MSc Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics & Creativity
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Why study MSc Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics & Creativity at Goldsmiths
If you have any questions about MSc Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics & Creativity at Goldsmiths, you can meet with the programme co-director online.
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This Masters is the first postgraduate programme in the world for the scientific study of aesthetics and creativity.
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The MSc Psychology of the Arts, Neuroaesthetics & Creativity (PANC) sits at the intersection of the arts and the sciences. It will introduce you to the psychology and the cognitive neuroscience of how humans generate new ideas, how we appreciate beauty, and how we form preferences.
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樱桃视频 is uniquely placed to offer this programme, with an internationally renowned reputation in the arts and the sciences.
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Aesthetic and creative decisions are relevant in the visual and the performing arts, and in many applied and commercial contexts 鈥� ranging from clinical interventions to curating exhibitions, and from dance choreography to marketing and advertising.
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Based in Psychology and Neuroscience, in collaboration with Computing, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies and Creative Management, the course builds critical knowledge, research and communication skills across the arts and the sciences, centred around two key topics: the psychological and brain mechanisms of making (creativity) and appreciating (neuroaesthetics) art.
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You'll be able to follow one of of two options: the Interdisciplinary Pathway or the Creative Coding Pathway.
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The Interdisciplinary Pathway will help prepare you for a career in psychology, marketing, media studies or the creative industries, while the Creative Computing Pathway is well-suited for those interested in a research career in experimental psychology or computational arts.
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Conducting a research project with an interdisciplinary focus will prepare you for a research career in aesthetic or creative science, working in the creative industry, or to develop your artistic practice.
Contact
If you have specific questions about the degree, contact Dr Stacey Humphries (Programme Director) , Rebecca Chamberlain .
Length
1 year full-time or 2 years part-time
Fees
Home - full-time: £12800
International - full-time: £21000
School
Subject
We are an Adobe Creative Campus. During your studies, you will be able to use Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Illustrator and more for free on your own devices.
Combining the arts and sciences
樱桃视频 is uniquely placed to offer this programme, with an internationally renowned reputation in the arts and the sciences.
Existing courses combining art and psychology often have a largely therapeutic focus and rarely cover the psychology of aesthetic appreciation or creative cognition, in a broader profile. In contrast, business-oriented courses in marketing, advertising and consumer psychology often lack adequate scientific training in experimental psychology or cognitive neuroscience methods, which is required for a scientific approach to aesthetics and creativity.
On this Masters at Goldsmiths you will have the opportunity to take optional modules covering computing, media and communications, and management studies. This will complement and challenge the scientific perspective, acknowledging the richly diverse, unique and culturally specific nature of human aesthetic and creative practice.
It was the most amazing academic experience. It gave me a rigorous, interdisciplinary framework that I draw on every day, in my research, my consultancy, and my clinical practice in applied neuroscience. I left with a completely different way of thinking about the brain, experience, and human wellbeing.
Archie, MSc PANC alumni (Archie McAlpine and Associates, wellbeing research consultancy)
What you'll study
Overview
You'll be introduced to the psychology and the cognitive neuroscience of how humans generate new ideas, how we appreciate beauty, and how we form preferences. You will be taught by research leaders in the field and will leave with in-depth theoretical knowledge and practical research skills.
Core modules
Aesthetic Science
This module provides you with an introduction to empirical aesthetics, from both psychological and neuroscience perspectives. We cover core psychological and neuroscientific theories about the way in which individuals value and emotionally react to a diverse range of artistic outputs including dance, visual art, music, performance, and the literary arts.
Creativity
This module provides you with a comprehensive and an in-depth understanding about the research on creativity. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach, this module covers the latest research findings from various disciplines within psychology, covering research fields such as cognitive psychology, social psychology, comparative and developmental psychology, creative arts and media, and neuroscience.
Research Skills
Alongside these modules, you'll receive core training in psychological and scientific methods, including statistics, research design and analysis, research skills, and foundations of neuroscience, providing a strong methodological basis for independent research.
You'll also benefit from the MMB鈥揚ANC Invited Speaker Series, which brings leading international researchers and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge work across psychology, neuroscience, the arts, and creativity.
