Centre for Doctoral Education

Researching the past, present and future of doctoral education.

Head of Centre: Dr Richard Freeman

The Centre for Doctoral Education (CDE) undertakes research to inform, challenge and develop doctoral education internationally.

Our work explores the experiences, practices and achievements of doctoral students, supervisors and early career researchers. We draw on this expertise to offer doctoral programmes within our own institution, supporting the largest concentration of doctoral students studying education and related social sciences in the UK.

Study with us

Programmes

• Graduate research programmes

See also:

• Social Science Research Methods PG Dip
• Social Research MRes
• Departmental Graduate Tutors
• Programme leads

Activities

Our research

Our Centre builds on a strong history of research into doctoral education, drawing on new areas of interest in the wider impact of doctoral studies.

Student poster conference

The Centre hosts an annual poster conference for doctoral students to showcase their research.

• View voxpops from the 2023 Student Poster Conference

Seminars

We currently have a number of research projects ongoing, which have been presented at joint seminars with the Centre for Higher Education Studies:

CHES-CDE doctoral seminar (session 1 of 4)

• Evolving doctoral identities through peer writer identity analysis
  Dr Jim McKinley, Associate Professor with Agata Mikolajewska, Josef Mueller, Lesley Price, Nathan Thomas, Dandan Zhu.
• Becoming Public Ethnographers: Chronicling an Attempt
  Dr Alfonso Del Percio, Associate Professor.

CHES-CDE doctoral seminar (session 2 of 4)

• Researching educational experiences of Vietnamese PhD students dropping out of their doctoral programmes: methodological reflections
  Dr Hao Phan, Research Fellow, Department of Education, Practice and Society.
• The institutional culture of doctoral writing: a new framework for writing support at UCL, IOE
  Dr Will Gibson, Reader in Social Research.

CHES-CDE doctoral seminar (session 3 of 4)

• Supervisor pedagogy, relationships and challenges
  Dr Susan Taylor, PFHEA, Associate Professor of Doctoral Education & Dr Tom Woodin, Reader in the Social History of Education.
• Disclosure dances: the experience of PhD students with invisible disabilities in higher education
  Dr Nicole Brown, Lecturer in Education.

CHES-CDE doctoral seminar (session 4 of 4)

• How to trace and hear from doctoral alumni
  Dr Giulio Marini, Lecturer (Teaching) & Dr Tatiana Fumasoli, Associate Professor of Higher Education Studies.
• One Hundred voices: Understanding the Lived Experiences of Black Students on their Journey to a PhD
  Dr Victoria Showunmi, Lecturer in Education, Chair of Athena Swan at the UCL Institute of Education.

Projects

Recent projects include:

• Early career social science researchers: experiences and support needs for the ESRC by Professor William Locke, Dr Richard Freeman and Dr Anthea Rose  
• Making space to study: student experiences of managing time and space in an Online MPhil/PhD by Dr Richard Freeman and Professor Martin Oliver 

Publications

Recent publications include:

• Taylor, S. (2018). The UCL EdD: an apprenticeship for the future educational professional? London Review of Education
• Kehm, B., Freeman, R.P.J. and Locke, W. (2018) ‘Growth and Diversification of Doctoral Education in the United Kingdom’, in Shin, J.C., Kehm, B.M. and Jones, G.A. (eds) Doctoral Education for the Knowledge Society: Convergence or Divergence in National Approaches?, The Netherlands: Springer, 105-121
• Locke, W., Freeman, R.P.J. and Rose, A. (2018). Early career social science researchers: experiences and support needs. London: Centre for Global Higher Education
• Hawkes, D., & Taylor, S. (2016). Redesigning the EdD at UCL Institute of Education: Thoughts of the Incoming EdD Program Leaders. In V. A. Storey (Ed.), International Perspectives on Designing Professional Practice Doctorates: Applying the Critical Friends Approach to the EdD and Beyond (pp. 115-126). UK: Palgrave Macmillan 

100 years of the UK PhD

In September 2017, the Centre for Doctoral Education hosted a symposium marking 100 years of the UK PhD.

Recordings of presentations and subsequent panel discussions are available below:

• “A brief history of the UK PhD” by Dr Richard Freeman (UCL Institute of Education)
• “Doctorates in the digital university” Professor Martin Oliver (UCL Institute of Education) 
• “The Changing Landscape of Doctoral Research: Diversify, Differentiate, Collaborate” by Dr Rebekah Smith McGloin (Coventry University)
• Panel discussion (morning)
• “Doctoral education: Equipping our researchers to thrive in academia and beyond” by Dr Janet Metcalfe (Vitae)
• “The Truth” by John Wakeford (Missenden Centre)
• Panel discussion (afternoon)