• Apply online
• 'Initial Opinion' Application
• Full Application
• Start dates
• Supervision
• Funding
• The application process
• Entry criteria and documents required
• Contact us

The School of Law has two routes for applications to the PhD programme, Initial Opinion application and Full Application.

‘Initial Opinion’ application

The 'Initial Opinion' application allows you to find out whether or not the School of Law could offer supervision in your Research Proposal’s area of law, before you submit a full application. This route enables a quicker decision as it involves less documentation at the beginning of the process.

How to seek an 'Initial Opinion'

Applicants should send the following by email direct to the PhD Admissions Administrator g.skehan@qmul.ac.uk:

1. Your Research Proposal (follow the template given in our Research Proposal Guide),
2. Your up to date CV - which must include the degree classification awarded, for awards already obtained, as well as a breakdown of grades for each specific module taken including that received in any research/dissertation module.
3. 'Statement of Purpose' (one to two pages long, include any relevant additional information regarding your application, such as your reasons for wanting to do a PhD).
4. A copy of the transcript relating to the most recently completed academic degree course (this would usually be a postgraduate degree in law, such as an LLM).

This will then be reviewed by our Director of Graduate Studies and circulated to relevant academic staff. If we are able to offer supervision and we consider that the proposal is suitable, then applicants are informed of their provisional success and advised to submit a full application. If the full application (and all required documentation), meets School of Law entry requirements, a formal offer of study will follow.

Full Applications

If you want to receive a formal decision you should complete the online application, including the electronic submission of all the required documentation.

Important - Documents Required

You must read this information to make sure that you provide all the required documentation.

• School of Law - Entry Criteria and Documentation Required
• College postgraduate application guidance notes

Applicants who submit their application and are then contacted to provide missing supporting documentation should always submit this information as a scanned e-mail attachment sent directly to our Admissions Department (not to the School of Law) on researchadmissions@qmul.ac.uk.

Start dates

There are three entry points each academic year, September, January and April. The application process can take a number of weeks, so you should aim to submit your application at least three months prior to the entry point. When applying for funding you must check that your proposed entry point would still leave you eligible to apply for the award. See our funding pages for more information.

Current UK LLM students, who graduate in November, should be aware that they will be considered for entry for the following January, meaning they cannot apply for the September entry point before the November they graduate.

Supervision

There are a limited number of supervision places with each academic, so apply early to ensure that we can match you with an appropriate supervisor. Search our staff list to find staff in your proposed field of research.

Paper-based application - PhD

Online application is the preferred method for submitting postgraduate applications. In exceptional circumstances, where an applicant cannot submit an application using this process, we will accept a paper-based application. If you cannot apply online you must complete and return the application form along with the required documentation by post to:

Research Admissions, Research Degrees Office, 
Queens' Building, 
Queen Mary, University of London, 
London E1 4NS, 
United Kingdom.

The Application Process

When we have received and reviewed an application and supporting documentation, and in cases where we are interested in supervising, the final stage of the process is to interview the applicant to discuss both the proposed research and other details of the application. Applicants should therefore be available for interview if requested. Telephone interviews will be used for overseas applicants or those UK applicants currently living or studying overseas. Offers of study will only be made following a successful interview.

It takes three months to process an application so applicants need to apply at least three months prior to the start date.

We receive a high volume of applications, so unfortunately we cannot offer individual feedback on why an application was unsuccessful.

Entry Criteria and Documentation Required

Documents required

1. Online application form
2. Qualification documentation
   1. Entry criteria
3. English language qualifications
4. Employment history - CV
5. Funding
6. References
7. Additional documents
   1. Research Proposal
   2. Statement of Purpose

Documents required

The following guidance notes are in addition to the central College Application Guidance Notes provided on the online application page.

You must read both documents when completing your application.

However, the guidance notes provided here are specific to the School of Law PhD programme, and take precedence over the College Notes. For example, we will not consider applications which do not include a Research Proposal, CV and Statement of Purpose. Failure to submit all the documents that the School of Law requires (even if the online process has been completed) will mean that your application will not be processed and could delay your application.

To guide you, the information given by the School of Law follows the order of the mandatory fields in the online application form. You can save your draft application prior to submission.

1. Application Form

2. Qualification Documents

Proof of your most recently taken academic qualification. This should include both the transcript showing the breakdown of your mark, including specifically the mark for any dissertation component taken), and a copy of the certificate confirming the overall grade.

If you are a current LLM / MA student, you should include documentation relating to your previous course of study (for example, your LLB).

