MPhil/PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Studies

Program Overview

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Key Information

Duration

• 3 years (full-time), 6 years (part-time)

Attendance Mode

• Full-time or part-time

Location

• On campus

Fees

• Home (full-time): £4,860 per year
• International (full-time): £23,390 per year

Entry Requirements

• We normally require a 2.1 bachelor's degree (or its equivalent) plus a Masters degree in an appropriate subject area plus one reference.
• In exceptional cases, we may accept applicants who do not meet these criteria if they show evidence of a strong Masters degree and/or appropriate level of relevant work experience.
• International applicants should also see Doctoral School English language requirements.

Course Overview

The MPhil/PhD in Near and Middle Eastern Studies programme provides training in research methods and the study of the Near and Middle East, an interdisciplinary subject area, with research undertaken in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics at SOAS.

Why Near and Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS?

• SOAS is ranked 1st in London in the Complete University Guide 2021 for Middle Eastern and African Studies, and 6th in the UK.
• SOAS has an unrivalled reputation as the foremost provider of Near and Middle Eastern studies.

Structure

All students register in year 1 of the programme as MPhil students. The upgrade from MPhil to PhD takes place at the end of the first academic session for full-time students (or at the end of the second academic session for part-time students).

Year 1

• In the first year, students prepare for research by following a research training seminar series (RTS) convened at the Faculty level by the Associate Dean for Research and supported by the generic training on offer in the Academic Development Directorate (ADD).
• Students working in the fields of literature and cultural studies are also invited to participate in the additional training offered in the Centre for Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Studies (CCLPS).
• Students may also be encouraged by supervisors to attend additional taught courses relevant to their research and to their training needs.

Year 2

• The second year (or part-time equivalent) is normally spent engaged in research.
• This may be by any combination of fieldwork and research in libraries and material collection as agreed between the student and the supervisor(s).

Year 3

• The third year (or part-time equivalent) is devoted to writing up research for the PhD thesis.
• During this time, students will normally give a presentation in a research seminar organised by the Departmental Research Tutor, comprising a select number of staff members with special expertise in the topic and other research students.

Teaching and Learning

Academic Staff and Their Research Areas

• Professor Muhammad A S Abdel Haleem, OBE BA (Cairo) PHD (Cantab) FCIL (London)
  • Qur’an, Hadith, Tafsir; Islam in society; classical and modern Arabic literature
• Dr George Dedes BA MA PhD (Harvard)
  • Early Anatolian Turkish; Ottoman language and literature; Ottoman history; Turkish-Greek relations; modern Turkish culture
• Dr Marlé Hammond BA MA PhD (Columbia University)
  • Classical and Modern Arabic Literature and Poetics; Egyptian and Arabic Cinemas; Women's Writing; Folkloric Narrative
• Dr Chris Lucas BA (SOAS) MA PhD (Cantab)
  • Grammatical change and the interface between syntax, semantics and pragmatics in Arabic and other Afro-Asiatic languages, and in English and other (Indo-)European languages.
• Professor Wen-Chin Ouyang BA BEd (Tripoli) MA MPhil PhD (Columbia University)
  • Classical and modern Arabic literature, The 1001 Nights and Arabic Popular Epics, Classical and modern Arabic Critical thought and theory, Networks of Circulation and World Literature, Semiotics of the Visual
• Dr Mustafa Shah BA PhD (London)
  • The early Arabic linguistic tradition; classical Islamic theology and jurisprudence
• Dr Yair Wallach BSc MA PhD (University of London)
  • Culture, Society and History of modern Israel/Palestine; Visual and Material Culture; Urban Studies; Israel-Palestine Conflict

Employment

Graduates of the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics leave SOAS not only with linguistic and cultural expertise, but also with skills in written and oral communication, analysis and problem-solving.

Recent graduates have been hired by:

• Africa Matters
• Amnesty International
• Arab British Chamber of Commerce
• BBC World Service
• British High Commission
• Council for British Research in the Levant
• Department for International Development
• Edelman
• Embassy of Jordan
• Ernst & Young
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• Google
• Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
• Middle East Eye
• Saïd Foundation
• TalkAbout Speech Therapy
• The Black Curriculum
• The Telegraph
• United Nations Development Programme
• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
• Wall Street Journal

Scholarships

• Tibawi Trust Award
• JRC Fuwaku Scholarship (Deadline: 2 May 2022)
• SOAS Research Studentships - School of Arts (Deadline: 6 May 2022)
• CHASE AHRC Studentship (Deadline: 27 January 2025)
• Felix Scholarships (Deadline: 31 January 2025)
• SOAS Research Studentships (Deadline: 21 March 2025)