| Postgraduate Study

The PhD in History is an advanced research degree awarded on the basis of a thesis and an oral (viva voce) examination. The PhD's primary purpose is to prepare and present a substantial piece of independent and original academic research, completed in three to four years if studying full-time and four to five years if studying part-time.

Every PhD student in the Faculty of History is supported by a Supervisor (or, in some cases, supervisors). Supervisors are experts in their field of study and support students throughout the PhD. Students will also benefit from the advice and support of other academic members of the Faculty who will be involved in the progression through the various stages of the PhD, from the registration assessment exercise at the end of the first year through to the completion of the thesis.

Most of our PhD students study here full-time but each year we admit a number of students who wish to study on a part-time basis. Part-time study can be ideal for those who are looking to gain a postgraduate qualification without leaving employment and wish to develop their careers while they continue earning, or for those who are home-based for whatever reason and wish to develop their skills. However, it's important to note that the part-time PhD at Cambridge is not a distance-learning course. Part-time students are expected to fully engage with the Faculty, integrate into the University's research culture, and attend the University on a regular basis for supervision, study, skills training, research seminars, and workshops.

Throughout their time at the Faculty, PhD students are encouraged to attend one or more of the Faculty's postgraduate workshops in their subject group or area of research. These workshops are spaces for PhD students to share their work and collaborate with visiting speakers, academics and peers.

Learning outcomes

The Cambridge PhD is designed as a structured, flexible, and individual preparation for becoming a professional researcher. It will help students develop the core skills needed by future professional researchers in the arts, humanities, or social sciences, which are valued by both academic and non-academic employers.

Continuing

The Faculty’s MPhil programmes provide excellent preparation for doctoral study and many of our MPhil students choose to stay at Cambridge to pursue a PhD.

Students wishing to continue to the PhD are normally expected to achieve an overall average of 70 in their MPhil with a mark of at least 70 in their dissertation.

Admission to the PhD is always subject to the availability of a suitable Supervisor.

Open Days

The University hosts and attends fairs and events throughout the year, in the UK and across the world. We also offer online events to help you explore your options:

Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD study webinars - these Spring events provide practical information about applying for postgraduate study.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Days - taking place in November each year, the Open Days focus on subject and course information.

For more information about upcoming events visit our events pages.

In Year 1, the course is structured around three in-person residential modules that you must attend in Cambridge. Each of the three residential blocks is preceded by guided preparatory reading and other activities. A Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) offers learning support while you are on the programme, including learning resources, peer-to-peer and student-to-tutor discussion between modules to build a virtual community of practice.

In Year 2, the focus is on the dissertation. You will work independently on your chosen topic under the supervision of an expert in your chosen field. You will have five supervisions between May 2027 and May 2028 (you can agree with your supervisor whether these will be face-to-face or online). There will also be three day-schools across the academic year, where you give a short presentation on your research to date. There will also be some research training in dissertation research and writing.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the course students should have:

developed an understanding of, and ability to apply critically, the main academic theories and concepts underpinning the study of history;
extended and developed their analytical, evaluative and critical capacities;
developed the ability to form independent judgements based on their reading, research and writing;
gained demonstrable specific subject knowledge and analysis relevant to their dissertation

By the end of the course, the students should have acquired or consolidated the following skills:

the academic, technical and ancillary skills necessary to participate in critical debates within the field of history;
the ability to formulate a research topic, create a research design, and communicate their ideas and research conclusions in a substantial piece of postgraduate level research;
transferable skills, including the ability to take responsibility for their own learning, learning how to learn, making oral and written presentations, planning and producing written assignments, working independently, and, where they have chosen to do so, using information technology.

Continuing

Successful completion of the MSt at a high grade may allow students to progress to a PhD either at the University of Cambridge or another institution.

Open Days

Please refer to the ICE Website for more information about our previous and upcoming events and Open Days. These are a great way of finding out more about our courses, including content and delivery, and hearing from our academics and students. Recordings of these open events are also available to view on our YouTube channel.