Entry Criteria

The expected entry requirement for the Queen Mary Law PhD programme is a distinction on an LLM or equivalent qualification. In some circumstances the requirement will be applied flexibly, for example if an applicant has performed to distinction level in a dissertation or has outstanding undergraduate qualification. In exceptional cases, vocational experience in the proposed area of research may compensate for the lack of a Master's degree, or a grade below that specified above. For example, working as a magistrate, judge, lawyer or expert for a considerable period of time, such as five years, in the proposed area of research will be taken into account. A relevant undergraduate degree in Law or its relevant equivalent qualification is necessary in all cases.

3. English Language Qualifications Documentation

Documentary proof of English Language Competency, such as a TOEFL or IELTS test result certificate.

Entry Criteria

Applicants whose first language is not English are required to provide proof of proficiency in English as part of the application process. To see if your nationality counts as the UK Border Agency's definition of an English speaking country (meaning you wouldn’t need to provide documentary proof of English competency), please check our International Office web page ‘Important information for applicants applying for Tier 4 Immigration permission’ and click on the phrase ‘If you are a national of a majority English-speaking country’. If this page confirms that you do not come from a country which is categorized as English-speaking by the UKBA, then you will need to provide proof of English proficiency, in the form of a certificate showing you meet our entry criteria in any of these testing formats:

• TOEFL: 630 (with TWE 6)
• IELTS: 7.5 (with writing 7.5)
• IBTOEFL: 109 (with writing 28/30)
• Cambridge Proficiency: A
• Pearson Test of English: 73 (73 in writing)

Exemption from this requirement:

• Applicants who have completed another degree (example: LLB, BA, BSc, LLM, MA, MSc) requiring two or three years of study at university level in a country where English is the mother tongue (not necessarily where the course was taught in English). Please note, you can check if the country where you took your degree meets the UK Border Agency’s definition of an ‘English-speaking country’ by visiting our International Office web page ‘Important information for applicants applying for Tier 4 Immigration permission’ and click on the phrase ‘If you have a degree taught in English from a majority English-speaking country'.

4. Employment History - CV

While you should follow the instructions on the application form and complete all fields required, the School of Law PhD programme (unlike the central College Guidance Notes) requires that all applications are submitted with a CV attached to them. The CV is thus a mandatory piece of supporting documentation. Please note there are no relevant entry criteria with regard to the CV.

5. Funding

You can find more information including deadline dates, eligibility and application forms, on the School of Law funding awards on our funding page. The funding application form must be submitted directly to the School of Law, and not via the online application process. 

6. References

Applicants must provide two written references (not one, as mentioned in the central College Guidance Note), in the form of a letter of support from you referee. One of these references must be from an academic who taught you on your most recent course of study (which is normally the LLM degree or equivalent). Applicants who are current LLM students should obtain their references from staff currently teaching them on their LLM. Failure to supply references will mean that your application will not be considered. For applicants without recent academic qualifications, vocational references may sometimes be accepted. Applicants who have received references in sealed envelopes and wish to include them in their onine Application should contact g.skehan@qmul.ac.uk for advice on how to do this.

7. Additional Documents

In addition to the specified documentation, the School of Law application process also specifically requires a Research Proposal and a Personal Statement. Although you will be able to submit an online application without these documents, your application will not be processed without them.

a) The Research Proposal

You must demonstrate, through a research proposal submitted with your application form, that you have a coherent and viable research project. There is no template for this proposal but it should be sufficiently detailed for a potential supervisor to assess your understanding of the area of interest and the viability of the proposed research. The research proposal should set out the research methods which will be adopted and include a short bibliography of the key relevant literature in the area.

For guidelines on writing a PhD proposal see our Research Proposal Guide [PDF 37KB].

There is no word limit for the research proposal, but research proposals which are well-written, clear and concise are usually more successful. Please disregard any other guidance note which suggests that the Research Proposal should be no longer than 500 words.

b) The Statement of Purpose / Personal Statement

Your statement of purpose should explain why you want to undertake this particular research and how it will help your life and career. It should be one side of A4. This document gives you the opportunity to include any information that you believe is relevant to your application which you haven’t included in a another part of your application papers. For example, if you do not have an LLM, but would like to apply on the basis of vocational experience, you could include your justification for doing so here. Please also include details of how you intend to fund your studies and living costs in each year (year 1, 2, 3 and 4).

Contact us

For general enquiries about the application process contact Gareth Skehan, PhD Admissions Administrator

e-mail: g.skehan@qmul.ac.uk
School of Law, 
Queen Mary; University of London, 
67-69 Lincoln's Inn Fields
London WC2A 3JB

Tel: +44 (0)20 7882 8214 
Fax: +44 (0)20 7882 8101