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Ear Institute MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

This is the programme information for 2025 entry

If you require details of the previous year's programme, Ear Institute MPhil/PhD (2024), click here

The UCL Ear Institute is the largest multidisciplinary centre for research into hearing and deafness in Europe. We bring together some of the most influential academics and clinicians in the world and are part of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences. This multidisciplinary environment provides a unique opportunity to undertake research and receive world-class training in state-of-the-art techniques. Interacting with different specialities is encouraged providing greater scope for career development.

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2025/26)

£6,215

£3,105

Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)

£36,500

£18,250

Duration

3 calendar years

5 calendar years

Programme starts

October 2024

February 2025

May 2025

Applications accepted

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis but should be submitted at least three months prior to your preferred start date.

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A UK Master’s degree in a relevant discipline, or a minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor’s degree from a UK university, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 1

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

If you are intending to apply for a time-limited visa to complete your UCL studies (e.g., Student visa, Skilled worker visa, PBS dependant visa etc.) you may be required to obtain ATAS clearance. This will be confirmed to you if you obtain an offer of a place. Please note that ATAS processing times can take up to six months, so we recommend you consider these timelines when submitting your application to UCL.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

The extensive specialities of the research investigators at the Ear Institute provide an opportunity to study just about every aspect of hearing from cell and molecular biology to clinical research and cognitive neuroscience. Collaborations between these areas also allow novel experimental approaches that cross traditional scientific boundaries.

Who this course is for

Our multi-disciplinary environment provides a unique chance to undertake research and receive world class training in state-of-the-art techniques. Interacting with different specialities is encouraged, providing greater opportunities for career development.

Read about what it takes to become a UCL graduate research student

What this course will give you

The institute has multiple state-of-the-art laboratories specialising in cell and molecular biology, genetics, auditory function, imaging, auditory processing and cognitive neuroscience. The institute links with The Royal National ENT, the largest ENT hospital in the UK and provides a wonderful training environment for prospective research students, both clinical and non-clinical. The intersection between these laboratories and scientists creates an exceptionally rich research environment that is both novel and distinct.

All research students benefit from this interaction to develop the skills and knowledge base that enables their future career development, whether academic, clinical or in other fields.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

Research students at the institute are exposed to a unique and truly multidisciplinary environment in a world-class institution. Students benefit from this interaction to develop the skills and knowledge base that enables their future career development in diverse fields.

Employability

The excellence of the training environment at the institute has led to recent graduates going on to work in research institutions across the world, in higher education, in schools, private and public health bodies and other disciplines including business and law.

Networking

The institute’s engagement with leading manufacturers and suppliers of audiological devices, pharmaceutical companies and links with Hospitals and clinical practitioners presents students with diverse networking opportunities. Students are encouraged to attend diverse weekly seminars with opportunities to meet with external speakers. Research students also have the opportunity to attend overseas and national conferences where there can be opportunities to present and network with key researchers in their field. The institute operates a modest ‘top up’ bursary scheme to help subsidise the cost of travelling to conferences.

Teaching and learning

Each research degree student is guided through their research by a supervisory team consisting of a principal and subsidiary supervisor. In addition to this, students are assigned a Thesis Committee that operates in parallel, seeking to support the student and supervisors throughout the programme. A third stream of support comes from the institute’s Graduate Tutor that maintains general academic and pastoral oversight of all research students at the institute including resolution support should any problems arise.

Each research degree student is required to submit progress documents for their Thesis Committee meetings. Students upgrading from MPhil to PhD must submit a 10,000 word document for assessment and undergo a viva (oral exam) with at least two examiners. Towards the closing stages of the degree, students submit a final thesis that is examined by at least two independent academics who thereafter conduct a viva (oral exam) with the student.

Students will be assessed via MPhil upgrade, submission of a thesis and viva (oral) examination.

This research degree programme requires full–time students to spend approximately 36.5 hours per week on their projects. Part–time students generally engage at half that rate.

