Post-Grad interest groups
UAL’s Post-Grad Community supports a growing number of issue-specific, cross-disciplinary interest groups led by postgraduate students and academics.
These connect postgrads with shared research and interests or social interest needs across different subject areas and provide the opportunity to develop, new social networks, knowledge sharing, peer supported projects and the expanding of creative portfolios.
Open for PhD and MA leaders and members. Undergraduates will be welcome to some too!
As an example, PhD students have launched interest groups in the past to coincide with exhibitions and symposiums that they have organised under the same theme. Students have also used Interest Groups as a working group towards research or a standalone event or series.
Hear from the initiators of three thriving PhD student-led interest groups to understand how these originated and how the group has fuelled their research.
Want to start an Interest Group?
Once you have completed your proposal with the help of the Post-Grad Interest Group Set Up Guide (PDF 65KB). Please book into a Post-Grad Interest Group Surgery to discuss your idea with a member of the Post-Grad Community Team.
Alternatively, email your proposal to pgcommunity@arts.ac.uk. Or enquire about the next scheduled Post-Grad Interest Group Surgery.
Post-Grad Interest Group Directory
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© Rachel Whiteread, 'Story Time' 2008, Tate
Photograph: © Rachel Whiteread, TatePost-Grad Guardians
Are you a student with caring responsibilities, a parent or a carer for someone at home? Come together for support and friendships.
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'Streetstyle: from sidewalk to catwalk', a seminal fashion exhibition staged at the Victoria & Albert Museum in November 1994
Subcultures
What are the functions and meanings of subcultures historically and contemporarily?
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Remi Rana-Allen,
BLAME
Brown Leaders and Makers Exist - With aims to 'make the brown feminist maker visible’.
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Spiritual Stitching 2024
Spiritual Stitching
Spiritual Stitching is a collective of UAL postgraduates, alumni, and staff, interested in the art and meditation of embroidery.
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Fashion and ethnicity - Post-Grad Interest Group
Fashion and Ethnicity
Looking at how ethnicity intersects with practices of fashion in its broadest sense.
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Post-Grad Interest Group - PhD Tea and Chat, hybrid attendance option
PhD Tea and Chat
A place for PhD students to come together as a community, to socialise or to study and help each other through their PhD journey.
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Post-Grad Community,
Mindful Knitters
Building connections through the mindful practice of knitting.
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Lucy Stapylton-Smith and Guillaume Choquard, 2018 M ARCH: Architecture, Central Saint Martins, UAL | Photograph: Lucy Stapylton-Smith and Guillaume Choquard
Preparing For Publication, Peer Review
PhD student only group, for members to share and discuss texts and other material intended for publication.
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Chris Morris, Courtesy of the Subcultures Archives
Vintage
This group is for people interested in Vintage. From those who are interested in learning more about it, to those who like to dress in vintage and are interested in social history/popular culture.
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Musarc Winter Konsert - Thierry Bal, Musarc Winter Konsert - Thierry Bal
Performance Research Lab
A platform for performance researchers to share research projects to a shared space investigating the critical frameworks and enquiry-driven creative methods underpinning performance practices.
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MA Global Collaborative Design Practice | Photograph: Winifred AhupaCircular Communities
Collaboratively explore and design creative solutions to circular economy practices through the lens of community resourcefulness
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Image: Ana Flavia Fernandes (MA Global Collaborative Design Practice, UAL CCW)
| Photograph: Ana Flavia FernandeBrick by Bite
Designed for MA and PhD students who are new to London and eager to build connections, while delving into the city’s dynamic urban fabric.
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Left: Moss universe (loupe), Lucy Jane MacAllister Dukes & Bryophyte, digital image, 2025. Right: Mushroom Resisters, Sara Vanore Rewkiewicz & Tuber Borchii, chemigram, 2022.
More than human
A global network of researchers exploring more-than-human ways of worlding
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Photograph: Andris Romanovskis (Unsplash)
Fashion Commercial Awareness
A space for postgraduates to keep up with the latest news in fashion commerce.
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Natasha Frater dance painting Ⓒ William Rowsell 2022, Natasha Frater dance painting Ⓒ William Rowsell 2022
Neurodivergent Creatives
Exploring neurodivergent art practices and lived experiences while challenging institutional barriers through creative methodologies and inclusive community building.
Interest group stories
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Image courtesy of Andy Martin Q&A with designer Andy Martin
Central Saint Martins PhD Researcher and member of the Post-Grad Interest Group Subcultures Kevin Quinn interviews the graphic designer Andy Martin (also known as On-U Sound's art director) whose retro collage-style aesthetic has been seen on album
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Group photo of postgraduate students, who are members of the Post-Grad Interest Group 'More than human' More-than-human Group Trip to the Design Museum
Post-Grad Interest Group More than Human gathered at the Design Museum to visit More-than-human - an exhibiiton and symposium witht he same name. The group leaders report back on their trip.
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Barbican Walk, 2025, UAL , Photographer: Ana Flavia Fernandes Post-Grad Interest Groups: BrickByBite explore the Barbican Estate
Post-Grad Community Ambassador Ankita Dhal (MA Global Collaborative Design Practice, Camberwell College of Arts) and the BrickByBite interest group report back on their their first group gathering, a guided walk from the Barbican to East London.
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Bluebell woods walk, 2025, UAL ,Lucy Jane MacAllister Dukes, Cece Westphalen, Michael Clark & Yehong Wei Bluebell Woods Walk – More-than-human group trip
Post-Grad Ambassadors Lucy Jane MacAllister Dukes, Cece Westphalen, Michael Clark & Yehong Wei join the more than human interest group for a walk in the Bluebell Woods.