Onderzoeksgraden (MPhil / PhD) in internationale ontwikkeling

Students are expected to upgrade from MPhil to PhD status after their first year.

It is expected that you will meet your assigned Supervisor in your first week at SOAS, and that, in consultation with your Supervisor, you will choose one other academic to serve on your research committee.

Year 1

During the module of your first year, you are required to attend the Department’s Postgraduate Research Training Seminar. These sessions will provide you with the essential training in research methodology and will assist you in getting started: specifically, they will assist you in writing the constituent components of the ‘upgrade paper’ that you have to submit and defend in a viva in Term 3 of your first year.

Given the wealth of training resources in research methods and other theoretically and empirically relevant postgraduate modules across the Faculty and in other Faculties at SOAS, students are strongly encouraged to audit modules.

Additional modules can be invaluable, especially for conceptual or area-specific issues or topics, as ways to supplement the training imparted in the MPhil Seminars. At the beginning of the year, the supervisor and the student will discuss the most suitable portfolio of training and modules in relation to the topic of the thesis, its main research questions, and the setting in which the research will be conducted.

Schema na jaar 1

Once students have passed their upgrade, they should immediately proceed with designing the details of the empirical work and organising the drafts written in the module of the first year. As most Development Studies students will embark on fieldwork in their second year, it is important to keep the 3-year time limit in mind and to not postpone writing chapters until after the completion of fieldwork.

Any writing done during that period will save crucial time on return.

Ordinarily, a student would then adhere to the following writing up schedule:

Terms 4, 5 and 6

Fieldwork, and beginning of data processing as well as drawing up of chapter templates.

Summer holidays of the second year, terms 7 and 8

Data analysis and back to literature review to revise initial chapters and produce a full final draft.

Term 9

Reviewing the first draft, completing any required rewriting, and submitting the dissertation. There is a possibility of continuation of writing-up after term 9 but the thesis will have to be submitted in any case before the end of the 4th year. This will be the final deadline although the thesis is expected to be finished within three years of full-time active research.

Teaching and Learning

Alle MPhil/PhD-studenten hebben een begeleidingscommissie, bestaande uit hun hoofdbegeleider en één ander wetenschappelijk personeelslid. In het eerste jaar zullen PhD-studenten tijdens het semester regelmatig formele tutorials krijgen met hun hoofdbegeleider, waarbij wordt gewerkt aan de productie van hun upgradepaper en viva aan het einde van het academiejaar.

Supervision

Begeleiding tijdens het tweede jaar (meestal het veldwerkjaar) zal vaak plaatsvinden via e-mail en Skype (terwijl de studenten op pad zijn), en persoonlijk als ze in deze periode terugkeren naar Groot-Brittannië. In het laatste jaar worden werkcolleges georganiseerd rond het schrijven van scriptiehoofdstukken. Buiten de formele supervisie-tutorials worden alle onderzoeksstudenten aangemoedigd om met hun supervisors te praten om problemen te bespreken zodra deze zich voordoen.

Wekelijkse onderzoeksseminars

Naast de individuele tutorials met hun begeleiders zijn alle onderzoeksstudenten verplicht de wekelijkse onderzoeksseminars bij te wonen en eraan deel te nemen, die training en vaardigheden in specifieke onderzoeksmethoden bieden. Ze kunnen ook specifieke onderwezen masteropties volgen, indien relevant voor hun specifieke onderzoek.