PhD Marine Sciences

About the course

Conduct research at the cutting edge of the discipline, working alongside a team of specialist academic advisors. Our staff work in a wide range of fields, including marine physics, coastal processes and modelling, coastal ocean and sediment transport engineering, marine and coastal policy, geomatics, oceanography and marine renewable energy.

Key features

This full time or part time doctoral programme is suitable for people who have a particular research question or topic in mind, and wish to explore this through independent study in order to produce an original contribution to the subject. If you aspire to a research career this is usually the most appropriate research degree to undertake.

Potential applicants should first identify a member of academic staff who may be a suitable supervisor, and contact them by email to discuss possible directions for a research proposal. The research proposal must be agreed by the supervisor before an application to study can be made. You must also ensure that appropriate funding is in place, to cover both fees, and the cost of the research.

You will be guided by a small team of academic experts, led by your main supervisor (Director of Studies). Even if you already have a masters degree, you will normally be registered as a ‘MPhil/PhD’ candidate and may apply to transfer to ‘PhD’ status around 10–22 months after registration, based on your progress to date.

You will be expected to fully engage with skills development and training and to present your research in a range of scholarly contexts, including seminars.

A PhD is assessed via submission of a written thesis and a viva voce (an oral examination).

Applicants are expected to have either a good 2:1 or first class honours undergraduate degree in an appropriate subject, and typically to have also completed a masters level qualification to a high standard (e.g. at 'merit' or 'distinction' level). If you do not have a masters level qualification, you may wish to consider an appropriate ResM such as ResM Biological Sciences or ResM Marine Sciences. Students who are making exceptional progress in a ResM programme may sometimes progress directly into our PhD programme without having to complete the masters, depending on the availability of funding. Potential applicants for both ResM and PhD programmes should first identify a member of academic staff who may be a suitable supervisor, and contact them by email to discuss possible directions for a research proposal. The research proposal must be agreed by the supervisor before an application to study can be made. You must also ensure that appropriate funding is in place, to cover both fees, and the cost of the research.