PhD Education

On our PhD programme you will be supported through expert joint supervision. You will typically work with two supervisors who are themselves research active members of staff with expertise in your area of interest. At the start of your PhD, your supervisor will discuss any training and support needs you may have to develop specific research skills, and, if appropriate, you will be able to attend relevant modules of our Research Training Programme.

After agreeing an appropriate development plan, you will meet regularly with your supervisors for academic support and supervision. You will also be able to participate in the research seminars and specialist workshops run at a School or Faculty level. You can find out more about supervision and progress on the supervision page.

To Apply

You apply through the University's online application form. Be aware that your application will not be processed until you have supplied all the required information which includes evidence of your qualifications and a research proposal. We will invite you for interview before making an offer. You can find more details on the How to apply page.

You will need to supply evidence of your qualifications and strong academic references. You will also need a research proposal (approximately 6-8 pages) stating the topic of your research, the research question(s) you are interesting in answering, and your reasons for undertaking this research (including some theoretical justification and review of relevant research that has been done in the field). You should include your initial ideas about the kinds of data you wish to collect and the proposed methods. The proposal should be referenced and provide evidence of prior reading around your topic of interest.

Download the guidelines for writing a proposal

Applications may be submitted at any time but we would recommend submitting by June for an October start. We will endeavour to make a decision within 6 weeks of submission. Please note that applications cannot be considered until we have received all supporting documents.

Contacts

Enquiries: PGRapply.FSHS@soton.ac.uk

Postgraduate office: +44 (0)23 8059 5699

Doctoral Programmes Director: Dr Michaela Brockmann

Admissions Selector/ Deputy Doctoral Programmes Director: Dr Michael Tomlinson

Fees and funding

Standard postgraduate fees for UK/EU and overseas students. This programme is eligible for funding from the University of Southampton's Postgraduate Scholarship Fund, plus Faculty and School scholarships as available.