PhD History

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Please ensure you include all  required supporting documents at the time of submission, as incomplete applications may not be considered.

Application Deadlines

For consideration in internal funding competitions, you must submit your completed application by  13 January 2025.

If you are applying for or have secured external funding (for example, from an employer or government) or are self–funding, you must submit your application before the below deadlines to be considered. You will not be able to apply after these dates have passed.

• For September 2025 entry:  30 June 2025
• For January 2026 entry:  30 September 2025

Before you start your application, you should:

1. Develop your own research proposal and project title.
2. Find a supervisor by browsing our academics’ profiles, and reach out directly to discuss if they are interested in supporting your research.
3. Consider how you plan on funding your research and discuss this with your supervisor.

When you submit your application, you must include each of the below required documents:

• A 1,500 word PhD research proposal ; Please state the word count on page 1 of the document.
• A copy of your Bachelor's academic transcript and certificate.
• A copy of your Master's academic transcript and certificate. If your Master's degree is pending, please provide an interim transcript.
• If you have completed more than one Bachelor's or Master's degree, please provide evidence for each. If your transcripts are in a language other than English, you must provide an official English translation. If your weighted average mark or GPA is not included on these documents, please also include an official document from your university verifying this information.
• An up-to-date academic CV summarising your academic record, employment history, publications and highlighting experience demonstrating your research potential.
• The names of two academic referees, including one from your most recent institution. Your referees will be contacted directly via the Referee Portal following the submission of your application form. You may wish to notify your referees to submit their references promptly, as this is part of the review process.
• A certificate or evidence demonstrating your English language ability and proficiency. Applications can be considered without this evidence but any offer would be conditional on meeting minimum requirements.

Our History PhD programme is a three-year course of study (or six years of part-time study) that enables you to carry out a piece of in-depth research in the area that most interests you.

You will prepare an original thesis under the guidance of two supervisors with specialist expertise. Your progress is monitored at regular meetings of your research panel. This composes of two supervisors and an independent reviewer. They also provide training and career guidance.

The aim of the programme is to turn you into a fully-fledged independent researcher. You will be encouraged from the outset to disseminate your work at seminars and conferences and by publishing in high-quality locations.

The programme culminates in the submission of an 80,000-word dissertation that makes an original contribution to historical knowledge.

As a postgraduate researcher in the History department, you will join a large and lively research community. We have over 40 established members of staff engaged in research, often in ways that help to re-shape their fields, and there are also many historians working in other departments and research institutes across the University.

Your research will normally be supervised by two members of staff - usually from the History department, but if appropriate, from another department in the University.

Close supervision based on regular production of written work is at the heart of the PhD student's working life. But your supervisors will aim to nurture your capacities as an independent researcher, and equally central to the learning process is your ability to take advantage of the wider opportunities offered by the University - seminars, conferences, reading groups, training courses, and the like.

We offer one of the UK's fullest and most innovative training programmes in the humanities, artsmethods@manchester .

This provides a rich menu of courses on methods (eg using medieval manuscripts, interview methods, using newspapers in research) and theory ('Using Marx'. 'Using Foucault', 'Using Cultural Studies'), as well as researcher-led conferences organised by groups of PhD students (eg 'How does gender mean? Debates and applications in modern Britain').

Historians working on the interface with the social sciences also have access to the social sciences counterpart, methods@manchester , which offers a similar range of opportunities.

These two programmes are reinforced by the Humanities Researcher Development programme, which offers generic training - eg on academic networking, or how to prepare for your viva - and courses aiming to enhance your career development.

The Faculty of Humanities runs a placement programme which offers PhD researchers the opportunity to develop their public engagement skills and/or their employability skills by undertaking a period of work with an organisation outside academia - a museum, an archive, or a festival, for example.

Recent History PhDs have undertaken placements with the People's History Museum, the Greater Manchester Museum of Transport, and Bramall Hall.

We also have a well-established exchange with the European University Institute, Florence , under which one or two of our PhD researchers each year will be able to spend a semester at the EUI, enhancing their skills in international networking and benefiting from a different kind of research environment. 

This programme requires regular attendance at the University, except during periods of approved 'fieldwork', ie archival research away from Manchester.

It is not available on a distance-learning basis, since regular engagement with the University's research environment as well as with your supervisors is integral to your development as a researcher.

Part-time students should ensure a minimum of two full days in the working week for their studies for the same reason; evening and weekend study on its own is unlikely to be sufficient.

Your progress will be reviewed by your research panel, consisting of your two supervisors and one other member of staff.

This will meet with you once per semester (or once per year for part-time students) to give you formal feedback on your work and report on your progress to the School.

Please note that the first year of the PhD programme and the first two years of the part-time programme are probationary: at the end of this period, your panel is required to confirm that you have made satisfactory progress towards completion and may therefore proceed.

Thereafter, progression through each year of the programme is dependent on your ability to produce evidence of continuing progression.

The PhD is assessed on the basis of a thesis up to 80,000 words. This is examined by two examiners, one of whom is external to the University.

An oral examination is an integral part of the assessment process.

Manchester is home to one of the UK's five National Research Libraries - one of the best-resourced academic libraries in the UK and widely recognised as one of the world's greatest research libraries.

Find out more about libraries and study spaces for postgraduate research students at Manchester.

We also have one of the largest academic IT services in Europe - supporting world-class teaching and research. There are extensive computing facilities across campus, with access to standard office software as well as specialist programmes, all connected to the campus network and internet.

Every student is registered for email, file storage and internet access. If more demanding computer access is required, our specialist computing division can provide high-end and specialist computing services.

Most of our PhD students aim to go into an academic career, and we have an excellent record of helping them obtain teaching and/or research posts in UK and overseas universities.

In recent years, our doctoral graduates have gone on to positions at many universities in the UK and overseas, including Aberystwyth, Huddersfield, Keele, Lancaster, Liverpool, Manchester, New York University, Nottingham, Ohio State University, Oxford, Oxford Brookes, Sheffield Hallam, Simon Fraser University (British Colombia), the University of Virginia, Lazarki University Poland Ryokoko University, Japan, and University College London.

Previous student careers include: Lecturer in History, University College, London; Lecturer, University of Birmingham; Lecturer, University of Liverpool; Assistant Professor in Women's Studies, Trinity College, Dublin; Library of Congress Fellow, USA; Postdoc. Northwestern University, USA; Postdoc. University of Konstanz; Postdoc. University of Exeter; Editorial Assistant, Oxford University Press; Researcher for the think tank Reform; Education Policy and Research Officer, General Medical Council; Independent Documentary Film Maker; Academic Research and Engagement Co-ordinator, National Trust.

At the same time, if you make the most of the opportunities available to you during your programme, you can develop a portfolio of skills that make you highly desirable to other employers, from the civil service to think-tanks, from museums and archives to large business organisations.

The University has its own dedicated Careers Service that you would have full access to as a student and for two years after you graduate. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help support you with your goals for the future.