Academic interest in children’s book illustration is growing. Examine this field of illustration through a combination of practical work and theoretical enquiry. Our PhD programme encourages individual, practice led research projects that explore aspects of the art of children’s book illustration from the perspective of high-level practice. We look for research proposals that are informed by personal practice and demonstrate an ambition to examine an area or aspect of children’s book illustration through a combination of creative and theoretical enquiry. Using your personal creative practice as a research tool, you’ll produce distinctive contributions to the growing knowledge pool in this area. All your subject-specific studies will be enhanced and supported by our University-wide training sessions, where you’ll gain important research expertise in areas like ethics, presentations, intellectual property and digital scholarship. You’ll also have access to many exhibition and conference opportunities.

At Cambridge School of Art, you’ll be part of a vibrant and growing community of researchers at PhD level. We provide various research forums that accentuate the discursive and interdisciplinary nature of research, including research clusters that hold regular seminars and informal presentations for postgraduate and research students, as well the Centre for Children's Book Studies. You’ll benefit from our strong industry links with many children’s book publishers, as well as Bologna Children’s Book Fair, Kettle’s Yard, and the University of Cambridge's Centre for Research into Arts, Social Sciences, and Humanities (CRASSH) and the Centre for Children’s Literature at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. Distance-learning supervision available on this course.