Our Research

Our research in Music, Drama, Performing Arts, Film and Screen, and Heritage/Museum Studies is organised within both interdisciplinary and subject-specific research groups, and we collaborate with colleagues across Ulster as part of the Creative Industries Institute (established in 2017).

Current projects include the  £72-million Studio Ulster Belfast Region City Deal project, providing Northern Ireland's hub in the URKI (AHRC) CoSTAR Network Lab, and participating in Ulster's £457k+AHRC Impact Accelerator.

Recent projects led by this unit include the £13 million AHRC Creative Cluster,  Future Screens NI, and the UKRI Covid Rapid Response project Museums, Crisis and Covid-19.

Over the last two REF cycles, our Research Impact has been judged to be at the very top of the UK field, with the unit being placed joint first in REF2021 and joint 2nd in REF2014.

Our research environment is now (as of REF2021) judged to be 100% 3*/4* ('internationally excellent' and 'world-leading), and our overall profile is 41% 4* 'world-leading', leading us to be ranked alongside many prominent research-intensive departments at other universities and in the conservatoire sector.

    Themes and Subject Areas

    Themes and Subject Areas

    Our research is centred within the following areas:

    Subject areas:

    • Music
    • Drama
    • Film and Screen Studies
    • Heritage and Museum Studies

    Interdisciplinary themes:

    • Arts practices, practice-as-research (incl. applied arts and creative industries and technologies)
    • Arts, heritage, and conflict

    Learn more about our Research, Groups and Centres

    About our Research

    A unique multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary environment for research within and between the fields of drama, film, music, heritage and museum...

    Our People

    Meet the staff behind our Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies research.

    Visiting Professors

    Visiting Professors within Music, Drama, Film and Heritage.

    Music Research

    Music at Ulster University has a vibrant community of practitioner-researchers.

    Drama Research

    Drama researchers at Ulster work as a research-intensive subject team within the field of drama and in interdisciplinary projects with...

    Film and Screen Research

    Film and Screen/Cinematic Arts at Ulster University is a new and vibrant area of research that combines theory and practice...

    Heritage and Museum Studies Research

    The heritage and museum studies subject at Ulster University has been established since 2001 and has maintained a vibrant research...

    Creative Industries Institute

    Bringing together our research and teaching expertise to collaborate with industry, government and communities.

    PhD Research: application processes and topics

    PhD research can be pursued in the following individual subject areas: Cinematic Arts (film/moving image practice and film and screen...

    Visiting and Postdoctoral Researchers

    Details about our Visiting and Postdoctoral Researchers.