birkbeck phd

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BIRKBECK, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Different course options.

• Key information

Course Summary

Tuition fees, entry requirements, similar courses at different universities, key information data source : idp connect, qualification type.

PhD/DPhil - Doctor of Philosophy

Subject areas

Course type.

An PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation of 60,000 to 100,000 words. MPhil/PhD researchers in law at Birkbeck benefit from the supervision of internationally renowned experts, classes in legal theory and research and presentation skills, seminars and extensive library facilities. The unifying themes of our research are social and legal theory and interdisciplinary study. Accordingly, we welcome applications both from lawyers and non-lawyers who wish to undertake research within the broad range of substantive areas of national, European and international law.

We also offer financial assistance for conference attendance, comprehensive independent monitoring of each student's yearly progress, and postgraduate student representation on the School of Law board. Ours is a vibrant community of researchers that organises, with the support of the School, a series of workshops, reading groups and a work-in-progress group, as well as frequent social events.

Concentrating on a number of clearly defined research areas in which our expertise is internationally recognised, we aim to:

• specialise in distinctive and innovative research
• establish and foster critical and multidisciplinary scholarships, by building links with other disciplines and by introducing the scholarly values and methods of the humanities and social sciences into the discipline of law
• promote a culture of joint research, publications and other forms of collaboration among our staff
• pursue a programme of national and international links.

Our key areas of research are:

• race, gender and culture
• law and humanities
• policy, practice and activism
• regulation, risk and surveillance
• human rights.

At Birkbeck, you are initially registered on an MPhil and you upgrade to a PhD after satisfactory progress in the first year or two.

UK fees Course fees for UK students

To be confirmed

International fees Course fees for EU and international students

Good honours degree in law or a related discipline from the humanities or social sciences.

LLM International Law and Legal Practice

University of east london, llm general, llm business and financial law, llm energy and natural resources law, llm human rights advocacy.

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Postgraduate study, mphil/phd research.

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Birkbeck launches daytime teaching

Find out more and apply now to start an undergraduate degree this October.

If you don't want to search you can browse our courses instead.

Looking for short courses or certificates of higher education (modular enrolment)? Visit our short course page to browse or search.

Studying at Birkbeck

Browse our full- and part-time undergraduate courses and find out what it's like to study at our central London campus.

Choose the best postgraduate course for you from our wide range of study options, and find information about entry requirements and how to apply.

International students

There is nowhere better to study than London and Birkbeck is at its geographic and academic heart. Find out everything you need to know about coming to study here.

Student life

Find out what it's like to study in the heart of central London and what facilities and services are on offer to students.

Top reasons to choose Birkbeck

Birkbeck is a member of the prestigious University of London and a leading research university. Find out more about the ways Birkbeck could change your life.

Birkbeck is committed to doing everything we can to help you finance your studies. Find out what is available, how to apply and the advice and support we provide.

Daytime teaching

Any time is the right time to study. It's your choice. See the new daytime teaching option on a selection of our undergraduate courses.

Birkbeck campus tour

Follow Birkbeck student Charlie as she takes you on a tour of our central London campus. You can see our teaching spaces, library, cafe and restaurant, as well as the beautiful green spaces that surround our buildings.

Research with impact

Discover how Birkbeck’s socially engaged research informs public policy, pushes scientific, medical and technological advances, supports the economy, promotes culture and the arts and makes a positive difference to society.

Birkbeck has a large, vibrant community of MPhil/PhD researchers. Find out about our lively research culture, world-leading academics and the areas of supervision we offer.

Full- and part-time study

We offer the majority of our undergraduate, postgraduate and MPhil/PhD courses, both full-time and part-time. Find out what works best for you.

Our prospectus is now digital

Explore our courses and find out more about being a student with us.

Birkbeck Arts Week returns to Bloomsbury with a rich tapestry of free events

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Mariam Tahir graduated with a MSc Analytical Bioscience degree after coming to the UK as an asylum seeker in 2018. Read about her story, alongside those of other inspirational Birkbeck students.