Departments

This course is advertised in the following departments:

Faculty of History

Professional and Continuing Education

The MPhil in Heritage Studies focuses on the interdisciplinary field of Heritage Studies and equips students with a critical understanding of the diverse uses of heritage in the present. The overall aims are:

To enable students to attain a critical appreciation of the development of heritage as a public enterprise, its theory, its values and uses. By the end of the course, students are expected to understand the broader context in which the heritage sector operates, the approaches and methods employed by professionals in the field, and to be able to enter a range of professions within the heritage industry.
To enable students to think both reflectively and analytically about the field and the nature of heritage. By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to apply their critical thinking and knowledge about heritage to particular specialisations and be able to pursue independent research in their field of specialisation.
To give students training in a range of general, transferable skills, such as analysing and formulating arguments, writing, presentation, debate, and research skills. By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to exercise these skills in any professional-level work which requires them.

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this MPhil, students should have:

a clear understanding of the broader context in which the heritage sector operates;
the ability to think critically and independently about heritage based on an understanding of the different theoretical approaches in the Heritage Studies field;
in-depth knowledge of the ethical, epistemic and political implications of heritage theory and practice;
a broad and critical understanding of the diverse issues involved in heritage management, as well as an understanding of the types of agents and instruments involved;
developed their critical faculties to both think and write analytically about heritage as well as to assess heritage writing, research and practice;
transferable skills, such as writing, presentation and data analysis, that allow them to enter a range of professions within the heritage industry and beyond.

Continuing

Students taking the MPhil in Heritage Studies who wish to continue to the PhD in Archaeology are required to
achieve a mark of at least 68 overall and no less than 68 in their dissertation. They must obtain the support of an
appropriate supervisor before making an application. In some circumstances, additional academic conditions
may be set to ensure appropriate skills are in place prior to admittance on the PhD programme.

Open Days

The University hosts and attends fairs and events throughout the year, in the UK and across the world. We also offer online events to help you explore your options:

Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD study webinars - these Spring events provide practical information about applying for postgraduate study.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Days - taking place in November each year, the Open Days focus on subject and course information.

For more information about upcoming events visit our events pages.

The Advanced Diploma is a nine-month graduate qualification that provides instruction in the Hebrew language for students with a first degree whose knowledge of the language is at an intermediate or lower intermediate level at the time of entry with the objective of bringing their knowledge up to an advanced level.

The advanced level Hebrew is intended to prepare students for two possible pathways after the course:

an MPhil degree with a research component, with a view to advancing thereafter to a PhD or another career requiring high-level language and research skills;
a career in specialist Hebrew language teaching (in, for example, the Secondary Education Sector).

The Diploma consists of three taught modules, which are assessed by written and oral examinations at the end of the course. These are as follows:

Paper 1
Classical Hebrew language: to be assessed by one written examination paper, including translation and grammatical parsing questions.

Paper 2
Modern Hebrew language: to be assessed by one written examination paper, including translation and grammatical parsing questions, and an oral examination in Modern spoken Hebrew.

Paper 3
Either (i) History of the Hebrew language; or (ii) introductory Aramaic. (i) will be assessed by essay questions; (ii) will be assessed by a written examination paper, including translation and grammatical parsing questions.

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students will be expected to

Read Classical Hebrew texts with a good understanding of the grammatical structure of the language and its vocabulary (Module 1),
Read and speak Modern Hebrew with good fluency and understanding (Module 2),
Have a good scholarly knowledge of the history of the language or extend their language skills to include a knowledge of Aramaic up to a preliminary level (Module 3).

Skills and other attributes:

Understanding of scholarly bibliographical tools and digital resources;
Knowledge of the production of medieval Hebrew manuscripts (based on visits to the Cairo Genizah collection in the University Library);
Presentation skills.

Continuing

Continuation from the Advanced Diploma in Hebrew Studies to an MPhil programme in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies is not automatic, and interested students will be required to:

sSubmit an MPhil application via the Applicant Portal, including a workable and relevant research proposal, and demonstrate that they have the required academic knowledge and skills to carry out their project.
Obtain at least 65 per cent overall in their Advanced Diploma and satisfy the admissions requirements set for the MPhil.

