Philosophy - Postgraduate Research Opportunities

Philosophy PhD (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)
Global Ethics PhD (On-Campus or by Distance Learning)

We offer promising candidates the opportunity to study in a department that is strongly committed to delivering the highest quality of philosophical research. The Department of Philosophy offers two PhD programmes, the Philosophy PhD and the Global Ethics PhD, which both offer the option to study in a traditional PhD format, or through our PhD by Papers option.

The PhD is the most advanced research degree. It requires you to undertake independent research (under the expert supervision of an academic member of staff) that leads to a thesis of up to 80,000 words on a subject of your choice. As an alternative to the standard thesis, you have the choice of writing a PhD by Papers - a thesis that consists of three or four self-standing academic articles on different aspects of a single topic. Birmingham is one of the first philosophy departments in the UK to offer this option.

You can study our PhD programmes on campus or by distance learning. Please note that if you are studying with us by distance learning, the programme includes a fully-funded annual visit to campus for each full year of your programme (every two years for part-time students).

Research interests of staff include:

The Department of Philosophy combines research excellence in all core areas of philosophy, with distinction in number of specialty and interdisciplinary areas, including

Global ethics
Philosophical logic, language, and metaphysics
Philosophy of mind, psychology and psychiatry

Meanwhile, our Global Ethics PhD draws on our particular expertise in this area with research strengths:

Ethics and global public health
Ethics, war and terror
Poverty and financial exclusion
The ethics of borders and immigration
Gender and global ethics

For full research interests of staff, please read our staff profiles or visit the research interest tab on each programmes webpage.
 

Please visit the College of Arts and Law funding page for information on possible funding opportunities.