Aardman/RCA Animation (Professional Residency) MFA

Study Mode	Full-time / Professional Residency - Terms 1, 2 & 3: On-campus (London); Terms 4 & 5: Aardman’s studios (Bristol)
Start Date	September 2027
Duration	5 terms / 20 months
Tuition Fees	Please refer to the programme webpage for the most accurate and up-to-date information on fees and funding opportunities for both home and overseas/ EU students.

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Join this Animation MFA and develop your creative voice through an intensive, practice-based programme delivered by the Royal College of Art in partnership with world-renowned animation studio Aardman. You’ll explore animation across techniques and genres, developing your own artistic and directorial approach while combining creative experimentation with the academic rigour of the RCA.

Aardman/RCA Animation (Professional Residency) MFA has been designed for animators who aspire to develop their authorial voice, to make a sustained animated project in any technique, medium or genre, to work ethically and to lead collaboratively. We invite a global cohort, informed by different cultures, politics, traditions, and future applications, to align their practice-research in a professional studio residency in the world-renowned Aardman Studio. You will demonstrate the inventive originality, experimental spirit, and academic research-grounded rigour that the RCA is known for. At RCA we nurture an environment rooted in studio culture where your spirit of curiosity, experimentation, and ethical enquiry is encouraged to disrupt and re-invent. You will have an individual dedicated studio space – first at the RCA in London and then at Aardman Studios in Bristol – from which you will engage with a robust dialogical programme of academic and technical learning that supports your practice and research. You will be encouraged to become creative leaders, confident in the wider community of animators both academically and professionally. You will take responsibility for a programme which will support your creative requirements, utilising the networks available to you in London and Bristol, and leaving after five terms as a creative independent practitioner.

You will:

• Study through a partnership between the Royal College of Art and Aardman, combining academic expertise with professional animation studio practice
• Develop your own authorial and directorial voice, working across animation techniques and genres
• Spend two terms in a professional residency at Aardman’s Bristol studios, gaining experience within a world-renowned animation environment
• Learn through mentorship from professional animators at both the RCA and Aardman, while working within a collaborative studio culture
• Use specialist facilities including stop-motion shooting spaces, multiplane and rostrum cameras, sound and music mixing suites, computer labs and edit suites

Animation MA

Study Mode	Full-time / On-campus
Start Date	September 2027
Duration	1 year
Tuition Fees	Please refer to the programme webpage for the most accurate and up-to-date information on fees and funding opportunities for both home and overseas/ EU students.
Alumni	Wyatt Carson, Ting-Jui Chen, Laurence Thérien, Blanche Malet, Toby Auberg, Wu-Ching Chang, Ian Gouldstone, João Gonzalez, Jonathan Hodgson, Anna Mantzaris, Maryam Mohajer, Julia Pott, Inari Sirola, Suzie Templeton

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Join this Animation MA and develop your creative voice through a practice-led approach to animation, combining critical investigation with experimentation across analogue, digital and hybrid forms. You’ll explore animation as a way of making ideas, experiences and worlds visible, working with techniques ranging from drawing, painting and stop motion to motion capture, XR, sound and digital technologies.

On this Animation MA, you’ll learn in a collaborative art-school environment where experimentation, research and critical dialogue are central to the creative process. You’ll work alongside an international community of artists and practitioners, developing a sustained body of animated work while building the confidence to challenge conventions and explore new possibilities for animation.

You will:

• Develop your authorial voice through practice-as-research, experimentation and critical enquiry
• Explore a diverse range of analogue, digital and hybrid animation practices, including stop motion, motion capture, XR, sound and expanded forms
• Experiment with animation across different contexts, including film, installation, projection mapping, VR, AR, theatre and other screen-based forms
• Work collaboratively within a diverse international cohort, exchanging ideas and developing your practice through constructive critique and interdisciplinary dialogue
• Develop a sustained body of animated work through rigorous studio practice, supported by world-class facilities, specialist staff and connections with leading animation and creative organisations

Alumni

Wyatt Carson
Wyatt Carson is an animator and experimental artist originating from Lawrence, Kansas. Their work focuses on expressive, paint-on-glass and mixed-media animation techniques aimed at invoking strong emotional responses. Carson’s graduation short film, Mis-Angel, won the Grand Post prize at Tricky Women Festival 2026, Vienna. Carson was nominated for the prestigious LGBTQ+ Iris Student Film Award 2026. 

Ting-Jui Chen
Ting-Jui Chen is an animator, illustrator, and designer operating between Taiwan and London. Her work combines dark, serious subject matter with playful humour and vibrant graphic design elements. She won the inaugural WTF Award at Annecy international animation festival 2026. 