The prospective MPhil supervisor may also set additional admissions criteria (e.g., a particular grade for a particular paper).

Admission is at the discretion of the Degree Committee, which judges each applicant on their own merits and in accordance with its own set of rules and regulations.

Open Days

The University hosts and attends fairs and events throughout the year, in the UK and across the world. We also offer online events to help you explore your options:

Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD study webinars - these Spring events provide practical information about applying for postgraduate study.

Postgraduate Virtual Open Days - taking place in November each year, the Open Days focus on subject and course information.

For more information about upcoming events visit our events pages.

Departments

This course is advertised in the following departments:

Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Department of Middle Eastern Studies

The MPhil in Health, Medicine and Society is a full-time 9-month course run jointly by the Departments of History and Philosophy of Science, Sociology and Social Anthropology. It introduces students from a range of backgrounds to research skills and specialist knowledge relevant to their research interests, and provides them with the opportunity to carry out focused research under close supervision by senior members of the University. Students develop a critical and well-informed understanding of discourses and practices of history, philosophy, sociology and anthropology of health and medicine, and those intending to go on to doctoral work learn the skills needed to help them prepare a well-planned and focused PhD proposal.

During the course, students attend lectures, supervisions and research seminars in a range of subjects central to research in the different areas of history, philosophy, sociology and anthropology of health and medicine. These include core and optional modules covering each of these areas, as well as opportunities to attend research seminars across the Departments and the wider University.

Students complete three essays over the course of 9 months, working closely with supervisors to address a range of topics covered by the core and optional modules. They also write a dissertation on a topic of their choice, refined in consultation with their supervisor. Dissertation seminars give students the opportunity to gain experience in presenting their own work and discussing the issues that arise from it with an audience of their peers and senior members of staff.

Learning outcomes

Graduates of the course will have developed a deeper knowledge of their chosen areas of history, philosophy, sociology and social anthropology of health and medicine and of the critical debates within them. They will have acquired a conceptual understanding that enables the evaluation of current research and methodologies in these disciplines, and formed a critical view of interactions between health, medicine and society.

By the end of the course, graduates will also have acquired a range of technical and transferable skills. They will have acquired or consolidated methodological, linguistic, technical and ancillary skills appropriate for research in their chosen area. They will also have demonstrated the ability to make independent judgements based on their own research, presented their own ideas and arguments in a public forum and learned to contribute constructively within an international environment.

Continuing

Students admitted for the MPhil can apply to continue as PhD students. The usual preconditions for continuing to the PhD are a final mark of at least 70, a satisfactory performance in an interview and agreement of the PhD proposal with a potential supervisor.

Open Days

The University hosts and attends fairs and events throughout the year, in the UK and across the world. We also offer online events to help you explore your options:

Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD study webinars – these spring events provide practical information about applying for postgraduate study.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Days – taking place in November each year, the Open Days focus on subject and course information.

For more information about upcoming events visit our events pages.

Departments

This course is advertised in the following departments:

Department of Social Anthropology

The programme is targeted at both mid-career and new graduates who wish to develop their knowledge and skills in the healthcare innovation field. The part-time nature of the three courses is designed to fit around the demands of full-time employment. The courses are broadly based and inter-disciplinary and students from any technical or healthcare-related discipline are welcomed. The courses aim to:

Provide professionally relevant teaching and learning of the knowledge and skills necessary to be at the forefront of efforts to engineer better care.
Develop healthcare innovation experts with the necessary expertise, and originality of application, to pursue and expand their roles in the rapidly evolving environment of healthcare systems.
Promote a comprehensive understanding of the practical and ethical considerations relevant to healthcare improvement and biomedical engineering.
Provide work-relevant learning around the current problems, best-practice, challenges and potential solutions in the delivery of effective health and care.
Create a professional network of like-minded individuals as leaders in the field of healthcare systems and biomedical engineering.
Provide students with systems leadership skills and the knowledge to use technology to deliver value in healthcare, research, and commercial arenas.
Equip graduates with the language and mindset to work in an interdisciplinary manner across the interface between medicine, engineering and commercial settings.
Expose students to the industrial context and perspective within the technology area, providing opportunities throughout the study for involvement with industrial partners through workshops, seminars and the projects.

