Guildhall School of Music & Drama | Funding a research degree

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Walk the School with Guildhall students

During my time here, I organised an international conference based around my subject involving delegates from 4 continents

Emily Baines
DMus, ‘Mechanical Musical Instruments as a Source for Historical Performance’

The teaching staff encourage the diversity that Guildhall is known for…there is something for everyone, regardless of style and influence

Oliver Leith
MMus Composition

The research community at Guildhall is a really interesting place to be

Stefania Donini
PhD

I found it very beneficial to take a break from a busy teaching career to think and reflect on my teaching value, principle and strategies

Yushan Li
PGCert Performance Teaching

Studying at Guildhall is really cool because you are in a setting where the arts are valued by an entire community

Natasha Mbwana
BA Performance & Creative Enterprise

The projects we work on are real - we are in effect constantly getting work experience

Laurie Lumley
BA Video Design for Live Performance

Guildhall is an institution that knows it has to be connected to the outside world - that's the key thing. It's not a bubble. It has roots in the city and in the world.

Jonathan Ferrucci
Artist Diploma Piano

One minute you could be playing in the Guildhall Studio Orchestra with jazz musicians, the next you could be playing in the opera pit, then the next minute you'll be with actors doing the musical and then playing a symphony in the orchestra.

Millie Ashton
BMus Violin

I had access to people I would never have been able to meet as a young composer starting out.

Na'ama Zisser
Doctoral Composer in Residence

Funding a research degree

Please think carefully about how you will fund your research degree before making an application as financial support for advanced levels of study is limited and often very competitive.

The current fee schedule is available here. Many research students work alongside their studies, but please note that full-time students are required to dedicate at least 30 hours a week to their studies during term time (15 hours part-time). Because of the independent nature of study, it is not necessary to live in London while pursuing your research degree, but you will need to attend weekly research training in your first year. Additional work restrictions and participation requirements apply to students on Tier 4 visas.

Funding support for research students includes:

Guildhall School Doctoral Studentships

Guildhall School offers studentships for specific areas of research in collaboration with high-profile arts and research institutions. In additional to a full fee waiver and a stipend, students on these competitive programmes also benefit from expertise and support of our partner organisations. For 2019/20 these are the Guildhall-Barbican studentship and the Doctoral Composer-in-Residence Studentship with the Royal Opera House.

External studentships

The Guildhall School will support applicants to apply to external studentships. For example, we are keen to support strong researchers wishing to apply to this four-year Wellcome Trust scheme for humanities research into issues of health. The scheme offers full fee waiver, an annual stipend starting at £19,919 and generous research and travel expenses. We can offer supervisory expertise in contemporary theatre and health; performance and the medical humanities; aesthetic approaches to the healthcare environment and music therapy. Please contact research_applications@gsmd.ac.uk by 31 January 2019.

Guildhall and other members of Culture Mile has recently become a partner of the TECHNE doctoral training programme.

Fee waivers

Students are also able to apply for partial fee waivers. These are awarded on a discretionary basis and are usually between 20-25%.