Journalism and Public Relations PhD

Newcastle University

United Kingdom, Newcastle upon Tyne

University RankQS Ranking

129

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Home/United Kingdom/Newcastle upon Tyne /Newcastle University/Journalism and Public Relations PhD

Newcastle University

United Kingdom , Newcastle upon Tyne

Key Facts

Program Level

Master by Course Work

Study Type

Full Time

Delivery

On Campus

Campuses

Main Site

Program Language

English

Start & Deadlines

Next Intake DeadlinesSeptember-2026

Apply to this program

Go to the official application for the university

Duration 1 year(s)

Tuition Fee

GBP 24,400 / year(s)

Next Intake September-2026

Journalism and Public Relations PhD

About

Overview

Join us for a PhD in Journalism and Public Relations. You'll become part of the Media and Cultural Studies team contributing to a vibrant learning community. You'll have access to quality-assured supervision. You'll get opportunities to deliver lectures and produce articles for various media.

We're a leading research unit at Newcastle University with a strong PhD culture. Our research environment supports world-leading, internationally excellent scholarship. Our approach is distinct and interdisciplinary, focusing across theoretical and applied areas.

Our research is characterised by a critical cultural studies approach. PhD supervision is normally available in the following research areas:

journalism work in transition; the political economy of local media; new understandings of 'local'; widening diversity in the news workforce; journalism education (Dr David Baines)
social media; intimacy and changing social relationships; changing media technologies and personal life; gender, media and culture (Professor Deborah Chambers)
public relations; corporate social responsibility; ePR (Ms Laurel Hetherington)
journalism; discourse; ideology; political communication; media theory; national identity; war, politics and propaganda (Dr Darren Kelsey)
critical discourse analysis; discourse analysis of new (social) media; national identity; political discourse analysis; ethnicity and immigration; international politics; the Middle East (Dr Majid Khosravinik)
financialisation; the political economy of Britain since the 1970s; political and financial elites; the UK Treasury; political rhetoric and its construction; the rhetoric of economics; heterodox economics
data journalism; infographics; news values; newswork ethnography; online journalism; search engine optimisation; social media (Dr Murray Dick)

Requirements

Entry Requirements

Typically we recognise the following in a Bachelors degree:

3.5/4.0 or 4.25/5.0 (85%) as comparable to a 1st Class
Minimum GPA of 3.75/5.0 (75%) as comparable to a 2.1
3.5/5.0 or 2.8/4.0 (70%) as comparable to a 2.2

Admissions criteria may vary depending on the course you are applying for, please check course specific entry requirements.

English Program Requirements

IELTS:

Applicants whose first language is not English require a minimum score of IELTS 6.0 or equivalent including 5.5 in each of the four elements of the test.

TOEFL:

79 overall (with a minimum of 17 in listening, 18 in reading, 20 in speaking, and 17 in writing)

Pearson:

Pearsons 65 overall (with a minimum of 59 in all sub-skills).

Duolingo:

115 overall with no subskill below 100