Workload varies depending on the nature of the project and will reflect the intensity of research activity within the lab or environment the student is based. Students can expect to meet with their supervisory team at intervals to agree the contact hours as well as any self–study time.

Research areas and structure

Molecular genetics of hearing and deafness: discovering the genetic causes of deafness and hearing loss, molecular mechanisms of hair cell loss, whole transcriptome and whole exome approaches
Cell biology of hearing and balance loss: understanding the mechanism of sensory hair cell death, repair of the sensory epithelia, hair cell regeneration, stem cell-based approaches for screening and therapy
Cellular physiology of hair cells: mechanisms of transduction, biophysics of afferent synapses, physiological characterisation of auditory neurons, electrophysiology
Clinical audiology: evaluating current approaches for hearing impairment, tinnitus, cochlear implants, balance disorders and new diagnostic tools
Cochlear homeostasis: epithelial barrier functions, roles of gap junctions, fluid and ion homeostasis
Cognitive neuroscience: brain mechanisms of sound localisation, coding complex sounds in auditory cortex, molecular physiological basis of synaptic and neural activity
Molecular genetics of hearing and deafness: identifying susceptibility genes for age-related hearing loss
Psychophysics and speech perception: spectral and temporal processing, pitch perception, binaural hearing, development of speech perception and music perception
Testing auditory function: otoacoustic emissions to identify susceptibility to hearing loss, development of sensitive audiological test procedures for diagnostic clinical use.

Research environment

The UCL Ear Institute is the largest multidisciplinary centre for research into hearing and deafness in Europe. We bring together some of the most influential academics and clinicians in the world and are part of the UCL Faculty of Brain Sciences. Experienced academics and surgeons, working in fields as diverse as human genetics, biophysics, computational neuroscience, psychology, cell biology and human cognition come together to create a genuinely collaborative research environment.

You will be encouraged to interact with these different specialities to provide you with greater opportunities for career development. Recent National Institute for Health Research / Research and Development Corporation (RAND) bibliometric analysis of the most cited articles in England, confirms that the Ear Institute is producing the most important research in the fields of “deafness and hearing problems” and “audiology & speech-language pathology”.

You are required to register initially for the MPhil degree with the expectation of transfer to PhD after successful completion of an upgrade viva (oral exam) approximately 9–18 months after enrolment.

To successfully upgrade to a PhD, you are required to submit an upgrade report including literature review and presentation of your research to date. You are also required to present this work to the institute and to an upgrade panel consisting of your Thesis Committee.

Within three months of joining the programme, you are expected to agree with your supervisor the basic structure of your research project, an appropriate research method and a realistic plan of work.

This will also include a training plan incorporating the Doctoral School Skills Development Programme. At the end of the first year, you will be expected to agree a work plan for the second year with your supervisor, including a plan for your upgrade presentation.

At the end of the second year, you and your supervisor will have agreed your thesis structure and timetable for writing.

The programme is expected to be completed within three years for full-time students, and over five years for part-time students. If you are not ready to submit at the end of such timeframes, you may be able to go onto Completing Research Status - CRS.

Part-time students are required to register initially for the MPhil degree with the expectation of transfer to PhD after successful completion of an upgrade viva (oral exam) between approximately 15–30 months after enrolment.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students

Fee description	Full-time	Part-time
Tuition fees (2025/26)	£6,215	£3,105
Tuition fees (2025/26)	£36,500	£18,250

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Fees for subsequent years may increase or otherwise vary. Where the programme is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

There are no additional costs for this programme.

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

Studentship opportunities are normally available each year. These are usually advertised on FindAPhD and can also be viewed at our funded research opportunities web page.

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

See all the ways you can fund your studies

Next steps

Deadlines and start dates are usually dictated by funding arrangements so check with the department or academic unit to see if you need to consider these as a part of your application preparation. You should identify and contact potential supervisors before making your application. For more information see our How to apply page.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

This programme requires two references. Further information regarding references can be found on this Selecting your references page.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2025-2026

Research Degree: Ear Institute, Full-time

Research Degree: Ear Institute, Part-time

Year of entry: 2024-2025