Application Process

 Before applying, you should:

• Have or expect to have a relevant first degree or Master's degree of 1st class or 2.1 standard in UK system, or equivalent for overseas degrees.

• Have a commitment to and demonstrated ability in research. Often your previous experience and performance, such as in an undergraduate or a Master's research project, will show whether research is right for you and you are right for research.
• Overseas applicants also need to satisfy the English Language requirement

If you meet the above criteria, the next step is to check whether we can supervise research in your chosen area. We only take MPhil/PhD students to whom we can offer expert research supervision from one of our academic staff. Therefore, your research question needs to engage with the research interests of one of our staff.

Select one or at most two potential supervisors whose research interests are related to yours, and send them an email containing:

• a brief CV
• a clear statement that you are interested in studying for a PhD, stating when you would start, and how you would plan to fund the research
• a brief statement of your research question or interest, and how you think the question could be investigated.

Our academic staff are quite happy to receive approaches like this, in order that they can liaise with you to identify a potential research focus of mutual interest.

The potential supervisor should get back to you within a couple of weeks. They may invite you to apply formally. If they do not, there can be several reasons such as a full quota of research students, planned sabbatical leave and so on.

If you have difficulty identifying an appropriate supervisor, you can contact the relevant Graduate Tutor or PhD Administrator in the Department to which you are applying. If you are invited by the potential supervisor to apply, you need to submit a formal application. 

The general procedure for making a formal application is laid out below. Each Research Department may have slightly different requirements so please check with the PhD Administrator in your chosen Department before submitting your application. 

 You need to complete:

• The standard UCL graduate application form Please note that we prefer online applications.

• a Research Proposal of 1000-1500 words in length, to be submitted with the UCL graduate application form. This is an extremely important part of your formal application. It should clearly state the research question, and its importance. It should provide the specific details of experimental or other kinds of studies and data that will be used to address the research question. Logical thinking, clear design of research studies, and relevant methodological knowledge are all key parts of a good research proposal. Where appropriate, the research proposal should explain how initial experiments or studies will lead onto further questions and studies in a coherent progression. The research proposal should be your own work, though the supervisor may give some advice. The word limit (minimum 1000 words, maximum 1500 words) includes all sections and appendices. Only key references rather than a lengthy reference list should be included.

In addition to the Research Proposal, we suggest that you use the 'Personal statement' section of the UCL graduate student application form to give any details on why you think you are particularly suited for your chosen area of research. You will also need to submit a transcript for previous qualifications, references and, where applicable, an English Language test certificate.

To be considered for all competitive funding awarded by UCL applications must arrive by the 1st week of January 2017 for entry in September 2017. Applications must be complete with references, so please allow time for references to be completed and submitted. At that point you need to have identified a member of staff who has agreed to supervise you, should you be accepted. All applications are rated by 2 academic staff members. Suitable candidates are offered an interview, where they briefly present their research proposal and are questioned by academic staff. Offers of places are generally made within a month of interview. The MPhil/PhD programme starts at the beginning of the UCL autumn term.

If other sources of funding are being considered, it is still in your interest to apply by the early January deadline, but later applications can sometimes be considered. Applications should be made as soon as possible, and not later than June 30th for entry in September/October of the same year. Interviews for places not funded by UCL may take place at any time until late summer.

Part-time PhD applications are considered in a single annual round. The deadline for applications complete with references is June 30th, and the programme starts in late September/early October of the same year.