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The Institute is the top-ranked Areas Studies centre in the UK for research and impact, and a leading institution globally for the study of Latin America, the US, the Caribbean and Canada.
Our community of research students and staff work on the history and politics of the entire Western Hemisphere. We pride ourselves on participating in and helping to shape larger public conversations about such pressing global challenges as human rights, environmental change, and the future of liberal democracy. As well as entering academic employment, many of our recent graduates have gone on to careers in public policy that grow directly out of the practical, real-world problems that they have investigated at the Institute
Together, students and staff here create a diverse, vibrant and mutually supportive community that benefits from the proximity of such resources as the British Library, the Senate House Library and the National Archives, as well as from the extraordinary concentration of academic talent that exists not just at the Institute of the Americas but across UCL. As well as receiving expert dissertation mentorship and access to these rich resources, our students also benefit from a range of seminar series and workshops that both hone their professional skills and broaden their horizons. There are few other settings in the world that can offer such a stimulating context for advanced research and learning as UCL, and we are proud to be one of its top-ranked departments.
Research support
In terms of your day-to-day life at the Institute, we offer unusually generous research support, including the following distinctive features:
- Financial support for overseas fieldwork and for conference-attendance;
- Research space in study rooms that are reserved exclusively for research students;
- The opportunity to present your research and receive expert feedback at a staff-student Research Seminar;
- A doctoral workshop at which you can present your draft work to your peers in an informal setting;
- Workshops on such professional-development topics as research ethics; giving a conference paper; teaching; and having a productive first year.
- Financial support for organising seminars or colloquia on your own research.
Academic expertise
Staff at the Institute publish on a wide range of topics in history, politics, political sociology, political economy and anthropology. Because of our special interest in recent history and politics of the Americas, many of us also have close connections to international organisations, including the United Nations, non-government organizations, pressure groups and charities. This concentration on vital questions of public policy was reflected in the Institute’s top-rating for ‘Research Impact’ in the latest Research Excellence Framework.
Find out more about the research specialisms.
Meet our students
Current Doctoral Research Topics
Our current research students are working on a broad range of topics in the history and politics of the Americas, including:
- The comparative politics of reparations for slavery;
- Mothers’ activism on behalf of disappeared sons in Mexico;
- The modern U.S. political Right;
- Understanding political mobilisation in the United States;
- Presidential transitions in the United States;
Explore the full list of current Institute research students and a summary of their research.
Past research students
Get to know more about our PhD alumni and details of their research projects.
Applying to the Institute of the Americas
We require interested applicants to apply to the department before applying via UCL Select. The application form should be completed in consultation with your preferred supervisor.
The deadline is the first Monday in December for entry in September the following year.
Before completing the application form you should have:
- Thought carefully about why the Institute of the Americas provides the logical institutional home for your research.
- Identified a preferred supervisor and had some initial (and positive) contact with them. For a list of potential supervisors see our acadmic staff page. Please note, Lecturer (Teaching) posts are not able to supervise PhD students at present.
- Contacted your preferred supervisor. Do this as early as possible so that they can work on your research proposal with you.
- Checked UCL entry requirements information, which also includes information about English language requirements.
Should you have any general questions about the process, please contact the Department Graduate Tutor, Professor Gareth Davies.
Visiting research students
You can spend a period of 3 to 12 months at UCL undertaking research which is complementary to the Doctorate/PhD project at your home university. You should first contact a member of staff in the relevant academic field, and confirm that they are both able and willing to supervise your research. The fields of research undetaken in the department can be viewed on our academic staff page. Further information on applying as an independent visiting research student can be found on the UCL study abroad and exchange pages.
