MPhil/PhD

Full Job Description

A PhD at UCL Laws will allow you to pursue original research and make a distinct and significant contribution to your field.

Skip to: A community of scholars | Research culture | Academic development | Additional funding | Networking and social events | Facilities and resources | Recently completed PhDs

Explore Our Mphil/Phd Law Degrees

We are committed to the quality and relevance of the research supervision we offer, and as an MPhil/PhD candidate, you will work with academics at the cutting edge of legal scholarship.

Furthermore, as a research student, you will be an integral part of our collaborative and thriving research community. Student-run ‘work in progress’ forums and PhD workshops will give you the opportunity to present and discuss your research with peers and academic colleagues.

Tailored skills seminars will provide you with a supportive research environment and the critical skills necessary to undertake your research. To foster your academic development, we also offer additional faculty funds, which can assist you with the costs of conferences and other research activities.

A Community Of Scholars

UCL Laws is a world-leading community of intellectually dynamic scholars responding to today’s challenges. As a Laws MPhil/PhD student, you will have the opportunity to learn from and contribute to this research culture.

The UCL Laws Faculty is rated the top law school for research quality in the UK (REF 2021).

The UCL Laws PhD degree has approximately 60-70 outstanding research students at any one time. The course accepts applicants with external funding and puts forward its most outstanding applicants for UCL scholarships.

There are three things I particularly enjoyed about studying at UCL Laws. The first was the PhD community. The second was being situated in Bentham House. The third was the opportunity to engage more widely with the work being undertaken by the faculty and UCL as a whole.

Jeevan Hariharan

Lecturer at UCL Laws and former PhD student

Our Faculty

Our diverse community of world-leading academics, judges, legal practitioners, and professional services staff makes UCL Laws a global hub for innovation, scholarship, and social impact.

Phd Alumni

Our PhD alumni go on to shape academia, policy, and practice worldwide. Explore their research and career journeys through their profiles below.

Research Culture

UCL Laws was ranked first in the UK for its world-leading research environment in the most recent Research Excellence Framework and our commitment to our research culture is mirrored in our postgraduate research environment. As a research student here you can take advantage of a range of opportunities to make the most of your studies, and get the best start in your career.

From opportunities to teach, develop your skills, and present your work, to networking and social events, alongside dedicated research student support facilities, you can find the resources to help you make a distinct and significant contribution to your field.

Thinking About A Phd?

Join our virtual open event on 23 September to learn more about applying to UCL Laws, funding opportunities and life as a doctoral researcher.

Register Your Interest

Request a prospectus or register your interest in Postgraduate Research study and become part of the UCL Laws community.

Skills Seminars

We nurture the development of your research skills from the very beginning of the degree with our skills seminar series. Providing initial support and information about the research process, these seminars will advance your critical skills in research methods and theory, as well as foster your legal and academic career skills.

Research Presentation Workshop

Our skills seminars culminate in our First-Year Research Presentation Workshop. Here you will have the chance to present your work in front of peers and academic colleagues, gaining both valuable feedback and experience of presenting academic papers in a friendly and supportive environment.

“[The research presentation workshop] gave all new PhD candidates the chance to reflect on their work and to present it, for some of us for the first time, to colleagues and faculty members. It was great to see so many supervisors attend – they provided constructive feedback and words of encouragement. This workshop provided valuable insights into effective academic presentation skills and helped anticipating what presenting at conferences would be like in the years to come.”

Christina Lienen, former UCL Laws PhD student

International Opportunities

UCL Faculty of Laws is committed to supporting doctoral researchers beyond their studies through international opportunities. Subject to funding availability each academic year and eligibility requirements, PhD students can apply for a range of exciting and competitive opportunities at academic institutions and international organisations.

Global Student Placements

The following opportunities form part of UCL Laws' Global Student Placements programme:

• Max Planck Doctoral Mobility Scheme
• International Court of Justice Judicial Fellowship Programme
• Hague Academy of International Law Summer Courses
• Pan-European Seal Professional Traineeship Programme

Find out more about each opportunity, including eligibility, funding and student testimonials, on the Global Student Placements webpage.

LERU Law PhD Exchange Programme

As a member of the League of European Research Universities (LERU), UCL Laws supports research stays by its doctoral researchers at one of the leading law schools participating in the LERU Law PhD Exchange Programme.

Find out more on the LERU Law PhD Exchange Programme website.

