The Universities of Exeter, Bristol and Bath have created the South West Doctoral Training Centre (SWDTC) which draws together the established research excellence of academic and research staff at the three institutions.
The Security, Conflict and Justice programme is an interdisciplinary pathway, which recognises that traditional approaches to security studies must now be complemented with new perspectives of issues such as human (in)security more widely, including domestic insecurity and violence, in order to develop better strategies for resolving conflicts and securing social justice. It will train researchers who are equipped with the interdisciplinary skills to impact the research, policy and practice needed to avoid and mitigate security risks.
As part of this programme you will have supervisors from more than one discipline and more than one institution. Your home institution will be wherever your lead supervisor is based. You will be able to benefit from the expertise of staff from a much wider base than is usual. You can find out more about the research areas within the Politics department or visit the College of Social Sciences and International Studies webpages for more information on the subjects we offer and the staff expertise within them.
We accept graduate students for the degree of MPhil leading to a PhD. Transfer to PhD status takes place in the second year and depends on satisfactory progress. Students are required to complete their PhD in three years and take an appropriate programme of research training.
What is an MPhil or PhD?
Both MPhil and PhD research degrees involve an extensive investigation of a particular topic.
MPhil research takes a maximum of three years to complete full-time, or five years part-time, and is assessed by the submission of a dissertation of up to 60,000 words. The PhD takes a maximum of four years full-time and seven years part-time and the results of your research will normally be assessed by a written thesis of up to 100,000 words and oral examination. The PhD is only awarded when the results of your investigation make an original contribution to knowledge in the field.
A PhD is the highest qualification that a university can award and offers a challenging and exciting opportunity to work at the cutting-edge of research: if you have these qualities Exeter can offer a very supportive environment in which to pursue research.
Advice for PhD applicants
Our online learning resource 'Considering a UK PhD?' provides lots of helpful advice and information from staff and students about the PhD experience at Exeter.
You may wish to read our general advice for PhD applicants webpages, which give tips on how to put together a successful research degree application.
Applicants for research programmes are also advised to visit the College's webpages to check for specific advice (see further information link). Here you will be able to find out about staff research interests and make preliminary enquiries about supervision. We advise that you do this before applying.
