Applying for a PhD at Queen’s

Application process

Students are admitted to our doctoral programme twice a year, in September and February, with applications received by the dates below:

Your application will be considered by the Research Committee, which meets twice a term. If we consider the application has merit, you will be interviewed either in person at Queen’s or via Skype, in order to determine your suitability as a researcher.

Before offering you a place at Queen’s, we must ascertain that the requisite supervisory expertise exists at Queen’s and VU Amsterdam. Once we have a reasonable degree of confidence in this, and in your proposal, you will be offered a place as a postgraduate researcher at Queen’s for up to 12 months. During this time, an adviser will be appointed to work with you to develop your proposal and the required Training and Supervision Plan (TSP) to the point where it can go to the Professors’ Meeting at VU Amsterdam. The TSP consists of various required training elements to be completed throughout the duration of your research.

Once your proposal is accepted at VU Amsterdam, you become a PhD student of the University and a full supervisory team is appointed (consisting of supervisors from Queen’s and VU Amsterdam) to guide you through the research. For further information about admissions for Research students please see click here.

Entrance requirements

To be eligible for consideration for the PhD degree at Queen’s, and with our partner university, the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU Amsterdam), you must have:

• An awarded Master’s degree or equivalent qualification with a research component (e.g. dissertation/thesis). Most vocational Master’s programmes (e.g. MDiv) do not meet the VU requirements.
• Sufficient proficiency in written and spoken English to complete the programme of work satisfactorily and to prepare and defend a thesis in English. Where a candidate has not completed prior degrees in an English-speaking country the candidate should have achieved: British Council /UCLES IELTS 7 (6 in writing) or TOEFL (paper-based test 600, computer-based test 250, internet test 100).
• Appropriate theological educational background. We would normally expect applicants to have a Master’s degree in theology or a related discipline. Alternatively, there must be evidence of sufficient theological competence to pursue doctoral theological research. If intending to pursue biblical research, we would normally expect you to have competency in biblical languages or be willing to acquire this.
• A realistic and convincing research proposal that fits with the interests and expertise of staff at Queen’s and the Faculty of Religion and Theology at VU Amsterdam.

Before submitting your proposal, we recommend that you take time to look at the Queen’s website and the research interests of our staff and honorary research fellows as well as the Faculty of Religion and Theology Graduate School web pages in order to establish that we have the requisite supervisory expertise to supervise your project.

Fees

Postgraduate research student fees for new and continuing students can be found on our Tuition fees sheet. Students should bear in mind additional costs that can incur during the course of their study, including some books and resources, computer equipment and software, travel to and costs of conferences and supervision meetings, costs of particular courses useful for their research as part of completing the Training and Supervision Plan, ‘pocket money’ for when visiting VU Amsterdam in the Netherlands, and any visa costs. Students are responsible for the costs incurred (including travel and accommodation) in attending their own dissertation public defence at the end of their studies.

Applications

If you would like to apply for a doctoral programme please complete this Application Form and email it to research@queens.ac.uk with the title ‘Application for PhD – Your full name’.

It is strongly encouraged that you read this guidance on completing the Application Form.

Admissions

• For general information about admissions at Queen’s please consult our Study pages.
• For specific information about admissions for Research students please click here.

Admissions complaints

Applicants who have a complaint relating to the admission to any academic programme should raise it as soon as possible with the Academic Registrar (admissions@queens.ac.uk). For further information about the complaints procedure relating to academic admissions, please see the relevant policy.