Laurence Thérien
Laurence Thérien is a Canadian animator, designer, and former creative collaborator at the National Film Board of Canada. Her work explores neurodivergence and human behaviour using experimental clay animation techniques. Her film Ball Face gained acclaim at international animation festivals, including winning the Student Cristal at Annecy International Animation Festival 2026 and multiple award wins at the Ottawa International Animation Festival (OIAF).

Blanche Malet
Blanche Malet is a freelance filmmaker, animator, and illustrator based in London and Paris. She completed a Graduate Diploma in Art and Design at the Royal College of Art (2022), and the Animation MA (2023) at the Royal College of Art. Her practice focuses on experimental stop-motion and 2D animated documentaries exploring themes of grief, spirituality, and human relationships. Her notable RCA short film, Sutures et Consolation (Stitches and Solace), was selected for screening at the BFI Future Film Festival.

Toby Auberg (Toberg)
Toby Auberg is a freelance 3D visual artist, animator, and visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art and Kingston University. Operating under the moniker Toberg, he is known for creating colourful, chaotic, and sensory-overload virtual worlds. His notable graduate film, PILE, earned a Vimeo Staff Pick and won the Jury Award for Graduate Films at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival.

Wu-Ching Chang
Wu-Ching Chang is an animation director and co-founder of ACO Creative (艾可創意). Her work spans commercial animation, independent shorts, and interactive media projects that blend digital and traditional techniques. She has won numerous international festival accolades for her animated short films, including My Grandfather’s Memory Is a Painting.

Ian Gouldstone
Ian Gouldstone is an Associate Lecturer in MA Animation at the Royal College of Art and an independent game developer. Working across animation, indie games, and interactive media, his work centres on digital art and generative computational systems. He is a BAFTA winner for his work in short animation and interactive storytelling.

João Gonzalez
João Gonzalez is a Portuguese animation director, composer, and illustrator at the COLA Animation collective. His RCA graduate film, Ice Merchants, won the Leitz Cine Discovery Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short Film. The film garnered over 9 Oscar-qualifying awards and won a Jury Award at the Chicago International Film Festival.

Jonathan Hodgson
Jonathan Hodgson is an award-winning animation director and founder of Hodgson Films. He served as the Course Leader for BA Animation at Middlesex University and has directed high-profile commercials, TV graphics, and independent shorts. His notable works include the BAFTA-winning film The Man With the Beautiful Eyes and his iconic RCA film Night Club.

Anna Mantzaris
Anna Mantzaris is a Swedish director and animator affiliated with Passion Pictures and Studio AKA. She specializes in felted stop-motion animation that combines dark humour with subtle human emotion. Her works have won over 100 international awards -including an Emmy Award, an Annie Award, and a European Animation Award—for viral shorts like Enough and Good Intentions.

Maryam Mohajer
Maryam Mohajer is an Iranian-British animator, writer, director, and academic at Kingston School of Art. Her storytelling focuses on humour, nostalgia, and authentic personal experiences. She won the BAFTA Award for Best Short Animation for her film Grandad Was a Romantic and recently directed the acclaimed short And Granny Would Dance.

Julia Pott
Julia Pott is a British animator, illustrator, and voice actor based in Los Angeles. She is best known as the creator and executive producer of the animated television series Summer Camp Island for Cartoon Network and HBO Max. Her independent short films, such as Belly and The Event, have won multiple awards at festivals including Sundance and SXSW.

Inari Sirola
Inari Sirola is a Finnish director, animator, and artist based in London. Her work features bold, surreal aesthetics and character design that challenge societal taboos around womanhood and body positivity. Her award-winning RCA graduation film, Eat Your Cereal, screened globally at major festivals including BFI Future Film Festival and GLAS Animation.

Suzie Templeton
Suzie Templeton is an Oscar-winning director and animator specializing in stop-motion puppet animation. She won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, a BAFTA nomination, and the Annecy Grand Prix for her adaptation of Peter & the Wolf. She has also been honoured with career achievement awards for her contributions to auteur animation cinema.

Graduate Diploma Art & Design (Communication specialism)

Study Mode	Full-time / On-campus / Online / Hybrid
Start Date	January 2027 / September 2027
Duration	30 week programme
Tuition Fees	Please refer to the programme webpage for the most accurate and up-to-date information on fees and funding opportunities for both home and overseas/ EU students.
Alumni	Blanche Malet, Henry (Junying) Jiang

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Join this Art & Design Graduate Diploma and develop the skills, confidence and portfolio needed to progress to Master’s-level study at the Royal College of Art. You’ll explore your creative practice through interdisciplinary study, experimentation and independent projects, while developing the critical, technical and academic skills needed to take your work further. For students interested in animation, the Communication specialism provides a pathway towards further study in Animation at the RCA.