Work In Progress Forums

The Work in Progress Forum is a seminar series led by current PGR students, and is an excellent opportunity to present and discuss your research in a supportive environment. All students are encouraged to be involved, and you may have the chance to convene the forums during your PhD.

“The PhD Work in Progress Forum is an integral part of the experience as a research student at UCL Laws. It provides opportunities for students to discuss their work with peers and to hone their skills as discussants in a rigorous yet supportive environment. Convening the Work in Progress Forum offers the chance to learn how to organise academic events. Last, but certainly not least, the Forum shapes the academic community of PhD students that is so vital to successful research.”

Lea Raible, former UCL Laws PhD student

The Journal Of Law And Jurisprudence

The UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence is edited and published by graduate (LLM and PhD) students at UCL Laws. Featuring scholarly contributions from academics, researchers and practitioners, it also showcases outstanding research by post-graduate students at UCL. As a research student here you will have the unique opportunity to contribute to the journal, both editorially and through submitting research for publication.

Teaching

Where possible, we offer research students the opportunity to provide tutorial teaching on the LLB and LLM. UCL offers training in teaching skills through its UCL Arena One programme.

“The opportunity to become a teaching fellow at UCL while completing your research comes with several benefits. When teaching I felt part of the academic community in two ways: as a teacher and as a student. I was able to learn constantly from both sides and the skills I acquired have shaped me both personally and professionally. This experience is integral to the preparation of any career, whether it be in scholarship, teaching or something completely outside of academia.”

Sara Razai, former Teaching Fellow

Mentoring

Research students can take part in our mentoring programme designed to assist LLM students with their dissertations. Each mentor is assigned a list of students, and will offer encouragement and advice on the form and style of dissertations, as well as provide feedback on draft work at face-to-face meetings and by email.

Conferences

We recognise that conferences are crucial for you to meet other scholars, gain feedback on your research and ideas, and to engage in the academic world. Because of this, we encourage students to participate in both national and international conferences and to present their work in front of varies audiences, both within and outside of UCL. We also encourage students to organise their own conferences, workshops and reading groups where appropriate. To support conference attendance the faculty provides each research student with a generous Personal Research Allowance, with the opportunity to apply for additional funding too (see below).

Laws Public Events

The Laws faculty has an active public events calendar, and as part of Legal London we attract the leading figures in the field to contribute to our vibrant programme of events, informing public debate around social, legal, environmental and economic issues. Through this you will have the opportunity to hear cutting edge research and be part of a dynamic research community.

For upcoming events, see our events page.

Doctoral School Skills Development Programme

The Doctoral Skills Development Programme is open to all graduate research students at UCL. The purpose of the programme is to give you the opportunity to expand your generic research skills and personal transferable skills. These skills are intended to help your research at UCL and also to enhance your life skills and employability. To find out more, see the website.

Ucl Law Journal Blog

The UCL Law Journal Blog is the online platform of the UCL Journal of Law and Jurisprudence – UCLJLJ.

Much like our sibling UCLJLJ, the UCL Law Journal Blog is edited and published by graduate (Masters and PhD) students of UCL Laws. The Blog publishes scholarly contributions from academics, researchers and practitioners, as well as showcasing outstanding research of post-graduate students at UCL.

We accepts submissions and contributions in all areas of law and jurisprudence, reflecting the diverse and innovative areas of research at UCL Laws and UCLJLJ.

The Blog’s primary aim is to make a high-quality contribution to current debates on local and global issues of law and jurisprudence, and offer these contributions in a free, accessible, and updated platform, covering up-to-date events, developments, debates, cases, and more.

Finally, the Blog, much like the Journal, seeks to add to the content, research, an contributions of UCL, one of world’s leading law schools.

• View the latest blog
• Follow us on Twitter @ucljlj

Guidelines for Submission

The UCLJLJ Blog editorial board welcomes any contribution that concern the law and legal developments. We welcome reports on proceedings, case notes, book reviews, articles, interviews, and more.

We do not have any preference as to the methodology, and theoretical, doctrinal, interdisciplinary, empirical, and any other methodology – is welcome. Similarly we have no limitation, nor preference, to a particular field of law or jurisdiction nevertheless, in some cases certain contribution may be edited or coupled so to form a theme.

Not only contributions advocating a certain position are encouraged, but also comprehensive critical analyses, replies and reviews. Moreover, active debate is welcome on the blog, ensuring the possibility of all parties to be heard and a common symbolic space of dialogue to be established.

For further information on our blog guidelines, see our blog guidelines page.

