Applying for a PhD

Finding a Supervisor / Project Idea

Please start your search by reviewing our supervisor led self-funded PhD opportunities.  These can be found here. These are PhD project ideas that have been put forward by members of our research groups, units and centre, and reflect areas of doctoral study that academic staff within these groups are interested to supervise. 

If you are interested in any of the self-funded PhD opportunities, please email the supervisors listed with any questions or your Research Overview (see below). 

If you cannot find a project that you’d like to apply for amongst these opportunities, you can apply with a proposal that you have developed yourself.  To do this, please use the MPhil and PhD course pages which can be found here and select ‘Research Areas’ to find potential supervisors or use the search bar on the University of Worcester home page. 

Research Overview

Your Research Overview is a short summary of your proposed PhD project.

All applicants must submit a Research Overview.

If you are applying for a supervisor led self-funded PhD opportunity, please use the Research Overview to summarise how you would approach this research project, based on your understanding of the information provided in the proposal, as published. 

If there is no research proposal, or if you are coming with your own research ideas, please use the overview to summarise these. 

The Research Overview should be no longer than 500 words and utilise the following headers:

• Proposed Research Title (max 10 – 15 words)

• Proposed supervisory team (for a self-funded PhD opportunity, this should be the name(s) of the member(s) of academic staff listed) 

• What is the problem or issue the project will address? 

• What is already known about the problem or issue from the currently available research?

• What is less clear or unknown about the problem or issue from the currently available research? 

• What will your proposed research do help us understand or address the problem or issue? 

• What approach, methodology and / or methods are you likely to use in your proposed research?  

Once you have prepared your Research Overview, please email this to the potential supervisors, copying in research@worc.ac.uk. 

The potential supervisor(s) will give you feedback on the Research Overview. 

If you are coming with your own project idea, this feedback will either support you to go forward to develop a research proposal, or not. If you are applying for one of the supervisor led self-funded PhD opportunities advertised, this feedback will either support you to go forward and submit an on-line application form, or not.

Research Proposal

If you are applying for one of the supervisor led self-funded PhD opportunities, then a research proposal may already exist for this project. In this case, if you have shared the Research Overview with the supervisor(s) and they have asked you to go forward and apply, you do not need to develop your own research proposal. You can now go on to complete the online application form without an accompanying research proposal attached (see ‘Submitting your Application’ below).

For applicants coming with their own project idea, or a supervisor led self-funded PhD opportunity without a proposal, and if feedback from one or more potential supervisors about your Research Overview supports you to go forward to develop a research proposal, you will now be in a position to develop this which you will submit alongside your on-line application form.

For applications coming with their own project idea, applications will only be considered when accompanied by a Research Proposal.

Please use the Research Proposal template. 

Before submitting your application on the application portal

Before you submit your application on the on-line application portal please do the following:

1. Ensure that you meet our entry criteria. 
2. International students only, make sure you meet our English Language requirements. 
3. Ensure that you are aware of the course tuition fees. 
4. Proofread your application form and research proposal. Check your spelling, punctuation and grammar and ensure you have referenced or cited consistently.

Supporting Documents 

All students

• Research Overview
• Research Proposal (only for applicants coming with their own project idea)
• 2 references 
• Qualification certificates and transcripts 

International students only 

• Certificate of English Language proficiency 
• Copy of your passport (original to be seen on first day at the University) 
• ATAS clearance for most science-based subjects 
• If you have previously studied in the UK, your previous CAS and British Residency Permit 

Please note, once an offer is made to an international applicant, the offer will be dependent on receipt of a tuition fee deposit. 

Submitting your application

All of our MPhil and PhD Programme pages have a tab called ‘How to Apply’. Please click on the relevant application link in the light blue box, depending on whether you are applying for an MPhil or a PhD, the mode of study and when you want to start your programme. This will then take you to the online application form which you must complete and attach the supporting documents. 

Interview

If your application and research proposal (if required) meet our entry requirements then you will be invited to interview.

Typically, the interview is online and takes no longer than 1 hour. Your potential supervisors will be the interview panel and one of the Doctoral Programme Leaders will act as the Chair. 

In the first part of the interview, you will be asked to give a 10-minute presentation where you will be asked to present your research ideas to a non-specialist audience, including the key contributions you expect to make to new knowledge, followed by 10-minutes for questions on this.

We use the main part of the interview to discuss your skills, experiences and competencies important to programme you are applying to using questions based on the EDEPI Postgraduate Researcher Competency-Based Admissions Framework. These questions focus on some of the skills, experiences and competencies important for successful postgraduate research study (comprehension and evaluation, socio-emotional and delivering results). You can read more about the EDEPI Framework using this link.   

The Doctoral School aims to inform applicants of the outcome no later than one week after the interview has taken place. 

Start dates and application deadlines

We have two entry points throughout the year; these can be found on the course pages but are usually September and January each academic year. We encourage applicants to apply as early as possible to allow time for your application to be processed.

Our application and interview deadlines for September 2025 applications are as follows:

Our application and interview deadlines for January 2026 applications are as follows:

Applications received after this date will automatically be considered for the following intake. Please contact research@worc.ac.uk if you have any questions.