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• Prospective Students

About the programme

The guiding principles of our programme are to provide students with the opportunity to work with world class research scientists, and to mentor them through their PhD to postdoctoral fellowships and other career opportunities. Our programme is designed to provide rich and interdisciplinary training in research aimed at improving human health, from fundamental lab-based science to population health.

Read more Apply now

Research themes

All students are admitted to one of the 4 themes. DTP students are part of a four-year programme that includes an initial ‘rotation’ year. Other students are part of a three-year programme that does not include the initial rotations.

Supervisors on the UCL Birkbeck MRC DTP span several UCL faculties including Life Sciences, Brain Sciences, Medical Sciences and Population and Health Sciences. 

The UCL Birkbeck MRC DTP offers high quality training to all DTP and iCASE students

Industrial CASE PhDs are projects run in collaboration with an industrial partner.  The student applies to a specified project which has been created between an academic and industry partner. 

Latest News

Publications

Q&A Forum

Do you have a question about the UCL Birkbeck MRC DTP? If so, then submit a question on this forum and we will post the answer.

How to Apply

Find out more about the different routes to entry and our eligibility criteria

Birkbeck Graduate Research School (BGRS)

Starting my PhD during a Global Pandemic

A bgrs blog post by swathi kumar ( phd biology , cancer biology, ismb ).

I’m now in my second year of the BBSRC LIDo PhD programme . The first year was composed of two 4-month rotation projects, the first of which was based at both Birkbeck and UCL and is now my full-time PhD project. Like many others, March 17 th was my final pre-lockdown day working in the lab and I was one month in on my second rotation project based at Barts Cancer Institute. The rest of the summer was a blur with days spent teaching myself to use command-line interfaces to run bioinformatic tools in an attempt to produce any data whatsoever for my project that had then become wholly computational. I managed to complete a coding course covering MATLAB, R and Python which was a mandatory part of my first year and a useful skill to learn as a biologist. All that remained was to return back to my old lab and officially start my PhD.

My first day back in the lab was July 27 th – 4 and a half months post-lockdown. I had fastidiously read all the ‘returning to work’ documentation and was prepared for Birkbeck to look quite different to how I remembered it. Sure enough, the corridors were filled with COVID-19 safety measures and a 2-metre rule had been implemented. Luckily, I was already trained in the microbiology techniques I would need for the first month of my PhD thanks to my rotation project last year. My PhD researches the pathogenesis of the Kaposi Sarcoma-associated Herpes Virus with a particular focus on a viral oncogene it produces called vFLIP. I am interested in cancer biology having done a master’s degree in it, and my interdisciplinary PhD combines structural biology and virology. Overall, the majority of my PhD is wet lab based.

Being supervised while adhering to social distancing rules vaguely resembles a Quickstep dance. The 2-metre rule was recently relaxed to 1-metre with masks on at all times, which made it significantly easier for my supervisor to teach me how to use structural biology equipment. Later this month I will be demonstrating these techniques to undergraduate summer camp students and supervising an undergraduate placement student – both firsts in my career. Apart from eating our lunches at desks spaced 2-metres apart, the daily work routine is becoming relatively normal. I do look forward to the day we can attend seminars and lectures in-person rather than online. However, I will say that the switch to online talks gave me the courage to try a new profession – teaching! Overall, I’m thankful that my transition from working at home to experimenting in the lab has been smooth. I hope my story encourages others who may have some anxiety about returning to work to not be afraid and to believe in themselves!

Author: ubcg56b

Graduate Research School Manager View all posts by ubcg56b

2 thoughts on “Starting my PhD during a Global Pandemic”

Well done, Swathi – and good luck! Sue (tortoise PhD History)

Way to go! Onwards & upwards always! 😊

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• Undergraduate study
• Postgraduate study
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Computer Science and Information Systems

Application options include:

Course Overview

An MPhil/PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation of 60,000 to 100,000 words. At Birkbeck, you are initially registered on an MPhil and you upgrade to a PhD after satisfactory progress in the first year or two, and if it seems likely that your thesis will contain significant original work . You need to find a suitable academic supervisor at Birkbeck, who can offer the requisite expertise to guide and support you through your research. Find out more about undertaking a research degree at Birkbeck .

