MPhil/PhD Marine Sciences at University of Plymouth

Course Details

Conduct research at the cutting edge of the discipline, working alongside a team of specialist academic advisors. Our staff work in a wide range of fields, including marine physics, coastal processes and modelling, coastal ocean and sediment transport engineering, marine and coastal policy, geomatics, oceanography and marine renewable energy.

This full time or part time doctoral programme is suitable for people who have a particular research question or topic in mind, and wish to explore this through independent study in order to produce an original contribution to the subject. If you aspire to a research career this is usually the most appropriate research degree to undertake.

Potential applicants should first identify a member of academic staff who may be a suitable supervisor, and contact them by email to discuss possible directions for a research proposal. The research proposal must be agreed by the supervisor before an application to study can be made. You must also ensure that appropriate funding is in place, to cover both fees, and the cost of the research.

You will be guided by a small team of academic experts, led by your main supervisor (Director of Studies). Even if you already have a masters degree, you will normally be registered as a ‘MPhil/PhD’ candidate and may apply to transfer to ‘PhD’ status around 10–22 months after registration, based on your progress to date.

You will be expected to fully engage with skills development and training and to present your research in a range of scholarly contexts, including seminars.

A PhD is assessed via submission of a written thesis and a viva voce (an oral examination).

For full details of what doing a PhD entails at the University of Plymouth, please visit our postgraduate research degrees pages.