People come from all over the world and from a range of different backgrounds to study Music in Edinburgh. Many have a first degree in Music, but some have degrees in other subjects.  

What unites our students is a desire to understand more about what music is, how it works, and why it is such a fundamental and significant part of human culture and in doing so, make an original and substantial contribution to knowledge in the chosen area of study.

Reid School of Music boasts a large and successful community of postgraduate research students. You will study with scholars, composers, and performers of international renown who are passionate about research.

Our research programmes suit candidates who have a particular project and approach already in mind. We consider applications relating to any specialism which staff members have the expertise and capacity to supervise.

The Reid School of Music offers an exciting research environment that combines the theory, history, composition and practice of music with the scientific study of sound.

Research profile

We engage with a broad range of genres and traditions, including:

• classical and popular music
• Western and non-Western music
• professional and amateur music making
• music for screen

Our research is highly interdisciplinary, with centres and groups spanning other colleges and departments within the University of Edinburgh, from physics and neuroscience to informatics, the humanities, divinity and the social sciences.

Staff have a wide range of research interests, engaging in research clustered around four main themes:

• history, theory, and sociology of music, including 19th- and 20th-century music, popular music, aesthetics and sociology
• music and the human sciences, including music psychology and cognition, and music in the community
• musical practice, including composition (electroacoustic, algorithmic, computer music and music for screen), and historical and contemporary performance research
• music, sound and technology, including musical acoustics and organology

Some of our current hubs of research activity include:

• Acoustics and Audio Group
• ECA Digitals
• Edinburgh University Collection of Historic Musical Instruments
• Institute for Music in Human and Social Development

If you'd like to study on a postgraduate research programme at Edinburgh College of Art, you must apply through EUCLID, our online application system. You can find out how to do this on the University of Edinburgh website, where you'll also be able to:

• See detailed entrance requirements for each programme on the Degree Finder
• Get information on what to expect after you apply
• Find out about study modes, start dates and fees
• Find out if, and how, you need to submit a portfolio, showreel or research proposal
• Find out where to go for further advice and guidance.

Before you apply

Students are assigned two research supervisors, the second of which may be from another discipline within ECA, or from somewhere else within the College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (CAHSS) or wider University. 

Please ensure that at least one member of staff (see below) maintains an active research programme that aligns with the themes of your proposed project.  

Prospective students are strongly encouraged to make contact with the relevant member(s) of staff via email to explain your research interests prior to submitting an application. Please note that we only accept applications and review application materials submitted through the official EUCLID application portal. 

After you apply 

Once your application has been submitted for consideration, it will be sent to a team of academic reviewers for their attention. They will then make a decision about your application and research topic, and decide whether it is possible to make an offer of a place to study with us. You may be asked to attend a brief online interview but if this is the case, you will be notified in advance.