Research Degrees

The Research Degree

The DPhil is a degree examined solely by thesis, prepared under the guidance of a supervisor appointed by the Department's Graduate Studies Committee. General information on the research degree, please see About our Programmes on the University web site. 

Prospective DPhil students (Social Intervention or Social Policy) are strongly encouraged to proceed via the Masters courses. MSc students can use their dissertation to prepare for DPhil work. There is provision to incorporate the Oxford MPhil dissertation into a subsequent DPhil. Students who wish to proceed towards a DPhil without going via a Masters course may be required to do the two compulsory Masters papers during their first year of study (that is Methods of Social Research and either the Comparative Social Policy/Welfare States paper in CSP or the Evidence Based Intervention paper in EBSI). If the student can demonstrate that the necessary competence has already been acquired, their supervisor may grant exemption from one or other of these course requirements. 

Students are only accepted for the DPhil if appropriate supervision is available within the Department. Special areas of interest although not exclusively may include:

• Social Deprivation 
• Poverty and Disadvantage 
• The Family 
• Parenting and Childcare 
• Demography and Population Ageing 
• Social Security and Welfare Reform 
• The Politics of the Welfare State 
• Child Mental Health and Anti-Social Behaviour 
• Self-help and Brief Psychological Interventions 
• Parenting and Family Interventions
• Sleep Problems 
• HIV Prevention; Children affected by AIDS 
• Health and Health Care 
• Social Policy in South Africa 
• Social Policy in Developing Countries 
• Housing/Homelessness

In the first instance we would ask you email your research proposal and up to date CV/Resume to the Graduate Assistant, Gemma Roche. 

To access the online application system or to download forms, please follow the link from the main Oxford University website at: http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/postgraduate_courses/apply/index.html