Postgraduate Research in
International Relations and Global Politics

Applications to Register for a PhD or MPhil Research Degree in International Politics

This page is provided for those who might wish to register under the supervision of Professor Peter Willetts. There is also the possibility of registering under Dr Jamie Munn, Dr Sara Silvestri or Dr David Williams.

Who should apply?

• Applications would be welcome from those who want to pursue the global politics of a particular issue or the structure and processes in a particular non-governmental or intergovernmental organisation.
 

• Research on the foreign policy of an individual country or on relations between countries would only be considered by Peter Willetts if it had a prime focus on the global system. (For example, US policy on human rights in general would be of interest to other members of staff, but US policy in the UN Commission on Human Rights might be supervised by Peter Willetts.)
 

• Applicants should normally have a degree in International Relations, Political Science or Sociology.
 

• The degree should be from a British university or any overseas university that teaches in English. Applications will also be considered from those who have studied in other languages, provided that they can offer evidence of advanced command of English.
 

• Normally candidates should have an Upper Second Class or a First Class honours degree or an equivalent degree from outside Britain. Exceptions may be made, if the applicant has work experience that is relevant to the proposed research topic.
 

How do I apply?

• Applicants should first of all spend some time thinking through what field of research interests them personally and what they would want to investigate.
 

• Before submitting an application, it is a good idea to have informal contact with Professor Peter Willetts
           Telephone + 44 20 7040 8376   or    e-mail p.willetts@city.ac.uk
 

• For a formal application form, please contact City University, School of Social Science, Postgraduate Administrator, Sam Dunmur, and make it clear to her that you wish to study for a research degree
           Telephone + 44 20 7040 8491    or    e-mail S.Dunmur@city.ac.uk   or
           to download a PDF version of the application form      click here
 

What is a British research degree?

• Research degrees in International Relations or Global Politics follow the standard practice in Britain of having no compulsory taught courses. Students study full-time on a research topic of their choice for two years to obtain an MPhil degree or for three years to obtain a PhD degree. The teaching is predominantly by one-to-one tutorials with the student's personal supervisor.
 

• Taught courses on the MSc in Research Methods and on the other MA degrees in the Department or even final-year undergraduate courses, may be taken by research students, either because the student is interested or because the supervisor recommends attendance.
 

• A research student is always registered for an MPhil degree initially. The first year is normally spent gaining the necessary research skills, reviewing the literature, and moving from a general research topic to a specific research question. When satisfactory progress has been made, as demonstrated by the production of a thesis plan and a written paper, the student is then upgraded to a PhD registration, backdated to when he/she first joined the university.
 

• A PhD is awarded for the production of original research in a thesis, normally 80,000 to 100,000 words long. A viva voce examination of the thesis is held with one Internal Examiner from City University and one External Examiner from a different university.
 

What is the cost?

• For information about City University tuition fees click here. Unfortunately, the level of the fees is determined by the government and we do not know the decision until around Easter, for the following academic year. Normally, a research student will be classified as "Full-Time Internal". For the academic year starting in September 2005, the fees are
  • £3,085 - for students who have been "Ordinarily Resident" for at least three years in Britain or another country in the European Union and
  • £7,700 - for Overseas students.
 

• Accommodation and travel costs are high in London, but food can be relatively cheap. The British Council provides advice on the cost of living in a Guide to Study and Living in Britain, available from the Education UK website
 

Past successes.

The following doctorates have been completed successfully.

• Kira Jensen analysed Gender Mainstreaming in the International Planned Parenthood Federation and graduated in 2003. Since leaving City University, she has been a Programme Officer for HIV/AIDS with UNICEF in Tanzania
 

• Tom Bigg worked on Civil Society Networks in the Global Politics of Sustainable Development and graduated in 2002. He is now employed by the International Institute for Environment and Development in London. His most recent book, Survival for a Small Planet. The Sustainable Development Agenda is a valuable edited collection of materials covering the issues debated at the Johannesburg, World Summit for Social Development in 2002, (London: Earthscan Publications, 2004).
 

• Mandy Bentham analysed the contention over values concerning different aspects of production, trade and consumption of narcotics. Her work was published as The Global Politics of Drugs Control, (London: Macmillan Press, 1998).
 

• David Humphreys studied the politics of rainforests in the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, the International Tropical Timber Organisation and the Rio Earth Summit. His work was published as Forest Politics. The Evolution of International Co-operation, (London: Earthscan Publications, 1996).
 

• Mira Filipovic studied the regulation of global capital markets by both the Basle Committee and international non-governmental organisations. Her work was published as Governments, Banks and Global Capital, (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 1997, now out of print).
 

• Peter Hough compared seven different aspects of the International Regulation of Pesticide Production and Use, concluding that the presence or absence of consensus over norms was the explanation of whether an international regime existed in each policy domain. His work was published as The Global Politics of Pesticides, (London: Earthscan, 1998).
 

• Kemal Kirisci studied the creation of the Palestinian national identity in the 1960s and the recognition of that identity in global diplomacy in the 1970s. His doctorate was published as The PLO and World Politics. A Study of the Mobilisation of Support for the Palestinian Cause, (London: Frances Pinter, 1986).
 

• Assassi Lassassi studied the significance of Algerian history and politics in relation to its leading role in the Non-Aligned Movement. His MPhil thesis was published as Non-Alignment and Algerian Foreign Policy, (Aldershot: Gower, 1988).
 

• David Uduehi completed a successful doctorate in 1987 on Ethnic Demands in Canada and Nigeria: A Comparative Analysis of the Causes of French Canadian and Ibo Discontent .
 

• Khelifa Bouras completed a successful MPhil thesis in 1987 on The Global Communication Debate: History, Issues and Perspectives of a North-South Controversy .
 

Centre for International Politics, School of Social Science, City University, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB.
Page maintained by Peter Willetts

Last updated on 5 August 2005.