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Health and Medical Sciences

PhD in Health and Social Care

Director of the Faculty Graduate School
Susanna Hourani
Programme length
Full-time: 33-48 months , Part-time: 45-96 months
Programme start date
October, January, April, July

PhD programmes can be undertaken full-time and part-time. The information below refers to full-time. For part-time students the time allowed for confirmation and completion is roughly double that of full time students.

As an alternative pathway to PhD, we also offer a Doctorate of Clinical Practice. We welcome informal conversations to ensure that the right route is selected for each individual.

We value our PhD students – their research education is important to us because they will become the academics, researchers, medical and health care professionals and policy makers of the future. We offer postgraduate research leading to the degree of PhD in a wide range of health-related topics. PhD students are initially registered for a probationary period and proceed to full PhD registration after one year, subject to a successful upgrade viva. Students will be expected to demonstrate original thought and a capacity for critical evaluation. The research towards a PhD would normally take approximately three years, with a further year to write the PhD thesis and take the viva voce exam. The University and the Faculty provide a programme of training in generic, transferable skills, as well as research skills, as these are clearly important for the future employment prospects of our graduates.

Entry Requirements

Candidates should have a good honours degree (upper second) in an appropriate discipline, but prior experience in research or health and social care may be acceptable. Enthusiasm for, and commitment to, independent study is essential, as is a good command of the English language. Please contact the Faculty Graduate School to discuss your experience and qualifications.

Fees and Funding

Fees

Study modeUK/EU feesOverseas fees
Full-time£3,900 Available soon
Part-time£1,950Available soon

Funding

As well as an annual competition with a studentship prize, we also have a number of academic scholarships. These and other scholarships are advertised as and when they become available on the Faculty Graduate School website. All postgraduate researchers are eligible for the University’s Postgraduate Student of the Year award.

Health and Social Care at Surrey

The School of Health and Social Care is a multi-professional teaching and research organisation. We are a leading provider of postgraduate and continuing professional development programmes in health and social care education. Our aim is to generate improvements in health and social care practice through high-quality education, partnership working, practice development and research.

Our faculty promotes health-related research and education, actively encouraging collaborative research between medical researchers from other disciplines, clinicians and NHS colleagues. We are rapidly establishing ourselves as an international centre for research and for education and training in a variety of areas. We offer research training leading to the postgraduate research degrees of MPhil/ PhD or MD in all areas of our activities.

Research

Research activities within our faculty are focused on a range of areas relevant to medicine, health and social care provision and embrace evidence-based practice, policy and education. We have established a research base which drives and reflects innovation and change in clinical practice and medicine.

Areas of particular interest include:

  • Women’s health
  • Diabetes
  • Preventative and social care
  • Cancer and supportive care
  • Emergency cardiovascular care
  • Non-medical prescribing
  • Long-term conditions

The team also offers a range of core expertise in:

  • Clinical research including clinical trials
  • Complex interventions
  • Nursing and health care ethics
  • Health economics
  • Communication in health care
  • Health evaluation
  • Mixed methods
  • Education for practice
  • Telecare

Research environment

PhD students have individual tuition in their specialist field. Close links with practice are encouraged, with many research projects including collaborative links with practice. There are regular research seminars and student-led discussions on methodology and other research issues. All PhD students have an individualised research training programme tailored to their needs and agreed with their supervisors.

Contact us

For general enquiries

0800 980 3200 or +44 (0)1483 681 681

pg-enquiries@surrey.ac.uk

For admissions enquiries

+44 (0)1483 689 730

fhms_gradschool@surrey.ac.uk