Postgraduate research

What is a professional doctorate?

Professional doctorates are equivalent to a PhD but have a focus on a specific professional context. Once you have completed your professional doctorate you will have the title of doctor.

We offer the following professional doctorate degrees:

Professional degrees for professionals

These programmes are designed for professionals in the public, private, and third sectors. As with any other research degree, you will - with the advice and guidance of your personal supervisor - need to produce a piece of original research. The difference is that your research will be informed by your own professional practice and will usually seek to develop understanding that contributes to professional practice more broadly.

You will, therefore, need to have an interest in your professional context and be able to explore this through a structured research programme leading to you making an original contribution to understanding of that professional context.

A different kind of research degree

A key difference in the format of professional doctorates is that you will be required to undertake a greater number of research training and discipline-specific modules. Through these modules you will develop your understanding of theoretical issues relevant to your professional context and begin thinking about what you want to look at in your research and how you will do this.

International recognition

The UK professional doctorate is an internationally recognised and respected academic qualification and many of our professional doctorate graduates come from outside the European Union. Employers across the world recognise and value the quality of a UK university education; however, you should ensure that potential employers in your country recognise the professional doctorate qualification. You may need to obtain equivalency certification at your own expense in order for your degree to be recognised outside the European Union.

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