PHILOSOPHY RESEARCH DEGREES (resources page)

Our PhD programme
A PhD (or ‘doctorate’) is the highest educational qualification in the English-speaking world. To achieve a PhD in Philosophy involves writing and being examined on a book-length dissertation on a subject of the candidate’s own choosing.

The writing will be supervised by an academic team (typically this will consist of one main supervisor and one secondary supervisor) with relevant expertise. Doctoral students meet regularly with their supervision team to receive support, advice and friendly criticism on drafts, and are directed in their research and their reading towards the most important and most recent work in their area of study.

Most Open University PhD students in philosophy register part-time, though some are full-time, and are registered in the first instance for an MPhil, transferring after a couple of years (the probationary period) to the PhD programme proper. The full period of study (if part time) is usually around six years. It is an exceptional commitment.

Most of our research students (currently 15 in total) are based in the UK, with others based in Europe or beyond. Supervision can be via Skype or face-to-face according to which is most convenient, and the norm is for it to be face-to-face at least once a year, conditions allowing. Full-time research students are usually expected to live with more easy reach of our campus in Milton Keynes and to meet their supervisors more frequently.

We also support postgraduate research in philosophy by holding monthly work in progress sessions as well as an annual Graduate Conference. These provide opportunities for our research students to exchange ideas and to enjoy the experience of discussing their work in an informal and supportive setting. All our students are warmly encouraged to attend and to present. In addition, research students are cordially invited to departmental seminars, conferences and research days.

The department’s postgraduate programmes are supported by the OU Library at the Walton Hall in Milton Keynes, which has extensive holdings in philosophy and a helpful acquisition policy. The OU Library receives most of the leading philosophy journals, and has electronic access both to these and to a wide variety of other research resources. UK-based students may have access rights (though not necessarily borrowing rights) at other UK universities through the SCONUL access system.

All Philosophy staff are happy and willing to provide PhD supervision in their own areas of specialisation subject to availability. Follow this link for details of staff and their research interests.

What qualifications do I need?
Applicants for the a PhD are normally expected to possess the equivalent or better of an Upper Second Class Honours degree with Philosophy as a significant component; and, in addition, to hold an MA in Philosophy. Please note that these are minimum application criteria and are certainly not sufficient. Applicants who do not meet these criteria may, in exceptional circumstances, be considered, but they will need to give evidence through written work that they are sufficiently prepared for research-level study.

How will my application be assessed?
There are three criteria:

  • The proposal: Applications include a short research proposal. Your proposal needs to be academically coherent and practically viable.
  • The student: You need to be capable of seeing the project through to completion within three years (full-time) or six years (part-time) and have suitable qualifications (see above).
  • Supervision: We need to be in a position to supervise the project; that is, we need to have (i) the relevant expertise among available staff members and (ii) staff members with such expertise need to have space to take on extra research students.

Funding options
Many of our students have their own source of funding. However, 3 of our current 15 research students hold full Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership (OOC DTP) Studentships. These cover tuition fees and an annual maintenance grant (c.£15k). Competition is extremely fierce. Most applicants are not successful.

How do I apply?

Deadlines
Admission is for October 1st in each year. Application deadlines differ year by year, but the deadlines for applicants wishing to apply for an OOC DTP Studentship are in the January before admission, while applications from those who wish to self-fund can be in late April or, exceptionally, late August (for a February start).

Application for entry in October 2021, including consideration for the OOC DTP Studentship is noon 12th January
The department will consider applications for both full-time and part-time places. The most promising applicants will be invited to interview at the OU soon after the January deadline, a portion of which we then expect to put forward for consideration by the OOC DTP (see above), who are external to the OU. Applicants who have been successful in their application to study for a PhD with us, but who have been unsuccessful in their application to OOC DTP, will still be eligible to study with us as self-funding students. Applicants who wish to be considered for the OOC DTP Studentship should familiarise themselves with the award, paying particular attention to its eligibility criteria.

More information
If you would like to ask us any questions, please do contact us:

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