Applying for a PhD is different to the process for undergraduate and Master’s degrees. Doctoral degrees are focused on the creation of an independent, clear, and original research project that aligns with the research expertise of a department, as well as ensuring your research project will make a positive contribution to research at King's. There is very little to no taught element of a doctoral degree.

In terms of developing your research idea for preparation to apply, you might like to consider what interested you in your chosen field of study or previous education, and identifying a knowledge gap or unanswered question in that area by reading academic literature in that area.

There are often differences between applying for doctoral studies depending on the research field/area/faculty. Research in the fields of medicine, science and engineering tend to require you to:

• apply for a project that already has specific, pre-defined aims
• compete for a place on a partially or fully funded programme.

Research in the fields of arts, humanities and social sciences tend to require you to:

• develop your own research idea and present it in a research proposal
• source your own funding, although some funded projects may be available.

Application opening/closing dates and intakes are specific to each particular PhD programme. Please check this information carefully on your PhD programme webpage.

We encourage applicants to begin planning their application at least one year before your programme start date.  It can take several months for you to develop and finalise a solid research proposal.

In order for there to be sufficient time to process and assess your application, we recommend submitting your application as early as possible. As a general guideline, UK students should aim to submit their application at least two months before the programme deadline, and international students should aim to submit their application at least four months before the programme deadline.

You will also need to factor in time to:

• contact and wait to hear back from potential supervisors
• research and select an alternative supervisor should yours not be available to supervise doctoral students
• wait for and integrate any feedback given on your research proposal
• research and apply to funding sources, taking into account their deadlines
• potentially reapply for funding if you are unsuccessful at first
• gather official documentation for your application (including requesting, for example, official translations of non-English academic transcripts)
• prepare your application materials
• request non-standard application elements (in particular, visa processes etc for international students) and accounting for possible issues and/or long delays
• respond to requests or queries from Admissions and/or your academic department for additional information or documentation.

Some of these factors may delay your application by weeks or months.

Step 1. Choose a type of postgraduate research course

Although a PhD/MPhil is the most common type of postgraduate programme, there are other types of courses offered at King’s, such as professional doctorates, MD(Res), MPhil(Stud), and Joint/dual PhDs. More information about the types of postgraduate research courses at King’s can be found on our course types webpage.

King’s also welcomes applications for visiting research and visiting research experience students. 

Step 2. Find a research match

There are several ways to find a research match at King’s:

• Browse our research areas. Our postgraduate research areas webpage lists all of the postgraduate research programmes currently offered by King’s and can be filtered by broad area.
• Find a research project. Research projects that are seeking PhD students can usually be found on external websites such as FindAPhD.com and Jobs.ac.uk.
• Find a funded research centre. King’s is home to several funded research centres, which invite PhD applications in their specific fields. More information about our funded research centres are located on our Doctoral training entities webpage.
• Find a supervisor. You can browse our academic members of staff and details of their research expertise using our postgraduate research supervisors webpage.

Applications to some research projects and/or our funded research centres will have specific or additional application steps and/or processes. Please check and review these thoroughly.

The following application steps primarily pertains to applications going through the ‘standard’ process to a specific PhD programme.

Step 3: Review course requirements

Entry requirements vary for each course and are listed on each individual PhD programme webpage. 

Step 4: Find funding

There are several possible sources of funding for PhD study at King’s:

• studentships
• funded projects
• scholarships
• doctoral loans.

Visit our postgraduate research funding webpage for more information.

Step 5: Contact a potential supervisor(s)

Email a potential supervisor(s) with some relevant information about yourself and your proposed research.

Visit Doctoral supervisors webpage for detailed guidance.

You must receive written confirmation that your supervisor(s) have agreed to submit you before progressing with your application.

You may also consider contacting current PhD students in your area, department, or who are supervised by your potential supervisor for informal guidance and advice.

Step 6: Prepare your application materials

Carefully review the required materials for your PhD programme – this will be different for each programme and are listed on the programme’s course page, but usually includes:

• a personal statement -  information and guidance on writing a personal statement
• a research proposal -  information and guidance on writing a research proposal
• official transcripts of your previous qualifications (with official English translations if not originally in English)
• one or two academic reference(s)
• evidence of English language qualifications that you have (if your first language is not English)

Step 7: Submit your application via the King’s Apply platform

The primary way to submit your application is via King’s Apply.

Guidance on using King's Apply and some common troubleshooting issues can be found on the after you've applied webpage.

We recommend you register for an account as early as possible in your application process to familiarise yourself with the platform and the information it requires of you.

You can find information on what happens after you submit your application on our after you've applied webpage.