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Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy MPhil/PhD

London, Bloomsbury

This is the programme information for 2025 entry

If you require details of the previous year's programme, Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy MPhil/PhD (2024), click here

UK students International students

Study mode

UK tuition fees (2025/26)

£6,215

£4,120

Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)

£33,000

£22,000

Duration

4 calendar years

6 calendar years

Programme starts

October 2025

February 2026

May 2026

Applications accepted

Applications are accepted on a rolling basis.

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A Master’s degree in a relevant discipline from a UK university, or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard.

The English language level for this programme is: Level 4

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.

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

As a Doctoral student at UCL’s Department of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Public Policy (STEaPP), you’ll embark on an exciting journey to explore and innovate how science and engineering knowledge can transform decision-making and address today’s major global challenges.

At UCL STEaPP, our research is centred around the dynamic concept of co-production, where we actively collaborate with partners from academia, government, civil society, and industry. Together, we tackle the most pressing challenges facing our societies today, such as climate change, public health, and technological advancement, creating innovative solutions and opportunities to address them.

As a doctoral student, you will have the unique opportunity to integrate and synthesise knowledge from a diverse range of disciplines. You will master the analytical tools of the natural and engineering sciences, while also delving deeply into the realms of social sciences, political sciences, and policy analysis.

Who this course is for

The PhD is policy-orientated, and cross-disciplinary research methods are deployed to give students a competitive edge. When applying please highlight how your research fits within the department, and a rationale for why STEaPP is the best home for your project.

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

What this course will give you

This programme offers the following benefits:

UCL STEaPP's approach emphasises impact-oriented research, meaning you will design and execute research initiatives with academic, policy and industry partners.
You’ll learn through practice-oriented and scenario-based learning, enabling you to engage with real-world policy challenges.
The training pathway at STEaPP will prepare you for a policy-oriented career, as an academic or practitioner, or both.
You will undertake original academic research alongside our incredible faculty of academics, researchers and industry partners.

Find out how your research could have an impact

The foundation of your career

At STEaPP, you’re encouraged to push the boundaries of conventional thinking and become a pioneer in the field of public policy and science. You’ll develop critical insights into how evidence is generated, interpreted, and applied in policymaking, exploring how scientific knowledge can lead to tangible improvements in global well-being.

The PhD programme aims to foster world-class interdisciplinary researchers. Our graduates have pursued dynamic careers in academia, scientific advising, governmental agencies, international organisations, and industry.

They are recognised for their ability to bridge the gap between science, policy, and society, and are at the forefront of addressing critical issues such as climate change, healthcare innovation, and technology governance.

Employability

Networking

At UCL STEaPP you’ll have multiple opportunities to network, including:

Supervision and mentorship from world-leading researchers with national and international contacts and collaborations across government, industry, non-profit and academic sectors – providing invaluable network opportunities.
Benefit from the department's connections with key international stakeholders such as the World Bank, UN-Habitat, African Development Bank, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), various UK Government Departments and the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology, as well as local communities and non-governmental organisations.
You’ll be encouraged and supported to showcase your research at national and international conferences.
Join the department’s research clusters to engage with academic and research staff regularly.

Teaching and learning

Taught sessions are comprised of lecture-style content, class discussion and group activities. These sessions are highly interactive and draw on experiential learning to develop students' competence and confidence to apply the module content within real-world contexts.

Students are expected to undertake training elements (eight taught modules).

The programme consists of six core training elements (modules from STEaPP), two specialisation training elements (modules from STEaPP or a sister department within UCL BEAMS), a pilot project and a dissertation.

The PhD is a supervised research degree in which candidates carry out research under the guidance of two supervisors (one from STEaPP and one from a sister department within UCL BEAMS). The dissertation is between 60,000 and 100,000 words in length.

PhD candidates will also take professional and transferable skills modules and research ethics training alongside innovative modules on the role of science, engineering and technology in public policy.

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at STEaPP consists of a piece of supervised research, normally undertaken over a period of four years full-time. Assessment is by means of a thesis, which should demonstrate the students’ capacity to pursue original research based upon a good understanding of the literature and scholarly landscape, research techniques and concepts appropriate to the discipline.

Students will be required to pass an 'Upgrade' assessment. The purpose of the upgrade is to assess the student’s progress and ability to complete their PhD programme to a good standard and in a reasonable time frame. It is expected that a full-time student will attempt upgrade within 18 months of registration.

Apart from the first-year taught programme which will have specific contact hours, doctoral students are self directed. On average, a full-time PhD often involves 35 hours per week devoted to doing research. Part-time PhDs may involve between 10 and 20 hours per week.

Research areas and structure

Our research brings together academic, governmental, civil society and industry partners to deliver radical solutions to the challenges facing our societies today. Research in our department falls primarily into the following domain areas:

Visit UCL STEaPP’s research website for more.

Research environment

Research areas include development, digital technologies, innovation, research impact, risk and uncertainty, science advice, science diplomacy, sustainability and urbanisation.

Academic staff – and doctoral candidates – within STEaPP are also strongly encouraged to develop collaborations with colleagues from other UCL departments and research units. A Subsidiary Supervisor from another BEAMS department is for instance required for each candidate.

STEaPP’s Doctoral Training Programme consists of two routes, the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) route and the Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) route. In the PhD route, candidates reside at UCL, except for their ‘fieldwork’ in policy-oriented organisations, and produce a thesis within four years (full-time) or six years (part-time). At the progression/upgrade viva (before 24 months for the full-time programme), candidates are expected to defend their ‘pilot study’ and thesis proposal.

The academic requirement for the PhD is to produce a PhD thesis (maximum length: 100,000 words).

PhD candidates are expected to follow eight modules as training elements. Six of these are standardised compulsory modules for all candidates and are taken in year one (Literature Review, Parts A and B; Research Methods; Knowledge Systems, Public Policy and Management; Books Seminar, Parts A and B). The remaining two modules are specialisation modules, which can be taken in any year of the programme.

Part-time students follow the same programme as full-time students, except that the programme length is six years, with up to two additional years in Continuing Research Status (CRS), and the first upgrade attempt normally takes place after 24 months.

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	£4,120
Tuition fees (2025/26)	£33,000	£22,000

Full-time = 4 years.
Part-time = 6 years.

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

As a research student, your additional costs may include expenses such as books, conference attendance and field research, in the UK or overseas.

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

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

Doctoral degrees at UCL STEaPP start in September. There is a rolling application deadline, but the application deadline for places with departmental funding is usually in February (please check the departmental website for actual deadlines). Note that places may be very limited for applications after this early deadline (depending, among other factors, on the availability of supervisors).

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.