The PhD is the Department's principal research degree for postgraduate students. The majority of our students are registered for this degree. The PhD is intellectually demanding, and applicants must have a high level of attainment and motivation to pursue this programme of advanced study and research.

Completion normally requires three to four years of full-time study, including a probationary period. Students will normally be required to be resident in Cambridge during that time.

The examination involves the submission of a 60,000-word thesis and subsequent oral examination.

The PhD represents a significant and original contribution to the understanding of Psychology. This may be through the discovery of something new, the connection of previously unrelated facts, or the development of a new theory, taking into account all previously published work on the subject.

The Department of Psychiatry is an internationally leading centre for research and teaching in psychiatry, with a particular focus on the determinants of mental health conditions, their treatments and the promotion of mental health through innovative translational research. The department's senior staff support several research groups, covering various aspects of mental health and disorder throughout the life course. Sitting within the School of Clinical Medicine, the department occupies four separate locations and has approximately 130 members.

A doctorate in Psychiatry from the University of Cambridge is primarily a research degree and involves minimal formal teaching; students are integrated into the research culture of the department and the Institute in which they are based.

Each student conducts their PhD project under the direction of their principal Supervisor, with additional teaching and guidance provided by an advisor, to increase access to staff members and accommodate a diversity of viewpoints.

The subject of the research project is determined during the application process and is influenced by the research interests of the student's Supervisor; students should apply to study with a group leader whose area of research most appeals to them.

To broaden their knowledge of their chosen field, students are strongly encouraged to attend relevant seminars, lectures, and training courses, including transferable skills training provided by the Postgraduate School of Life Sciences. We also require our students to attend their research group's 'research in progress/laboratory meetings', at which they are expected to present their ongoing work regularly.

Following the successful completion of a research report and viva and pass at the end of the first year, students are registered for the PhD.

At the end of the course, the examination for the PhD degree involves submitting a written thesis, followed by an oral examination based on both the thesis and a broader knowledge of the chosen area of research.

This programme is designed to allow clinical health professionals to reach their full potential and pursue a successful academic career. Up to seven fellowships are offered each year with a single round of admissions.

Fellowships, supported either by the University or Wellcome Sanger Institute, cover the broad themes of Genetic and Molecular Basis of Disease; Pathogens, Infectious Disease and Immunity; Physiology, Pathophysiology and Experimental Medicine; Behaviour, Mental Health and Neurological Diseases; Epidemiology, Prevention and Public Health; Health Care Delivery and Improvement, as well as Research Programmes at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. Interdisciplinary research, with doctoral projects co-supervised by biomedical researchers and university investigators in Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics, is also encouraged.

To be eligible to apply for the fellowships, you must be qualified in clinical, dental or veterinary medicine or be a non-medical health professional, and be registered with a national professional regulatory body in the UK [see programme website for more info].

Medical and dental applicants must be eligible for/already have GMC/GDC registration and be in a training grade (i.e., not a Consultant, University Faculty or equivalent position) in the UK or RoI. Veterinary applicants can have achieved board certification following completion of clinical residency but should not hold an academic position within the University.

Non-medical healthcare professionals may be at different stages in their clinical careers, but should possess relevant research experience to be able to take advantage of this opportunity. They would also not be expected to be University Faculty or in equivalent positions.

It is important to note that fellowships supported by the Universities of Cambridge and East Anglia are only open to health professionals in clinical training in the UK and RoI. Wellcome Sanger-funded fellowships are open to health professionals in clinical training both in the UK and overseas.

All successful candidates must be registered with their appropriate national professional regulatory body in the UK prior to commencement of the fellowship.

For medical graduates who do not hold academic clinical fellowships (ACFs) and non-medical health professionals, there is the opportunity to undertake a three-month pre-doctoral research placement. During this time, you can undertake mini-projects with research groups in your area of interest, to enable you to make an informed choice of PhD project and supervisor(s), and subsequently to formulate a “Project Proposal” leading to a PhD.

At the start of the Programme, all fellows attend induction events for postgraduate students organised at the University of Cambridge, the University of East Anglia or Wellcome Sanger Institute. The programme includes lectures, workshops, and taught modules, constituting a personal portfolio of training.

Throughout the Programme and after completion, you will be mentored by one or more individuals from the Faculty and Management Committee of the PhD programme.

Year One

During year one, fellows are encouraged to present regularly at lab meetings and to attend journal clubs and seminars. Under University of Cambridge regulations, all PhD students are "probationary" in their first year. Those who wish to progress to a PhD must complete and pass an assessment after 12 months, satisfying their supervisor(s), Head of Department and Faculty Degree Committee that they have the skills, ability and scientific basis to achieve the higher degree, in order to be registered for the PhD. Fellows are therefore required to write a report on their work to date and plans for forthcoming work, and attend a viva. In addition, Fellows are required to attend an annual Summer Symposium and a Michaelmas Term Research & Training Day where they are invited to present their work.

