
PhD Degrees
We offer MPhil and PhD programmes in Law and Criminology
Find a Supervisor
Read about the research interests of our experts in Law and Criminology
Funding Opportunities
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ESRC funding - North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP)
APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR 2019-20 APPLICATIONS HAS PASSED.
Details of ESRC funding for 2020-21 should be available in December 2019
Lancaster University forms part of the North West Social Science Doctoral Training Partnership (NWSSDTP) which offers scholarships covering tuition and maintenance for a Masters plus PhD (1+3) or for a PhD alone (+3, +2).
Due to the competitive nature of this funding, usually only students with a first class UG degree or a distinction in their MA/LLM would be successful.
Full details of the studentships and application process are available on the Faculty website
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Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership
APPLICATION DEADLINE FOR 2019-20 APPLICATIONS HAS PASSED.
Details of AHRC funding for 2020-21 should be available in December 2019
Full details of the studentship and application process are available on the Faculty website
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Faculty Studentships
A number of Faculty Postgraduate bursaries and scholarships are available for students wishing to study for a Masters degree, a Masters Degree followed by a PhD (“1+3”), or for a PhD degree within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
The shortlisting of awards is administered by individual departments. Applicants wishing to be considered for these awards should contact their prospective department for details of the application process. All applicants must already hold an offer of a place to study in any department in the Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences before applying for a scholarship, and be due to commence their studies during the 2020-21 academic year.
A variety of scholarships will be awarded up to the level of a fees bursary plus £15,000 maintenance.
Please read the relevant terms & conditions before applying:
Faculty MA Scholarships 2020 terms and conditions
Faculty 1+3 Scholarships 2020 terms and conditionsFaculty 1+3 Scholarships 2020 terms and conditions
Faculty Research Scholarships 2020 terms and conditionsFaculty Research Scholarships 2020 terms and conditions
Applications should be completed using the Faculty Scholarship Application Form 2020-2021 and be emailed to pglaw@lancaster.ac.uk
Eligibility: All full-time and part-time students with an offer of a place of study
Deadline: 28 February 2020 (5 pm) -
University funding for Postgraduate students
Peel Trust Studentship
Funds of up to £2,500 per annum are available to postgraduate students. The award is based on academic merit and financial hardship. For details of how to apply, please see the student services website
Research Support and Training Costs
All registered PhD students are eligible to apply to the Department for research support and research training costs. This may cover, for example, travel and other expenses for research trips to libraries, archives, museums, etc.; expenses related to attending academic conferences where you are giving a paper; or the costs of training in a skill necessary for your research, such as enrolling in a language or other skills course for which no provision exists in the university. Individual requests are usually limited to £250.
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Other funding
Visit the Student Based Services website for details on other funding sources for PhD applicants and registered students.
How to Apply
Applications are welcomed from those holding a good second-class honours degree from a UK university, or an equivalent qualification. Lancaster's taught postgraduate degrees are designed to be suitable for non-law as well as law graduates, so it is not necessary to have a law degree.
Apply online
To submit an application, simply create an account on the My Applications website and then select ‘Create a new application’ from your homepage once you are logged-in.
Using your account on the My Applications website, you are able to submit applications for the programme(s) which you wish to study, upload supporting documentation and provide us with information about referees.
Current Lancaster Students
If you are a current Lancaster student, or you have recently graduated from Lancaster, we can reduce the amount of information that you will need to provide as part of your application. You will need to provide only one reference and will not need to supply your Lancaster degree transcript. We will also pre-fill your personal details, ready for you to check.
Finding a supervisor
While it is not necessary to get in touch with potential supervisors before submitting your application, in some cases it can be useful to email staff whom you would be interested to work with before applying. This could be helpful for you in finding out whether you do share similar interests or theoretical orientations, and whether the member of staff is currently accepting new PhD students. You can get in touch with staff directly through the information on their profile pages.
What should I include?
If you use the My Applications website then you will be advised which documentation you need to upload or send to us. We can automatically contact your referees once you have submitted your application if you ask us to.
The supporting documentation screen will provide you with a list of required documents. These will usually include:
- Degree certificates and transcripts of previous higher education (college/university) degrees or other courses that you have completed/for which you are currently studying. For transcripts in languages other than English, a certified English translation will be required.
- A personal statement to help us understand why you wish to study your chosen degree.
- You also need to complete a research proposal which should include the following:
- the research area you are interested in
- the research question(s) you are specifically interested in
- who within our department appears best qualified to supervise you
- the methods you envisage using in your studies
- plus any other information which may be relevant
- An example of postgraduate level written work (e.g. LLM/MA Coursework, article or research paper)
- Two references
- If English is not your first language, we require copies of English language test results. It is possible for us to consider your application before receiving these test results, and to then give you a conditional offer that will be dependent upon receiving test results at a later date.
When to apply
You can apply at any time of the year for PhD study, but we encourage you to start at one of the predefined start dates of October, January or April. In some circumstances, a July start date can be considered.
If you wish to be considered for funding, are applying from overseas or require on-campus accommodation, we recommend you apply as early as possible.
Further information
If you would like more information before applying, please contact us at pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk or + 44 (0)1524 593148. If you have any queries during the application process, please contact our Postgraduate Admissions Team.