Learning outcomes

These learning outcomes apply to the PgCert only. More information about the other programmes can be found on the course website.

Knowledge and understanding

Knowledge of the broad landscape of healthcare systems and biomedical engineering; and understanding of the practical and ethical considerations relevant to healthcare improvement and biomedical engineering.
Knowledge of engineering techniques that can be applied to address challenges in clinical settings, including diagnostics and medical devices.
Understanding the role of each key element in healthcare improvement projects.

Intellectual skills

Ability to identify the future trends in healthcare provision, biomedical interventions and use of healthcare data; and communicate to appropriate groups to support the implementation of change.
Expertise to apply engineering knowledge and methodology in the complex multi-professional systems.
Skills to use the relevant tools to execute systems approaches in healthcare improvement projects.

Transferable skills

Professionalism to work in a diverse environment, work value, ethics and sociability, including embracing differences in professional background, culture, language, geography.
Not constrained to familiar technology or hard skills, but also the flexibility to adapt to changes.
Ability to develop and apply research critically to improve health for individuals, populations and healthcare system.
Capability to disseminate and translate knowledge for patient and public benefit.

Employability skills

Be able to take the responsibility at the frontiers of organisations with an awareness of new opportunities and awareness of the coming trends.
Knowledge to improve organisation’s performance, competitiveness and advancement.
Skills to facilitate effective and timely decision making within an organisation in healthcare settings.
Leadership proficiency to create and close the business loop of design innovations across a diverse range of healthcare contexts.

Continuing

Students who pass the PGCert shall be allowed to progress onto the PGDip. Similarly, students who pass the PGDip can progress onto the MSt.

Open Days

The University hosts and attends fairs and events throughout the year, in the UK and across the world. We also offer online events to help you explore your options:

Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD study webinars - these Spring events provide practical information about applying for postgraduate study.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Days - taking place in the autumn each year, the Open Days focus on subject and course information.

For more information about upcoming events visit our events pages.

The course will:

Provide teaching and learning opportunities of the knowledge and skills that underpin and are at the forefront of the successful implementation of an advanced health-focused data science project;
Equip learners with current data science tools and techniques to manage and analyse very large diverse datasets across healthcare systems;
Advance learners’ programming and analytical skills for performing meaningful and reproducible analysis;
Develop, create and upskill healthcare data experts with the necessary expertise, and originality of application, to pursue and expand their roles in the context of the rapidly evolving environment of electronic health data;
Promote a comprehensive understanding of the practical and ethical considerations relevant to health data, informatics and innovation.;
Provide work relevant learning opportunities and practical expertise in the context of a critical awareness of current problems, best-practice, challenges, and potential solutions in the use of health data;
Provide students with advanced knowledge and skills required for design and execution of the health data science project capturing: the entire process from initial curiosity driven database queries, through to data analysis, statistical inference and visualization in an impactful and reproducible output. All Master's students will receive supervision to develop the required elements for leading a project in a work-relevant and practical manner delivered via their research dissertation.

The programme provides the advanced skills and knowledge required to work and play an effective role in a rigorous health focused data science project.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

By the end of the course, students will demonstrate:

a systematic understanding of data-driven decision making, including reproducible approaches in development and application of advanced analytical and data visualisation techniques on large scale health related database systems;
a conceptual understanding of legal and ethical principles of data sharing that enables them to evaluate critically current methodologies and approaches in health data research and to develop critiques of new and innovative approaches and their fitness in a health organisation and, where appropriate, to propose new hypothesis.

Skills and other attributes

By the end of the course, students will demonstrate their ability to:

conduct advanced data retrieval tasks from databases through the creation of structured queries, perform statistical analysis, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences;
demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level.

