Academic Avenues into Games
You are interested in pursuing Games as an academic career or would like to complement your CV with an academic degree in Games. But..
...iGGi is no longer recruiting! "What now??" you ask.
iGGi has recruited its last of (a total of) 10 cohorts in 2023 as the 2x5 years of scheduled intakes have been completed, and there is no funding for any further cohorts.
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Many of you have since contacted us to ask if there are other academic avenues into Games. So we thought we'd dedicate a page (this one) to this very topic, and lay out the options available to you via the iGGi partner universities.
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​At Queen Mary University of London
Bachelor Degree:
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Masters Degree:
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PhD:
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Also check out our list of suitable supervisors at QMUL on our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme)
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​At the University of York
Bachelor Degree:​
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Masters Degree:
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PhD:​​
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For suitable supervisors at UoY check out our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme)​
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​At the University of Essex
Bachelor Degree:​
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Masters Degree:
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PhD:​​
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For suitable supervisors at Essex check out our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme)
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​At Goldsmiths, University of London
Bachelor Degree:​
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Masters Degree:
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PhD:​​
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For suitable supervisors at Goldsmiths check out our iGGi Supervisor page (you can filter by location, and/or research theme)
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​Funding
Funding your studies can be a challenging endeavor at any level, but given our existing scope of Postgraduate level, the below points relate specifically to financing PhD studies.
In the UK, there are six different types of funding sources to consider for financing a PhD:
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Government Funding through organisations such as the UKRI (iGGi, for instance, is a PhD programme funded by the EPSRC, which is one of UKRI's nine councils) >>> check out the UKRI Funding Finder
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Postgraduate Research Loans, available to individual PhD students >>> check out gov.uk's Doctoral Loan info page
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Most universities offer a very limited amount of their own "Studentships" and it is best to contact the respective university (or even the department) directly to find out more
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Charities and Trusts support individual PhD students through the award of Scholarships and Bursaries >>> check out the turn2us search tool which offers a custom-search-able database of grants you might qualify for
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Companies may directly investing in research projects that are of business interest to them and partner with a relevant university, or directly sponsor a PhD student​​​
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And of course, if this is an option available to you, you can try and self-fund your course
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​Games Courses at non-iGGi Universities
There are many other universities in the UK that offer games-related courses, the below links are but a small selection, just to give you a starting point. Please note that this is not intended to be a ranking or particular recommendation in any way, and that the listing is merely based on our recent collaborations, interactions, and existing contacts with individuals or specific projects at these institutions.
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​King's College London >> King's Institute for Artificial Intelligence
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University College London >> Cinematic and Videogame Architecture
You can also check out this games map website from Ukie which lists, among other games-relevant entities, academic institutions that offer games courses.
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