Postgraduate research

The School of Law offers two main postgraduate research degrees:

• LLM by Thesis (1 year full-time; 2 years part-time)
• PhD (3 years full-time; 4-6 years part-time).

Candidates undertaking a PhD will usually commence their enrolment as students in the M Phil degree (2 years full-time; 3-5 years part-time).  After satisfactory progress in the first year of the M Phil they will be formally enrolled in the PhD programme.

The School also offers taught Master's programmes that are designed to expand students' knowledge, critical and conceptual abilities, and build their research skills in a way that will prepare them for PhD study and/or research-based careers. For more information, see our Postgraduate Taught Courses.

The School of Law has a dynamic and thriving research culture, in which all postgraduate research students are expected to immerse themselves. Students are expected also to attend staff seminars, contribute to seminar presentations as well as formally to present a report on their research progress at the end of every academic year to the Law School as a whole as part of the compulsory annual evaluation process.

Being a postgraduate researcher in the Law School

The School places considerable emphasis on the work place environment. Students have their own dedicated office space with desks, computers, printers, telephone and library space in the School of Law in Foxhill House. Foxhill House is a newly re-furbished 'listed' Victorian building which has been adapted to twenty-first century use and is situated close to Whiteknights Lake on the Whiteknights Campus. In addition, students are welcome, and indeed encouraged, to attend the full calendar of academic and social events in the School during normal office hours and in the evenings.

Students benefit also from the facilities provided by the Graduate School of Social Sciences (GSSS), which has been established primarily to enhance the postgraduate research experience of students engaged in research programmes with a social science orientation, and the Graduate School in Arts & Humanities (GSAH) which was established in October 2004 with the aim of enhancing the experience of postgraduate students studying for higher degrees by research and ensuring that the best training standards are met.

Students are entitled to use the staff common room where library and self catering provision is available in a friendly and informal atmosphere.

You can read more about the news, events and opportunities for Law postgraduates in the School of Law's postgraduate web pages.