Overview

Our postgraduate researchers are key to the School’s research activities and we work hard to ensure that our research students are fully engaged with staff and projects across all our legal disciplines.

We provide a supportive and inspiring environment to help you carve out your own research specialism. In the last Research Excellence Framework we were ranked 2nd in the UK by research impact Grade Point Average (Times Higher Education, impact ranking, REF) and 4th in the UK by research power (Research Fortnight REF).

The Law degree at The University of Edinburgh has research excellence in a range of fields, spanning the spectrum of law, socio-legal studies and criminology.

Training and support

We offer excellent research training and support for PhD students through the Doctoral Research Training Programme - which is aligned with the Vitae Researcher Development Framework.

In the first year of the programme, PhD students take part in a structured course covering legal research methods and transferable skills (such as presentation skills), with the option of taking more specific training as required by the project (such as empirical research skills).

The focus of training in the second year is on supporting the external dissemination of work. In the third year, all students participate in our Student Presentation Series while they also work on refining their thesis in readiness for submission.

PhD Law

Edinburgh Law School can offer expert supervision across an exceptional range of subject areas for PhD study. A PhD at Edinburgh Law School involves undertaking independent research, culminating in the submission of a thesis of up to 100,000 words, which should be an original piece of work that makes a significant contribution to knowledge in the field of study and contains material worthy of publication. As a doctoral student, you will join a diverse community of around 100 postgraduate researchers and will become an integral part of the intellectual life of the School.

Upon completion of the PhD, the majority of our students progress to postdoctoral research or lecturing and teaching roles. Recent graduates have also found employment in roles as diverse as prison governor, solicitor and policy adviser for organisations including the International Criminal Court, The Hague, Anderson Strathern and HM Prison Service.