PhD Bioethics and Medical Jurisprudence

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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

Admission to studying for a PhD is highly competitive, so please allow as much time as possible to prepare your application, browse our research pages and academics' profiles, and familiarise yourself with the application process and any important deadlines.

To be considered for external funding sources (for example, ESRC NWSSDTP), you need to apply far enough in advance of the relevant external funding deadlines, which are usually much earlier than the programme deadline listed below. For internal studentships from the School of Social Sciences, you must submit your completed application by 1 December 2022.

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 relevant deadline to be considered. You will not be able to apply after these deadlines have passed.

•  For September 2023 entry: 30 June 2023

Required Supporting Documents

• A 1,500 word PhD research proposal , and 500 word supporting statement summarising your motivation for PhD study, outlining any research experience you have and why you want to do a postgraduate research degree at Manchester. Please upload the 2000 word document as a single file.

• Copies of the academic transcript and certificate from both your undergraduate and postgraduate degrees. If your postgraduate degree is pending, please provide an interim transcript;

• An up to date academic CV;

• A sample of written work demonstrating ability in the area of philosophical bioethics or medical law (2,000 to 5,000 words);

• You must nominate two academic referees (including one from your most recent institution). Your referees will be contacted directly via the Referee Portal following submission of your application form. You may wish to contact your referees to request they submit your reference in a reasonable time as this forms part of the review process;

• If you are not from a majority English speaking country, you must additionally provide English Language evidence (e.g IELTS).

Finding a supervisor

Your supervisor will be an important part of your PhD programme. It's a close relationship over many years, through which you develop your ideas, skills, thinking and research. Your supervisor's research interests should therefore closely align with yours.

If you aren't applying for a specific project, you'll need to find potential supervisors who will support your research. Details on recent publications, ongoing projects and particular research interests are all available on our academics' profiles.

Your potential supervisor should be able to give you advice on developing your research proposal as well as critical feedback to help make your proposal strong and competitive when it comes to applying for funding. If you'd like us to match you to a suitable supervisor, providing clear details of your research area within your application will make it easier for us to identify suitable opportunities for you. Include any details in section six of your application form under 'Proposed programme of study'.

Although guarantees cannot be made, we'll do our best to match your area of research to the most suitable supervisors.

National, regional, and local governments, organisations, and authorities are beginning to realise that they need highly trained people in healthcare ethics and law. This means now is a good time to aim for the highest academic qualifications in the field.  

Traditional graduate studies for a research degree do not offer the ethical and legal knowledge or the comprehensive training needed for cutting-edge research into bioethics and medical jurisprudence. A more structured approach is called for. 

This programme is designed to provide a solid skills basis for independent research, and to guide you steadily towards the completion of a structured doctoral thesis, which is based on publishable journal articles and book chapters. The programme itself is unique in its combination of group sessions in research methods and presentation events which are designed to ensure a genuine sense of community among researchers, and friendly but consistent supervision by world-class scholars in the field. 

The topics and themes which are covered during the group sessions in Year 1 address the diverse challenges of doctoral research in health law and ethics, for example: 

• refining your research question;
• scoping the literature; 
• doing interdisciplinary research; 
• exploring methodologies in bioethics and law; 
• getting published. 

Our entire community of doctoral scholar's meet four times during the year to present their ideas and research papers. We encourage staff and PGRs at all stages of their learning to attend our BMJ presentation events so that doctoral scholars can become accustomed to presenting their research to a diverse audience. Our doctoral scholars are a vital element in the research culture of our centre and our School.

As a PGR here, you’ll be a member of the Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, one of the leading bioethics and medical jurisprudence institutes in the world. The Centre has three decades of experience in campus-based and distance-learning programmes, and a lively and productive research environment.

Study success will be assessed by the structured doctoral thesis.

All the taught elements serve the preparation of the doctoral thesis, which develops knowledge of bioethics and medical jurisprudence methods and approaches. The development of your research skills are monitored and supported by supervisors. Although the outputs for the doctoral thesis are somewhat different to the conventional PhD, the report and the articles that make up the thesis are assessed according to the general rules in the University.

You will have a supervisory team which normally consists of two supervisors with expertise in both philosophical bioethics and medical jurisprudence that you will meet regularly.

At The University of Manchester Law department, School of Social Sciences, you are supported by the first-class resources you would expect of a top law school. In addition to the networked study spaces at the Williamson Building, you can access The University of Manchester Library , which houses a substantial collection of law books and periodicals, as well as texts to support all the degrees we offer.

A PhD in Bioethics and Medical Jurisprudence can lead to careers in academic and clinical research, as well as enhance a career in medicine and other healthcare and legal professions. 

The University has its own dedicated  Careers Service that you would have full access to as a PGR 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.