Year Two

Fellows are encouraged to continue to present regularly at lab meetings, departmental seminars and at meetings of learned societies. They may also be asked to present a poster at the annual Summer Symposium and are expected to attend both the Summer Symposium and the Michaelmas Term Research & Training Day. Progress will be reviewed by the mentoring committee.

Year Three

Ongoing regular presentations at lab meetings, departmental seminars and meetings of learned societies are encouraged. Progress will be reviewed by the mentoring committee and, again, fellows are required to attend the annual Summer Symposium and Michaelmas Term Research & Training Day where they are invited to present their work. Fellows will prepare their thesis for submission (deadline of 30 September) and the final viva will take place in October or November.

The aim of the programme is to enable candidates to successfully present themselves to the examiners through the various required submissions and to receive an endorsement of competency to practice as an architect. The programme will act as a forum for a wider discussion of issues affecting the profession and the construction industry in the UK and further afield.

The Spanish and Portuguese Section offers undergraduate and postgraduate teaching in Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan. It is unique in its commitment to exploring the trans-historical and cross-cultural interrelations between all these language areas and their corresponding cultural formations. The research interests of its academic staff thus span a wide range of areas including Medieval and Golden Age Spanish cultures and their consolidation in dialogue with the diverse cultures and faith systems of Africa and the Americas; the literature, art and cinema of Portugal, Brazil and Lusophone Africa; the literature of modern Spain and its relationship with the Enlightenment, colonialism, and modernity; the cinema of the Ibero-American world from early silent film through to its avant-garde, indigenous, popular and transnational dimensions today; and the culture of Catalonia from its rebirth in the Renaixença, through its resistance to Franquismo in literature and film, to its vibrant contemporary artistic, architectural and cinematographic expressions.

The Section also has one of the largest contingents of Latin American specialists in the United Kingdom, whose interests span the poetry, chronicles, and indigenous cultural production of the colonial period; the formation of national cultures in post-Independence Spanish America and Brazil; the experimental literatures of the Spanish American "Boom"; and the literature, cinema, and visual art produced in the interlocking contexts of post-dictatorship, mass urbanisation, narcotráfico and neo-liberal globalisation. The intellectual vitality of the Section is further evidenced by a dynamic research culture of public lectures, section seminars, postgraduate workshops and conferences, all of which add to a close-knit system of postgraduate supervision and mentoring that encourages both individual and collective endeavour within the section.

In British universities, the PhD (Doctorate of Philosophy) is traditionally awarded solely on the basis of a thesis, a substantial piece of writing in English that reports original research into a closely defined area of enquiry. The completion of the PhD thesis is generally expected to take three to four years, and most funding is based on this assumption. It's also possible to take a part-time route through research degrees, and the expected timeframe would be four to seven years.

During your research, the student will have the opportunity to work closely with a Supervisor who is a specialist in the candidate's research area. In addition to the Supervisor, the candidate will normally also be able to draw on the help and support of one further academic advisor and consult other academics working in related fields. The student might reasonably expect to see their Supervisor fortnightly or at least three times per term.

In addition to providing specialist supervision, the Faculty runs a programme of professional training for the benefit of all research students. The programme includes seminars and workshops on library resources, giving conference papers, publishing, applications and interviews, teaching skills, specialist linguistics training, and film-making. The School of Arts and Humanities runs a central programme covering a range of topics from PhD skills training, to language training and writing and editing skills. If you wish, you are likely to be given the opportunity to gain experience in small-group teaching from Colleges. There may also be opportunities to gain some experience in language teaching in the Faculty.

The Spanish and Portuguese Section and the Centre of Latin American Studies are pleased to share the details of a Consortium in Latin American Cultural Studies for PhD students. This new flexible arrangement will foster a greater exchange of ideas between students and scholars in the Section and the Centre and provide more opportunities for them to access relevant training, funding and other resources. For further information, please visit the Latin American Cultural Studies Consortium page on the Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages website.

The MPhil in Population Health Sciences includes the academic disciplines of epidemiology, global health, health data science, infectious diseases, public health, and primary care research. In the first term, all students take five core modules in biostatistics, epidemiology, applied data analysis, public health and research skills. Students subsequently select at least six additional modules, either following a designated pathway in one of the named specialisation themes (epidemiology, global health, health data science, infectious diseases, public health, and primary care research) or following a more personalised pathway.

The course is open to postgraduates who wish to pursue a research, practice or leadership career in population health sciences.

The overall aim of the programme is to provide course participants with the necessary knowledge and skills to serve as a foundation for a career in population health sciences in an academic, practice or in other settings. Students will receive basic training in the core research methods used in the related academic disciplines of epidemiology, global health, health data science, infectious diseases, public health, and primary care research, and will then be given the opportunity to further specialise in their chosen area of interest. The course will teach students how to critique and design population health studies, and will give them the opportunity to carry out focused research under close supervision. Ultimately, we expect our postgraduates to contribute to the study and improvement of population health.

