PhD and MPhil Programme

A few words from the Director of the Graduate School

Research is an integral part of what we do at the University of Cumbria. Our staff individually, in groups and at centres contribute to leading research at regional, national and international levels. We have actively participated in the national Research Assessment Exercises since 1992.

Our mission and history mean that the university is a key player in a number of disciplines. Our portfolios in education, particularly teacher education and training, and health, involve leading-edge research exploring the links between theory and professional practice. For example, current research on image perception is seeking to enhance the reliability of diagnoses from medical images such as x-ray and ultrasound. A longstanding engagement with the creative arts gives the university particular strength in art, design and media. Among our other strengths are English, forestry, conservation and upland management, history, as well as theology and religious studies. The Every Child Matters agenda, a recent national focus of research, presents a particular opportunity for the university to take the lead.

All research candidates at the University of Cumbria become members of the Graduate School, which offers both research skills development and a forum for researchers from different disciplines to swap ideas and compare research methodologies. The following list of potential fields of study is broadly descriptive of themes, although it is far from exhaustive. If you have a specific research interest, please contact us to explore what options may be available. I hope you will find this section of the website interesting and informative. I look forward to meeting you, should you choose to join us.

Dr Helen Woodruffe-Burton, MSc, PhD (Reader in Marketing)
Director of the Graduate School

General details

Length
MPhil: two to three years full-time or three to five years part-time
PhD:   three to four years full-time or four to seven years part-time
Registration
You may register on 1 April or 1 October. Research students studying at the University of Cumbria are registered with Lancaster University.
Cost
Please contact the Research Office| for current part-time and full-time tuition fees. In addition to the tuition fees, there is a registration fee payable at the begininng of the progamme and an examination fee, payable upon submission of a final thesis.
Faculties
All three faculties offer opportunities to study at MPhil or PhD level, part-time or full-time. Individual research projects are organised through subject areas directly.
Entry requirements:
You need a good honours degree of a recognised university or comparable institution, or qualifications regarded by Lancaster University as the equivalent. Some experience of research, research training or reflective professional practice is expected. An MA, MSc or equivalent is desirable but not essential.
Qualifications awarded
The qualifications awarded for postgraduate research degree courses offered by the University of Cumbria are validated by Lancaster University
Required length of the thesis
MPhil:  Up to 60,000 words
PhD:    Not normally to exceed 80,000 words (including any footnotes and appendices, but not including the bibliography), or 100,000 as an absolute maximum.
Contact with supervisors
Contact time is usually one hour per month, the time and place of meetings by arrangement with your supervisor. Development of your generic research and transferable skills is available in Lancaster and Carlisle.
Applications
For application details and general information on research degrees at the University of Cumbria, contact Sonia Mason in the Research Office| on 01524-384221. 

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What is a Research Degree?

There are two research degrees: Master of Philosophy (MPhil) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), the latter carrying the title ‘Doctor’. Both these higher degrees are awarded on the basis of a thesis, which embodies the results of the student’s research, the MPhil thesis containing evidence of originality in scholarship and the PhD thesis being a longer work containing an original contribution to knowledge.
 
At first, research students are registered either for an MPhil, with the option of transferring to a PhD subject to their wish and satisfactory progress, or as a probationary PhD candidate whose registration is subject to confirmation after a rigorous review when the work is well underway. Research degree study has to be an original investigation with the aim of increasing our knowledge and understanding of the selected topic. The Higher Education Funding Councils state that research also includes “work of direct relevance to the needs of commerce and industry, as well as to the public and voluntary sectors; scholarship; the invention and generation of ideas, images, performances and artefacts, including design, where these lead to new or substantially improved insights; and the use of existing knowledge in experimental development to produce new or substantially improved materials, devices, products and processes, including design and construction”.

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Supervision

The University of Cumbria operates a system of team supervision for research students. Each student is allocated a main supervisor, who provides the majority of support and regular contact. The main supervisor is normally an experienced researcher with a PhD. Periodically the research student meets their supervisory team, to discuss progress so far. As well as structuring expectations of progress, this system allows students to draw on the specialist knowledge of a range of tutors.
 
Provided we have tutors who can supervise the proposed research, MPhil and PhD research degrees are potentially available in the broad areas listed below.

