Program Overview

Law PhD

The Law PhD at the University of Sussex is a vibrant and exciting environment for doctoral research. Students can explore how law shapes and is shaped by today's evolving world, applying specialist expertise through real-world research and experience.

Key Information

• Duration: Up to 4 years full-time or 8 years part-time
• Start date: Choose to start in September 2025 or January 2026
• Apply by: 1 month before start (UK), 3 months before start (international)

Areas of Study

Our world-renowned faculty explores issues across a range of areas, including:

• Child and family law
• Criminal law
• Cyber law
• Dispute resolution
• Employment
• Environmental law
• Healthcare law
• Human rights
• Migration

Entry Requirements

• Degree requirements: You're normally expected to have a Masters degree and an upper second-class (2.1) undergraduate honours degree.
• Subject-specific requirements: Your qualification should be in law or a related subject area, but you may still be considered for the degree if you have a qualification in a different subject area.

International Requirements

Requirements vary by country. Please select your country to view specific requirements.

English Language Requirements

• IELTS (Academic): 6.5 overall, including at least 6.0 in each component
• Alternative English language qualifications: Cambridge Advanced Certificate in English (CAE), Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE), Duolingo English test, LanguageCert Academic SELT, Pearson PTE Academic, TOEFL (iBT)
• Country exceptions: If you are a national of one of the exempt English-speaking countries, you will normally meet our English requirement.

Funding and Fees

• Fees for self-funding students:
  • Home students: Fees are not yet set for entry in the academic year 2026/27.
  • International students: £23,500 per year for full-time students
• Funded projects and scholarships: Our aim is to ensure that every student who wants to study with us is able to, despite financial barriers.
• Additional costs: You may need to cover some research and training costs, relevant to your research project, such as travel, equipment, and conference costs.

Our Supervisors

We have a wide range of supervisors with expertise in various areas of law, including:

• Dr Giorgia Baldi
• Dr Stephanie Berry
• Prof Jo Bridgeman
• Dr Qingxiu Bu
• Dr Elizabeth Craig
• Dr Mark Davies
• Mr Paul Eden
• Dr Simon Flacks
• Dr Shahrzad Fouladvand
• Dr Maria Frabboni
• Dr Tom Frost
• Dr Matthew Garrod
• Dr Gianluca Gentili
• Dr Ahmad Ghouri
• Dr Sabrina Gilani
• Dr Andres Guadamuz
• Dr Edward Guntrip
• Dr Sirko Harder
• Prof Christian Henderson
• Dr Bonnie Holligan
• Dr Helena Howe
• Dr Pablo Iglesias-Rodriguez
• Dr John Jupp
• Dr Ioannis Katsaroumpas
• Prof Tarik Kochi
• Prof Phoebe Li
• Prof Emily Lydgate
• Prof Donald Mcgillivray
• Dr Maria Moscati
• Dr Aisling O'Sullivan
• Dr Emanuela Orlando
• Dr Tanya Palmer
• Dr Neil Partington
• Prof Amir Paz-Fuchs
• Dr Charlotte Skeet
• Dr Bal Sokhi-Bulley
• Prof Lindsay Stirton
• Dr Ruth Stirton
• Mrs Teresa Sutton
• Dr Judith Townend
• Prof Richard Vogler
• Prof Mark Walters
• Dr Lucy Welsh
• Dr Jo Wilding
• Dr Jo Wilson

How to Apply

If you'd like to join us as a research student, there are two main routes:

• Browse funded projects in this subject area
• Browse our potential supervisors and propose your own research project

Full-time and Part-time Study

Choose to work on your research full-time or part-time, to fit around your work and personal life.