The Research Project
The Research Project (dissertation) is the culmination of the MSc and allows you to conduct an original, supervised research study on any aspects of the arts and creativity or a related field. Read more about the research project.
Teaching style
This programme is taught through a mixture of lectures, seminars, lab classes and tutorials.
Students from the course have created their own website where they're sharing examples of their work and their thoughts about the neural correlates of aesthetic experiences and creative actions.
The programme significantly shaped and propelled my research career, as my final project not only connected me with my PhD supervisor but also led me to publish research at the forefront of real-world Theatre-Neuroscience.
Dwaynica, MSc PANC alumni and PhD student at UCL
Careers
As a graduate of this course, you will be especially suitable for a career in advertising (planning and strategy), curating or arts management.
Neuroscientific methods and theories of aesthetic or creative science are not normally taught in other courses on, for example, consumer psychology, arts management, curating or arts-based therapy. Based on the combination of scientific methods with interdisciplinary knowledge in aesthetic and creative practice, you will have a unique advantage in applying for jobs at the intersection of the arts and sciences.
Examples include:
- Doing a PhD in the growing international research field of creative science and (neuro)aesthetics
- Working in the creative industries 鈥� for example, advertising, market research, brand strategy and consulting
- Arts management and curating, arts education, or even as research-focussed preparation for art-based clinical interventions and therapy
Skills
The course provides a unique combination of scientific methods and psychological theory on the one hand, and principles of aesthetic and creative practice on the other. It will equip you with a unique skill set that will allow you to bridge the arts and the sciences.
You will develop key skills as part of the programme, including:
- Academic research skills
- Skills in statistical methods and experimental design
- Quantitative and qualitative data analysis
- Critical thinking
- Evaluation methods and skills
- Independent study skills
- Presentation skills
The Creativity Research Network
The grew out of friendships our students formed during the 2020鈥�21 MSc PANC cohort. Coming from creative backgrounds themselves, they wanted to connect the science of creativity back to the practitioners and communities it's really about鈥攁nd to build a space where research and creative practice could inform one another.
Since its founding in 2022, CRN has grown into an international community of over 350 students, early-career researchers, and creative professionals.
They host monthly journal club meetings featuring new and emerging research (sometimes their own), guest speakers, and interdisciplinary Artist鈥揝cientist panels鈥攎ore than 40 events to date.
Today they work across research and creative practice in Europe and the US:
- Matteo Antona (MRes, Universities of Bristol and Bath; Lead VFX Artist)
- Sarah O'Meara (doctoral candidate, University College Dublin)
- Stephanie Miller (postdoctoral researcher, University of Vienna)
- Kaile Smith (PhD candidate, the Graduate Center, CUNY; Creative Director)
Members of the Creativity Research Network
Facilities
Neuroimaging
Our neuroscience lab includes stationary and mobile electroencephalography (EEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and can be used to complete research projects with a neuroimaging focus.
Eye tracking and physiology
We have both stationary and mobile eye tracking equipment and equipment for measuring physiological signals (heart rate, skin conductance, breathing rate) that can be used to study emotional and cognitive processing in relation to creativity and aesthetics.
Infant Lab
We have an infant lab for studying aesthetic and creative processing in babies and young children.
Multimedia Lab
Our multimedia lab houses a range of virtual reality headsets for use in research on aesthetic and creative processing.
Research at Goldsmiths
Do artists perceive the world differently? – Dr Rebecca Chamberlain
This Masters was instrumental in shaping my career trajectory. It provided a bridge from my background in the humanities to the sciences, while also creating an environment where I met wonderful people and researchers many of whom I remain close to today.
Giacomo, MSc PANC alumni and Postdoctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
What kind of research project can I do?
Research projects are supervised by staff in Psychology and Neuroscience, who are world leading researchers in their fields. Project often involve a collaborative component with external industry and academic partners. Students have previously worked with Manchester Art Gallery, The Hayward Gallery, Siobhan Davis Dance Studio, Kindastudios and Paintings in Hospitals.
We regularly partner with the University of Vienna, UCL and Brooklyn College CUNY, and with academics in Computing at Goldsmiths. Research projects are the culmination of your studies and often result in conference presentations and publications.
