Research Degrees

Roehampton aims to provide its research students with the opportunity to study in a stimulating, responsive, supportive environment, which fosters independent, critical thinking. A brief overview of the different research degrees offered by Roehampton can be found below.

PhD

A PhD is for students who wish to devise an independent research project which will result in an original contribution to knowledge in the subject area. Students can study on a full-time or a part-time basis and programmes begin in October and January.

You will be expected to have formulated an outline research proposal only at the application stage. You will spend the first months of your course developing your proposal under the guidance of your supervisory team.

Roehampton offers PhDs in several areas.

Professional Doctorates 

The University offers the following Professional Doctorate Programmes:

For entry onto the professional doctorate programmes, a combination of academic qualifications as well as relevant professional experience is required. See further details on the individual degree programme pages. They have a taught element, which leads to the research stage.  

Please visit the course pages for full details, or this page for general advice about applying for a research degree.

PhD by Published Works

The degree of PhD by Published Works retrospectively evaluates the published work of a candidate, and would be suitable for people entering higher education in mid-career, especially in practice-based disciplines or following research careers in industry. The published works should form a coherent programme of research around a theme and can be seen as comparable to the PhD thesis. PhD by Published Works is only offered on a part-time basis and cannot be taken by international students who require a Tier 4 Visa in order to study in the United Kingdom.

To enter on to the PhD by Published Works programme you are usually expected to hold a good honours degree. You will also need to have published extensively in your subject area. The application process involves consideration by the university of the published works and their suitability for a PhD. All published works to be submitted for the degree must be published at the time of application. There is an application fee for this programme to cover the review of the published output.

Visiting Research Students

The University welcomes applications from PhD students currently studying at a different university in the UK or abroad, who may wish to spend some time at the University of Roehampton as part of their doctoral level experience. Applicants should make initial contact with an academic department to discuss their current research project and find a suitable member of academic staff to support their visit. Information about applying to the Visiting Research Programme can be found here

Applying for a research degree

Please visit out Applying for a Research Degree page for more information on applying for any of these research degrees.