Visiting Doctoral Student programme

STS welcomes PhD students from other universities for a period of study of 3-12 months. Join the vibrant STS postgraduate community that includes doctoral and masters students in a thriving department

STS welcomes PhD students from other universities for a period of study of 3-12 months. Join the vibrant STS postgraduate community that includes doctoral students and postgraduate taught students and contribute to the academic life of a thriving department.

For PhD students enrolled elsewhere interested in visiting STS

Some of the benefits of this scheme include: 

1. Guaranteed fortnightly meetings with your academic sponsor.
2. Attend one postgraduate taught module per term offered in the department. (Three month visits are present for one teaching term; one year visits are present for two teaching terms.)
3. Access to STS postgraduate common room and other postgraduate facilities in the department.
4. Invitations to attend STS research seminars, student-organised work-in-progress seminars, STS organised workshops and conferences, and other STS events.
5. The opportunity to present your work at the student-organised work-in-progress seminars.
6. Access to the full and comprehensive range of resources available from UCL Library’s eighteen libraries and extensive digital holdings (Details available on the UCL Library page).
7. STS staff have career-long working relationships with colleagues in many other London institutions, and we will facilitate networking for our visitors.
8. For visitors studying for a period of one academic year, STS will offer a follow-on two-year appointment as STS Honorary Research Associate. This allows our visitors to continue collaboration and exchange and to continue their access to UCL’s digital resources for research.

The STS Department housed at 22 Gordon Square is within a ten-minute walk to world-class research facilities including British Library, British Museum, University of London Senate House, Francis Crick Institute, Alan Turning Institute, Institute of Historical Research, Warburg Institute, UCL Institute of Risk and Disaster Reduction, London Centre for Nanotechnology and UCL Museums and Collections. Other key London research facilities include: The National Archives, The Science Museum, The Natural History Museum, The National Maritime Museum, The Royal Institution, and more.

Space is very limited and prior to any application it is necessary to establish if your request is feasible. If we choose to take your application forward, you will need to make a formal application through UCL’s procedures for Visiting Research Students.

Enquiries should be addressed to the STS Postgraduate (Research) Programme Tutor, Professor Brian Balmer <sts-phd@ucl.ac.uk>. 

More information

Applicants for Visiting Research Student status must be enrolled as a doctoral student in another university. Please contact the STS PhD programme tutor for more information about this option (sts-pgtutor@ucl.ac.uk). If you wish to apply for doctoral study in STS (e.eg., for a degree awarded by UCL) you should not apply as a visiting student. You must apply through the normal graduate research routes.