MA Design History and Material Culture - AD456

Education Standard

All applicants are expected to present an approved Bachelor degree at minimum level of 2nd class honours (2.2)

Applicants who do not meet the minimum academic entry requirements may be considered on the basis of prior work or learning experience (RPEL). Candidates may be required to pass a qualifying examination set by the relevant department before being accepted to a Masters degree programme. Attendance at selected undergraduate lecture courses at NCAD, together with related written work may be prescribed. 

You may apply for the programme if you are currently completing your Undergraduate Degree. NCAD will review the rest of your application If necessary, we can make you a Conditional Offer. When your degree is completed and you send us final transcripts we will upgrade this to a Full Offer. 

Essential Supporting Documents

• A Statement of Interest - 300-500 words framing your reasons for applying to the programme

• A recent CV

• Certified transcripts of previous programmes followed

• Certified copies of degree/ certificates and/or other appropriate third level qualifications bearing the official stamp of the institution.

• Reference 1 (Academic - Head of School/Department preferred)

  • Some referees prefer to submit the reference directly to the college. If this is the case, please instruct your referee to email a standard reference to postgraduate@ncad.ie. Please make sure all references contain the letterhead and the institution contact email address for the referee

• Reference 2 (Tutor or Current/Recent Employer) 

• A sample of written work - essay, published article or other relevant text

Document Description

When uploading documents please make sure you clearly label them using the Description Box like in the example below 

English Language Requirements

All programmes in NCAD are taught through English. International Applicants are asked to provide proof of their English Language Proficiency.

Full details of acceptable tests and the standard required can be found at the following link English Language Requirement.

After Your Degree

The programme consistently receives excellent feedback from both external examiners and students. Students on the programme have received internationally recognised awards for their work and many have gone on to pursue doctoral research at NCAD and elsewhere. Graduates have published their work in peer reviewed journals and many are working within education (second and third level), art / design practice, galleries, museums, historic houses, film, theatre, publishing and government bodies responsible for arts/craft promotion.

Fees

For information on tuition fees please follow this Link 

There is an application fee of €55.00*

Apply

Step 1: Click on Apply Now button below | Step 2: Fill in your details

Step 3: Upload your Supporting Documents

• You can also submit your application even before you upload the necessary documents. 

• You can not add new documents after you have submitted. 

• Additional documents can be sent to postgraduate@ncad.ie and we will upload them on your behalf. 

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• If you are applying for multiple Postgraduate Programmes then you are only obliged to pay the application fee once.

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  • Email postgraduate@ncad.ie and let us know you are ready to submit and we will submit the application on your behalf. 

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  • Email postgraduate@ncad.ie and let us know you are ready to submit and we will submit the application on your behalf. 

The next intake for the MA Design History Material Culture is September 2024.   Applications will open later in 2023.

Programme Team

The MA Design History Material Culture is taught by internationally recognised leaders in their fields and draws on wide-ranging academic expertise in architectural history, dress and textiles history, contemporary craft practice and craft history, contemporary design theory and material culture studies.

Professor David Crowley

crowleyd@staff.ncad.ie

Professor David Crowley is the Head of the School of Visual Culture. Before joining NCAD, he was a professor in the School of Humanities at the Royal College of Art in London. He has a specialist interest in modernism in art and design, often with a focus on the histories of Eastern Europe under communist rule. His books include Warsaw (2003) and Pleasures in Socialism: Leisure and Luxury in the Eastern Bloc (2010). He writes regularly for Eye magazine, Creative Review, Frieze and other art and design press titles. Crowley also curates exhibitions, including ‘Cold War Modern’ at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2008–9; and ‘Notes from the Under-ground: Art and Alternative Music in Eastern Europe 1968-1994’ for the Muzeum Sztuki, Lodz, 2017 and Akademie der Kunst, Berlin, 2018. His writing can be found at: faktografia.com.

Dr Paul Caffrey, MA, PhD

caffreyp@staff.ncad.ie

Paul writes about the visual and material culture of Ireland. Recent research has focused on enamelers and enamelling, see: ‘European Enamels in the National Gallery of Ireland Collection’ (Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg 2017).

Dr Lisa Godson, MA, PhD

godsonl@staff.ncad.ie

Lisa is a lecturer in History of Design, and was previously NCAD Fellow at GradCAM and tutor at the Royal College of Art. Her research interests include contemporary design and twentieth-century Irish material culture. Her co-edited volume Making 1916: the visual and material culture of the Easter Rising was published by Liverpool University Press in 2015.

Hilary O’Kelly, MA

okellyh@staff.ncad.ie

Hilary O’Kelly is a dress historian with a specialist interest in Ireland since the 18th century. Her book Cleo: Irish Clothes in a Wider World – a study of one of Dublin’s oldest clothing businesses – was published in 2014. She has also written on the role of National Revival dress in Irish revolutionary politics, on dress and Irish emigration, on women, dress and religion and on the role of dress in the cultural formation of children in independence Ireland.

Admissions Team

postgraduate@ncad.ie