PhD in History

If your passion lies in research, our doctoral degrees give you the independence to focus on a specialism of your choice. Study with us and receive expert research guidance from our supportive staff.

Your research

The focus of your work will be an independent research project. We provide training which will equip you with skills in a wide range of research methods to support your growing expertise. The PhD requires a dissertation of up to 90,000 words.

Postgraduate research provides opportunities to develop your academic, creative and practical skills. You'll work independently in an academic environment where scholarship and creativity go hand-in-hand.

Join one of our leading research groups, which bring together historical expertise in various fields. Find out more about our research groups.

Course location

This course is run by the Department of History.

You'll be based on Campus West. Most of your training and supervision meetings will take place here, though your research may take you further afield. Distance learning options are available.

There are opportunities for you to study abroad. We have an annual desk exchange scheme with Lund, Sweden, which all our PhD students are invited to apply for.

Entry requirements

You should have, or be about to complete, an MA in History or an equivalent subject with a distinction or very high merit.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language you must provide evidence of your ability.

Check your English language requirements

Applying

Apply for this course

We welcome approaches from students from under-represented communities, including first-generation students and BAME students.

To apply for a PhD, you'll need to submit your CV (no more than 2 pages), the academic transcript for your UG and PGT degree (if relevant), an example of your written work (no more than 2000 words) and your research proposal. You may also need to submit a certificate of English proficiency. 

You will be asked to identify the supervisor in the Department who has agreed to supervise your project. Before you submit an application, you must have contacted a supervisor and shared your project idea with them.

Any questions regarding the application process should be directed to history-admissions@york.ac.uk.

Have a look at the supporting documents you may need for your application.

Find out more about how to apply.

Identify a supervisor

As part of any application for a research degree, you will need to name one or more academic staff who could supervise your research. You should approach them informally to discuss your proposed project before you apply.

Find a supervisor

Research proposal

To be accepted onto the PhD programme, you must submit a research proposal. This proposal should convey how your project is original, feasible, and demonstrate a good grasp of the wider scholarship in the area you want to work in. The proposal should be your original work and not produced using AI tools. It should be no longer than 2000-2500 words in length (including a bibliography).

You should use these headings for your proposal:

• title -  a short description of the project, noting dates and places
• research context – what existing work does the project build on, or what neglected area does it study?
• research questions – what are the questions you are going to answer?
• project – what is the original contribution of the project and how are you going to execute it?
• methodology and sources – what primary sources and/or methodologies are you going to use and why?
• bibliography - a list of the key books and articles on this topic.

Interview

As part of your application, you'll be interviewed by one or two academic staff members, including your prospective supervisor. The interview will last around 30 minutes to an hour, with plenty of time for you to ask questions and find out what York can offer you.

As part of the interview, you could have the chance to tour our facilities, including the Humanities Research Centre, the Borthwick Institute for Archives and the University Library, and attend a research seminar.