INFORMATION FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

Information for Prospective Students

• Prospective Students
• Undergraduate Prospectus
• Graduate Prospectus
  • Taught Degrees
  • Research Degrees
  • Application & Entry
    • Taught Degrees
    • Research Degrees
      • How to Apply
      • Application Deadlines
      • General Entry Requirements
      • International Applicants
      • Fine Art Applicants
      • FAQ's
      • Students with Disabilities
      • English Language Requirements
      • Apply Now
    • Visiting Students (UCL International Office site)
  • Fees, Costs & Funding
  • Why UCL
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• Meet UCL
• Accommodation
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Application guidelines (research degrees)

1. Check our entry requirements

• General UCL entrance requirements for graduate study

Please refer to the relevant subject entries in the graduate prospectus and departmental pages for programme specific academic entry requirements.

If you are not from the UK, the equivalent entry requirements for your country can be found on our International Office website (select your country from the map and follow the entrance requirements link on the right-hand side).

If your education has not been conducted in English, you will be expected to demonstrate evidence of an adequate level of English proficiency. Check UCL’s English language proficiency requirements. 

2. Investigate research opportunities across UCL

UCL is a large, multi-faculty university and it may be that your area of interest is represented in more than one department or in one of our multidisciplinary institutes or centres. There are two main types of research degree opportunities:

Studentships

Some funded PhD programmes will be advertised as studentships. This is more common in Science, Technology, Engineering and Medicine (STEM) areas. These opportunities may be listed on our studentships site, although some academics prefer to only advertise them on their websites. Each studentship will stipulate its own application process and entrance requirements.

Studentships are also offered in UCL’s doctoral training centres. Many of these studentships are funded by the UK Government and are only available to UK/EU students.

Speculative opportunities

Most opportunities, and potential funding, are not packaged as studentships or advertised. Exceptional students, that meet the entrance requirements, are therefore encouraged to be proactive to identify opportunities with UCL academics whose recent research closely matches their interests.

There are three main ways to identify an appropriate supervisor to contact:

1. Browse the online graduate prospectus to find centres of research in your area of interest. Click through to the department or centre website to find staff profiles

2. Look on UCL’s Institutional Research Information System (IRIS) where you can search for relevant academic units and potential supervisors by keyword. Not all academics are listed in IRIS but it is a good place to start

3. Search our online research repository (UCL Discovery) where ll UCL’s research papers are published, subject to approvals. If you identify a research paper that particularly interests you it is likely that one of the authors would be a suitable research supervisor.

If an academic is very impressed with your research experience and proposal they may be able to help you to identify sources of funding, including from their own, or departmental, research funds. There are also UCL scholarships that they can nominate you for.

3. Making a research enquiry

All prospective applicants, except those applying for advertised studentships, are encouraged to send an informal research enquiry. This should either be sent directly to the academic you are interested in working with or the departmental contact. Making a research enquiry helps define your interests, contributes to making your application successful, and also serves to ensure the identification of the best possible supervisor for your needs.

You can find contact details for academic departments in the right hand margin of the relevant subject pages in our Graduate Prospectus. Alternatively you can find Graduate Tutor contact information under "Useful Contact Lists" in the Graduate Schools' Essential Information Page.  

For more information on how to contact potential supervisors and write a research proposal please see UCL's guidance document.

4. Submit a formal application

Finally when you and your prospective supervisor are happy with your research proposal, you should submit a formal application.

• Apply Now

5. Await decision

You will be able to track the progress of your application via the UCL Applicant Portal (log in required).

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