History of Design and Material Culture MA

Course structure

Your MA will be structured around two core modules: Exploring Objects and Mediating Objects (20 credits each). 

Over two semesters, these modules will enable students to understand and use current theoretical frameworks in the interpretation of material worlds and their myriad representations. Collectively seminar working, close reading and wide ranging discussion are the key learning and teaching strategy of these two modules, with the aim of support and developing students’ skills of expression and articulacy.

Alongside your core modules, you will also take a Research Methods module (20 credits) and embark upon your own research towards an 18,000 to 20,000 word dissertation. Supported by one-to-one supervision, students develop an original piece of writing often based on archival investigations of ethnographic study.

To complete your degree and cater to your specialist interests and learning requirements, you choose three further option modules, one in semester 1 and two that will take place in semester 2.

See option modules tab for a list of options.

Skirt made by Lou Taylor for Cate-May Hann in an inherited African wax print. Photo: Louise Purbrick.

Syllabus 

You will take six taught modules over your MA studies and one key piece of independent research, a dissertation.

The taught modules include two core modules Exploring Objects and Mediating Objects, and four option modules that enable you to explore specific aspects of the History of Design and Material Culture such as textiles, graphics and exhibition practice, or broaden your studies with modules in history, politics and philosophy.

The centrepiece of your MA studies is your dissertation. You will be supported through tutorials to investigate a subject or perspective of your own within the History of Design and Material Culture, undertaking primary research and making new critical interventions in this interdisciplinary field.

Previous dissertation subjects include:

• Workwear as Fashion and Anti-Fashion
• Representations of the Holocaust: the rejected works of Arnold Daghani
• Photography and Jewellery: Older women and the practices of keeping things
• The Fetishization of Women’s Hair in Victorian Material Culture
• Japanese Gardens in England
• Political Posters and the Children of Mao’s China

Graffiti, Thessaloniki. Photo: Zeina Maasri, 2011.

Option modules

• Critical Perspectives on Exhibitions
• Issues in Graphic Design
• Fashion and Dress History: New Directions
• Other shared option modules from School of Humanities and Social Science

*Option modules are indicative and may change, depending on timetabling and staff availability.

Street graphics, Lebanon. Photo: Zeina Maasri.

Lab facilities

Mithras House is home to all our School of Humanities and Social Science courses. It has a series of ‘labs’, which may be used for teaching on your course or in your independent research work.

Design lab
A space housing our extensive collection of historic dress and textiles, which are used in some teaching on our History of Art and Design courses. It has the space and equipment to work on textile projects. Displays created by students on these programmes are on view in the social spaces of the building.

Life lab
A comfortable space with lounge furniture intended for qualitative research with larger groups. Due to its relaxed layout and naturalistic environment, the space is suited to research using focus groups, research using observation-based methods and child research.

City lab
A space designed for collaborative student learning. It is used by students and staff involved in the university’s Global Challenges programme, our collective mission to contribute towards solutions to tackling the pressing issues facing our world

Stats lab
A specialist workspace with computing equipment for statistical analysis and projects involving video and audio editing software. The lab is accessible as a study space to students on psychology courses. It is also available to students studying courses involving video and audio recording and editing, and contains eight soundproof booths.

VR and eye tracking lab
This lab is used for psychological research, eye-tracking and virtual reality research.

You will also benefit from: 

• world-class Design Archives

• St Peters House Special Collection which contains rare, valuable, and delicate books, illustrated books, artist books and handmade items

• Screen Archive South East, a moving image archive. 

In addition, the university has close relationships with local festivals and organisations such as Cinecity, the Brighton Photo Biennial, the Brighton Festival, Brighton Festival Fringe, Brighton Digital Festival, Fabrica and Lighthouse. These connections provide a range of opportunities for students. 

Resources

This course makes use of the University of Brighton Design Archives, which include the archives of the Design Council, Alison Settle, FHK Henrion and the South of England Film and Video Archive.

Close professional contact with national institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, as well as with local collections and centres of historical interest (such as Brighton’s unique Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museum and Art Gallery, with its internationally famous collection of decorative art from the 1890s onwards), present research opportunities for students registered on the course.

The course is closely linked to our arts and humanities research division through a joint research lecture series, and we have successfully encouraged high achievers to register for the MPhil/PhD programme.

The student environment also includes the thriving postgraduate Design History Society as well as opportunities for conference presentation, professional contact and career development in the field.

The award-winning University of Brighton Design Archives.

Meet the team

Dr Charlotte Nicklas, course leader

Charlotte's main research interest is the history of dress, fashion, and textiles in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but she is interested in all aspects of the history of dress and textiles and, more broadly, material culture and the history of design. She approaches these histories through objects, images and texts. At the centre of her research is the way in which dress and fashion both influence and reflect the cultural concerns of a particular historical period. Particular interests include the history of colour in clothing and fashion and fictional representations of dress and fashion. Read Charlotte's full profile.

Other staff who teach on the course include:

Dr Megha Rajguru, Dr Ceren Ozpinar, Dr Verity Clarkson, Dr Eliza Tan and Kevin Bacon, Digital Manager at Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, Brighton & Hove.

Read a Q+A with Dr Eliza Tan about her career journey.

Student views

Karen Fraser, History of Design and Material Culture graduate

"I was impressed with the range of opportunities for research and learning that included access to a variety of sources for primary research, such as objects in the Dress History Teaching Collection and photographs and written documents in the University of Brighton Design Archives.

"I enjoyed learning from the course tutors, who are active and inspiring leaders in their areas of academic interest. They facilitated an exceptional range of extracurricular lectures, conference sessions, and reading groups that greatly enhanced my experience on the course. While much of the work was completed individually, the seminars enabled me to share ideas with fellow students and gain different perspectives from engaged and supportive individuals who were at different stages in their careers."

Course fees

Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

The fees listed here are for the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2024–25.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at Brighton