Program Overview

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Law MPhil/PhD

Course Overview

With a research degree from Middlesex University, you'll make a lasting contribution to social justice through academic study or professional practice.

Why Study MPhil/PhD Law at Middlesex University?

The School of Law at Middlesex has a vibrant and diverse MPhil/PhD programme with some 70 students engaged in research on a variety of topics spanning law, politics, international relations, criminology and sociology.

Doctoral Institute

Our Doctoral students are automatically members of the School of Law's Doctoral Institute, an academic unit within the School of Law whose objective is to enhance and enrich the doctoral experience by encouraging intellectual exchange, interdisciplinary debate and professional development.

Bi-annual Doctoral seminar

Twice a year, students and colleagues in the Doctoral Institute spend two days together. These intensive seminars include sessions led by senior scholars from Middlesex and other leading universities, student presentations, and workshops on matters of practical importance.

International law study group

The International Law Study Group meets approximately every month during term. The sessions focus on recent, notable judicial decisions from an international court or tribunal.

International Law Blog

The International Law Blog was launched in 2014 by a group of scholars whose paths first crossed at Middlesex University. The Blog aims to provide students, junior lawyers and scholars at different stages of their professional and academic careers with a platform to discuss issues related to international, transnational, European and comparative law.

Support for Writing Skills

The School of Law offers various forms of support for writing at doctoral level. This may be provided one-to-one, or in the form of practical sessions during the twice-yearly doctoral seminars, or during regular writing retreats.

Book club

Students and academic colleagues meet regularly in an informal setting to discuss books of interest.

Film club

Research students in the School of Law organise regular, free screenings of films which broadly relate to themes of law and justice.

About Your Course

What Will You Study on MPhil/PhD Law?

Research degrees are quite different from undergraduate or taught Masters degree programmes. Under the guidance of your Director of Studies and supervisor(s), you will conduct empirical or theoretical research that will lead to new knowledge in your chosen field and write a thesis of around 80,000 words (excluding footnotes and bibliography).

Teaching and Learning

A Director of Studies and at least one supervisor from the University will conduct your research supervision.

Entry Requirements

Qualifications

For doctoral research, applicants are expected to have at least one of the following:

• An undergraduate degree, usually with class 2:1 or equivalent in a relevant subject
• A relevant master's qualification or equivalent evidence of prior professional practice or learning that meets the higher education provider's criteria and guidelines for the recognition of prior learning for the purpose of meeting entry requirements for a programme

PhD

• If you'd like to enrol for our PhD course, you'll first need to enrol for the MPhil and then transfer to a PhD once you've made enough progress with your research – typically after 18-24 months.

Eligibility

UK/EU and international students are eligible to apply for this course.

Fees and Funding

UK Students

Full-time students: £6,400 per year Part-time students: £3,200 (flat fee per year)

International Students

Full-time students: £16,000 per year Part-time students: £8,200 (flat fee per year)

Funding

Funding for research degrees is limited, and most research degree students are expected to pay their own fees and subsistence costs.

Research Areas

We welcome applications for Law in the following fields:

• Arbitration and dispute resolution
• Business and commercial law
• Child and family law
• Comparative constitutional law
• Criminal law
• Employment law
• Environmental law and governance
• Equality and discrimination
• European Union law
• Gender, migration and citizenship
• Global law and governance
• International criminal law
• International humanitarian law
• International human rights law
• International organisations
• International trade and maritime law
• International whistleblowing law and practice
• Land law
• Legal regulation of the use of force
• Legal theory
• Media law
• Medical law
• Minority and indigenous peoples' rights
• Public international law
• Public law
• Regulation of new and emerging technologies
• Rule of law (practical and doctrinal issues)
• Tort
• Transitional justice

We welcome applications for Politics in the following fields:

• Critical geopolitics
• Development studies
• Diasporas and international relations
• Ethnicity and nationalism
• Foreign policy / geopolitics
• Global governance
• International environmental governance
• International migration
• International political economy
• International relations
• International security politics
• Peace and conflict studies
• Political violence and terrorism
• Politics of Europe
• Politics of globalisation
• Politics of the Middle East and Northern Africa
• Security politics
• Social movements
• Statelessness
• Sustainable development

We welcome applications for Criminology in the following fields:

• Child abuse (online and offline)
• Crime of the powerful
• Criminal justice process
• Criminal law
• Criminological theory
• Cybercrime and cyber security
• Domestic violence
• Gender and Crime
• Green criminology
• Human rights
• Media and crime
• Mental health
• Organised crime
• Policing
• Political violence and terrorism
• Prison
• Probation
• Race
• Sentencing and punishment in the criminal courts
• Substance use
• Research methods and ethnographic research
• War
• Young people accommodated in state care and care leavers
• Youth crime and youth justice

We welcome applications for Sociology in the following fields:

• Critical theory
• Ethnographic research
• Feminism, gender and sexuality
• Islamic studies
• Migration, ethnicity and identity
• Race & class / intersectionality
• Radicalisation
• Social movements
• Technology and culture
• Young people and the (online) media