Applicant profile

A competitive applicant profile will show:

• Strong academic credentials
• Your readiness to be an independent PhD researcher
• A clear understanding of the proposed research project, its intended methods and its aims
• Alignment between the applicant’s research interests/experience and the supervisor’s or department’s research priorities

Application guidance

You can apply for one of our pre-defined research projects or develop your own proposal. Our academic staff are always open to hear how your research can build on their existing work or about a new topic in their current subject areas.

You must identify at least one (up to two) intended lead supervisor(s) in your application. We cannot consider your application if no supervisor has been named.

To increase your chances of success, we strongly recommend that you contact your intended supervisor(s) ahead of submitting your application to make them aware of your interest and to discuss the intended research project. If you are interested in a pre-defined research project, it is important to check that the project is a good fit for you and that it can be undertaken on a part-time basis. If you intend to apply with your own project idea, you will need to ensure that your research interests are compatible with the expertise of your intended supervisor(s) and that they have capacity to take on new PhD students.

In all cases, in your personal statement, you will need to tell us why you are interested in pursuing independent research, quote examples of your undergraduate or master's research projects, and explain how a PhD fits with your career plans.

If you are applying with your own project idea:

You must have a clearly identified research topic and should submit a 1000-word research proposal with your application. Ideas for research topics can come from journals, books, etc. It should be in an area which interests you. It might be something of considerable current concern, a new aspect of something on which a lot of work has been done, or a completely new idea. In any case, your work should provide some new insights. It should eventually prove publishable, either as a book or a series of journal articles.

Your research proposal should lay out in depth the topic you wish to study, refer to any existing literature on the subject and emphasise why you feel it an important and interesting area. If there are any data requirements, you should specify exactly how you intend acquiring the data, and subsequently what techniques you intend to apply to the data. Vague generalities (such as 'I intend to use modern econometric techniques to analyse the data') are not sufficient. Specify exactly what techniques you intend to use.

There is some flexibility to change the direction of your research once here, indeed this is quite common. Nonetheless, the clearer the ideas are at the outset, the more rapid your progress will be to successful completion.

See our guide about how to apply for doctoral study for more information and further documents required.

If you are applying for funding through the ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership, you must develop your own project idea and submit a Student Statement Form (Annex A) with your application. See our guidance on applying for ESRC funding for more information.

Selection process

When your application is received, it will be forwarded to your intended supervisor(s). If they are interested in pursuing your application, they will ask the Doctoral Admissions team to review your application. This will include assessing your tuition fee status, checking that your application is complete and confirming that you meet the minimum entry criteria as quoted in the ‘Entry requirements’ section above.

The outcome of the Doctoral Admissions team review will be sent to your intended supervisor(s) who will then decide if they wish to invite you to interview. Interviews will typically be conducted online by the prospective supervisor(s) and an independent member of academic staff or the Director of Studies.

If you are applying to one of our funding competitions, there may be further shortlisting and decision stages which will be competition specific.

It is important to remember that PhD places are competitively awarded and your application will be considered as a whole including the quality of all your uploaded documents and your references as well as your ability to meet entry requirements and demonstrate relevant research experience/potential.

Immigration requirements

If you are an international student, you can find out more about the visa requirements for studying in the UK.

You should note that the part-time Student visa has restrictions which include, but are not limited to, prohibiting you from bringing dependents with you, undertaking any paid or unpaid work in the UK (including placements) or working remotely for an overseas company whilst in the UK. Find out more about the types of Student visa.

For additional support please contact the Student Immigration Service for matters related to student visas and immigration.