Research degrees

One of the first steps to your research degree is finding a supervisor. Our academic staff supervise and guide postgraduate students through their research and thesis writing.

You do not need to have a thesis title already decided, but you do need to have a specific area of research that you are interested in working on. It is essential that your supervisor is an expert in this field of interest.

You can view our academic staff and begin to make informal enquiries. If you are struggling to identify someone suitable you can contact the Director of Postgraduate Research, Dr Emilia Halton-Hernandez (e.halton-hernandez@essex.ac.uk), who may be able to help you identify an academic who has the right expertise.

Once you have identified a suitable academic who has agreed to supervise you, you will draft out your research proposal.

Your prospective supervisor and the PGR Director will review the draft and recommend edits. Your proposal may need to be reviewed several times before it is ready to be submitted as part of your formal application.

Guidelines for preparing a research proposal for a PhD thesis

The aims of the proposal are to provide information about the intended research project in terms of content and methodology so that the Department can assess:

1. the feasibility of the project
2. the suitability of the candidate for being registered for a PhD degree; moreover, the proposal will assist the Department to assign a suitable supervisor to the student.

The proposal, which may be developed in consultation with a member of the Department’s staff, should not exceed 5,000 words. It is understood that the student may need to deviate from the proposed outline as the actual PhD research unfolds.

PhD Thesis

• Topics for PhD research should fall within the wide spectrum of psychoanalytic enquiry, psychosocial studies, refugee care studies and childhood studies. They may examine any suitable phenomenon from these disciplinary perspectives using appropriate methodology (typically, theoretical, historical or empirical); they may also focus on psychoanalysis or analytical psychology as an object of enquiry. Theses should represent an original contribution to the field.
• The length of the thesis may not exceed 80,000 words (excluding notes, appendices and references).

The proposal would normally include the following components, depending on the nature of the project:

• Statement of the research question: What is the relevance of and the rationale for choosing this area of enquiry? Why is the research question posed in the way it is? Does the candidate have any particular motivation for posing this question or does he/she possess any expertise in this area?
• A focused introduction: This should include a brief critical review of the literature relevant to the research question. What are the main texts and trends informing the thinking which has led to the formation of this research question?
• Hypotheses: What are the main hypotheses or lines of enquiry? Within what general theoretical and/or historical framework will this research be carried out?
• Research design and Methodology: How are the main hypotheses going to be investigated or researched? An outline of the methodology, research design and procedure should be given. In addition, the anticipated structure of the thesis (i.e. sections and chapters) should be outlined.
• Pilot work and ethical issues: In proposals for empirical research, details will need to be provided of the proposed pilot work, the sequence of the various investigations and the research instruments which are intended to be used. In addition, the relevant methods of analysing the data will need to be discussed. Candidates should bear in mind that approval by an ethics research committee will be required before any collection of data.
• Timetable: An outline of the approximate timetable of the various stages of the proposed research should be given.

Once your prospective supervisor and the PGR director have reviewed your research proposal, you will be able to formally apply online.

The online application process takes approximately 20 minutes. You will be asked to state the course you are applying for, the month you wish to start, and your supervisor. You will also upload documents including your CV and the research proposal, and nominate your references.

Your application will be formally reviewed by the admissions team, the department PGR Director, and your prospective supervisor. As part of this step you will be invited to an interview (either in-person or through Zoom) to discuss your proposal and your research interests.

Our university is home to archival papers from various key psychoanalysts and analytic thinkers which are housed as part of our special collections. Our archives include the Balint Papers (Enid and Michael Balint), the Sigmund Freud collection, and the Irene Pickard Jung Archive.

Special collections can be used by students as part of their research, with access arranged through the library team.

We know that our postgraduate research students have professional backgrounds and are often managing their studies with their career.

PhDs can be carried out on a fulltime or part-time basis, allowing you to carry out research while balancing your personal or professional commitments.

Our professional doctorates are offered on a part-time basis only, which lets you continue your clinical work and start to draw your research into your professional practice.

We are able to support funding applications to both CHASE (Consortium for Humanities and the Arts South-East England) and SENSS (South and East Network for Social Sciences).

These doctoral training partnerships provide funding and training opportunities for postgraduate students. Through them you may be able to access professional placements with relevant organisations, attend specialist and interdisciplinary workshops, and contribute to student-run journals.

All postgraduate research students have access to Proficio. This professional development platform includes funding towards conference attendance, as well as training courses to help you develop transferable skills alongside your research. We also offer in collaboration with the Tavistock and Portman PGR training and development sessions during term time. 

Our department is a diverse community of international experts with many years’ experience of work and research in their respective fields. Many of our researchers have worked or volunteered outside academia in roles and fields as varied as social work, psychoanalysis and counselling, to school governance, leadership development, and intellectual property law.

Through our academics we also have a broad network of academics, clinicians and professionals. Our staff have carried out projects in collaboration with mental health charities, refugee support organisations, and hospitals and medical schools. We also run a research seminar series throughout the year featuring guest speakers discussing their work and research.