Music research

Research in music at Southampton encompasses international-level scholarship across a broad spectrum of topics, including music history, theory and analysis, issues in contemporary music and popular culture,  performance research, and composition. The quality of our work was recognized through the award of a 5*A (the highest possible grade) in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise. A GPA of 3.25 in the 2008 RAE places us among a handful of top UK music departments (between second and fourth nationally, depending on how the figures are read). See our pages on research in Musicology, Composition and Performance to find out more. 

Southampton research students are active across all these fields at doctoral level: see the list of current and recent postgraduates to get a sense of the range of their work. We can offer expert supervision for student research at MMus and PhD level in a broad range of subjects.

RESEARCH SEMINARS
On Tuesday afternoons during term time we host a series of research seminars, with local and invited speakers of national and international reputation. Click here to see the current schedule.

INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH CENTRES
Staff members in music play an active role in interdisciplinary scholarship in the School of Humanities.  The Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Culture and Southampton Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies act to focus and support staff and postgraduate research, linking musical study to work in history, philosophy, literature and languages.