Research Degree in Medical Education

UCL Medical School offers PhD supervision which covers a wide range of education interests.

The PhD involves a singular piece of research driven by your own academic interests, resulting in a 100,000 word thesis. The full-time programme is three years. Part-time takes five years.

We recommend that you read 12 Tips for Studying Medical Education at Doctoral Level about embarking on a postgraduate research degree and considering the right degree for you.

Another option for postgraduate research leading to a Doctorate in Education is the EdD. This is a professional doctorate, where you investigate your own working practices. It typically has a taught element and assessments along the way. Like the PhD, it takes five years part time and the final thesis of 100,000 words is made up of a portfolio of research. The EdD is offered by IOE, UCL Faculty of Education and Society.

Research interests

UCL Medical School offers PhD supervision which covers a wide range of education interests. Research themes are:

  1. Assessment in medical education
  2. Clinical communication
  3. E-learning in medical education
  4. Equality and diversity in medical education
  5. Fitness to practise of doctors
  6. Interprofessional education
  7. Peer-assisted learning
  8. Professional identity
  9. Selection in medicine
  10. Medical revalidation
  11. Transitions in medical careers
  12. Work-based learning

We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the research interests of staff at UCL Medical School in order to consider who might provide supervision for your project.  For a PhD, you require a Principal and Subsidiary supervisor.  It should be noted that we have limited supervision capacity.

The application process

You should provide a short written proposal of about 2,000 words that addresses all of the following aspects:

  • The research problem and your research questions
  • Background including a brief literature review
  • Theoretical and methodological perspectives relevant to the project
  • Methods, to include: sample, recruitment, data gathering, data analysis
  • The contribution this study will make to new knowledge
  • Timetable and bibliography.

This proposal should demonstrate your research interests and proposed topic of study. It is taken into account when considering your suitability for undertaking postgraduate research at UCL Medical School. If you are successful in your application, you can expect to have further discussions with your supervisors to support you in generating a final research protocol for the duration of your research degree.  

Send your proposal and CV to medsch.researchdegrees@ucl.ac.uk.

On receipt of your proposal we will consider whether it is possible to match you with appropriate supervisors, depending on their availability. If we consider that your proposal has potential we will arrange an interview. For applicants who are currently overseas, we will make arrangements for an online interview.

If you are successful at this stage you will be asked to formally apply via the UCL Admissions process and provide two references. You should not apply formally until your proposal has been approved.

Frequently asked questions

All PhD students are initially registered as MPhil students and then must upgrade to PhD following a satisfactory assessment, which includes a written report of research progress, Principal supervisor’s report, and a viva, therefore MPhil is the only option within the application portal.

We normally require our doctoral students to have completed a Master's degree in education (and preferably medical / clinical / health professions education).

If your Master's is not in medical education but you feel it is comparable, please provide more information on the content of the modules taken so we may assess its eligibility. If your degree is international, we may also require further information on the programme content.

We cannot accept a lower standard of qualifications than that advertised on our website.

There is no PhD 'programme' as such and therefore no specified intake date. We operate a rolling admissions process with applications considered at the point we receive them and decisions made according to the quality of the research proposal and the availability of supervisors.

You are free to choose a PhD topic, but to increase the chances of finding suitable supervisors you should review our staff page to identify members of staff whose research interests align with yours.

UCL Medical School is currently a small research department, with limited research supervision capacity. There is no guarantee of supervisor availability.

You can find current fee information via the UCL online prospectus.

We do not currently offer an EdD at UCL Medical School. You may be interested in the EdD in Education from the IOE, UCL Faculty of Education and Society.