Philosophy Research MPhil/PhD

Joint PhDs available: The Department of Philosophy at King's is delighted to be able to offer two exciting options for joint-PhD study at either Humboldt University or the National University of Singapore.

The Philosophy Department at King’s is one of the largest research departments in the field in the UK. We offer close personal supervision to students in a wide variety of research areas, with particular strengths in the history of philosophy (analytic and continental, Greek and Roman, Medieval, Early Modern, 18th, 19^th, and 20^th century); philosophy of mind, action and psychology; epistemology; metaphysics; philosophy of science, especially philosophy of physics and philosophy of medicine; ethics; political philosophy; philosophy of art; logic; and philosophy of language and logic.

For more information on our areas of expertise , our recent research projects and their impact as well as a list of recent publications by our research staff see our department web pages.

Recent Research Projects: recent projects include:

- The History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps

- Philosophy and Medicine

- Thinking with Assent: Renewing a Traditional Account of Knowledge and Belief

- Ancient Commentators on Aristotle;

- The Evolution of the Emotions;

- Perception, Narrative Discourse and Conceptual Art;

- The Boundaries of Illness;

- Word Meaning: What it is and what it is not?;

• Most recent REF rankings: the department was ranked 3rd in the UK, and 1st in London, for both quality and power according to the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF) rankings; 80% of research was valued as being of a world-leading (4*) or internationally excellent (3*) standard and 63% of its research scored the top rating for impact with an outstanding reach and significance.

• Current number of research staff: 30.

• Current number of research students: 60.

The Philosophy department offers close personal supervision to students in a wide variety of research areas. As a large and highly-integrated department we can support research projects spanning the various sub-fields of philosophy. Philosophy postgraduates are normally supervised within the Philosophy department. Students wishing to work with someone at King's who is not a member of the Philosophy department are urged to apply directly to the relevant department for admission as a graduate student.

The PhD programme is exclusively devoted to research in philosophy. The programme lasts a minimum of three years full time study. During this time students meet with their supervisors on a regular basis to work on their thesis. During the first year, students are registered as MPhil students. You will have the opportunity to develop your research ideas and writing skills. Towards the end of the first students submit a thesis plan and an extended work sample for assessment before being upgraded to full PhD registration.

At the end of their studies students submit a PhD thesis of a maximum length of 100,000 words. The thesis is examined by two examiners external to King’s.

Networks

King’s is set in the heart of London. Graduate students have the opportunity to attend meetings of the Aristotelian Society, and events organised by the Institute of Philosophy.

The department runs joint PhD programmes with the National University of Singapore and the Humboldt University in Berlin (more information below).

The department also has links with other departments around the world. The Norman Malcolm Fellowship pays for a King's research student to spend a semester at Cornell every second year, and for a Cornell student to come to King's in the intervening years. There is an annual KCL/Berlin graduate workshop, hosted alternate years in KCL and in Berlin. And there is a regular KCL/UNC Chapel Hill graduate workshop, hosted in KCL or in Chapel Hill.

Joint PhD programme

The Department of Philosophy at King's is delighted to be able to offer research students two exciting options for joint-PhD study. The programmes offered provide candidates with the opportunity to divide their PhD study between two prestigious universities, enjoying full supervision at both. The programme builds on an extensive network of existing institutional links, joint teaching experience and collaborative graduate programmes between King’s and the partners universities.

The Department of Philosophy at the Humboldt University has strengths in the following research areas: Classical German Philosophy, especially Kant, Early Modern Philosophy, especially Leibniz and Locke, Philosophy of Mind (Berlin School of Mind and Brain), Ancient Philosophy (Graduate School of Ancient Philosophy) and Analytic Metaphysics. These areas complement the research in King’s in the history of philosophy, in ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, philosophy of mind and metaphysics. We encourage applications from students who intend to write a PhD in one of these areas. The joint PhD offers the opportunity to do some graduate work in German. Hence, it should be of interest to PhD students who want to work on a German speaking philosopher.

The Department of Philosophy at the National University of Singapore is a thriving community with 16 full-time tenured or tenure track faculty members. In addition, there are more than thirty graduate students pursuing the PhD and Masters in philosophy. Its faculty members engage in research in a wide range of fields, including Moral and Practical philosophy, Continental European, Buddhist, Indian, Chinese and Comparative Philosophy. It thus offers a range of study options for potential PhD students that complement well King's own research strengths in, for example, ancient philosophy, modern philosophy, philosophy of mind and metaphysics. Students would spend a significant portion of their time in Singapore, thereby enabling them to access expertise in fields of philosophy where King's alone would not be able to offer supervision.

Information about joint PhDs can be found here.

Head of group/division

Dr Andrea Sangiovanni