Please see the course website for further details.​

For full-time students, the first year of the PhD is spent in Cambridge, with two major activities: firstly, developing a research topic with the guidance of a Supervisor, and secondly, training in research methods. The development of the topic often involves extensive reading into relevant literatures, the discovery of relevant information sources (such as archives or databases), and formulating plans for primary research, such as through making plans for fieldwork. This is done in combination with your primary Supervisor. The first year culminates in the production of a report, which serves as the basis for the registration exercise at the end of the year. This registration exercise is required to move on to official registration for the PhD degree and is conducted through a meeting with your postgraduate advisor and an independent assessor. Its purpose is to ensure that your research project is viable, that an appropriate methodology is being applied and that relevant literatures are being drawn upon.

The second major focus of the first year is research training. There is a weekly seminar on the methodological and philosophical questions that underpin research in the contemporary social sciences, which all first-year PhD students attend.

Alongside the methods course, PhD students choose two further courses to attend from a range of options, such as statistics, qualitative methods and languages. This is mandatory for the registration exercise.

For part-time students, whilst the methods training is expected to be carried out in the first year, additional training and the registration exercise may take place in the second term (Lent) of the second year.

The content of the second and third years for full-time students and the third and fifth years for part-time students varies considerably depending on the type of research being conducted. Many students spend a considerable portion of the second year (3/4th year part-time) of their PhD out of Cambridge on fieldwork, while others are resident throughout. To assist you in developing your research, we schedule an annual meeting with your primary Supervisor and postgraduate advisor, for which you produce a report for discussion.

The MPhil in Politics and International Studies is a nine-month full-time course offered by the Department of Politics and International Studies (POLIS). It is designed to meet the needs of all those who wish to enhance their understanding of international relations and politics at a postgraduate level. It is appropriate for those who wish to embark upon an academic career, in the first instance, through pursuing doctoral research, but also for those looking to embark on careers in the media, politics, law, public administration, civil service, finance, teaching, and the charity sector.

The programme offers advanced engagement with various aspects of the academic study of Politics and International Studies. It will provide you with a critical understanding of a range of issues involved in studying these disciplines, primarily through a mixture of lectures and research-driven seminars.

Among postgraduate courses in international relations and politics at British universities, the Cambridge MPhil in Politics and International Studies is distinctive in its multidisciplinary approach and breadth. Teaching takes the form of lectures and seminars on a range of advanced topics across a variety of subjects. The taught part of the course aims to familiarise you with the range and variety of disciplines required for a thorough critical understanding of the field in all its complexity, and of the means and methods that have been devised to understand it better.

The programme is suitable both for students who have just completed their first degree and for mature students from, for example, industry, teaching, the civil service, or the armed forces.

The department is looking to attract around 67 highly qualified candidates for the MPhil programme each academic year.

The MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History is aimed at students interested in both the theory and history of political thought (including those wider intellectual idioms which provide the context for its development). It also welcomes students whose previous study had a more specialised historical or theoretical (or philosophical) bent, provided that while doing this course, they are willing to engage with both approaches to research.

The MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History attracts students from all over the world, and its training provides an ideal foundation for doctoral research not only in the United Kingdom but around the world.

The MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History combines taught and research elements over a nine-month full-time programme, with a focus on pursuing the individual student's research for a dissertation of 15,000-20,000 words. Classes are provided in core methodology and the reading of selected texts, and on key concepts, which offer opportunities to explore different methods used in the field, different approaches to reading texts, and a variety of political concepts.

The MPhil in Political Thought and Intellectual History offers students a rounded and flexible master's programme that provides them with an introduction to all three of the fields contained within its scope (History of Political Thought, Political Theory, Intellectual History), while allowing them to specialise in their own area of particular interest. It offers a thorough training in the key techniques of higher-level academic study and research. It is an inter-faculty programme linking History, Politics, and Classics. The teaching staff and examiners, as do students on the course, have diverse disciplinary backgrounds.

Throughout the course, students will be supervised by a dedicated member of staff, who will guide them towards the completion of an original research project chosen and developed by the student. In addition, students will benefit from Cambridge's vibrant research environment, attending and participating in seminars, guest talks, workshops, and other events throughout the year.

The aims of the course are to provide an understanding of key contemporary research problems in a range of disciplines in the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences relating to the Arctic and Antarctica, and to allow students to undertake original research on a topic selected in consultation with members of staff.

The MPhil in Polar Studies consists of a core interdisciplinary element after which students follow one of two strands (Social Sciences and Humanities; or Natural Sciences). Lecture, seminar and practical-based teaching takes place in the Michaelmas term. The remaining two terms are devoted to a supervised research-led dissertation.

The course is examined through the submission of two pieces of coursework, a presentation and the dissertation. Dissertation topics are agreed with supervisors and are closely integrated with the ongoing research activities of the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI).