The Recruitment and Admissions team
The Doctoral College Recruitment and Admissions team is working remotely. We can be contacted by emailing doctoraladmissions@bath.ac.uk.
We will also be available to talk to through live chat at the next postgraduate virtual open day.
Select a research programme
The first step to applying for doctoral study is to identify your subject area of interest and select a research programme.
Study options
Our programmes have a range of options for doctoral study, including:
- traditional PhD - an independent, supervised research project making an original and significant contribution to knowledge. Can be studied full, or part, time. It can be completed in two years, but most students take between three and four years to complete when studying full time.
- integrated PhD - where the research project stage follows successful completion of an initial taught phase. Can be studied full or part time. Students register for five years and most students take between four and five years to complete when studying full time.
- professional doctorate – at an equivalent level to a PhD, in a professional context, with a structure combining taught modules with a research phase. It is studied part time and varies in duration, from four to eight years.
- MPhil – a supervised research degree with a shorter timescale than a PhD. It can be studied full or part time. Students normally take between one and three years to complete when studying full time.
Two ways to apply
There are two main routes to doctoral study, depending on your area of interest:
- choose to lead the development of your own research project
- choose to apply for a defined, academic-led project
Choose to develop your own research project
Identify a supervisor
If you decide to develop your own research project, you must first find an academic who would be interested in supervising you. You don't need to find a supervisor if you apply for a defined, academic-led project or programmes that begin with a taught phase, for example, an integrated PhD or a professional doctorate.
You can find a suitable supervisor on the research and staff pages for each department. You can also browse Pure, the University’s research portal, for profiles of individual academics as well as the research centres, institutes and units to which they belong. Your proposed research area must be related to the academic's research interests.
Make contact and discuss your proposed research. At this point, you may be asked to prepare a proposal for consideration before an offer is made.
Tips on writing a research proposal
If you are required to submit a research proposal, it should be at least 1,000 words in length (2,500-3000 words for School of Management) and include the following:
- Aim and objectives: What are the central aims and research questions that will guide your research? Explain what questions you are trying to answer or which hypotheses you want to test. Prioritise one or two central questions from which you can derive secondary ones.
- Rationale: Contextualise your aims and objectives in a broader field of study, identifying the main literature or authors that you are addressing.
- Methodology: Explain how you are going to conduct your research; what information you would need, how you would collect it and how you are going to analyse it. This only needs to be indicative at the moment.
- Timeline: Provide a summary of what you are planning to do and when.
- Bibliography: Provide a short bibliography of key publications related to your research question.
Choose to apply for a defined project
If you wish to apply for a defined, academic-led project, you can see which opportunities are currently available via Find a PhD.
Application deadlines
The application deadlines are three months before the intended start date (for Overseas applicants) or two months before the intended start date (for Home applicants).
For example, for an end-of-September start, the deadline is:
- 30 June (Overseas applicants)
- 31 July (Home applicants)
The application process
To apply for either your own research proposal or a defined project, you must use the online application form.
On the application form, you will need to provide:
- your personal details
- your passport details if you need a Student visa (previously a Tier 4 visa)
- the date you plan to start
- your plans for finance and funding
- your education details
- proof of your English level if English is not your first language
- details of your intended research and the names of your intended supervisors
- the names and contact details of your referees, including at least one from academia if you have been studying recently
- your supporting information
Supporting information
You must provide all of the necessary supporting information listed below. If you don't submit this, we will ask for it later and if you don't provide it, we won't be able to assess your application.
- a scan of your undergraduate degree certificate and your postgraduate degree certificate if you have one
- a scan of your degree transcript and your interim degree transcript if you are still studying
- two references - one of these must be from the institution where you have studied most recently
- the name, or names, of your intended supervisors (up to three)
- details of your proposed research
- an up-to-date CV
- an indication of your funding plans
International students
If you are an international student you should also provide:
- an authorised translation of your degree certificate and transcript if they are not in English
- your English language assessment certificate (if available)
Student part-time visa
If you are a non-EEA student wishing to undertake a part-time doctoral course longer than 6 months, you will need to apply for a Student part-time visa (previously a Tier 4 (General) student part-time visa).
This does not apply to Distance Learning courses if your study visits to the UK are shorter than 56 days in any 6-month period, where a Short-term study visa will be required.
Strict restrictions are attached to the Student part-time visa, which we strongly recommend you understand before you proceed with your application.
After you have applied
When we receive your application we may contact you for more information or invite you to meet a potential supervisor to talk about your proposal.
Track your application
We aim to make decisions about applications within six weeks of receiving all your supporting information. You can check the progress of your application by logging into our Doctoral Application Tracker.
We will send you Application Tracker login details after you submit your application. If you forget your password, you can reset it.
Accepting your offer
We will let you know whether or not you have been successful through the Doctoral Application Tracker. If you have been successful, we will make you an offer. You should accept or decline your offer through the Application Tracker as soon as possible.
Receiving an unconditional offer
If you receive an unconditional offer, you have met all the required academic conditions and we are offering you a place.
Receiving a conditional offer
If you receive a conditional offer, you may not have met all the requirements, but we hope you will be able to do so. These requirements may include English language scores, degree results or satisfactory references. You must meet all these requirements and submit evidence of them through Application Tracker before you can start your research with us. When you meet the conditions of your offer, we will contact you about the next steps.
Withdrawing your application
If you change your mind for any reason and no longer want to study at Bath, email doctoraladmissions@bath.ac.uk to withdraw your application.