MA Digital Media

The MA Digital Media is unique in its combination of practical and theoretical approaches to contemporary media and technology.

• This exciting degree is designed to help you understand digital transformations in media, culture, and society and apply this understanding in practice, in the media and creative industries and in further research.
• The MA Digital Media has an established record - redefining media theory and practice since 2004.
• The programme will equip you with skills that can be applied to current and future developments in digital media, social media, computing, and other aspects of technology.
• The MA Digital Media educates aspiring media practitioners and academics as well as early and mid-career professionals who seek to reflect on their roles in a structured and stimulating learning environment designed to give all students up-to-the-minute knowledge of digital media and the skills to apply that knowledge to future developments.
• You will benefit from the experience and expertise of one of the world’s leading media and communications departments. The Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies has been ranked number two in the UK for 'world-leading or internationally excellent' research (Research Excellence Framework, 2021) and 16th in the world (third in the UK) in the 2024 QS World Rankings for communication and media studies. In your options modules you will be taught by theorists and practitioners of international standing.
• Our students have access to state-of-the-art facilities including well-equipped lecture and seminar rooms, exhibition spaces, computer facilities and digital media suites.
• There are three pathways, so you can specialise in image making or data visualisation, or take a more theoretical approach.

Contact the department

If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Daniel Rourke.

You should have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least upper second class standard in a relevant/related subject. If you're applying to the practice pathway you'll also need to submit a portfolio of work. Further details are in the 'How to apply' section.

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score (or equivalent English language qualification) of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Where this degree can take you

Our programme provides a theory and practice pathway and prepares students for work in the following areas:

• Media and creative industries; advertising, marketing and PR (graduates of the MA Digital Media have found work with Virgin Media, Google, the BBC and other leading organisations worldwide)
• Research and academia (graduates from this programme have gone on to study for PhD degrees in higher education institutions around the world and also here with us)
• Media production and new media art (graduates have exhibited, published and produced work in photography, journalism, TV, documentary, film and multimedia)

Skills you'll gain

We provide graduates with skills that are cutting edge in:

• The critical analysis and/or creative production of digital media;
• The disciplinary knowledge and conceptual frameworks necessary for current and future forms of media and technology;
• The awareness of how digital media and technologies are re-shaping society from the ways we communicate (through social media and web 2.0) to the increasingly ‘smart’ environments in which we live.