Each year, Falmouth University invites MPhil and PhD project proposals that align with and respond to the Doctoral Project briefs.
About Doctoral Project briefs
Doctoral Project briefs are prospective research calls devised by Falmouth University staff to indicate our priority areas of research interest for research degree applicants.
Each brief considers our overarching Research & Innovation strategy and has been subsequently designed to align with one, or more, of our strategic aims. It's expected that research MPhil and PhD applicants will emphasise the link between their proposed project idea and our Research & Innovation strategy within their application.
Doctoral Project briefs are expressed in the form of challenges and have been designed to elicit a range of creative responses. In each case, it is imperative that applicants are able to demonstrate an imaginative, methodologically robust and independent response to the thematic area.
Although applications for PhDs are closed until November 2025, you can find below a list of doctoral briefs previously hosted by Falmouth University which demonstrates the scope of our research and areas of expertise found within our vibrant researcher community.
List of project briefs

African Portrait Photography Archives
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

African Textile Archives
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Algorithmic Dramaturgies
We invite proposals for a PhD project exploring algorithmic dramaturgies: the temporal, affective, a...

ANIMAL/LAB
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Capturing “The Spirit of Kneehigh”
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Colliding voices
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Cozy Crime
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Creating a Destination Storyworld
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Creative approaches to heritage challenges
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Creative placemaking
The tangible, intangible, and mixed elements of place can be explored within this brief, to animate ...

Design for active living
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Credit: Matt Jessop
Design for Healthy Ageing
This doctoral brief invites you to investigate opportunities for design to support healthy ageing ac...

Digital Curation and the Networked Image
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Digital Dissent
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

ENVIRO/PHOTO
Based within Falmouth’s Institute of Photography, but working with partners locally and globally, ...

Ethical, Sustainable, Development and Curriculum Design for the Creative Industries
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Exploring the Salience of Sustainable Development
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Exploring the Transformative Potential of AI-Powered Serious Games in Education
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Fashion Responses to Wearable Haptic Technologies (‘FRWHT’)
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Folk Horror and Gothic/Crime Fiction
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Futures of Audio Storytelling
We're looking for theoretical and and practice-based doctoral project proposals which explore produc...

Games Education Landscapes
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Glitching Gender
This doctoral project will open up new critical and creative ways of thinking about the ways in whic...

Graphic Design Urgencies
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Grunts and Squeaks and Squawks
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Liveness, collaboration and sustainability in immersive audiovisual performance
This doctoral research project investigates how real-time audiovisual practices consider immersion, ...

Mixed-initiative artificial intelligence for the aquaculture industry
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Neurodivergence in Magical Universes
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Neuroplastic Reflective Game Design (NRGD)
This research project will investigate how structured reflection in digital games can activate neuro...

Peacegaming
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Post-Digital Poetries and Poetics
This doctoral brief calls for creative new interpretations, examinations, and performances at the fo...

Post-Immersive Futures
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Radical Ceramics and Alternative Communities
This collaborative project proposes developing a research project looking at new and diverse narrati...

Radical Spaces of Making
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Re-performing Story Archives
This doctoral proposal encourages candidates to consider the distinctive nature of Cornwall, its wri...

Work by Deborah Bunce
Re-thinking diagnosis: an artistic approach to diagnosis in mental health
The aim of this practice-led research project is to contribute to existing knowledge surrounding...

Regenerative Economies
We invite expressions of interest for doctoral research into the evolving field of regenerative econ...

Right support, right place, right time
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Romance and/or Erotica
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Social Sustainability
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Surfing & Sustainability
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

The Pedagogy of Creative Writing
The tangible, intangible, and mixed elements of place can be explored within this brief, to animate ...

The Role of Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in supporting sustainable business in Cornwall
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Tourism Futures
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...

Virtual Study Buddy
This PhD project explores the concept of a "virtual study buddy," a digital character designed to su...

Voice, Sonic Agency and the Environment
This Research & Knowledge Exchange Doctoral Project brief summarises our priority areas of resea...