Birkbeck, University of London, is an excellent place to study architecture in cultural and historical context with internationally recognised scholars in the field.


Postgraduate Research

MPhil/PhD History of Art

Staff supervise MPhil/PhD students working in a wide range of areas, from medieval urbanism to post-WWII architecture and politics. For more information see Research Students.

MPhil/PhD Film and Screen Media

Staff supervise MPhil/PhD students working in areas such as urban screens, political communication in the city, gentrification, smart cities/urban computing, and architecture and digital technology. For more information see Research Students.


Birkbeck’s new MA in History of Architecture

We are excited to announce our new MA in History of Architecture. The MA launched in October 2019 and has been taking applications for admission since last year. Students can also apply for the Postgraduate Certificate (the core course and one option) or the Postgraduate Diploma (all elements except the dissertation.)

The MA is located in Birkbeck’s Department of History of Art, which has a long and distinguished tradition of teaching the history of architecture dating back to Nikolaus Pevsner’s time at Birkbeck.

Students on the new MA will choose two option modules on topics such as ‘This is Tomorrow: Architecture and Modernity in Britain and its Empire, 1930-1960’, ‘Space and Politics in Modernity’, ‘Rome: Place, Continuity and Memory’, ‘Gothic in England: Architecture, Liturgy and Identity, 1170-1360’, and ‘Architecture and Spectacle in Late Medieval Europe’. Students take the core course, ‘Frameworks’ alongside students doing the MA in History of Art and MA History of Photography. As well as seminars on key questions of shared interest to these disciplines, it will also discuss issues and methods of current importance in the development of the History of Architecture. Students also undertake two research modules, the Research Project and the Dissertation, on topics of their choice, supervised by subject specialists. The MA can be studied full-time or part-time. As with all Birkbeck’s degree programmes, teaching will take place in the evenings, allowing students to fit their studies around work commitments. Site visits and field trips will draw on the rich built environment of London and beyond.

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Other Postgraduate Taught Programmes

MA History of Art

Within our MA History of Art, there is scope to study architectural, design and urban history from a range of periods. Taught options include ‘Archaeological Architecture’, ‘Gothic in England: Architecture, Liturgy and Identity’, ‘Art Nouveau: Art Design and Modernity in Paris, Gender’, Modernity and the City’; ‘Space and Politics in Modernity’.

MA Film, Television and Screen Media

MA Journalism

MA Arts Policy and Management

Within the MA programmes offered by the Department of Film, Media and Cultural Studies students explore issues related to urban culture and politics, public art, representations of the city in film, and urban digital technologies and industries. Taught options include Digital Cultre, Art in the Public Realm, Cultural Memory/Memory Cultures and London Screen History.