Students who successfully complete this MPhil or PhD degree will have gained expert knowledge in their chosen research area and the ability to perform research-led activities in a broader context. In addition, students who successfully complete the PhD degree will have gained the ability to identify and solve complex problems arising in their chosen research area, and will have made a substantial original contribution to this area.

Our research focuses on data science, theoretical computer science, algorithms, internet of things, data mining and machine learning, knowledge representation and reasoning, logic and artificial intelligence, semantic web technologies, search engines, mobile and ubiquitous computing, computer vision, bio-inspired computing and social networks.

Key information

Computer science and information systems mphil/phd: 7 years part-time, on campus, starting 2024-25.

• October 2024
• January 2025

Computer Science and Information Systems MPhil/PhD: 4 years full-time, on campus, starting 2024-25

Find another course:

• Birkbeck was ranked in the top 25 universities in the UK for its Computer Science and Informatics research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework. Overall, Birkbeck's  research excellence was confirmed  in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework  with 83% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
• Birkbeck established one of the first computing departments in the UK in 1957. Our research dates back to the late 1940s when one of the first electronic computers was developed in the then Computing Laboratory at Birkbeck by Dr Andrew Booth.
• We provide a stimulating teaching and research environment for both part-time and full-time students.

Entry Requirements

A Master's or upper second-class degree in computer science.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement,  we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services  to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our  English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country .

Visa and funding requirements

If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
• Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

International students who require a Student visa should apply for our full-time courses as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

For full information, read our visa information for international students page .

Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country .

Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

Computer Science and Information Systems MPhil/PhD: 7 years part-time or 4 years full-time, on campus, starting in academic year 2024-25

Academic year 2024–25, starting october 2024, january 2025, april 2025.

Part-time home students: £2,539 per year Full-time home students: £4,786 per year Part-time international students : £7,525 per year Full-time international students: £14,885 per year

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases. For more information, please see the College Fees Policy .

If you’ve studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a discount on the tuition fee of this course.

Fees and finance

PhD students resident in England can apply for government loans of over £26,000 to cover the cost of tuition fees, maintenance and other study-related costs.

Flexible finance: pay your fees in monthly instalments at no extra cost . Enrol early to spread your costs and reduce your monthly payments.

We offer a range of studentships and funding options to support your research.

Discover the financial support available to you to help with your studies at Birkbeck.

International scholarships

We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. Discover if you are eligible for a scholarship .

Our research culture

We have major research collaborations with the neighbouring UCL Institute of Education and with our own psychological sciences team. Together with the UCL Institute of Education, we are exploring how digital technologies and new media are shaping the future of knowledge and learning, while our collaboration with the psychological sciences team, in the  Centre for Cognition, Computation and Modelling  (CCCM), focuses on connectionist modelling, symbolic modelling, cognitive architectures, and computational modelling for the study of human behaviour and cognition.

Our academic staff serve on numerous journal editorial boards and conference programme committees.

Study resources include a course on research methods for computer science and information systems, regular research seminars and extensive computing facilities. We provide assistance with funding for you to attend conferences where you are presenting your research, and you are also encouraged to attend generic research training courses.

Full-time students are expected to provide lab supervision, tutorial help and marking of coursework on our taught courses for up to five hours a week as part of their training. This is remunerated at the current College rate. You must have an active, up-to-date web page on our website, including contact details, a description of your area of research and a publications list.

As a research student, you will have 24-hour access to servers and networked PCs running a range of language compilers, database, data mining and other specialist software, and Birkbeck library  subscribes to major digital library resources in computer science.

Read more about  our vibrant research culture .

You can contact the research admissions tutor,  Andrea Cali , with general enquiries about MPhil/PhD research with us. Find out more about  applying for a research degree in Computer Science at Birkbeck . 

Follow these steps to apply to an MPhil/PhD research degree at Birkbeck: 

1. Check that you meet the entry requirements, including English language requirements, as described on this page.

2. Find a potential supervisor for your MPhil/PhD research. You can look at the Find a Supervisor area on this page for an overview, or  search our Experts’ Database  or  browse our staff pages  for more in-depth information. You may also find it helpful to view the research projects of our current students.

