Architecture PhD / MPhil

The Liverpool School of Architecture was established in 1894 and became the first University in the UK to award a RIBA accredited degree in Architecture. As one of the UK's premier centres for architectural research and education, we are proud of our long tradition and position in the world of Architecture, both nationally and internationally.

Research within the LSA is structured under the two overarching headings of History and Theory and Environment and Digital Architecture. History and Theory consists of two inter-related research groups that address the cultural and historical context of architecture and the visual arts. The Architectural and Urban History Group investigates historic and developing architecture in relation to cities and urban contexts, with an international perspective and a developing emphasis on heritage. 

The Centre for Architecture and the Visual Arts  (CAVA) is a forum for collaborative research with cultural partners such as Tate Liverpool, National Museums Liverpool and the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology. Environment and Digital Architecture consists of two research groups: Acoustics Research Unit (ARU) and Sustainable Environments Research Group (SERG). 

ARU is internationally recognised for its research into airborne and structure-borne sound in the fields of engineering and building acoustics, psychoacoustics, human vibration (including vibrotactile stimuli), environmental noise, industrial acoustics (sonic cleaning) and the subjective evaluation of sound and vibration in the built environment. Excellent experimental and modelling resources are available in the ARU’s dedicated laboratory facilities.

DARG focuses on the use of emerging digital technologies in the design, construction and maintenance of the built envrionment as well as the impact of these technologies on education, creative processes, collaboration between different professions, virtual prototyping and production methods.  

SERG investigates sustainable built environments and the interactions between the performance of the built environment and the processes, complexities and uncertainties that can influence that performance, including the risks associated with adaptation and mitigation strategies for responding to future climates.