Sustainable Urban Development

As a student on the DPhil, you will be required to attend a minimum of 30 days of university-based work each year for the duration of your studies, to be arranged with the agreement of the supervisor.

• MSc in Sustainable Urban Development

In being admitted to the degree you must be prepared to work independently a good deal, and you will need considerable personal motivation. You are required to have a good general knowledge of the field within which research falls and of the methods appropriate to the study of this field. Throughout the period of study, you will be part of a thriving international graduate community of students engaged with sustainable urban development, including students on the part-time MSc in Sustainable Urban Development.

You will be admitted initially as a Probationary Research Student (PRS), in line with University regulations on doctorates. During the probationary period, you will develop and begin work on the thesis topic. You will develop research skills through a range of training and skills development primarily offered via the Department for Continuing Education Graduate School, as well as across the University.

Students must apply for a Transfer of Status from PRS to DPhil status between the 6th and the 8th academic term after admission, each academic year at Oxford having three terms. This involves the submission of a piece of written work that is examined by two assessors, neither of whom will be supervisors. This process is to ensure that your work is of potential DPhil quality and that the methodology of the research is appropriate and feasible. Upon successful completion of the Transfer of Status, you would usually undertake a period of primary fieldwork/data collection over one to two years.