Music

Overview

The Department of Music is at the forefront of current research and postgraduate teaching across music styles and repertoires from a wide variety of critical perspectives. From 19th century classical music to game music our staff and postgraduate researchers undertake cutting edge, internationally recognised research, at a university home to the first academic centre created specifically to study popular music, founded in 1988.

Introduction

In a UNESCO City of Music with a wealth of musical institutions, organisations, festivals and events, our PhD researchers have the opportunity to both study and participate through partnership with locally based cultural and creative industries.

The Department of Music offers a stimulating research environment. Our critically acclaimed research encompasses a wide spectrum of music studies. With two supervisors assigned to every PhD researcher, we encourage imaginative combinations of discipline and repertoire to explore new approaches to creative musical excellence and research innovation.

Our world-leading expertise in music encompasses numerous methodological approaches and critical perspectives including critical musicology, popular music studies, composition, music psychology and ethnomusicology.

Research topics

Our lecturers and postgraduate researchers conduct research on a wide variety of topics in a vibrant and diverse department within an internationally renowned city of music.

We invite research proposals that match those of our researchers, whose profiles can be viewed via our staff pages. We particularly welcome proposals in any of the following areas:

• Music and the moving image (film, television, music in gaming, and music videos)
• Critical theoretical approaches (including gender studies, race and ethnicity, and diaspora)
• Jazz studies
• Early music
• Music analysis (with a particular emphasis on aesthetics, psychoanalysis, music and emotion, and popular music)
• Heritage and history
• Composition (with a particular emphasis on its intersection with technology)
• Technology and digitisation
• Music psychology.

Research culture

As a postgraduate researcher, you’ll participate in the full range of the Department of Music’s research activity, from presenting papers at research seminars to working as teaching assistants within the Department, with pedagogical training and support provided. There’s a vibrant weekly postgraduate forum involving research, careers and teaching support for all postgraduates, as well as a series of research seminars involving guest speakers from a variety of relevant disciplines and sub-disciplines.

We are also home of the Institute of Popular Music (IPM) , founded in 1988 as the world’s first specialist centre for the study of popular music.

The Department also has an extensive network with national and international academic institutions and organisations. These include the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM), Society of Music Analysis and Royal Music Association (RMA).

Poppy Philigreen (MRes and PhD)

(Research Excellence Framework, 2021)

How to apply

• 1. Identify potential supervisors Potential supervisors for this PhD include: Dr Lindsay Carter Dr Eduardo Coutinho Professor Lisa Colton Dr Jonathan Crossley Dr Michael Cryne Mr Matthew Fairclough Mr Mathew Flynn Professor Kenneth Forkert-Smith Dr Ben Hackbarth Dr Giles Hooper Dr Jenn Kirby Dr Freya Jarman Dr Marion Leonard Dr Sarah Price Professor Michael Spitzer Dr Robert Strachan Professor Catherine Tackley Dr Holly Tessler Dr Lee Tsang Dr Paul Turowski Dr Haekyung Um Dr Richard Worth . View the staff list for the Department of Music for details of potential supervisors across the department. If you’d like any help finding a supervisor, please email sscARTS@liverpool.ac.uk .

1. Identify potential supervisors

• Dr Lindsay Carter
• Dr Eduardo Coutinho
• Professor Lisa Colton
• Dr Jonathan Crossley
• Dr Michael Cryne
• Mr Matthew Fairclough
• Mr Mathew Flynn
• Professor Kenneth Forkert-Smith
• Dr Ben Hackbarth
• Dr Giles Hooper
• Dr Jenn Kirby
• Dr Freya Jarman
• Dr Marion Leonard
• Dr Sarah Price
• Professor Michael Spitzer
• Dr Robert Strachan
• Professor Catherine Tackley
• Dr Holly Tessler
• Dr Lee Tsang
• Dr Paul Turowski
• Dr Haekyung Um
• Dr Richard Worth .
• 2. Prepare your application documents You may need the following documents to complete your online application: A research proposal (this should cover the research you’d like to undertake) University transcripts and degree certificates to date Passport details (international applicants only) English language certificates (international applicants only) A personal statement A curriculum vitae (CV) Contact details for two proposed supervisors Names and contact details of two referees.

