This programme has been offered in the past on a biennial basis. However, due to high levels of demand the programme is now delivered every year in both full and part time modes. The revised programme requires 12 months full-time study or 24 months part-time study.
Applicants should contact programme co-ordinator Anna Moran at
The Master of Arts – Design History and Material Culture examines historical, critical, theoretical, and interdisciplinary approaches to the study of design and material culture. It is a unique programme in Ireland.
About Design History
This addresses the recently established academic discipline of design history and is built on formal disciplines of the history of architecture and the fine arts, with their emphasis on connoisseurship, patronage, academic and iconographic tradition and style. It focuses on the histories and theories of design, including social, political and economic history, anthropology, ethnography and aesthetic, philosophical and literary tradition.
About Material Culture
The programme includes modules in:
* The Meaning of Things: Interpreting Consumer Economy
* Making and Selling: Design, Manufacture and Retailing Goods
* Architecture, Interiors and the City
* Style and Ideology
* Technology, Design and Society
* Irish Material Culture
* Design and Identity
* Designing Modernity
Students develop their own research agenda and cultivate personal research interests through modules in:
* Research Methods: What are the research issues in the historical study of design? How does one develop a research project in the study of design and material culture? How does one establish meaningful and relevant research questions on material culture and the shaping of the everyday environment?
* Major Research Project: Each student evolves a project examining themes and questions and engaging particular personal interests.
Graduates of the course may return to their teaching with new skills, work in higher education, with historic interiors or architectural documentation, publish and lecture; or work in curatorial or educational capacities in galleries and museums. Some embark on PhD theses in the Faculty.
This is a taught programme with lectures and seminars on two days of the week for full-time students and on one day of the week for part-time students. The programme lasts for 12 months full-time, 24 months part-time. Students attend classes from September to June, submitting a major piece of work in the autumn.
Typical fees for this programme are €4,500 for the full-time mode and €2,300 (approx.) for the part-time mode. For non-EU students the fees are €17,000. (These figures are guidelines and subject to annual revision).
Applicants submit a clear statement of intent (minimum of 500 words) indicating the reason for wishing to pursue the programme. » 5 copies
Applicants submit a recent example of written work. » 5 copies