The MPhil is a programme of independent, self-directed research reviewing or surveying and collating and evaluating existing knowledge in an approved topic and presenting the findings in a thesis for examination including a viva. Like the PhD, the MPhil develops your research and generic skills and is pursued under the guidance of a team of expert supervisors. It differs from the PhD in that it is a smaller scale of work, conducted over a shorter period of time and does not create new knowledge in the field.The MPhil can be taken as a separate, target award, but most commonly forms the initial stage of study within a linked MPhil/PhD programme, where the registration is upgraded to PhD once it is established that the work has the potential for an original contribution to knowledge.In the most recent national research assessment exercise, REF2014, we achieved a comprehensively excellent set of results, with 80% or more of all our research outputs, impact and environment being rated as ?world leading? or ?internationally excellent?. CREAM achieved the highest ranking of any institution for a broad range of art and design research, with 45% of its research judged to be ?world leading? and 63% of this work deemed to be ?world leading? in its impact. CAMRI was ranked joint fourth for media and communications research in the UK, with 52% of its research classed as ?world leading? and an extraordinary 87% of this work judged as having 'world leading' impact.