Dr Alison Jeffers and Dr Jenny Hughes).
• Reka Polonyi - 'The Importance of Laughter: The Preservation of Imagination and (Re)construction of Identity in Times of War' (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and supervised by Dr Jenny Hughes).

PhD Drama

• Laura Arnott - 'Investigating Cross-Cultural Localisation and Reception of Japanese Video Games' (supervised by Dr Felicia Chan and Dr Vicky Lowe).
• Kathryn Ashill - 'Extended Family: Performing Companionship, Health and Wellbeing across Species’ (supervised by Dr Simon Parry and Dr Robert Kirk).
• Nicholas Bimson - 'The Overlooked Component of Film Networks: A Case Study of Film Curation at HOME and Cornerhouse' (supervised by Dr Victoria Lowe and Dr Sophie Everest).
• Ramin Farhadi - 'Adaptation of Shakespeare in Contemporary Iranian Theatre: A Dissident Reading of Society and Politics' (funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), and supervised by Dr Katharine Dorney and Dr Anastasia Valassopoulos).
• Laura Johnson - “Things get weird on Highway 61': Constructing a Rural Imaginary in the Canadian Road Movie’ (supervised by Dr Felicia Chan and Dr David Butler).
• Ambrose Musiyiwa - 'Listening to the voices of refugee artists: opportunities and barriers for performing arts practices carried out by refugee artists in the UK' (supervised by Dr Alison Jeffers (SALC) and Stella Barnes (Community Arts Northwest)).
• Zerihun Sira - 'Theatre, Politics and Society in Ethiopia: 1991-2017' (supervised by Professor Stephen Scott-Bottoms and Dr Tanja Mueller).