Highlights
Tuition fee
15570 GBP / year
5006 GBP / year
Unknown
Tuition fee
15570 GBP / year
5006 GBP / year
Unknown
Duration
48 months
Duration
48 months
Apply date
Anytime
Anytime
Anytime
Unknown
Apply date
Anytime
Anytime
Anytime
Unknown
Start date
Unknown
Start date
Unknown
Campus location
London, United Kingdom
Campus location
London, United Kingdom
Taught in
English
Taught in
English

About

A research degree in History at Birkbeck, University of London offers you the opportunity to acquire a highly advanced set of conceptual skills developed in the pursuit of new knowledge, which can be applied within or beyond an academic or scholarly context.

Overview

Research training in History at Birkbeck, University of London helps to channel creativity into critical innovatory reasoning. The legitimate authority of original, independent research depends upon persuasive analytical arguments supported by critically evaluated evidence.

Highlights

  • Our research is unique in its range across geographical and chronological boundaries. We are the only university in London to include historians, classicists and archaeologists in the same team of academics investigating every period from prehistory to the early twenty-first century. We see the study of the past as crucial for our understanding of present-day society, culture and politics.
  • You will gain from working with internationally renowned specialist supervisors in your chosen field of research. You will broaden your range of academic and intellectual contacts and significantly widen your general experience of academic life and institutions.
  • There are funding opportunities available for PhD students. In recent years, a number of students have successfully applied for funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Economic and Social Research Council ESRC), Wellcome Trust and other sources.
  • We are at the heart of academic London with access to unparalleled research resources. Situated very close by are: the Institute of Classical Studies, with its library, training facilities and seminars; the British Museum, with its extensive collection of classical antiquities; and the British Library, the largest national library in the world.
  • We are home to a number of affiliated research centres that actively run seminars, conferences and other events where some of the world's best scholars present their latest research.

Programme Structure

We provide a supportive context for research in the following areas:

  • ancient Greece and Roman social and cultural history
  • late antiquity
  • history of medieval societies and cultures
  • British social, cultural and political history since 1400
  • French history since 1400
  • Italian history since 1500
  • the cultural history of early modern cities, especially London and Venice
  • the history of ideas from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries
  • Russian history since 1800
  • nineteenth- and twentieth-century American social and cultural history
  • Balkan history and the history of the Ottoman Empire and its successor states
  • West and Southern Africa in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
  • the history of Japan and East Asia
  • the history of modern Germany, France and Italy
  • the history of science, medicine and psychoanalysis in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries
  • the cultural history of death, warfare, race, gender and sexuality

Key information

Duration

  • Full-time
    • 48 months
  • Part-time
    • 84 months

Start dates & application deadlines

More details

If you wish to apply for funding, you will need to apply by certain deadlines. Consult the websites of relevant bodies for details.

Delivered

On Campus

Campus Location

  • London, United Kingdom

What students do after studying

Join for free or log in to access our complete career info list.

Academic requirements

We are not aware of any specific GRE, GMAT or GPA grading score requirements for this programme.

Other requirements

General requirements

Entry requirements:

  • Confirmed (or predicted) Merit or above at MA level, with a distinction in the dissertation.

You will have to find a potential supervisor for your PhD research, and prepare a research proposal.

Tuition Fees

Tuition fees are shown in and the most likely applicable fee is shown based on your nationality.
  • International

    Non-residents
    15570 GBP / year
    15570 GBP / year
  • Domestic

    Citizens or residents
    5006 GBP / year
    5006 GBP / year

Living costs

London

United Kingdom
1137 - 2157 GBP / month

The living costs include the total expenses per month, covering accommodation, public transportation, utilities (electricity, internet), books and groceries.

Funding

In order for us to give you accurate scholarship information, we ask that you please confirm a few details and create an account with us.

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Scholarships Information

Below you will find PhD's scholarship opportunities for History.

Available Scholarships

You are eligible to apply for these scholarships but a selection process will still be applied by the provider.

Independent provider
Grant
Various benefits
Deadline
07 Oct 2026
Fulbright U.S. Student Program

Read more about eligibility

U.S. government
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
10000 GBP
Deadline
21 Jun 2026
GREAT Scholarship
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

British Council - Accreditation UK
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
1000 USD
Deadline
30 Nov 2026
ServiceScape Scholarship

Read more about eligibility

ServiceScape
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
3500 USD
Deadline
15 Nov 2026
ACES Scholarships

Read more about eligibility

ACES Education Fund
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
Various benefits
Deadline
Not specified
Erasmus+ - Grants for study mobility
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

OeAD, Austria's Agency for Education and Internationalisation
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
19000 GBP
Deadline
Not specified
Scholarships for PhD Students
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

Junhua Li
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
12000 USD
Deadline
16 Aug 2026
Amberscholar Scholarship
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

Amber Student
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
3720 EUR
Deadline
26 May 2026
Gerda Henkel Foundation Research Scholarships in Germany

Read more about eligibility

Gerda Henkel Stiftung
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
6000 USD
Deadline
16 Aug 2026
Amberscholar Scholarship
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

Amber Scholar
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
4000 USD
Deadline
30 Jun 2026
The New York Pass® Education Scholarship
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

Go City
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
5000 USD
Deadline
28 Aug 2026
Women Scholarship for International Students
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

educations.com
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
10000 USD
Deadline
01 Sep 2026
The PhD Prep Fellowship
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

Admit Lab
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
1000 USD
Deadline
31 Oct 2026
$1,500 Annual Video Contest Scholarship
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

IvyPanda
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
1000 USD
Deadline
13 Jul 2026
Dream Chaser Scholarship
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

Salvado Law
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
3000 USD
Deadline
31 Dec 2026
Scholarship for students with disabilities
Need-based

Read more about eligibility

Anonymous Hope Fund
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
22500 GBP
Deadline
Not specified
Commonwealth Shared Scholarship – University Bids

Read more about eligibility

UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO)
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
Various benefits
Deadline
31 Dec 2026
Grants of the Leopold Figl Foundation for students with residence in Lower Austria
Need-based

Read more about eligibility

Leopold Figl Foundation
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
1000 USD
Deadline
30 Jun 2026
$1,500 Annual Students’ Presentation Crafting Scholarship

Read more about eligibility

IvyPanda
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
1500 USD
Deadline
Not specified
The Annual IELTS from 6 to 9 Scholarship

Read more about eligibility

IELTS from 6 to 9
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
12000 USD
Deadline
11 Jan 2027
Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme

Read more about eligibility

The Tobacco Harm Reduction Scholarship Programme
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
1000 USD
Deadline
20 May 2026
PlagiarismSearch Essay Contest
Merit-based

Read more about eligibility

PlagiarismSearch
Location not available
Independent provider
Grant
3000 USD
Deadline
Not specified
AAPG Foundation Grants-in-Aid

Read more about eligibility

American Association of Petroleum Geologists Foundation
Location not available

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