You'll be able to select from a wide range of research projects related to creativity and the arts, incorporating both behavioural and neuroscientific approaches where appropriate. Students are also invited to propose a project of their choice, providing appropriate supervision can be offered.
Read some previous research publications from our students:
Entry requirements
You should normally have (or expect to be awarded) an undergraduate degree of at least second class standard in psychology or a related subject (cognitive science, neuroscience) with a research component.
However, we explicitly encourage candidates with interdisciplinary and unusual biographies to apply. Applicants with undergraduate degrees in the visual or performing arts, design, humanities, business, or other non-scientific subjects will be required to demonstrate sufficient background knowledge and experience with psychological or cognitive neuroscience approaches, including statistics.
Please contact the programme leader directly if you are unsure as to whether you would qualify for this programme.
Research methods and statistics requirements
As well as the degree requirements, it is also necessary to have sufficient knowledge of statistics and experimental design to apply for our programme. Many applicants for this course would arrive with a psychology undergraduate degree where the statistics topics would have been covered extensively across three years.
Students entering the MSc programme are assumed to have a good knowledge of experimental design, sampling, descriptive statistics, t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and regression. These fundamental topics won鈥檛 be covered in our statistics and experimental design lectures.
This leaves room to cover more advanced topics that you will need for writing lab reports across the year and your final project. For candidates with little or no statistical knowledge, we do offer a boot camp that covers more basic statistical tests. This intensive course takes place in the summer.
However, students with little experience in neuroscience/statistical methods should engage with the suggested reading listed below and/or complete a basic statistics course on a platform such as Coursera or Datalab prior to applying so that they can demonstrate sufficient statistical background to enter the programme.
Applicants can also engage with learning statistics with jamovi, which introduces many of the statistical concepts covered in the programme as well as the statistical software students will be using.
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鈥檛 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 study.
Fees and funding
Annual tuition fees
These are the PG fees for students starting their programme in the 2026/2027 academic year.
- Home - full-time: £12800
- International - full-time: £21000
If your fees are not listed here, please check our postgraduate fees guidance or contact the Fees Office, who can also advise you about how to pay your fees.
It鈥檚 not currently possible for international students to study part-time under a student visa. If you think you might be eligible to study part-time while being on another visa type, please contact our Admissions Team for more information.
If you are looking to pay your fees please see our guide to making a payment.
Funding opportunities
Explore the 樱桃视频 scholarships finder to find out what funding you may be eligible for.
If you are a UK student you may be eligible for a .
Meanwhile our Careers Service can also offer advice on finding work during your studies.
Paying your fees
Find out about paying your tuition fees.
Additional costs
In addition to your tuition fees, you'll be responsible for any additional costs associated with your course, such as buying stationery and paying for photocopying. You can find out more about what you need to budget for on our study costs page.
There may also be specific additional costs associated with your programme. This can include things like paying for field trips or specialist materials for your assignments. Please check the programme specification for more information.
How to apply
You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system.
To complete your application, you will need to have:
- Details of your academic qualifications
- The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively a copy of your academic reference
- Copies of your educational transcripts or certificates
- A personal statement
You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.
Read our guide to applying for a postgraduate degree at Goldsmiths.
Suggested reading
Acquainting yourself with some of the recommended reading will equip you well for your application and for the course in general.
Aesthetic science and creative cognition
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Skov, M., & Nadal, M. (Eds.). (2023). The Routledge international handbook of neuroaesthetics. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
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Chatterjee, A., & Cardilo, E. (Eds.). (2021). Brain, beauty, and art: Essays bringing neuroaesthetics into focus. Oxford University Press.
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Nadal, M., & Vartanian, O. (2022). The Oxford handbook of empirical aesthetics. Oxford University Press.
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Winner, Ellen (2018). How art works: a psychological exploration. Oxford University Press
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Chatterjee, Anjan (2014). The Aesthetic Brain. Oxford University Press
Neuroscience and research methods
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Ward, J. (2006). The Student's Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience. Psychology Press.
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Field, A. & Hole, G. (2007). How to Design and Report Experiments. Sage.
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Field, A. (2012). Discovering Statistics Using R (2nd ed). Sage.
