Program Overview

PhD History of Modern Europe

Course Overview

The PhD in Modern European History is an advanced research degree, awarded on the basis of a thesis and an oral viva voce examination. The primary purpose of the PhD is the preparation and presentation of a substantial piece of independent and original academic research, completed in three years if studying full-time and usually six years if studying part-time.

Study Period

The usual period of doctoral research is three years for those who engage in full-time study, though the University’s Regulations also permit candidates who make particularly rapid progress to apply to the University Research Committee for permission to submit at the end of their second year of study. Part-time study is also available, with students completing the dissertation in five or six years.

Supervision

Every PhD student in the School of Humanities is supported by two 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 progression through the various stages of the PhD, including Annual Review meetings with a senior professor (where progress is monitored and support offered towards the planning of the next period of study).

Research Areas

Members of the academic staff who are available to undertake supervision in the field of the History of Modern Europe include:

• Sir Rodric Braithwaite – Sir Rodric is a historian of twentieth century Russia and the Soviet Union. A former diplomat and foreign policy advisor, he has brought his considerable international experience to bear on his academic work, which ranges from the history of Moscow to the doomed 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
• Dr Michael Humphries – Dr Humphries is a political and economic historian with a focus on European empires and nationalist movements in the modern era. His work includes publications on patriotism and the study of elite political networks.
• Professor Jeremy Jennings – Professor Jennings is a historian of modern France. He has written widely on the development of the liberal tradition in France and on the long and complex legacies of the French Revolution. His current work is on the journeys of the nineteenth-century French politician Alexis de Tocqueville in America.
• Dr Thomas C. Jones – Dr Jones is a historian of western Europe in the modern era. His work, often international in its scope, has engaged with subjects ranging from the course and legacies of the revolutions of 1848 to the international politics of immigration from the eighteenth century to the First World War.

Entry Requirements

Applicants are normally expected to have a first or upper second-class degree or significant relevant experience. Age is usually an irrelevancy and the University of Buckingham’s current doctoral students range in age from those in their twenties to those in their seventies. Academic ability is the only criterion regarded as relevant.

Teaching and Assessment

PhD students undertake supervised but independent research, at the end of which they submit a thesis embodying the results of that research. The length of the dissertation should not be fewer than 70,000 words and no longer than 80,000 words of text (excluding the thesis-abstract, appendices, footnotes, tables, and bibliography).

Course Fees

The fees for this course are:

• Sep 2025 Full-time (3 Years): UK £8,267, INT £14,500
• Sep 2025 Part-time (6 Years): UK £4,133, INT £7,250
• Jan 2026 Full-time (3 Years): UK £8,267, INT £14,500
• Jan 2026 Part-time (6 Years): UK £4,133, INT £7,250

Scholarships and Bursaries

We have bursaries and scholarships available for both home and international students at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and these are awarded based on location, merit or financial need.

• Postgraduate First-Class Scholarship: The scholarship will reduce tuition fees by 33% for new UK and international postgraduate students.
• Royal Charter 40th Anniversary Scholarship: Research scholarship that offers outstanding applicants some or all the fees paid for by the University.