Open Days

Please refer to the PACE Website for more information about our previous and upcoming events and Open Days. These are a great way of finding out more about our courses, including content and delivery, and hearing from our academics and students. Recordings of these open events are also available to view on our YouTube channel.

Departments

This course is advertised in the following departments:

Professional and Continuing Education

The course will:

Provide teaching and learning opportunities of the knowledge and skills that underpin and are at the forefront of the successful implementation of an advanced health-focused data science project;
Equip learners with current data science tools and techniques to manage and analyse very large diverse datasets across healthcare systems;
Advance learners’ programming and analytical skills for performing meaningful and reproducible analysis;
Develop, create and upskill healthcare data experts with the necessary expertise, and originality of application, to pursue and expand their roles in the context of the rapidly evolving environment of electronic health data;
Promote a comprehensive understanding of the practical and ethical considerations relevant to health data, informatics and innovation.;
Provide work relevant learning opportunities and practical expertise in the context of a critical awareness of current problems, best-practice, challenges, and potential solutions in the use of health data;
Provide students with advanced knowledge and skills required for design and execution of the health data science project capturing: the entire process from initial curiosity driven database queries, through to data analysis, statistical inference and visualization in an impactful and reproducible output. All Master's students will receive supervision to develop the required elements for leading a project in a work-relevant and practical manner delivered via their research dissertation.

The programme provides the advanced skills and knowledge required to work and play an effective role in a rigorous health focused data science project.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and understanding

By the end of the course, students will demonstrate:

a systematic understanding of data-driven decision making, including reproducible approaches in development and application of advanced analytical and data visualisation techniques on large scale health related database systems;
a conceptual understanding of legal and ethical principles of data sharing that enables them to evaluate critically current methodologies and approaches in health data research and to develop critiques of new and innovative approaches and their fitness in a health organisation and, where appropriate, to propose new hypothesis.

Skills and other attributes

By the end of the course, students will demonstrate their ability to:

conduct advanced data retrieval tasks from databases through the creation of structured queries, perform statistical analysis, make sound judgements in the absence of complete data, and communicate their conclusions clearly to specialist and non-specialist audiences;
demonstrate self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems, and act autonomously in planning and implementing tasks at a professional or equivalent level.

Open Days

The Department of Haematology is located on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. Research in the department falls into three main areas with major relevance for human disease: The Haematopoiesis and Blood Cancer Group, the Structural Medicine and Thrombosis Group, and the Transfusion Medicine Group.

Those Haematology research groups belonging to the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute moved into a brand new purpose-built facility on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in 2019. The other Haematology groups are based at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, the NHS Cambridge Blood Centre and the Sanger Institute.

The department offers this PhD programme of research to students under the individual supervision of a Principal Investigator based in the Department of Haematology. A full list of Haematology Principal Investigators can be found on the department's website.

During their PhD, students are based in a research group, supported by their Principal Supervisor and associated laboratory staff, as well as the Department Postgraduate Education Committee and Postgraduate Student Committee.

There is no taught / examined coursework, but students are encouraged to attend all seminars and events run within the Department, in the Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, and elsewhere on the Biomedical Campus.

PhD students write a thesis, which is examined via an oral examination (viva).

We welcome applications from postgraduates wanting to work towards a PhD in any of the labs belonging to the Department of Haematology. Successful applicants must meet the University's minimum academic admissions criteria. Applicants are required to contact potential supervisors before submitting an application to discuss their application and funding possibilities.

A list of Haematology Principal Investigators can be found on the Department of Haematology website.

The PhD introduces students to research skills and specialist knowledge. Its main educational aims are:

to give students with relevant experience at a first-degree level the opportunity to carry out focused research in the discipline under close supervision;
to give students the opportunity to acquire or develop skills and expertise relevant to their research interests.

Learning outcomes

At the end of their PhD, students should:

have a thorough knowledge of the literature and a comprehensive understanding of scientific methods and techniques applicable to their own research;
be able to demonstrate originality in the application of knowledge, together with a practical understanding of how research and enquiry are used to create and interpret knowledge in their field;
have developed the ability to critically evaluate current research and research techniques and methodologies;
have self-direction and originality in tackling and solving problems;
be able to act autonomously in the planning and implementation of research;
have gained oral presentation and scientific writing skills.

