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Politics and International Studies is no longer accepting new applications.
Teaching
First-year students are expected to attend mandatory methods and approaches course and Social Science Research Methods seminars in their first term, and presentation workshops in Lent term.
| 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, the principal supervisor and student meet fortnightly during the first year and more intermittently afterwards. Supervisions consist of discussions on the student’s topic, their training, their research plans and findings, and comes to involve feedback on drafts of dissertation 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, and these are advertised to PhD students as well as on the Department website. For first-year 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. |
| Lectures | Students are welcome to attend any relevant masters and undergraduate lectures that relate to their research and subject interests. |
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 yearly online feedback reports;
- Written feedback from their postgraduate advisor and first year assessor after the first year registration exercise
- Written and oral feedback from their principal supervisor and postgraduate advisor 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.
Written examination
First year students must complete their first-year registration exercise in order to progress to the status of PhD. They must submit 10,000 words of their research, they may also add a section of the thesis of up to 10,000 words. Candidates are also expected to submit their progress log, in order to show the methods training (and any other relevant activities) they have undertaken. Finally, the candidate must provide a timeline for the remainder of their research. This must include when and in what order the candidate intends to proceed with research.
Other
The expectation is that the PhD programme is completed full time. Only in very exceptional circumstances will applications be considered for part time study.