PhD Humanitarianism and Conflict Response

We will be conducting our PGR virtual open week in October 2024. Find out about future events and postgraduate research sessions by signing up for our email alerts.

Apply online  

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  12 January 2024. 

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 2024 entry:  30 June 2024 
• For January 2025 entry:  30 September 2024 

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
• Copies of the academic transcript and certificate from both your Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. If your Master’s degree is pending, please provide an interim transcript. 
• An up to date academic CV, detailing your education and qualifications; employment history; publications; and any other relevant information. 
• 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 timeframe as this forms part of the review process. 
• International applicants must additionally provide English Language evidence (e.g IELTS)

Our PhD in Humanitarianism and Conflict Response is inspired by the need to conduct rigorous, in-depth research and analysis on the impact and outcomes of contemporary and historical crises.

It is driven by a desire to inform and support policy and practice and to optimise joint working between partner organisations. It seeks to foster increased understanding and debate within the fields of conflict studies, humanitarianism, disaster studies, and global health.

This is a three-year PhD (or six years of part-time study) in which you prepare a thesis under the guidance of two supervisors with specialist expertise.

Your progress is monitored at regular meetings of your research panel. This comprises of two supervisors plus a reviewer who is independent of the supervisory team. They also provide guidance on research training and career development.

We welcome applications from students wishing to study in the interdisciplinary research areas of conflict studies, humanitarian response, global health, disaster studies and climate change.

As a postgraduate researcher in HCRI, you will join an active and accessible research community. Our interests are varied in terms of disciplines, geographies, time periods, and topics.

We also encourage researchers to connect with other departments across the University.

Integrated with our research goals, the HCRI PhD programme offers a flexible approach to the provision of teaching. We look to identify and challenge current assumptions about issues such as aid, conflict response and governance.

The programme aims to prepare the next generation of crisis response researchers and practitioners. It also seeks to understand the experiences of people affected by crises, to engage with their perspectives and help make their voices heard. Therefore, this PhD reflects the need for structured forms of professional development and reflective thinking that can function across academic and non-academic contexts. 

It will introduce students to a range of dynamic and challenging concepts and methods with which to reflect critically and constructively on their professional context and experience.

The aim of the programme is to produce students who are critical, independent researchers. You are from the outset encouraged to disseminate your work at seminars and conferences and by publishing in high-quality forums.

The programme culminates in the submission of an 80,000-word dissertation (or alternative format) that makes an original contribution to knowledge.

We aim to:

• Generate new critical, academic perspectives on conflict and crisis, emergency interventions, health and social justice, through engagement academic disciplines such as history, applied arts, emergency medicine and global health, geography, politics and anthropology, on the basis of field work and case studies.
• Provide a structured programme of action and reflection at an advanced level to support candidates' contributions to the development of new methodologies, techniques and concepts.
• Support the development and transformation of existing professional experience and expertise into research outcomes that will extend knowledge, understanding and practice in response to humanitarian assistance issues or organisations.
• Provide candidates with opportunities to deepen and broaden knowledge and understanding of the historical, social, political, medical and ethical dimensions of their research and/or practice, in an interdisciplinary environment.

Our partnerships

HCRI has close links with other similarly multi-disciplinary centres of learning across the University - most notably, the Global Development Institute, the Centre for the Cultural History of War, the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, and the Medical Education Research Group in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health.

In addition, we have a strong network of partnerships with policy-makers and practitioners outside of academia.

PhD students are offered tailored supervision and training, and your supervisors will aim to nurture your capacities as an independent researcher. 

Your research will normally be supervised by two members of staff - at least one from HCRI, with the second supervisor based in HCRI or, if appropriate, drawn from another department in The University.

You will be encouraged to pursue your independent learning through participation in research seminars, workshops, conferences, and other opportunities available in Manchester and beyond.

In addition to the Faculty of Humanities training programmes for the social sciences ( methods@manchester ) and the humanities ( artsmethods@manchester ), HCRI students will also have access to relevant training programmes from the Global Health programme in the University's medical school.

The taught course elements of the programme will include the Research and Evaluation Methods course unit, taught in the first year; in addition, workshops will take place throughout the programme, which will involve you working with your peers, fostering the concept of a cohort who can share experiences and expertise. 

In addition to coursework for the Research and Evaluation Methods unit in the first year, your PhD progress will be reviewed by your research panel, consisting of your two supervisors and one other member of staff.

This panel 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 of 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.

Our PhD programme uniquely blends students from a variety of backgrounds on subjects as diverse as the history and politics of humanitarian and state intervention into conflict and disaster affected countries with clinicians working in the field of global health.

As such, students - from both a medical and non-medical background - will be encouraged to think critically about the motives, logistical difficulties and outcomes of organising such interventions.

Find out more about our current PhD students .

Find out more about what it's like to undertake a postgraduate research degree at Manchester on our Humanities PGR blog .  

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.

HCRI students are able to make use of a dedicated room at the Institute.

The PhD programme at the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute aims to cater for researchers who envisage an academic career, as well as those who wish to use their research experience to inform a career in areas relating to our research and teaching.

These include non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and the charitable sector, national and global health, government and civil service, and international affairs.

We encourage our PhD students to gain teaching experience to help build their academic CV and ensure contact with those from the field who are participating in our variety of undergraduate and taught master's courses.

Over the course of your doctoral degree, you will develop a portfolio of skills that make you highly desirable to a range of employers, from educational institutions to think-tanks, the civil service, museums, and large business organisations.

Our academic staff, with a range of professional pathways and at different stages of their careers, are well placed to help you explore and plan for your own goals beyond the PhD.

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.