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The University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NZ, T +44 (0)1227 764000
Journalism MA, MPhil, PhD
This is a research programme within the Journalism subject area.
Key facts
- Subject area: Journalism
- Location: Medway
- School: Centre for Journalism
- Duration: MA one year full-time or two years part-time; MPhil two years full-time or three years part-time; PhD registration three to four years full-time or five to six years part-time.
- Start: At any time but ideally in September.
- Fees: More info
- Entry requirements: Minimum 2.1 or equivalent in a relevant subject. In certain circumstances the Centre will consider candidates who have not followed a conventional education path, eg working or former journalists who have acquired a minimum of three years' professional experience in the news industry. These cases are considered individually. Please also check our general entry requirements (including English language requirements).
Outline
Research programmes are best suited to students who have a clear and original idea of a topic that they would like to investigate in detail. There are two types of programme. The MA by Research entails producing a 40,000 word thesis; the MPhil and PhD programmes demand a high level of research and analysis resulting in dissertations of c50,000 words (MPhil) or 80,000 words (PhD). All first-year research students attend a Methodologies and Research Skills seminar. Through the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Centre provides training in methods of using sources and can assist in funding applications.
We welcome research applications across the range of expertise in the Centre and from all over the world.
Programme structure
For further information see the School site.
Funding
A unique Daily Mail scholarship offers one student per year on the MA in Multimedia Journalism £10,000 and a work placement at the Daily Mail. Details are available at our website. The University of Kent has established a studentship fund of £1.5 million to support research students. This fund allows the University to provide support for more than 100 students in an academic year.
The studentships cover tuition fees at the Home/EU rate and, depending on the terms and conditions of the award, a maintenance grant up to the full Research Councils' rate.
For further details of postgraduate funding see Postgraduate funding.
Further information:
Resources and facilities
The Centre is based in state-of-the-art multimedia newsrooms equipped with the latest audio and video-editing technology, a radio studio and broadcast-quality television facilities. A dedicated postgraduate newsroom opened in September 2010. Newsroom computers offer a wide range of software for teaching and research support.
Students have access to Press Association news wires, Sky News Radio and Reuters World Television News feeds. They use the Centre's dedicated multimedia website, www.centreforjournalism.co.uk which offers live publishing facilities in text, audio and video. The site is a forum for debate about issues in journalism and the news industry involving students and practitioners in Britain and abroad.
The resources for journalism research at Kent are led by the Drill Hall Library at Medway. The journalism collection includes a comprehensive range of texts on the history, principles and practice of journalism. Specialist resources include a complete microfiche archive of popular newspapers of the Second World War. Students have access to online full-text journals plus extensive online newspaper resources. The Centre subscribes to all relevant UK journals. Research students have access to the SCONUL access scheme to visit and borrow from other UK libraries.
The Drill Hall Library contains more than 250 study spaces, 370 computers and more than 150,000 items.
Further information:
Staff research
Professor Tim Luckhurst: Professor of Journalism; Head of Centre for Journalism
A former editor of the Scotsman and former BBC News and Current Affairs editor. His research interests include the history of journalism and in particular the reporting of conflict from the Spanish Civil War to the present day. He is the author of This is Today – A Biography of the Today Programme. He has written thousands of articles in publications ranging from the British Journalism Review to the Daily Mail and he writes frequently for the Guardian and the Independent. His academic work has appeared in journals including the British Journalism Review and Ethical Space, and in thousands of newspaper articles and publications.
Dr Suzanne Franks: Senior Lecturer; Director of Research
Suzanne has written for Media History and Political Quarterly, as well as contributing to newspapers and magazines. She previously worked on the BBC History Project (Volume 6 1974-87). Her research interests include foreign reporting, disaster relief and political communications. She began her career as a producer on BBC Current Affairs programmes including Newsnight and Panorama. Her current research is directed towards a book provisionally entitled Reporting Disasters.
Ian Reeves: Director of Learning and Teaching
A former editor of Press Gazette, he was responsible for developing the Student Journalism Awards, the Magazine Design and Journalism Awards, and the innovative Press Cadets project. He was weekly business writer of the year in 2003's Periodical Publishers Association awards. He continues to write about business and media and has a particular interest in how technology is changing journalism. He designed the Centre for Journalism's live publishing website and built the first iPad app for any UK university department- now available on the Apple Store.
Richard Pendry: Lecturer Broadcast and Online Journalism
A BAFTA award-winning television producer with 20 years' experience as a freelance, working in documentaries, news and current affairs. During most of the 1990s Richard was a member of Frontline News Television, an agency which specialised in reportage from war zones. A fluent Russian speaker, Richard filed stories for Frontline from all over the former Soviet Union, including Chechnya. He has recently been researching in the Caucasus and Iraq into how independent reporters gather news.
Sarah Lonsdale: Lecturer in Reporting and Writing
After graduating, Sarah trained for two years on the Reading Chronicle, during which time she was highly commended in the Young Journalist of the Year category at the British Press Awards, before joining the Observer as a general reporter. In 1993 she went freelance and has been writing features for national newspapers and magazines ever since. She writes a regular environmental column, Greenpiece, in the Sunday Telegraph, for which she has been shortlisted as Journalist of the Year at the British Environment and Media Awards. She has also won the Industrial Journalist of the Year award in the magazine category. Her research interests include the depiction of journalism in literary fiction and reporting the environment.
Lesley Phippen: Lecturer in Law and the Media
Originally qualified as a solicitor, Lesley has been teaching Law for over 20 years on programmes for both professional and academic qualifications. In 2001 she joined the Kent Law School as Director of Legal Studies. During her time at the Kent Law School, Lesley developed a Media Law module and was the driving force behind the first crossdisciplinary conference at the Medway campus on Privacy and the Individual. Lesley moved to the Centre for Journalism in July 2010 to deliver the academic law teaching.
Further information:
Contact details
Admissions enquiriesT: +44 (0)1227 827272
E: information@kent.ac.uk
Professor Tim Luckhurst
University of Kent, Centre for Journalism, Gillingham Building, Chatham Maritime, Kent ME4 4AG
T: +44 (0)1634 202913
E:
journalism@kent.ac.uk
Further information: