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Politics and International Studies is no longer accepting new applications.
Teaching
All first-year students are expected to attend mandatory methods and approaches courses. Full-time students are also expected to attend Social Science Research Methods seminars in their first term (Michaelmas) and professionalisation workshops in the second term (Lent). Part-time students may opt to take the professionalisation workshops and the Social Research Methods seminars in their first or second year.
| One to one supervision | All POLIS PhD students are supervised by a permanent member of the academic staff who is an expert in the field. The principal supervisor and the student meet at regular intervals throughout the PhD. Typically, they meet fortnightly during the first year and more intermittently afterwards. Supervisions consist of discussions on the student's topic, training, research plans, and findings. They also involve feedback on drafts of thesis chapters and a general discussion of the field of research. Students are also appointed a postgraduate advisor who can be drawn upon for additional advice. The University of Cambridge publishes an annual Code of Practice which sets out the University's expectations regarding supervision. |
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| Seminars & classes | POLIS runs a wide array of research seminars, workshops, and classes, which are advertised to PhD students and on the department website. For PhD students, there is a weekly seminar on the methodological and philosophical questions that underpin research in the contemporary social sciences. Alongside this, PhD students choose two further courses to attend from a range of options, such as statistics, qualitative methods and languages. When these are taken, it will depend on whether the student is full-time or part-time. |
| Lectures | Students are welcome to attend any relevant master's and undergraduate lectures that relate to their research and subject interests. |
| Taught/Research Balance | Predominantly Research |
Feedback
Students will receive regular constructive feedback throughout the course of their PhD. Students can expect to receive:
- regular oral feedback from their principal Supervisor, as well as termly online feedback reports
- written feedback from their postgraduate adviser and first-year assessor after the first-year registration exercise
- written and oral feedback from their principal Supervisor and postgraduate adviser with each subsequent annual meeting
Assessment
Thesis / Dissertation
The primary purpose of PhD study is the preparation and presentation of a substantial piece of original research in the form of a thesis. A successful thesis must:
- represent a significant contribution to learning through the discovery of new knowledge, the connection of previously unrelated facts, the development of a new theory or the revision of older views
- take due account of previously published work on the subject
- be clearly and concisely written and must not exceed a maximum of 80,000 words (excluding the bibliography)
All students will defend their PhD thesis in a viva voce examination.
Other
All students must complete their registration exercise to progress to the status of PhD. For full-time students, this will be in the third term (Easter) of the first year, and for part-time students, in the second term (Lent) of the second year.
For the registration, students must submit the following:
- 10,000-word research report, they may also add a section of the thesis of up to 10,000 words (optional)
- a progress log, in order to show the methods training (and any other relevant activities) they have undertaken
- the candidate must provide a timeline for the remainder of their research which must include when and in what order the candidate intends to proceed with the research
Students are expected to discuss any fieldwork plans with their Supervisor prior to submitting any papers for the registration. They are encouraged to include a first draft of their application for Fieldwork and Ethics as part of the materials submitted for the registration exercise.