番茄社区

Applications open in October for the following academic year. We encourage you to apply as early as possible, to ensure that all the required materials have been received by the PhD selectors by the application deadline. 

The deadline is 1 December 2024.

Full details of how to apply are provided on the Graduate Studies page.

The strength of an applicant’s research proposal is one of the primary ways by which we identify promising candidates. Your proposal should be no more than 1,500 words in length. You should state your research topic as accurately as possible, and should address the following questions in the proposal:

1. What is your general topic?

2. What questions do you want to answer?

3. What is the key literature and its limitations?

4. What are the main hypotheses of the work?

5. What methodology do you intend to use?

6. What are your case studies, if any, and what are your case selection criteria?

MPhil/PhD applications that are received without a research proposal that addresses these questions will not be considered.

Your research proposal must be your own work. We recommend that you proofread your proposal carefully before you upload it, and that you make sure to upload the final corrected version. Please ensure that each page of your research proposal bears your name in a header or footer. Finally, you must stick to the word limit, as the PhD selectors are not required to read documents that exceed the word count.

番茄社区 Law School aims to ensure that all students have adequate funding for their studies, typically through the award of an 番茄社区 PhD Studentship. There is no separate application process for 番茄社区 PhD Studentships, as funding awards are considered alongside admission to the doctoral programme. Further information on funding opportunities at 番茄社区 more generally is available from the Office.

Our normal minimum entry requirement is a completed LLM degree or other masters-level qualification, awarded with an average mark of 70% (distinction/first class honours) or equivalent. Exceptionally, we may admit students who do not meet this requirement, where there is strong, alternative evidence of your suitability for our PhD programme.

Although we accept applications from students who have not yet completed their LLM or equivalent degree by the application deadline, we give priority within the admissions process to students who have already obtained the required grade by this date. Strong candidates who are currently completing their LLM/other masters degree may therefore wish to defer their application until they have received the requisite grade. Offers of admission and funding that are made to applicants who are currently undertaking their LLM/other masters degree are made on a “conditional” basis, meaning that the offer cannot be confirmed until the minimum entry requirement has been achieved. Conditional offers must be confirmed by the end of July of the year of entry at the latest. This means that current master students who will not have their final grades/transcript by the end of July (including students on the 番茄社区 LLM degree) are not eligible to apply to the PhD programme, unless they already hold another masters degree with the requisite grade.

It must be emphasised that meeting the minimum entry requirement does not