Study environment

The department's training programme covers methods and issues in presentation, illustration and referencing both written or oral communication in film studies, as well as support for formulating topics, reviewing the field and preparing for vivas and conferences. You will have access to the lectures, seminars and special events held under the auspices of the University of London Screen Studies Group.

King's has made a major commitment to refurbishing its multimedia infrastructure for the study of film and related media. This includes building a significant collection of print and DVD/VHS materials, new facilities for group teaching in 35mm, video, and DVD modes on the Strand Campus, and substantial new information technology resources.

Joint PhDs

You can choose to do your PhD jointly with Hong Kong University or the National University of Singapore.

Hong Kong

The Film Studies Department at King's sees a close affinity with the research interests and directions of Hong Kong University’s (HKU) Comparative Literature Department with its growing interests in global, inter-regional and cross-cultural exchanges in the study of film theories and histories, postcolonial discourses, gender and sexualities, race, ethnicities and other forms of sociopolitical identities, as well as interdisciplinary approaches to contemporary media.

HKU Comparative Literature is a world-renowned programme with a strong emphasis on the comparative studies of literature, film and media. It is also considered the hub of East Asian colonial and postcolonial studies and cultural theories, which bring together an interdisciplinary dialogue and cutting-edge debate that reposition Euro-American critical scholarship, generate new ideas specific to East Asia, and reconfigure the existing discourses in Europe and North America.

Singapore

Film Studies is part of a larger intellectual environment in the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore, which offers undergraduate and graduate programmes that examine communication with a focus on new media, and cultural studies in Asia. These programmes focus on media and cultural studies, communication management and interactive media design.

It has research and PhD supervision expertise on cultural studies including queer and Asian film studies, East Asian media cultures, critical technology studies, health communication, media psychology and computational communication.

FAQs about joint PhDs can be found on the King's worldwide web pages.

Hong Kong

In recent years, a number of students at King’s Film Studies have taken advantage of King's strategic relationship with Hong Kong University to conduct comparative research in queer cinema and media, supervised jointly by faculty members from both universities. Students and scholars in both institutions also host events to discuss their current research and ideas. The diverse interests in both groups also allow their members to explore areas and issues beyond each programme’s individual capacity, including South Asian cinemas, Eastern European cinemas, Arabic cinemas and African cinemas. Besides such an ever-expanding global dimension, the two departments are also deeply engaged in cinema’s relationship with spatiality and temporality, especially in cosmopolitan cityscapes like Hong Kong and London.

Further collaboration

The two departments are developing further collaborative projects in the exploration of comparative histories in film theories, global perspectives in film historiographies and philosophies. In the near future, the two departments will forge new opportunities to host joint conferences, film programmes, festivals and other cultural events. With King’s Film Studies connections to the Cultural Institute at King’s, King’s Global Institutes, Lau China Institute, its current collaborations with the British Film Institute and the Chinese Visual Festival, and with Hong Kong’s networks of cultural institutions including the Hong Kong Arts Centre, the Hong Kong Film Archive and the Hong Kong Film Festival, the two departments wish to continue to expand and deepen our connections both in Europe and East Asia.