The school is accepting applications for its PhD programmes across its three constituent subject areas - Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice. Our Programmes form part of the UCD Structured PhD programme. Research degrees at UCD not only provide first class supervision in relation to a student’s own research, but also excellent support through access to a broad range of taught modules covering both general research methods training and specific subjects.
The school contains a diverse range of research active faculty, and can often provide supervision in a wide range of areas. Click the link below to see a list of faculty who are currently actively recruiting research students and their research interests. If you do not see an obvious match, you may consult our faculty profiles, or contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Matthew Donoghue, with a general enquiry/expression of interest. General enquiries about our research degree programmes in general can be sent to our Graduate Administrator, Dominic Shellard ((opens in a new window)dominic.shellard@ucd.ie).
Before you make an enquiry or contact faculty, please familiarise yourself with the information contained on this page. It contains important and useful information on the importance of identifying a potential supervisor who has expertise and interests that overlap with your proposed research, along with guidance on how to contact a potential supervisor and what we expect from prospective applicants to progress an application.
Admissions Requirements:
The programme has commencement dates in January, May and September annually. Applications for entry in September are now open and can be made online. Students who want to undertake a PhD in the school should have achieved a minimum 2.1 honours or international equivalent in a Masters degree cognate to their proposed thesis topic. Students are also required to complete a research proposal of between 4000-5000 words in length. Guidelines for the research proposal can be found here.
Language Requirements:
Students whose education prior to university level has not been carried out through the medium of English must satisfy English language requirements of a minimum score of 6.5 IELTS (minimum of 6.0 in each band). Other English as a Foreign Language qualifications may be considered, please contact the School for details. Please also note that in all cases the test results must be less than 2 years old. You can find more information on minimum language requirements HERE.
Guidelines for identifying a potential supervisor and developing your research
proposal
The School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice is a large school, and as such we receive a large number of queries about PhD study under the supervision of one or more of our expert faculty. To increase your chances of identifying a supervisor who is a good fit for your proposed work, and ultimately being successful in your application, we have developed a series of guidelines for you to follow. Please read the following carefully, as it will save you both time and energy, and ultimately make the application process as efficient as possible. If you have any questions after reading the below advice, please feel free to contact the Director of Graduate Studies, Dr. Matthew Donoghue (matthew.donoghue@ucd.ie).
Please note: the guidance below is regarding general PhD applications. From time to time we may have PhD positions associated with specific funded projects, which may have their own requirements and processes.