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Fields of study by faculty

The University is divided into faculties, but it also has a number of themes that cut across subject areas and these provide particular foci for many aspects of its work. For example, the national agenda Every Child Matters/Youth Matters is relevant to a wide range of professions and is now a focus of research in a number of Faculties. Through the Centre for the Development of Learning and Teaching there is a growing research profile in higher education practice. Further, because of the geography of the University and the Cumbria Higher Learning Network, there is increasing expertise in distributed learning practice. 
 
This is an indicative list of potential study areas for those studying for research degrees with the University. It is not exhaustive. Should your particular interest not be listed, please contact us - we may still be able to help you pursue your study.
 
Faculty of The Arts
 
The faculty has research expertise in a range of humanities subjects and also in the creative arts. It is the base for the Research and Creative Enterprises Service (RACES), through which a range of links between the creative arts and business have been developed.  
 
Art
Art History
Creative Industries and Entrepreneurship
Creative Writing
Cultural Analysis
Design
Digital Technology (media, multimedia, e-learning, graphic design)
English (poetry, American, Irish and women’s writing, performance)
Ethics 
Heritage Landscape and Environmental Arts
History
Religious Studies
Sustainability
Traditional and Contemporary Craft
Faculty of Business, Social Science and Sport
 
The faculty has particular expertise in business and community development, and in sports studies and science. It is the base for the Business and Community Enterprise Unit, which has worked on the development of a range of projects delivering knowledge transfer.
 
Applied Social Studies
Business Studies
Coaching
Community Development
Marketing/Consumer Behaviour
Psychology *
Regional Economic Development
Sports Development
Sports Performance
Youth and Community Studies
 
* The applied psychology section has particular expertise in the following areas
  • occupational and commercial psychology
  • organisational behaviour
  • quantitative data mining
  • theoretical and philosophical psychology
  • eco-psychology and mental health
  • integration of religion/spirituality and clinical psychology.
Faculty of Education
 
This has particular expertise in teacher education and development, and the Education Development Unit, through which the faculty’s CPD and academic enterprise activities are delivered, is based here. 
 
Cultural Development
Curriculum Development and Practice
Education
Education Management
Mathematics/ICT
Moral Education
Teacher Education
Faculty of Health, Medical Sciences and Social Care
 
Based here is the Centre for Health Research and Practice Development. Research is broadly focused around five themes: Medical Imaging, Nursing, Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy, Health Promotion and Mental Health.
 
Health Policy
Health Practice
Health Promotion
Health Studies and Healing Science
Imaging Sciences
Medical Sciences
Mental Health
Nursing and Midwifery
Occupational Therapy
Physiotherapy
Public Health and Primary Care
Radiography
Social Work
Faculty of Science and Natural Resources
 
The faculty acts as the base for the National School of Forestry and it also has expertise in environmental management, agriculture and outdoor education.
 
Conservation Biology
Development Education
Ecology (Behavioural, Population, Landscape)
Ecotourism
Forestry
Forest Management
Outdoor Education
Protected Areas and Rural Development
Renewable Biomass Energy
Silviculture
Sustainable Pest Management
Upland Management

Graduate School and Research Skills Development

Although research students work independently, with supervision from team members, they can also mix with and work alongside other research students in the Graduate School on our Lancaster campus. The Graduate School is equipped with individual study facilities, storage areas and computer equipment.
 
The Director of the Graduate School arranges early evening, generic research-support sessions for research students and supervisors, once a month in Carlisle and Lancaster. There is a two-week Research Degree Summer School in July each year. Research students may also follow (all or part of) an appropriate MA/MSc course at the University of Cumbria and participate in generic training courses at Lancaster University.
 
QAA Code of Practice requirements for postgraduate research student education are met through a blend of internal and external provision, the latter being increasingly afforded through the NW Hub of Vitae. Individual research students’ skill-development needs are assessed through supervisory sessions.
 
Research and Scholarship Fest (R&S Fest)
 
The highly popular R&S Fest each year enables all the University of Cumbria’s researchers - students and research-active staff alike - to present their current research findings, and share experiences and ideas. R&S Fest offers students a chance to develop the presentational skills needed for conferences and learned societies in front of a supportive home audience, at the same time making contact with the wider university research community.

Contact us for further information|

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