External candidates: Home and International candidates can apply for a PhD by Published Work.

Internal candidates: The following candidates can apply

• Members of staff or administrative or library staff of equivalent status of the University with at least 3 years of employment prior to the submission of published work.
• Graduates of the University of Warwick with at least 7 years's standing and normally holding a Bachelor's degree or equivalent.

Please note that all candidates must fulfil all entry requirements to apply.

• The course's registration is 1 year full-time. Warwick Medical School does not offer part-time study for this degree.
• For external applicants: there is a minimum period of registration of 6 months prior to submission of your thesis for examination.
• For internal applicants: there is a minimum period of registration of 3 months prior to submission of your thesis for examination.

Note that fees are due for a full year, even if you submit early.

Information on Postgraduate Research Fees can be found here. Link opens in a new windowInternational applicants, please note that Band 2 fees apply.

For 2024/25:

• Home: £4,786
• International: £29,470

For external applicants (home or international): the fee is equivalent to 1 year's full-time fee for the traditional PhD in the relevant Academic Year, regardless of the date of submission of the work.

For internal applicants: the fee will be calculated at 20% of the home Postgraduate Research rate.

The same entry requirements than for a regular PhD apply. If you have any questions about meeting the entry requirements, please contact the Postgraduate Research Team:

Depending on your research expertise and your portfolio of published work, you can choose to register for a PhD by Published Work with the following titles:

• Health Sciences (RMDA-B91P)
• Medical Sciences (RMDA-A34P)
• Medicine (RMDA-A31P)
• Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research (RMDA-B92K)
• Nursing (RASS-B718)
• Clinical Education (RMDA-B91F)
• Healthcare (RASS-B717)
• Health and Social Studies (RASA-L4PC)

This section contains information about the steps of your application. Please read carefully before progressing to the next Tabs.

1. Contact the Postgraduate Research Team at Warwick Medical School to express your interest in applying and check your entry requirements.

• The email is

2. Finding an Academic Advisor (or supervisor):

• It is your responsibility to find and approach an Academic Advisor from the list of our approved supervisorsLink opens in a new window.
• If you need advice on finding an Academic Advisor, please contact the Postgraduate Research Academic Leads.Link opens in a new window
• Your Academic Advisor should be an established expert in your field, i.e., they will be able to critically assess your portfolio and provide guidance on the presentation of the proposed Thesis for submission.
• You can have a primary Academic Advisor and a secondary advisor.

Timeframe :

October Intake: start contacting supervisors in January-February

March Intake: start contacting supervisors in May

3. Preparing your Assessment Form:

• Once an Academic Advisor has been found, you will complete this Assessment Form, and email it along with a full CV and 3 to 8 publications to wms.rdcoord@warwick.ac.uk. Note that your Academic Advisor should preferably provide a statement of support. However, having the agreement of the Academic Advisor does guarantee your entry into the programme.
• Submission should include further contextual information regarding the publications, including, but not limited to, the profile of journals that articles have been published in, the number of citations, and their significance to the field. If you are not the first, last or corresponding author on a publication, you should request the corresponding author to provide a letter stating your level of contribution. A separate statement is required for each paper submitted.
• See the Portfolio Tab to know more about the criteria of the portfolio.

Timeframe :

October Intake: Deadline for Assessment Form is May 30th

March Intake: Deadline for Assessment Form is November 15th

4. Postgraduate Research selection panel:

• The members of the panel include the Director of Graduate Studies and the Postgraduate Research Academic Leads, with ad hoc academics with expertise.
• Your Assessment Form will be reviewed by the Postgraduate Research Academic Leads (who may also seek support from academic staff who are subject experts).
• All applications received will be discussed during a selection panel. You might be invited for an interview if more information is needed.
• We do not have a fixed number of places but do look for research excellence. You might be recommended to delay and/or strengthen your application before being reconsidered in another round.
• If your application is successful, you will be notified and required to formally apply.

5. Formally Apply to the programme via the University online Portal

You should apply as soon as possible after having being notified, and provide all the documents requested, including referees letters. You must apply to be formally enrolled.

This section contains information about "the appropriate standard" of the Works submitted by a candidate.

Who assesses your Portfolio of Published Work before acceptance to the course?

• Formally, admission to PhD by Published works depends on the Chair of the relevant Faculty Board assessing whether the Works submitted by the candidate are of ‘the appropriate standard’. In practice, the Chair will rely on departmental advice for this assessment.
• At WMS, we ask PGR Academic Leads to take on this role, based on information provided to them by candidates.
  University guidance sets out what information should be submitted to inform this assessment. This should include 3-8 publications, together with appropriate contextual information regarding the publications (journal profile, the individual contribution of the candidate, citations, impact and significance of the published work). The publications form the intellectual basis of the examination (if you are offered a place of the programme).

What is "the appropriate standard" (Section 3.4 of the University Requirements for the Award of Research Degrees)

A thesis submitted for the degree of PhD should be an original investigation characterised by rigorous research methodology and capable of making a significant contribution to knowledge commensurate with the normal period of registration for a full-time student.

When requesting admission to a PhD by Published Work at WMS, you will complete an Assessment Form, inclusive of a supportive statement from the proposed Academic Advisor (s), and provide a CV, which includes a full publication list.

The following factors need to be considered in building your application. Your application will be evaluated based on the strength of:
· The cohesion of the submitted publications
· Your individual intellectual achievement demonstrated in the submitted works
· The nature of the submitted works (i.e. their originality, research design/methodology, and contribution to knowledge).
· The current relevance of the submitted works. The publications presented as part of a PhD by Published Work application should be assessed in relation to the time of submission. A PhD by Published work is not awarded in recognition of excellent research completed in the past which is not currently impactful, relevant or significant. Taken as a whole, the set of publications being examined should, instead, make a contribution to original knowledge at the time in which the
submission is being examined.

Documents:

Candidates will need to submit the Works to be assessed and a Covering Document of between 5,000 and 10,000 words setting out the relationship between the Works presented, the significance of the Works as a contribution to original knowledge within the relevant field, and, as an appendix, a full bibliography of all of the works ever published by the candidate.

Examination:

The Works and Covering Document will be evaluated by 2 External Examiners and a viva voce will be organised.

Outcomes of the Examination:

• Applicants need to be aware that being accepted into the course is not a guarantee that a PhD will be awarded, and that this will be determined through examination by independent examiners.
• The examiners will be experts in the specific content area or methodology of the submission. Hence, examiners’ judgement on whether the submission is worthy of being awarded a PhD may be different from PGR Academic leads.
• The purpose of the rigorous application process is to determine the likelihood that the submitted works will be successful at viva. Therefore, we recommend that candidates are only put forward where there is strong confidence that the conditions described above will be judged to have been met.