Prospective postgraduate researchers

Whether you’re considering starting a doctoral programme to further your knowledge, change direction, or start an academic career, here at Surrey, our supportive research environment will allow you to grow and make a difference in your area of interest.

The Surrey experience

Career development

You can launch your research career in our forward-thinking and supportive environment.

Doctoral College

Our vibrant interdisciplinary community ensures our leading research continues to grow.

Inspiring community

We offer a collaborative and nurturing community to support the Surrey research ambition.

Research excellence

33rd for overall research quality

We have increased our overall research quality ranking by 12 places to 33rd in the UK.

Top 20 for research outputs

We are ranked in the top 20 for the quality of our research outputs.

41% of research rated world leading

41 per cent of our submitted research was rated as world-leading.

University rankings from the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

Frequently asked questions

Your PhD journey

Being a PhD student is a full-time occupation and you will spend the majority of each working day undertaking your research or engaging in training. PhD students are professional early career researchers and as a PhD student, you will be fully engaged with the research culture.

The following sketches a typical journey for a PhD student at Surrey and highlights some key landmarks on route. The time scales apply to full-time PhD students. Those who are part-time should adjust these times as appropriate.

Keep updated

Keep up to date with news about postgraduate research at Surrey.

Research brochure

Explore why you should join our collaborative research community.

Webinars and events

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