On this Graduate Diploma, you’ll work within a diverse creative community and develop your practice through two stages of study, moving from an introduction to specialist art and design practice towards more focused independent work and portfolio development. With opportunities to study on campus, online or through blended learning, you’ll refine your creative direction and prepare for further study, including the RCA’s Animation MA.

You will:

• Develop your creative practice and portfolio through experimentation, independent projects, critical enquiry and feedback
• Choose the Communication specialism and explore progression routes towards Master’s study including Animation, Digital Narrative Arts MA,, Information Experience Design and Visual Communication.
• Build the critical, analytical and academic skills needed for successful Master’s-level study
• Develop a focused body of work and digital portfolio that demonstrates your creative abilities, ideas and contextual awareness
• Prepare for further study at the RCA, with guaranteed progression opportunities to relevant MA or MRes programmes depending on your final result

Alumni

Blanche Malet
Blanche Malet is a freelance filmmaker, animator, and illustrator based in London and Paris. She completed a Graduate Diploma in Art and Design at the Royal College of Art (2022), and the Animation MA (2023) at the Royal College of Art. Her practice focuses on experimental stop-motion and 2D animated documentaries exploring themes of grief, spirituality, and human relationships. Her notable RCA short film, Sutures et Consolation (Stitches and Solace), was selected for screening at the BFI Future Film Festival.

Henry (Junying) Jiang
Junying Jiang is a London-based artist whose practice explores cultural identity, memory, and the experience of living between different cultural worlds. His work combines digital art with more traditional artistic forms, often drawing on mythology, fairy tales, and personal experience.

Communication MPhil/PhD

Study Mode	Full-time / Part-time / On-campus
Start Date	September 2027
Duration	MPhil: 2–3 years (full time), 4–6 years (part time); PhD: 3–4 years (full time), 6–7 years (part time)
Tuition Fees	Please refer to the programme webpage for the most accurate and up-to-date information on fees and funding opportunities for both home and overseas/ EU students.
Alumni	Trent Kim, Tereza Stehlíková, Susan Young

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Join this Communication MPhil/PhD and develop an original research project that explores new ideas, practices and forms of communication. You’ll work independently within a vibrant research community, combining research theory and methods with creativity, experimentation and critical enquiry. The programme spans a broad range of communication, design and media environments, including animation, digital storytelling, immersive world building and experimental communication.

For this doctoral award, you will develop a specialist area of research enquiry through practice- or thesis-based research. You will be supported by research- active supervisors at the Royal College of Art. For those interested in research in animation, doctoral studies provide an opportunity to investigate animation through critical and/or creative practices, while exploring the field’s relationship with analogue or digital technologies, storytelling, media and wider communication practices.

You will:

• Develop an original research project that contributes new knowledge to communication, design or media
• Explore research areas including animation practice as research, animation and sound, animated documentary and animated non-fiction
• Combine theory and practice, using creative and experimental research approaches to investigate your chosen subject
• Work independently within a vibrant postgraduate research community, supported through supervision, doctoral training and opportunities to share your research
• Develop the specialist research, critical and creative skills needed for careers in academia, research, industry and the cultural and creative sectors

Alumni

Trent Kim
Trent Kim is an artist, researcher and lecturer whose practice explores light as an artistic medium, combining experimental instruments, audiovisual art and scenography. His research examines the historical relationship between art, technology and perception, particularly through Lumia, an art form based on light. In 2024, he completed his PhD at the Royal College of Art with the thesis Lumia – The Art of Lighting the Void in Time: Prototyping New Instruments as a Historical Discourse. He is a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland.

RCA Repository: researchonline.rca.ac.uk/5829

Tereza Stehlíková
Tereza Stehlíková is an artist, filmmaker and researcher whose work explores sensory perception, embodiment and the relationship between the body and moving images. In 2012, she completed her PhD at the Royal College of Art with her thesis Tangible Territory: Inviting the Body into the Experience of Moving Image, investigating how film can engage audiences through embodied and sensory experiences. She is also the founder of Cinesthetic Feasts, an interdisciplinary platform exploring sensory experience and artistic practice.

RCA Repository: researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1139

Susan Young
Susan Young is a BAFTA-nominated animation director and researcher with over 40 years of experience in independent animation. Her work explores personal narratives, trauma and the potential of animation as a tool for creative expression and psychological healing. In 2023, she completed her PhD at the Royal College of Art with her thesis Bearing Witness: Autoethnographic Animation and the Metabolism of Trauma, examining how animation can help process traumatic experiences and communicate lived experience through art.

RCA Repository: researchonline.rca.ac.uk/view/creators/Young=3ASusan=3A=3A.default.html