Fine Art (Research)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The DPhil in Fine Art is designed to support research in contemporary art making (through the practice-led strand) and contemporary art history and theory (through the strand examined by written thesis only).

The Ruskin School of Art provides an exceptional research environment that enables artists, art historians and art theorists to work closely together in a world-leading, research-intensive university. Its intimate size and its dedication to contemporary art practice and theory within a stimulating and dynamic cross-disciplinary structure allows it to sustain close relations with other academic departments and faculties, distinguishing it from other, larger art schools, and allowing for a wide range of interdisciplinary and collaborative work at DPhil-level.

You will choose to undertake the DPhil by one of two strands: the contemporary art history and theory strand (examined by written thesis only); or the practice-led strand (which also includes a substantial written component).

The two strands of the course are brought into a productive dialogue, both in a structured way at the regular DPhil research seminars and informally in the studios.

A series of specifically designed Ruskin research seminars complement the students’ independent research by offering an opportunity to present research projects, both studio and theoretical. The research seminars follow a small workshop format in which students can present new research work in innovative and experimental ways. The School also has a regular visiting speaker series in which leading artists, scholars and thinkers discuss their latest work. Ruskin students also participate in the Oxford Centre for Research in the Humanities (TORCH), which offers a stimulating range of interdisciplinary activities.