Katie Tweedie, Nostalgia (Textile Design, 2026)
Queer Materialities
Deadline
July 13, 2026
Value
Unfunded/Self-Funded
Location
On-Campus (Glasgow) or By Distance
Contact
pgr-admissions@gsa.ac.uk
We invite applications for self-funded PhD study in artistic research undertaken in partnership with the School of Fine Art’s Queer Materialities Research Network (QM).
The Research Network Partnership enables PhD researchers to be embedded in a School of Fine Art research network. For 2026/27 we are interested in receiving applications in the following areas:
· Queer materials and materialisations within practice research
· Queer intersections with feminist, interspecies and black critical theory
· Queer materiality as voice, protest and imaginative world making
· Queer critical fictioning
The PhD researcher will benefit from:
· Specialist team supervision
· Participation in on-going collaborative research
· Integration into active research activity
About the Queer Materialities Research Network
Rejecting normative modes of creative practice, QM investigates how artists might queer matter – bodies, objects, residues, landscapes, and sonic traces – to create alternative modes of knowing and being.
Through a range of methods, including drawing, zine‑making, collaborative storytelling, sonic experimentation and speculative fabulation, we address how queer creative practices unsettle linear historical narratives and instead propose entangled modes of memory, futurity, and world-building.
Our work treats queer fabulation not as fiction but as a method—an imaginative, material, and relational way of re-working what matter is and what it can do.
Often working collectively, we foreground queerness not as a subject position but as a methodological condition: a shared commitment to non-normative orientations, improvised methods, and forms of collaboration grounded in care, difficulty, humour, refusal, and experimentation.
Recent QM events include contributions to What is a Queer Methodology? (Symposium to accompany Åsa Johannesson’s solo exhibition), Stills Gallery, Edinburgh, 2026; Crossings: Creative Ecologies of Cruising (Workshop & book launch with Liz Rosenfeld and João Florêncio, Glasgow School of Art, 2026; QueerMaterialities Live! (Symposium), Glasgow School of Art,2025; Queereal Secretions (Group Exhibition), The Annex Gallery,Glasgow, 2024 and Queereal Secretions: Artistic Research as Exquisite Practice (Publication), Glasgow: Article Press, 2023.
Current QM members include: Dr Nicky Coutts, Mic Hannah, Owain Train McGilvary, Dr Liz Murray, Dr Sin Park, Becky Sik, Dr Jane Topping, Giulia Astesani (PhD Researcher), Brooke Hoffert (PhD Researcher) and Marylynne Wrye (PhD researcher).
Key Research Themes
Find out more
Funding Arrangements
This is a self-funded studentship.
In 26/27, for Scottish home and RUK students, research degrees are £5,238 annual fee for each year of full-time study (pro rata for part time). Fees will remain at this level in all years of study.
In 26/27, for International Students, research degrees are £21,200 for each year of full time study (pro rata for part time). Fees will remain the same in all years of study.
More information can be found here
Application Process
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact PGR-admissions@gsa.ac.uk to set up an informal conversation with the School of Fine Art PhD Coordinator prior to making an application.
The PhD (Doctoral Study) programme enrols new students September of each year. For more information on our programme and research schools: Doctoral Study Programme Specs.
To apply, you will require:
· A completed GSA Research Proposal Form, found here - Please indicate School of Fine Art in the School subject/Area and highlight that you are applying for the Queer Materialities Research Network Partnership
· 2 x Academic references (on institutional headed paper, signed and dated within six months of your application)
· Transcripts of previous degrees
· To apply for a PhD at the GSA, applicants should normally have obtained a minimum of an undergraduate degree with First or Upper Second Class Honours and (where required) an English Language Qualification. Our current requirement for doctoral study is IELTS for UKVI (Academic) with 6.5 overall and no less than 6.5 in each component.
· A 1,000 word writing sample from all applicants (this should be a recent or new example of academic or critical writing, e.g. essay, article, review)
· A portfolio of recent work (if your application is for practice-led PhD)
· Please review the Doctoral Study PhD Application Guide. For more detailed information on how to complete your research proposal
Eligibility
Equity, Diversity andInclusion
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) are fundamental to the delivery of exceptional Higher Education and research. We welcome students from every background, particularly those from marginalised backgrounds. Our goal is to understand your learning style and help you create environments where you can thrive. Disabled Students’ Allowance (DSA) can provide you with funding for extra study-related costs due to mental or physical health conditions, learning differences or any other disabilities.
For further information, please contact our Student Support Services.
International Eligibility
The studentship is available to home and international students.
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