Continuing

Candidates wanting to progress to a PhD after completing an MPhil will be required to satisfy their potential Supervisor, Head of Department and the Faculty Degree Committee that they have the skills and ability to achieve the higher degree.

All cases are judged on their own merits and based on a number of factors including evidence of progress and research potential, a sound research proposal, the availability of a suitable supervisor and of resources required for the research.

Further information for continuing students can be found here.

Open Days

The University hosts and attends fairs and events throughout the year, in the UK and across the world. We also offer online events to help you explore your options:

Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD study webinars - these Spring events provide practical information about applying for postgraduate study.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Days - taking place in November each year, the Open Days focus on subject and course information.

For more information about upcoming events visit our events pages.

The programme provides students with a toolkit of concepts, methods, and approaches to understand and mitigate global risk. The programme will:

Provide a rigorous understanding of the emerging transdisciplinary field of Existential Risk Studies

Train students in critically engaging with a wide range of interdisciplinary research on risk drivers, multipliers, and mitigation challenges, including the core skills required to interpret and apply scientific research into unprecedented and extreme future risk.

Provide the opportunity to put these to work in both a focused individual study of specific global challenges and a group futures thinking systematic exercise.

Give students an understanding of the variety of mitigation opportunities and challenges, focusing on the reality of policymaking in relevant areas (which may include but are not limited to AI, biosecurity, climate change, and nuclear policy) and the different impact strategies or theories of change that can influence these.

Familiarize students with, and cultivate an appreciation for, standards of rigorous and responsible research in this area, highlighting both the need for high quality research and the pitfalls of irresponsible practices.

Enable students to recognize opportunities for applying insights from this research to related disciplines (which may include but are not limited to Science and Technology Studies, Disaster Studies, Philosophy, Economics, International Relations, and Computer Science) and to various risk or technology focused careers across sectors such as government, industry, academia, and civil society.

Learning outcomes

Knowledge and Understanding

By the end of the course students will have acquired:

An in-depth understanding of the emerging transdisciplinary field of Existential Risk Studies, including key concepts, ethical and epistemological challenges, methods, approaches, and tools, and impact strategies.

A systematic interdisciplinary understanding of risk drivers, risk multipliers, and risk mitigation challenges that contribute to global catastrophic risk.

A broader awareness of existential and global catastrophic risk and the range of perspectives on it, the factors influencing this, and the difficulties in producing rigorous and responsible research in this area.

A critical awareness of the range of proposals for global catastrophic or existential risk mitigation, their feasibility, potential benefits and drawbacks, and relationship to existing policies and institutions.

Skills and other attributes

Graduates of the course will be able to:

Implement methods that have been developed by researchers in Existential Risk Studies or cognate fields.

Constructively engage with a wide range of disciplinary perspectives on existential and global catastrophic risk, including the ability to implement these where appropriate and to evaluate them from different ethical and epistemological points of view.

Translate knowledge and concepts across academic, policy, and industry contexts.

Construct and deconstruct engaging narratives about existential and global catastrophic risk and communicate research effectively and responsibly.

Continuing

Students admitted to the MPhil can apply to continue as PhD students with a relevant Faculty. For details on the PhD application process and required standards, students should consult the respective Department.

Open Days

The University hosts and attends fairs and events throughout the year, in the UK and across the world. We also offer online events to help you explore your options:

Discover Cambridge: Master’s and PhD study webinars - these Spring events provide practical information about applying for postgraduate study.
Postgraduate Virtual Open Days - taking place in November each year, the Open Days focus on subject and course information.

For more information about upcoming events visit our events pages.

The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER) runs online webinars for applicants throughout the year. Please see the CSER website for information on how to register for these events.

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

Departments

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

Departments

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

Departments

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

Learning outcomes

Open Days

Departments

Learning outcomes

Open Days

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

Learning outcomes

Continuing

Open Days

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