Research areas and structure

The Institute of the Americas occupies a unique position at the core of academic study of the region in the UK, promoting, co-ordinating and providing a focus for research and postgraduate teaching on the Americas, including Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States.

Particular fields of research expertise at the institute include:

• Climate change and sustainable development
• History of the Americas
• Human rights, justice and democratisation
• Labour history, politics and policy
• Race, ethnicity and gender in the Americas
• Social policy in Latin America
• State, market and the economy
• The Caribbean: history, politics, society
• The US presidency
• US foreign policy
• Comparative, international and transnational studies of the Americas.

Research undertaken by members of staff, associates, visiting fellows, and research students spans the whole of the American continent, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego.

It also covers the study of relations between regions in the Americas and of relations between the Americas and the rest of the world. The research community is focused on producing ground-breaking research at the forefront of several academic disciplines while contributing to the development of interdisciplinary approaches to the study of the Americas.

The institute is also actively engaged in research at the interface of academia and policy, engaging a broad range of stakeholders, including government, NGOs, communications media and civil society in the UK, the Americas, and beyond.

Research environment

The Institute of the Americas is one of the foremost centres of academic study of the region in the UK, promoting, coordinating and providing a focus for research and teaching on the Americas - Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States. As part of our mission to promote specialist regional and comparative knowledge of the Americas, the Institute organises one of the largest programmes of public seminars, lectures, conferences and symposia on the Americas in the UK, serving the scholarly, diplomatic and public policy communities. We also support and coordinate a number of national and international scholarly networks, including, for example, the British Network on Latin American Politics, the Inter-American Human Rights Network and the UCL Americas Research Network, the latter founded and run by doctoral students at the Institute to facilitate interaction between postgraduate students and early career researchers working on any aspect of the Americas within and beyond UCL. Staff and postgraduate research conducted at the Institute covers a range of disciplines, with specialisms in history, politics, human rights, anthropology, development and environmental sociology, as well as interdisciplinary perspectives on thematic concerns such as gender, ‘race’ and ethnicity. The Institute also maintains strong links with organisations outside the academic sector, including NGOs, think tanks, and government agencies, collaborations with whom add to the vibrant research environment.

Full-time

The length of registration for the research degree is 3 years for full-time study and 5 years for part-time study. 

You are required to register initially for the MPhil degree with the expectation of transfer to PhD after successful completion of an update viva. 

Upon successful completion of your approved period of registration you may register as a completing research student (CRS) while you write up your thesis. 

Year One: You will receive a departmental induction into the Institute of the Americas as well as attending inductions and events provided by the UCL Doctoral School. Your initial meetings with supervisors will include: 

• Agreement of your exact project of work. 
• A timetable for supervisor meetings and progress reports. 
• Discussion and provision of any necessary research equipment and facilities. 
• Review of the Doctoral Skills Development Programme to ascertain which areas of training and activity would be most beneficial and relevant to you. This may include arrangements for any further required study such as language courses provided by the UCL Centre for Languages & International Education (CLIE). 

Typically, by the end of the first year, you will have drafted an introduction,literature review, methodology, thesis outline, fieldwork plan (where relevant) and timetable for completion. Submitted work is discussed in regular supervision sessions at intervals agreed between you and supervisor. 

Year Two: Typically this is the year that you will undertake a good proportion of your data collection duringfieldwork, and for most at the Institute, this is off-campus. You are required to meet all the necessary requirements relating to research ethics approval and risk assessment before embarking onfieldwork research. 

You are also usually expected to undertake your upgrade viva in the second year (no less than 9 months and no more than 18 months from initial registration for full-time students). To successfully upgrade to PhD you are required to submit an upgrade report, usually consisting of a literature review, methodology, research plan, timetable for completion and a substantive piece of work towards the objectives of the thesis. You are also required to undertake an oral examination (upgrade viva) on this work to a panel consisting of your subsidiary supervisor and one other member of the academic staff. 

You will continue to receive supervisory support, whether in face to face supervisory sessions, or (in the case of those undertaking fieldwork abroad) via Skype, email etc. 

Year Three: Typically, the third year will be spent in the analysis and writing up of the data. You will agree upon your thesis structure and a timetable of thesis writing with your supervisors. Submitted work (e.g. draft chapters) will be discussed in supervision sessions at agreed intervals. 

Year Four: The PhD programme is expected to be completed within 3 years for full-time students, and over 5 years for part-time students. If you are not ready to submit at the end of the third year, you may be able to go onto to CRS to complete writing up your thesis. Your supervisors will read and comment on a complete draft of the thesis to be submitted at an agreed date in advance of the formal thesis submission.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble accessable.co.uk. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support & Wellbeing team.