2. Prepare your application documents

• A research proposal (this should cover the research you’d like to undertake)
• University transcripts and degree certificates to date
• Passport details (international applicants only)
• English language certificates (international applicants only)
• A personal statement
• A curriculum vitae (CV)
• Contact details for two proposed supervisors
• Names and contact details of two referees.
• 3. Apply Finally, register and apply online. You'll receive an email acknowledgment once you've submitted your application. We'll be in touch with further details about what happens next. In general, we’d expect applications for September entry to be received by 15 May. While you’re welcome to start year-round, we encourage you to begin your studies in September, where possible.

Fees and funding

Your tuition fees, funding your studies, and other costs to consider.

UK fees (applies to Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland)

Full-time place, per year - £5,238 Part-time place, per year - £2,619

International fees

Full-time place, per year - £25,350 Part-time place, per year - £12,650

Fees stated are for 2026/27 and may be subject to change for academic year 2027/28. The University may administer inflationary rises to international fees in subsequent academic years as you progress through the course.

Additional costs

We understand that budgeting for your time at university is important, and we want to make sure you understand any costs that are not covered by your tuition fee. This could include buying a laptop, books, or stationery.

Find out more about the additional study costs that may apply to this degree, as well as general student living costs .

Funding your PhD

If you're a UK national, or have settled status in the UK, you may be eligible to apply for a Postgraduate Doctoral Loan worth up to £30,301 to help with course fees and living costs.

There’s also a variety of alternative sources of funding . These include funded research opportunities and financial support from UK research councils, charities and trusts. Your supervisor may be able to help you secure funding.

We've set the country or region your qualifications are from as United Kingdom . Change it here.

Scholarships and bursaries

We offer a range of scholarships and bursaries that could help pay your tuition fees and living expenses.

Duncan Norman Research Scholarship

If you’re awarded this prestigious scholarship, you’ll receive significant funding to support your postgraduate research. This includes full payment of your PhD fees and a cash bursary of £23,000 per year while you study. One award is available in each academic year.

John Lennon Memorial Scholarship

If you’re a UK student, either born in or with strong family connections to Merseyside, you could be eligible to apply for financial support worth up to £12,000 per year for up to three years of full-time postgraduate research (or up to five years part-time pro-rata).

Sport Liverpool Performance Programme

Apply to receive tailored training support to enhance your sporting performance. Our athlete support package includes a range of benefits, from bespoke strength and conditioning training to physiotherapy sessions and one-to-one nutritional advice.

Facilities and resources

The departmental facilities for performance, composition and music technology include practice rehearsal spaces, Solid State Logic (SSL) studio, iMac suites, electronic music research studio and video game research laboratory. In addition to the extensive music section in the University’s main Sydney Jones Library, the Department of Music also houses an extensive collection of recorded sound materials.

The dedicated postgraduate study room in the department is a hub for our PhD community. It offers designated desk spaces and computers, in addition to a couple of hot desks for those who want an occasional study space.

Careers and employability

Postgraduate researchers are supported in their career development generally via our departmental PGR Forum sessions, as well as the University’s PGR Development Network. An annual Development Needs Analysis process encourages conversation with supervisors to help target development opportunities. Paid teaching opportunities are often available within the department, ranging from running seminars or delivering occasional lectures to offering tutorials and marking work.

Recent graduates from our PhD programme have gone on to a range of careers, both in music and other areas, and both academic and not. Some are undertaking postdoctoral research projects, while others are lecturers (in Huddersfield, Sussex, Jordan and Malaysia). Other pathways include entrepreneurial projects in audio electronics, live music performance and fashion, as well as charitable work in youth engagement and music education.

Career support from day one to graduation and beyond

Once you graduate after completing your PhD, you’ll gain free access to Prosper to help you unlock your potential and kickstart your postdoctoral research career.

Prosper provides structured career development and support, designed specifically for postdocs, in close collaboration with employer partners and principal investigators.

Opportunities include coaching, workshops, webinars and a buddy scheme designed to help you realise the next step in your career journey.

You can also access online resources including the Prosper portal so you can manage your personal and professional development at your own pace.

As a postgraduate researcher at the University of Liverpool, you have access to an exciting portfolio of development opportunities, designed to support your ongoing success and help you realise your ambitions.

These development opportunities, available through The Academy’s PGR Development Hub , are suitable for all subject specialisms. You might be just commencing your research or in the final stages of completing your PhD.

