PhD Public Policy

The PhD programme in Public Policy is a research degree that is normally undertaken full-time over 3-4 years (with a part-time option over a longer period).

This programme provides an interdisciplinary graduate learning and research environment for doctoral studies in the field of public policy. Pooling the resources of the UCD College of Social Sciences & Law and the College of Business, the programme provides doctoral training with considerable flexibility and breadth of interest.

Our Programmes form part of the UCD Structured PhD programme. Our expert faculty all conduct research in their own fields and welcome expressions of interest from prospective students wishing to study in areas including, but not limited to, those in the list below. Applicants should contact a member of faculty whose research interests match their own.

UCD’s PhD programme has been designed to not only provide first class supervision in relation to a student’s own research, but also to support that research through access to a broad range of taught modules covering both general research methods training and specific subjects.

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As set out by the requirements of the UCD Structured PhD Programme (PDF), candidates are required to complete a minimum of 30 credits of course-work, that is, three 10-credit modules. One of these should be the Research Design module provided jointly by the College of Social Sciences and Law and the College of Business. The other two modules should normally be chosen from among the core modules provided by the Master of Public Policy programme (unless the candidate has already completed this or an analogous degree programme, in which case the required modules will be decided in consultation with the student’s Doctoral Studies Panel).

It is also possible to take additional modules, depending on the training needs identified in consultation with the candidate's principal supervisor and the other two members of the Doctoral Studies Panel (DSP).

The PhD may take the form of a traditional thesis, or a collection of papers (including published papers or papers submitted or prepared for submission) describing a coherent programme of research which has been published or prepared for publication in peer-reviewed journals of international standing, accompanied by a critical and theoretical overview of the work presented in the papers.

A formal transfer assessment takes place after about 15 months (longer if part-time), in order to progress from Stage 1 to Stage 2 of the PhD. Students must submit a body of written work to a review panel, who will conduct an interview on the work submitted; students must have attained an average of B- in all modules, and must also complete a Research and Professional Development Programme (RPDP).

All students will submit their final dissertation to UCD and upon successful completion of their examination, will be awarded a UCD PhD.

For inquiries, please contact the Programme Director, Dr. Stephan Koppe in the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice.

For the structured PhD programme in Public Policy, applications are welcomed from applicants with a good Master’s degree in an appropriate area. If you are interested in exploring your research plans further with a member of staff, please feel free to contact us individually.

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