FAQ DPhil Applications
This has
been written with
reference to EASy/CCNR area, and gives my own personal views. As of 2010, I will not be accepting any
more doctoral students myself, but I hope the advice is still relevant.
Look at the CCNR
pages for current research done here, and other potential supervisors
here. Most EASy doctoral research is done within, or affiliated to, the
CCNR.
Note suggested
application timing by
May or June, rather different from the N. American system where
applications are often expected by December for the following year.
You will find a relevant departmental webpage, including further links
to funding and ORS awards (which are relevant to funding for non-EU
applicants) here.
DPhil programme
DPhil has the same meaning as PhD. Minimum fulltime registration is for
2 years, although this would be very exceptional for a highly
pre-qualified candidate. Typical length of time is 3+ years, with a
hard deadline of 4 years. If funding is gained (see below) this is
likely to be for 3 years only. Please note that unlike the N. American
system where doctoral students often start with at least one year of
coursework before even starting to think about research, here the norm
is different. One is usually expected to have done an MSc or equivalent
beforehand, so when registered as a doctoral student you are expected
to start immediately on your research, with little or no further
coursework. These norms are flexibly applied. It is also possible to do
a part-time DPhil, typically at 50% for twice as many years.
Formal Application
Application
form and further details from here.
Research proposal and two references essential. If aiming to start in
October (normal), then aim to get an application in by May or June
(though no official deadline). It is also possible to start in January.
For administrative enquiries related to
DPhil
applications, mailto:scitech-postgrad@sussex.ac.uk.
The Research Proposal
This is your
proposed plan of research. Some people expect us to provide the question, and then
your job
of doing research is to find the answer; but that is not generally what
we expect here. Often working out what are the right questions to ask
is 3/4 of the job of doing research, so we are looking to you to
provide interesting possible research questions -- ones that you have a
deep personal interest in. If you have no idea how to make a research
proposal, you may not be ready to start doctoral research. A suitable
MSc, such as the EASy MSc, can give you training and experience in
doing this. And if you do not have your own research interests that are
motivating you to do research, then almost certainly you should be
doing something else!
Around 2 pages is an appropriate length for a research proposal: what
is the subject area, why is it interesting and important, why hasn't
anyone done it before, how would you aim to tackle it, what sorts of
results would you be aiming for? Such a proposal does not commit you to
following that precise topic for 3 years, since most such proposals
start getting modified from week 1; but you still need one. Write
drafts, get feedback on it before you submit it.
What happens to the application?
Until references have been received, nothing. Then it gets
assessed for which potential supervisors may be interested, based on
subject matter of proposal, and any names cited. The application gets
passed round potential supervisors, if none are interested it will be
returned with 'we regret we cannot accept you'. So attracting the
attention of an interested potential supervisor is the first
hurdle.
Why should a supervisor be interested?
A supervisor can take on maybe 1 or 2 new students a year -- but
may see maybe 40
applications. My only interest [...
and this advice may generalise to some extent to other potential
supervisors] is in assessing whether an applicant has
a good chance of producing ground-breaking research in what I consider
to be an important hot new research area. I have my own hit-list of
such areas that I feel competent to supervise in -- but the ideal
research proposal will be in a novel neighbouring area that neither I
nor anyone else has thought of yet, that you can persuade me is hot! I
do not
want to see proposals of the form "that research that you, or your
colleagues, did and published is interesting to me, I want to do that".
If your application looks potentially interesting, I may well ask you
to come for an interview, and will be looking for evidence of the
qualities below.
What qualities should you display?
- Sufficient technical competence, e.g. a
good grade on an MSc such as the EASy MSc. [Experience on any projects
will count.]
- Original thinking. [Write a list of the
most original creative things you have done in any field: research
ideas, inventions, business ideas, new ways of tackling old problems,
creative insights ...]
- Perseverance. [What previous personal
projects have you tackled that required months or years of
continuous attention? ...]
- Critical faculties. [I may ask you
to write reviews, as if reviewing for a journal, of 2 or 3 published
papers in an area you are familiar with, criticising the assumptions,
arguments and presentation.]
- Reasoning ability. [Good at Sudoku? I may
ask you to solve/explain some philosophical paradoxes, or reasoning
with probability.]
- An eye for hot research topics.
[Write a list of hotspots where you have seen current research make
unrecognised errors, neglect a direction worth pursuing. Can you
propose a new
field that is not currently a recognised research area?]
- A personal motivation to do research in
some specific areas. ['I want to do research in general' does not
count.]
- Ability to get something finished and
delivered.
If you are
accepted ...
... this does not automatically mean any funding. Each year we have
limited funds available for studentships, either funded by a Research
Council,
possibly attached to some research project; or funded by the University
as TAs, Teaching Assistants, in return for some teaching duties. There
is very
strong competition for the
very few of these available. Nevertheless at the moment by some miracle
most of my students have funding, some have had to self-fund for
periods. There are others who were accepted but could not come because
of lack of funding. See further information on funding via the
departmental webpages mentioned above, or this link.
Sussex International Research
Scholarships (SIRS)
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