3. Contact the academic member of staff - or the department they teach in - for an informal discussion about your research interests and to establish if they are willing and able to supervise your research. (Please note: finding a potential supervisor does not guarantee admission to the research degree, as this decision is made using your whole application.)  Find out more about the supervisory relationship and how your supervisor will support your research .

4. Draft a research proposal. This needs to demonstrate your knowledge of the field, the specific research questions you wish to pursue, and how your ideas will lead to the creation of new knowledge and understanding.  Find out more about writing a research proposal .

5. Apply directly to Birkbeck, using the online application link on this page. You will also need to include a short personal statement and a copy of your CV. All research students are initially registered on an MPhil and then upgrade to a PhD after making sufficient progress.

Find out more about the application process, writing a research proposal and the timeframe .

Application deadlines and interviews

You can apply, and start studying, at any time during the year, although October is the usual start date.

If you wish to apply for funding, you will need to apply by certain deadlines. Consult the websites of relevant bodies for details.

Apply for your course

Apply for your course using the apply now button in the key information section .

Finding a supervisor

A crucial factor when applying for postgraduate study in computer science and information systems is the correlation between the applicant’s intellectual and research interests and those of one or more potential supervisors.

Find out more about the research interests of our academic staff .

Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Research Group (IPARG)

Jonathan Smith (Professor)

Jonathan runs the IPA research group at Birkbeck. He developed IPA and applies it in a wide range of areas. Among topics he is currently researching: pain, depression, genetics, dual-language use.

Dr Virginia Eatough (Reader in Psychology)

Virginia is interested in all aspects of emotional experience in particular feelings & moods. Current research: happiness, emotional aspects of living with Parkinson’s disease, developing phenomenological theory to understand emotional life, neurophenomenology of neurofeedback training.

Dominic Conroy (Postdoctoral Researcher)

Dom’s post-doctoral work concerns adolescents’ experiences of multisystemic therapy as part of the NIHR-funded ‘START’ national study. Main interests: adolescent transitions, drinking behaviour, mixed methods, health interventions, gender relations.

Joanna Farr (Lecturer in Psychology)

Joanna’s research focuses on young people’s experience of mental health difficulties, emotional wellbeing and support provision. Current research: early intervention for bipolar disorder; adolescent girls’ everyday experience of coping with emotions; developing high-quality and innovative IPA.

Megumi Fieldsend (honorary research fellow)

Megumi is an honorary research fellow with IPARG where she recently completed her PhD. Her research explores the experiences of women living with involuntary childlessness in midlife, focusing on the psychological impact and the meaning of life without children.

Suzi Godson (PhD Student)

My longitudinal research explores the female experience of midlife divorce and considers whether income affects either the experience or the outcome. It involves interviewing participants at Decree Nisi, Decree Absolute & post-divorce.

Neda Hatami (PhD student)

My PhD research focuses on the lived experience of theatre actors. I am studying how the experience of role-playing on stage affect the actors’ relationships and identity.

James Huff (researcher)

I am investigating the psychological journey of engineering students as they become engineers, being especially attentive to the fuzzy boundaries of technical and social features of their identity.

Chris Jacobs (researcher)

Chris is doing research with Jonathan exploring the experience of women who learn that their newly diagnosed breast cancer is, or could be hereditary. She is doing a part time PhD in this area at UCL. She is consultant genetic counsellor at Guy’s Hospital

Jamie Kirkham (researcher)

Jamie is working with Jonathan on research which is exploring the lived experience of chronic pain. Jamie is currently completing a doctorate in counselling psychology at City university.

Adam Knowles (PhD student)

Adam is an existential psychotherapist researching the Amazonian plant medicine ayahuasca and its potential to help those in the UK with insight and well-being.

Dr Natalie Lancer (recently completed PhD)

My current research focuses on the experience of life coaching and personal growth for young people at university. This work has led to the development of the ‘Eight Tensions’ existential framework and future research plans to evaluate its use for therapists and counsellors.

