Course summary
A PhD is generally considered the highest academic degree you can achieve. It's an internationally recognised qualification. This PhD by Existing Published or Creative Work is aimed at those working in academic or academic-adjacent contexts who can demonstrate a recent track record of having worked at doctoral level.
You may be considered for the course if you have:
- A strong body of previously published work that demonstrates originality
- An appropriate level of independent critical judgement
- Undertaken pure and/or applied research and development at an advanced level, contributing substantially to the development of new techniques, ideas or approaches in your area of scholarship.
An application for PhD by Published or Creative Work will include high-quality, peer-reviewed publications that may include:
- Academic journal articles
- Peer reviewed book chapters
- Peer reviewed sole authored books
- Artefacts
- Curatorial production.
All work should:
- Have been published in the last ten years, with the majority of seminal works referred to having been published within the last five years
- Be traceable in publicly available scholarly outputs, such as journals, ideally in open access format
- Be accessible to scholars or other interested persons.
The work submitted must have been subjected to peer review by the relevant academic community.
There is no set number of publications required. However, your work must show a clear, significant and sustained contribution to knowledge at doctoral level. This should be of an acceptable national or international standing.
For the majority of the publications cited, you must be the sole or senior author.
Your application will be assessed by academics with expertise in your discipline. Each application is considered on its academic merit, with places offered to applicants who meet our standards for research quality and potential.
If your application is successful, you'll be assigned one or more supervisors. They'll advise you on which of your publications should form your final submission and how you should write your commentary to evidence your outstanding contribution.
The commentary is usually around 20,000 words and will be completed between six and 24 months of active registration on the course. It should:
- Describe the aims of the research you have undertaken to produce your publications
- Incorporate a critical discussion of the impact of your work.
Your thesis will then be subject to external examination through an oral defence.