Research Programmes
The History Faculty offers two levels of advanced research
degrees, a Master of Letters (M.Litt.) and a Doctor of
Philosophy (D.Phil.) in all areas of post-Classical history.
These degrees are granted on successful completion and
defence of an individual research thesis.
Applicants for research degrees are expected to have
completed a postgraduate master’s course or the equivalent
before starting the programme (in European terms: M2 level).
If you are uncertain whether your qualifications are
sufficient to allow you to embark on an advanced research
programme, please consult the History Graduate Office. When
we think that an otherwise promising applicant requires
strictly limited further training to embark on a doctoral
programme, we may offer a doctoral place but require that
the student successfully complete relevant elements of one
of our master’s programmes before attempting ‘transfer’ to
full doctoral status.
The application interface will initially only allow research
applications to the doctoral programmes within the Faculty.
However, if for some valid reason the less extensive and
less demanding M.Litt. programme would be more suitable to
your circumstances we can change this in the course of the
admissions process, or even after your arrival in Oxford.
In October 2012 the Faculty will for the first time be able
to accept a limited number of students for part-time study
towards a D.Phil. Again, the application interface will not
be immediately able to register this option (the set-up
procedure usually takes a number of weeks), and we therefore
recommend that you indicate in a preamble to your research
proposal if you would wish to be considered for study in
part-time mode.
If you need some further information about the style of independent work, and of the time commitments you will typically take on if you pursue a doctoral project it may be helpful to consult our guidance for examiners on justified expectations of doctoral research. You should also familiarise yourself with our advice on format and content of project proposals.