An initial Development Needs Analysis will encourage you to reflect on your abilities. This exploration of your personal, professional and career development needs will form the foundation of a bespoke development plan you’ll agree with your supervisor.

The aim is to immerse yourself in new experiences, engage in development opportunities designed exclusively for postgraduate researchers, and reflect on your progress.

Our campus Career Studio is a space for students and graduates to drop into and talk to a career coach. Career coaches are highly trained to help no matter what stage you are at in planning for your future career.

You can access tailored guidance and support to find and apply for full-time and part-time roles, placements, internships and graduate schemes. You will also find the help you need if you have a start-up idea or want to create a business plan. You can explore the world of work, prepare for job interviews, and access careers events and workshops.

The Career Studio is open Monday to Friday from 10am-5pm, simply drop in at a time that works for you.

Meet our PhD researchers

These are the trailblazers, the leaders, the true originals. Our postgraduate researchers are shaping their future, and the future of the world we live in, advancing knowledge with each discovery.

Entry requirements

Discover the qualifications you'll need to apply for this course.

The typical requirement is an undergraduate degree at 2:1 or above, or equivalent, in music or another relevant subject. Applicants with a joint honours degree in music or another relevant subject, in combination with an alternative subject, are encouraged to apply. We would usually consider a taught master’s level qualification to be an important precursor to research. All applicants should send an outline of their proposed topic and a sample of their written academic work with their application. An interview typically forms part of the selection process. We look at candidates not simply in the light of conventional profiles, but with regard to individual qualities. Those with first degrees obtained from music conservatories (both from EU and overseas institutions) and mature students with non-traditional backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

The typical requirement is an undergraduate degree at 2:1 or above, or equivalent, in music or another relevant subject. Applicants with a joint honours degree in music or another relevant subject, in combination with an alternative subject, are encouraged to apply.

We would usually consider a taught master’s level qualification to be an important precursor to research.

All applicants should send an outline of their proposed topic and a sample of their written academic work with their application. An interview typically forms part of the selection process.

We look at candidates not simply in the light of conventional profiles, but with regard to individual qualities. Those with first degrees obtained from music conservatories (both from EU and overseas institutions) and mature students with non-traditional backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

English language requirements

You'll need to demonstrate competence in the use of English language, unless you’re from a majority English speaking country .

We accept a variety of international language tests and country-specific qualifications .

International applicants who do not meet the minimum required standard of English language can complete one of our Pre-Sessional English courses to achieve the required level.

Qualification | Details

IELTS | 7.0 overall, with no component below 6.5

TOEFL iBT | If you took a TOEFL test on or before 20 January 2026, you’ll need 100 overall, with minimum scores of listening 21, writing 21, reading 21 and speaking 23. If you took a TOEFL test from 21 January 2026 onwards, when a new scoring system was introduced, you’ll need 5 overall, with 4.5 or above in all components. TOEFL Home Edition not accepted.

Pearson PTE Academic | 69 overall, with no component below 61

Pre-sessional English

Do you need to complete a Pre-sessional English course to meet the English language requirements for this course?

The length of Pre-sessional English course you’ll need to take depends on your current level of English language ability.

If you don’t meet our English language requirements, we can use your most recent IELTS score, or the equivalent score in selected other English language tests , to determine the length of Pre-sessional English course you require.

Use the table below to check the course length you're likely to require for your current English language ability and see whether the course is available on campus or online.

Your most recent IELTS score | Pre-sessional English course length | On campus or online

6.5 overall, with no component below 6.0 | 6 weeks | On campus or online

6.0 overall, with writing at 6.0 and no component below 5.5 | 10 weeks | On campus or online

6.0 overall, with no component below 5.5 | 12 weeks | Online

5.5 overall, with no component below 5.5 | 20 weeks | On campus

5.5 overall, with no component below 5.0 | 30 weeks | On campus

5.0 overall, with no more than one component at 4.5 | 40 weeks | On campus

If you’ve completed an alternative English language test to IELTS, we may be able to use this to assess your English language ability and determine the Pre-sessional English course length you require.

Please see our guide to Pre-sessional English entry requirements for IELTS 7.0 overall, with no component below 6.5, for further details.

Contact us

Have a question about this research opportunity or studying a PhD with us? Please get in touch with us, using the contact details below, and we’ll be happy to assist you.

Research areas