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Department of History

MPhil/PhD Course Details

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Postgraduate History at Warwick

The breadth of expertise and experience in the History Department (currently forty or so full-time members of staff), along with a thriving culture of research, seminars and conferences, make Warwick one of the very best universities in the UK to undertake research in history. PhD students normally complete their degrees within three to four years of full-time study, or five to six years part-time. As a research student, your closest contact will be with your supervisor, or supervisors, who will meet with you regularly to discuss your work, and agree on a programme of reading, research and writing with you.

Additional support and training are provided by the Department, Arts Faculty and the Graduate School, as well as by History’s many reading groups, seminars, workshops and conferences. History researchers will benefit from the Facilities provided by the Department as well as other University and Faculty dedicated PGR study spaces.

MPhil/PhD Course Details

Successful applicants are admitted in the first instance to the MPhil degree and are expected to pass through an Upgrade procedure from MPhil to full PhD status. The culmination of the PhD programme is the submission of a dissertation (maximum length 80,000 words). The dissertation is assessed by internal and external subject specialists in a Viva Voce (oral) examination.

The University regulations governing the course are at University Requirements for the Award of Research Degrees (warwick.ac.uk)

In addition to the standard course regulations, the Doctoral College have an Funded PGR Student Policy which should be consulted by any students in receipt of a University of Warwick funded scholarship. This covers subjects such as annual leave, sick pay and employment

Funded PGR Student Policy Link opens in a new window

MA by Research Course Details

At the core of this programme lies the design, research and composition of a dissertation (maximum length 40,000 words). Students meet regularly with their supervisor/s and other members of the department to review their progress.

Alongside their research project, students are expected to follow the Warwick HI989 Historical Research Core module, Theory, Skill and Method. The dissertation is assessed by internal and external subject specialists, who have the option of requiring the candidate to attend a Viva Voce (oral) examination.

The requirements for the course are laid out here: University Requirements for the Award of Research Degrees (warwick.ac.uk)

PhD by Publication

Some students have published a variety of high quality academic pieces that can be submitted, together with a reflective piece of 5-10,000 words, for consideration for a PhD by Publication. The covering document must explain the inter-relationship between the material presented and the significance of the published works as a contribution to original knowledge within the relevant fields. In addition, the covering document must include, as an appendix, a full bibliography of all the work published by the candidate. A candidate may include with their submitted material work that has not been published only with the prior approval of the Chair of the Board of Graduate Studies. The regulations for this are covered by Reg. 38 Research Degrees (warwick.ac.uk) and further details on how to apply can be found via: https://warwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/courses/phdbypublishedwork.

We strongly encourage students pursuing this degree variant to attend Theories, Skills and Methods (if they or their supervisors think this would be useful), the department's research seminar, the Graduate Research Forum and the Works in Progress sessions. These will give a good idea of the research standards expected for PhD work and also offer opportunities for feedback on your reflective piece before it is submitted.

FAQs

You can here a list of the FAQs for Postgraduate Research degrees here:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/prospective/postgraduate/research/research-faqs/.

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