The School of Education is one of the leading Education departments in the UK, with an excellent reputation for its research and teaching. It is active in a wide range of research projects and in recent years has been successful in obtaining research funds from a variety of local, national and international funding bodies.

Research Degrees

Full or Part-time

• Doctor of Education (EdD)

• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Your Learning Experience

Our research students benefit not only from the expertise and scholarship of the academic staff but also from the active and progressive research environment that characterises the School of Education. Specialist speakers are often invited to give research seminars at the School and we also run a more informal series of lunchtime research meetings,'Food for Thought.' All staff and postgraduate students are invited to attend and to lead seminars. Occassional seminars are arranged by support staff on special topics such as new developments in ICT.

Educational Support and Facilities

Every research student has a main and second supervisior. Your progress will be carefully monitored by a Thesis Committee made up of the main and second supervisor and the School's postgraduate Research Tutor or nominee. Your main and second supervisor also work out an appropriate research training plan in negotiation with you, taking into account particular needs and priorities. 

The University's David Wilson Library provides an excellent and ever expanding range of both on-site and electronically accessible resources for all research students. It also houses a dedicated are for postgraduate and research students. The School of Education provides well equipt workrooms for doctoral students, open-access computer rooms and a Doctoral Studies 'BlackBoard' site for online support. This is complemented by online resourses provided by the University Student Learning Centre.

Research Training

Each year the University provides dedicated days of targeted training in general research and transferable skills. The Student Learning Centre run training days which focus on areas such as effective writing and presentation skills, teamwork, presenting research at conferences and preparing interviews . The University bases the training closely on the recommendationsand priorities of the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) and the Postgraduate Training Guidelines of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC).