MPhil/PhD Law and Social Sciences

The School of Law and Social Sciences at Middlesex has a vibrant and diverse MPhilPhD programme with some 40 students engaged in research on a variety of topics spanning law, politics, international relations, criminology and sociology. Students are based either at our campus in London or overseas, including at our campuses in Mauritius and Dubai. Within the School, you will benefit from supervision by world-leading academics and a multidisciplinary research environment, bringing together doctoral students, researchers, practitioners and professionals from within and outside the academy. Middlesex is home to outstanding centres of research and practice, such as the How to Apply, the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre, the Prisons Research Group, the Centre for Social and Criminological Research, the Centre for Abuse, Trauma and Suicide Studies, and the Drug and Alcohol Research Centre.A graduate from the Middlesex Law and Social Sciences PhD programme will have developed advanced skills in research, analysis and writing, public presentations and, in many cases, teaching at university level. A hallmark of the doctoral programme at Middlesex is that students are encouraged and supported to publish their research, whether as a monograph, as journal articles or in academic blogs. Our graduates are strongly placed to pursue careers in the global academic world, as well as high level work in international institutions, governments, non-governmental organisations and the commercial sector.Doctoral students based in London benefit from proximity to the city's vast cultural resources and world-class libraries, such as the British Library and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies.In choosing which degree to apply for, please note that the difference between an MPhil and a PhD relates to the contribution you make to existing knowledge on the research topic you have selected. A PhD contributes new knowledge beyond what is currently available, whereas an MPhil contributes new understanding of existing knowledge, by way of a critical review or evaluation. All our doctoral students initially enrol on an MPhil and then transfer to a PhD degree.Please see the Social Policy Research Centre tab under Entry Requirements for a list of disciplines and subject areas in which we welcome applications.

An undergraduate degree, usually with class 2:1 or equivalent in a relevant subject; A relevant master's qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice or learning that meets the higher education provider's criteria and guidelines for the recognition of prior learning for the purpose of meeting entry requirements for a programme (including, for example, the required amount of prior publications or other output specified for applicants for the award of PhD by published work); If you'd like to enrol for our PhD course, you'll first need to enrol for the MPhil and then transfer to a PhD once you've made enough progress with your research – typically after 18-24 months.