How to apply

Entry requirements and completing the application form

Academic requirements

Applicants will be expected to have:

• A Master’s degree, with a distinction or close to distinction, or the equivalent grade (from outside the UK); and
• The required English language requirements provided on the Postgraduate Study webpage.

The academic requirements are the same for continuing students (Cambridge students) and external applicants. All applicants will also need to have a clear and viable research proposal and secure support from a prospective supervisor.

Choosing a Supervisors and PhD research topics

PhD applicants are required to nominate a potential supervisor on their application form. Before applying, please consult the list below to see which members of staff are currently available to supervise PhD students. When choosing who to nominate as a potential supervisor, it is important that there is some overlap with your own research interests or approach. If you don’t name a potential supervisor in your application, the Admissions Committee will try to match your application with a suitable academic member of staff, based on their academic interests and area of expertise. However, there is no guarantee that this will be possible, and applications are unlikely to be successful if there is no suitable supervisor available.

You can contact a member of academic staff if you want to check if your proposed research topic will be a good fit with their research interests. If you wish to do this, please only send them the following information:

• A copy of your CV.
• A brief research proposal (1-2 pages maximum).
• A short statement about your academic background (what you have studied so far, your degree result or grade average, any relevant experience).
• The reason why you particularly wish to work with them. (You will need to demonstrate your awareness of their research and how it aligns with your research interests).

Please do not send references, transcripts or examples of written work. Our academic staff receive large numbers of inquiries, and they are often unable to give detailed feedback on your proposal, or engage in extended email correspondence.

Many students who undertake an MPhil at Cambridge choose to continue their academic journey by applying for a PhD. Our MPhil courses provide a strong foundation in research skills, subject knowledge, and academic writing, which are essential for doctoral study. Progression is not automatic from the MPhil to PhD, and current Cambridge students will be required to submit a new application for the PhD course. As with new applicants, current MPhil students will be required to meet the same entry requirements.

When completing your application, you may wish to consider the guidance provided below:

Please include any previous academic research experience you think would be beneficial to your application. This statement should be no more than 1500 characters long, including spaces and punctuation between words.

Please state how you see taking this course would help you meet your career goals. This statement should be no more than 1000 characters long, including spaces and punctuation between words.

On the application form your statement of interest should: (i) capture more broadly why are you interested in public policy research. For example: What are the public policy themes or issues that attract you, and why? (ii) outline some of your reasons you wish to study public policy topics at this level. You should mention specific academic interests you have in the field of public policy, and how you see these fitting in with your medium and long-term plans.
This statement should be no more than 1500 characters long, including spaces and punctuation between words.

The research proposal should be no more than four pages (~2,000 words) in length (not including the bibliography), and it should include:

• Your proposed title of the PhD project.
• A literature review that shows the respects in which your proposed work builds on and will augment, clarify, or qualify existing knowledge.
• A clear statement of research questions and/or hypotheses.
• Methodology: a feasible research design including a discussion of the methods you will employ (qualitative research; quantitative research; mixed-methods approach, etc) and why they are appropriate; study participants / data sources you plan to utilize, including how you expect to obtain access to them; further details about how the fieldwork will be conducted, etc.
• Timeline of research: indicating a general timeline about when a literature review will be completed, when it is hoped that fieldwork will commence and be completed, writing up stages, etc.
• Implications for policy and practice arising from the suggested research.
• Suggested supervisor: applicants are strongly encouraged to look at the profile of our academic staff members and indicate their preference about potential supervisors (You can suggest up to three names). Applicants should keep in mind that beyond the quality of the PhD proposal, it is important that a supervisor is in place who is able to supervise the specific topic.

This must be uploaded as a Supporting Document.

You will need to submit a sample of your academic writing, for which you are the sole author. We will not accept a piece of work you have written collaboratively with others. Applicants usually submit either an essay or piece of assessed coursework from a previous degree or a chapter from a dissertation. The sample of written work is more about showing your academic abilities and style of writing, so it doesn’t need to on a public policy subject or directly related to public policy.

This piece of work should be between 1,500 – 5,000 words long. A reference list or bibliography will not be included in the word count; however, footnotes will be included in the word count. This must be uploaded as a Supporting Document.

Application outcome: When will I receive a decision?

Complete applications (i.e. an application form and two academic references) are considered on a rolling basis up until the application deadline. Decisions are usually made within twelve weeks of receiving a complete application.

Please note: No preference will be given to an applicant who has made informal contact with an academic member of staff in the Bennett School, before submitting their application (even if the applicant and academic have engaged in extensive correspondence). Engagement with an academic staff member does not guarantee that you will receive an offer of a place on the course. Competition for places on the PhD course is intense, and each year many excellent applicants do not receive an offer of a place on the course.

As part of the decision-making process you may be invited to attend an interview with your prospective supervisor and another member of the Admissions Committee. Interviews will be conducted either in person or via Zoom.

• The proposed research is feasible for part-time studies.
• The applicant can sustain a part-time approach to study.
• The applicant can fund five years (up to seven years) of study.
• The applicant lives close enough to Cambridge to be able to fulfil attendance requirements.
• There is a member of staff willing to supervise the research and the applicant meets the academic requirements.

If the department decides to make you a part-time offer, you will also be interviewed by your potential Supervisor to establish a five-year research plan, which will set out your attendance requirements for training and seminars, frequency of supervisions and progress stages etc.