Programme and Aims

Research Environment

The Centre of African Studies is entirely focused on postgraduate study and interdisciplinary research and as such provides an excellent environment in which to study for a PhD. The Centre has associated staff who represent an enormous range of disciplines, from the social sciences, law, history, divinity, the biosciences and beyond and with a cross-university remit for Africa-focused activities the Centre is able to draw on the entire University's expertise when organising supervision and advice for advanced postgraduate research.

Many Centre staff are recognised as world leaders in their field. The Centre hosts a dozen major research grants and projects, some major multi-million pound multi-country projects, and literally scores of cutting edge publications are produced every year. Our PhD researchers are integral to these activities, many are affiliated to research projects, regularly present at international conferences and publish in top international journals. Several have won awards for their research.

The Centre hosts a large, interdisciplinary community of academics, research fellows and research students from all over the world. At the present time there are over 30 PhD students affiliated to the Centre, half a dozen research fellows and more than two dozen teaching members of staff. This community is active, supportive and challenging; we hold weekly seminars, there are fortnightly PhD student seminars, and language training, skills workshops, reading groups, African politics groups, film screenings and retreats and conference trips regularly take place.

Programme Structure

Usually undertaken full-time over three years, or part-time over six years, the PhD in African Studies is a research degree in which students make an original contribution to our knowledge of Africa by pursuing an extended and focused piece of research on a topic of interest to them. The Centre of African Studies is supported by the Graduate School of Social and Political Science  and this enables students to acquire a broader set of transferable and research skills during their time studying for their PhD. 

Each PhD researcher belongs to at least one of the research themes in Centre of African Studies, and possibly also research clusters in other subjects within the School. PhD researchers are encouraged to actively participate and take part in research group activities.

PhD researchers are allocated two supervisors, who will offer expert advice through the entire research process, from advising on the choice of any initial training courses, developing research questions and an extended research proposal, to fieldwork, data analysis, presenting and publishing findings, writing up the thesis, overcoming the final hurdle of the viva and moving onto the next stage of students career. There are regular, supportive reviews of progress and the Centres Postgraduate Advisor is available to offer additional advice and deal with problems. The supervisors and Postgraduate Advisor are the formal component of a much broader informal network of support, advice and supervision.

Research Training

Many students choose to undertake an MSc by Research in African Studies prior to proceeding with doctoral research and if they do so they will follow a formal programme of research training, jointly co-ordinated by the Centre of African Studies and the Graduate School in Social and Political Science.

Alternatively, students with an appropriate background may choose not to complete an MSc by Research and will instead take an appropriate suite of courses during the first year of their PhD registration.