Adnan Levent (PhD student)

I investigate the possible consequence of recreational drug use on cognitive abilities such as memory. The work is mixed methods using self-reports and psychological testing to assess the effects of drug use as well as an IPA interview study to explore motivation behind drug use.

Tin Liang (PhD Student)

My PhD study focuses on the relationship between individuals with visual impairment and their guide dogs.

Rosey McCracken (PhD Student)

Using IPA , my PhD focus is a longitudinal study of the lived experience of men diagnosed with Male Breast Cancer in the post -surgical recovery period.

Isabella Nizza (PhD Student)

My research concerns the lived experience of chronic pain patients attending a pain self-management programme as expressed using words and visual images. I am also working as a researcher on an NIHR funded project evaluating a modified CBT intervention for work with families where a child or young person has epilepsy and mental health difficulties. Lead researchers Roz Shafran UCL, Jonathan Smith et al.

Mah Rana (PhD student)

Using IPA and videography, the focus of my PhD research explores the lived experiences of dementia-caregiver dyads who engage in textile-based crafts at home. 

John Rhodes (Clin psy/researcher)

My research interests include types of depression (with Jonathan), aspects of psychosis (basic processes and effects of trauma) and states of the self.’

Alice Ryley (PhD student)

My research explores the decision-making processes involved in raising vegan children in the context of wider societal beliefs about child-rearing, health and the socialisation of young people.

Pnina Shinebourne(Hon research fellow)

I am a Senior Lecturer at the Dept of Psychology, Middlesex Univerity. Main interests: addiction and recovery, interpretative phenomenological analysis, pluralism in qualitative research, visual and poetic methods in qualitative research.

Rachel Starr (honorary research fellow)

My research is about the phenomenology of aesthetic encountering. I am interested in how people experience looking at paintings, from what attracts them to particular artworks to how they feel after they have finished their viewing.

Curt Strangward (PhD student)

I am using IPA to explore the lived experiences of individuals, with Parkinson’s Disease, who have had a deep brain stimulator implanted.

• What is IPA

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PhD Studentships

Interdisciplinary phd studentships at the ismb.

PhD studentships are awarded on a competitive basis with applications being considered by a shortlisting and interview panel that is specific to each programme. Potential applicants may apply for all of the studentship opportunities below but must follow the instructions for applicants described on each of the programme webpages.

Bloomsbury Colleges PhD studentship 2021-22: Investigation of microbial community dynamics using in vitro biofilms and in vivo zebrafish infection models

The Bloomsbury Colleges are offering an outstanding interdisciplinary research opportunity through the Bloomsbury Colleges PhD Studentships programme. One PhD studentship is available beginning in the academic year 2021-22 in the 'Investigation of  microbial community dynamics using in vitro biofilms and in vivo zebrafish infection'.

Further information and details of how to apply can be found on the project page .

Closing date: 1 March 2021

ISMB 4 Year Interdisciplinary PhD programme: From Structures to Systems

In this programme students are exposed to a wide range of multidisciplinary training necessary to address essential problems in fundamental biology and biomedicine. The first year of the programme comprises intensive training and three lab rotations in key disciplines spanning across Structural, Molecular, Systems, Computational and Chemical Biology, empowering students with opportunities for discovery from the beginning of their studies while shaping their own unique experience of interdisciplinary research. This experience provides the basis for an informed choice of PhD project and an ideal platform for progress in years 2-4.

Applications for 2020-21 are now closed.

UCL-Birkbeck MRC Doctoral Training Programme

This programme provides state-of-the-art PhD training across four strategic themes that exploit the unique research strengths and training infrastructure of UCL and Birkbeck. The programme has a four year pathway and a three year pathway, which includes industrial CASE students.

BBSRC funded London Interdisciplinary Doctoral (LIDo) programme in biosciences

BBSRC PhD studentships offer the opportunity to study within the ISMB at Birkbeck and UCL as part of the LIDo PhD programme. This interdisciplinary PhD programme provides the mathematical and computational skills necessary to understand and model biological processes and function, while maintaining the training in world-class bioscience that underpins all living systems. Students complete research training and rotation projects in year 1 before choosing and beginning their PhD project.