As part of a major expansion in research activity the University has announced the immediate availability of 125 fee-waiver scholarships for postgraduate research students with a further 125 to be made available in 2008-2009 and 2009-2010.

The scholarships are available in all Schools, for all areas of research, and are open to Home/EU and International applicants who lack funding but have outstanding academic merit and excellent research potential. The scheme supports only full-time postgraduate research students and is not available for undergraduate or postgraduate taught courses. We anticipate that each year 75 of the scholarships will waive 100% of tuition fees and 50 scholarships will waive 50% of tuition fees.

RESEARCH DEGREE APPLICATIONS

Thank you for your interest in research at the University of Huddersfield. Please download an

• application form (PDF version)
• application form (WORD version)

or request hardcopy from the address at the bottom of this page. Please enclose all relevant documents, including copy certificates and references, as this will help us to process your application rapidly.

RESEARCH AT THE UNIVERSITY

Standard Entry Requirements

The normal entry requirements for enrolment are a first or upper second class honours degree of a UK University or a qualification which is equivalent to such an honours degree. For candidates holding an appropriate Master’s degree by research or examination, direct enrolment for the degree of PhD may be possible. The normal entry requirement for EdD is a relevant UK Master’s degree or equivalent.

International students whose first language or language of instruction is not English should have also passed an English Language qualification. (TOEFL - 550 score minimum and IELTS 6 minimum will be considered acceptable.)

Students may enrol for:

Master of Philosophy
Master of Philosophy with possibility of transfer to Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Philosophy
Doctor of Education

The normal entry requirement is a first or second class honours degree from a UK University. Applications from candidates holding qualifications other than the above will be considered on their merits and in relation to the nature and scope of the programme of work proposed.

For candidates holding an appropriate Master’s degree by research or examination, direct enrolment for the degree of PhD may be possible.

Each candidate works to an approved programme of work including appropriate programmes of postgraduate study (which may be drawn from parts of existing postgraduate courses, final year degree programmes, conferences, guided reading or a combination of study methods). The programme of research is assisted by these background and related studies which can be especially important for part-time students and mature candidates who may have been away from formal studying for some time.

Candidates may undertake a programme of research in which the candidate’s own creative work forms, as a point of origin or reference, a significant part of the intellectual enquiry. Such creative work may be in any field but must show coherence and originality in invention and must have been undertaken as part of the registered research programme. In such cases, the presentation and submission may be partly in other than written form. The creative work must be clearly presented in relation to the argument of a written thesis and set in its relevant theoretical, historical, critical or design context. The thesis itself must show critical understanding of the submitted creative work to contemporary thought. The final submission must always be accompanied by some permanent record of the creative work, where practicable bound with the thesis.

The application for approval of the research programme must set out the form of the candidate’s intended submission and of the proposed methods of assessment.

Each candidate is supervised by at least two supervisors, the main one of whom is the Director of Studies, and often a candidate’s programme involves collaboration with another educational, industrial, commercial, professional or research organisation, with the collaborating establishment often supplying either one of the supervisors or an adviser to the research programme - thus enabling, for example, industry or commerce to suggest projects of interest to an employee registered for a research degree.

The programme of research normally involves a literature study, an experimental or hypothesis of testing phase, an evolution phase perhaps followed by further theory and experimental studies before concluding: candidates for the degree of PhD (normally achieved by transfer from an MPhil programme after one year or more) are required to successfully complete a programme resulting in a significant contribution to knowledge.

Enrolment

All research matters are administered by the Research Office. If you have any problems during your time at the University this is the first place to come. Staff will be pleased to help you in any way they can, particularly with your enrolment.

Mode of Study

Candidates may enrol either on a part-time or full-time basis.  If studying on a part-time basis, candidates must establish close links with the University and spend normally not less than an average of 6 weeks per year in the University. This time period is arranged between candidates and supervisors. Candidates can mix both periods of full-time and part-time study.

Examination

Examination is by thesis and oral examination and must be conducted in the United Kingdom and in English, but it does not mean that part of the work could not be carried out abroad.

Funding

The University is not able to offer sponsorship for requested research projects.

Applicants must be able to fund all living costs and any bench fees.

To apply please complete a standard research degree application form above , mark it clearly FEE-WAIVER SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION, and return it to the Research Office at the address at the bottom of this page. 

Timescale 

The maximum periods of enrolment and additional submission pending are as follows:

Sometimes candidates mix both periods of full-time and part-time study and are of course able and encouraged to use the University facilities throughout the whole week including evenings and weekends as well as during vacations.

Examination is by thesis and oral examination and must be conducted in the United Kingdom and in English, but it does not mean that part of the work could not be carried out abroad.

Word Limit

The text of the thesis should not normally exceed the following length (excluding ancillary data):

Where the submission is accompanied by material in other than written form or the research involves creative writing or the preparation of a scholarly edition, the written commentary should normally be a minimum of:

Fees (2007/2008)

Application procedure

If you are interested in becoming a candidate for a research degree please request an application form from the contact below or download a form in WORD or PDF format via the links at the top of this page. Please also provide an abstract of your proposed research work of approximately 1,000 to 2,000 words. This will help to identify possible supervisors for your research. You also need to provide evidence that your fees will be paid.

The application form should be returned to:

Research Office
Central Services Building Level 10
The University of Huddersfield
Queensgate
HUDDERSFIELD
West Yorkshire
HD1 3DH

Email: research-office@hud.ac.uk

Tel: 01484 472356

Fax: 01484 472768