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The Institute is the top-ranked Area Studies centre in the UK for research and impact, and a leading institution globally for the study of Latin America, the US, the Caribbean and Canada.
Our community of research students and staff work on the history and politics of the entire Western Hemisphere. We pride ourselves on participating in and helping to shape larger public conversations about such pressing global challenges as human rights, environmental change, and the future of liberal democracy. As well as entering academic employment, many of our recent graduates have gone on to careers in public policy that grow directly out of the practical, real-world problems that they have investigated at the Institute.
Together, students and staff here create a diverse, vibrant and mutually supportive community that benefits from the proximity of such resources as the British Library, the Senate House Library and the National Archives, as well as from the extraordinary concentration of academic talent that exists not just at the Institute of the Americas but across UCL. As well as receiving expert dissertation mentorship and access to these rich resources, our students also benefit from a range of seminar series and workshops that both hone their professional skills and broaden their horizons. There are few other settings in the world that can offer such a stimulating context for advanced research and learning as UCL, and we are proud to be one of its top-ranked departments.
Research support
In terms of your day-to-day life at the Institute, we offer unusually generous research support, including the following distinctive features:
- Financial support for overseas fieldwork and for conference-attendance;
- Research space in study rooms that are reserved exclusively for research students;
- The opportunity to present your research and receive expert feedback at a staff-student Research Seminar;
- A doctoral workshop at which you can present your draft work to your peers in an informal setting;
- Workshops on such professional-development topics as research ethics; giving a conference paper; teaching; and having a productive first year.
- Financial support for organising seminars or colloquia on your own research.
Academic expertise
Staff at the Institute publish on a wide range of topics in history, politics, political sociology, political economy and anthropology. Because of our special interest in recent history and politics of the Americas, many of us also have close connections to international organisations, including the United Nations, non-government organizations, pressure groups and charities. This concentration on vital questions of public policy was reflected in the Institute’s top-rating for ‘Research Impact’ in the latest Research Excellence Framework.
Find out more about the research specialisms.
Meet our students
Current Doctoral Research Topics
Our current research students are working on a broad range of topics in the history and politics of the Americas, including:
- The comparative politics of reparations for slavery;
- Mothers’ activism on behalf of disappeared sons in Mexico;
- The modern U.S. political Right;
- Understanding political mobilisation in the United States;
- Presidential transitions in the United States;
Explore the full list of current Institute research students and a summary of their research.
Past research students
“My PhD, co-supervised by Paulo Drinot and Jelke Boesten, explored the role of art in feminist challenges to gendered violence and reproductive injustice in Peru. The Institute was a very welcoming place to grow as a researcher, and I really benefitted from being in such an interdisciplinary environment. On completing my doctorate in 2022, I took up a postdoctoral fellowship at York, before joining a network at Kings College London whose focus closely mirrors that of my doctoral project.
Phoebe Martin
“My doctoral research focussed on extractivism and mobilisation in Chile, approached from a human rights perspective. Working in one of the best research environments in the UK for issues related to the Americas was truly enriching. During my time at the Institute, I had the pleasure of working closely with three supportive mentors—Par Engstrom, Graham Woodgate and Kevin Middlebrook, benefitted a lo from invited colleagues who spent time at the Institute, and had the opportunity to contribute as a postgraduate teaching assistant. Since completing my Ph.D., I have worked for an international NGO on human rights in the digital domain and as Regional Director of the National Human Rights Institution in Chile. I have also published widely on human rights, including two books.
Sebastian Smart
“I joined the Institute for an MA but the excellent academic atmosphere and friendly social environment made me feel that this was a place worth staying for many years! Working undre the guidance of Tony McCulloch and Nick Witham, I researched triangular Cold War diplomacy between the United States, the United Kingdom and China, focussing in particular on Anglo-American arms sales to China. The Institute provided me with tremendous support, fostering a very healthy collaborative atmosphere. After graduation in 2023, I took up an academic job in Cold War history in China.
Sailin Li
“I came to the Institute to work with Graham Woodgate on rural social movements and agroecology in Colombia. I researched conflict between industrial agriculture and agroecology in two Zonas de Reserva Campesino. I loved the interdisciplinary environment and collegiality of the department, which supported my intellectual growth and teaching skills. I am now a Lecturer in Political Ecology at the School of Geographical Sciences at the University of Bristol, and continue to study campesino feminism.
Jaskiran Kaur Chohan
“The Institute’s interdisciplinary approach to the study of the American continent appealed to me from the outset, and my supervisors, Kevin Middlebrook and Kate Saunders-Hastings, were superb complements to my research on insecurity and violence in Colombia and Mexico. I relished the opportunity to share my research with other PhD and masters students working in areas such as urban planning, social anthropology, economic history, and ecology. After completion, I took up a post-doctoral role as the fellow for Latin American studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, publishing on U.S.-Latin American relations and regional political trends. I now direct the William J. Perry Center for Hemisphere Defense Studies, the Pentagon’s in-house research institute.
Paul Angelo
See more PhD alumni and details of their research projects.
Applying to the Institute of the Americas
We require interested applicants to apply to the department before applying via UCL Portico. The application form should be completed in consultation with your preferred supervisor.
The deadline to apply to the department for 2026 entry is Sunday 23 November 2025.
Before completing the application form you should have:
- Checked UCL's entry requirements, which also includes information about English language requirements.
- Thought carefully about why the Institute of the Americas provides the logical institutional home for your research.
- Identified a preferred supervisor. For a list of potential supervisors see our academic staff page.
- Contacted your preferred supervisor and had some initial (and positive) contact with them. Do this as early as possible so that they can work on your research proposal with you.
Should you have any general questions about the process, please contact the Department Graduate Tutor, Professor Gareth Davies.
Visiting research students
You can spend a period of 3 to 12 months at UCL undertaking research which is complementary to the Doctorate/PhD project at your home university. You should first contact a member of staff in the relevant academic field, and confirm that they are both able and willing to supervise your research. The fields of research undertaken in the department can be viewed on our academic staff page. Further information on applying as an independent visiting research student can be found on the UCL study abroad and exchange pages.