Current editors-in-chief

• Siyu Bao
• Leon Vincent Chan

I am really grateful to UCL Laws academics, who empowered me to ‘think outside the box’ and become one of the radical thinkers that this institution has raised over the two centuries.

Associate Professor, Nagoya University, and former PhD student

Personal Research Allowance

Graduate research students at UCL Laws have an annual research allowance that can be used to cover research-related expenses such as purchasing books, attending conferences or any other materials relevant to their research.

The allowance is currently £750 full-time or £375 part-time per financial year.

Phd Research And Innovation Fund (Prif)

UCL Laws also runs a by-application research fund for current PhD students, aimed at providing financial assistance to fund valuable research activities that would otherwise be impossible.

Some examples of research activities supported by the fund include:

• Training in new research skills not available through the UCL Skills Development programme or the UCL Doctoral School
• Specialised research equipment or materials
• Support for access to specialised research facilities
• Research trips or visiting studentship
• Attending a conference to present a paper relevant to their thesis
• Organising workshops, seminars or conferences relevant to the thesis
• Activities that will spread knowledge, understanding of and engagement with research with external, non-academic audiences

The PRIF Fund is available to all enrolled MPhil and PhD students at UCL Laws, and is run through the Laws PhD Programme Office.

Networking And Social Events

We offer a number of events and opportunities for graduate research students to network and socialise with fellow students and academics, to help you make new connections, develop your research and gain new skills.

Each year, we host a PhD induction including lunch with the Dean of Faculty for new graduate research students and their supervisors are invited to a lunch, hosted by the Dean of the Faculty (currently Professor Eloise Scotford) during the first term of the PhD. This is in addition to several induction activities in the first two weeks of the programme in which new research students will have the opportunity to meet academic staff of the Faculty and established research students returning for their next year of study.

The PhD student community is vibrant and made up of utterly brilliant fellows from around the globe. I gained a lot simply by spending time with these people in seminars, in the common room and at the pub. All in all, UCL Laws is a top-rate institution.

Jean-Frédéric Ménard

Former UCL Laws PhD student

Facilities And Resources

The UCL Laws PhD degree course is based in Bentham House in Central London

In addition, all UCL Laws graduate research students can access the specialist resources provided by the UCL Doctoral School, including information on research policies and procedures, societies, events and competitions, and student facilities at UCL.

Libraries

Some of the best libraries in the world are on our doorstep, and our students can take advantage of specialist collections and materials as part of their studies and research.

UCL Laws students are able to access the UCL Library, which currently holds over 1.3 million volumes, and includes an extensive law collection, which is particularly strong in the fields of international law, English law, public law, jurisprudence and Roman law.

As a member of the University of London, all UCL students can join the Senate House Library and, with permission, visit the specialist libraries of other members of the University of London, including the SOAS Library, the British Library of Political and Economic Science at the LSE, and the Institute of Historical Research.

Our students can also use the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies (IALS) ‘major research library in Russell Square. The collections of the IALS concentrate primarily on common law, civil law, and Roman-Dutch law systems worldwide and include material in Western European languages for all jurisdictions, for comparative and general reference purposes.

Research students can also register for a Reader’s Pass for the British Library, and make use of its unrivalled reference collection.

Recently Completed Phds

UCL Laws has a vibrant community of outstanding research students. You can read more about research by students who have recently completed their studies at UCL Laws below.

2024 25

• Dr Sonam Gordhan, Climate Change and the Common Law Method: Towards a Resilient Account of Climate Change Adjudication
• Dr Stephen Hawes, Control of Trustee Decision-Making in Pension Trusts
• Dr Shinya Ito, The Relationship between the Human Right to Food and the WTO Agreement on Agriculture: A Reappraisal
• Dr Monserrat Madariaga Gomez de Cuenca, The COP That Was and Wasn't: A Legal Biography of COP 25 in Chile
• Dr Thomas Papadogiannis Varouchakis, A Legal and Regulatory Analysis of Covered Bonds and the European Covered Bond Market
• Dr Anna Saunders, International Law as Industrial Discipline: Patent Form and Legal Transformation
• Dr Yubo Wang, Rationality and a New Interpretivist Conception of the Purpose of Tort Law

2023 24

• Dr Ioannis Bazinas, A New Economic Approach to Cross-Border Restructuring Law
• Dr Trevor Clark, Leveraged Ethics: An Empirical Study of the Institutional Logics and Ethics of Leveraged Finance Lawyers
• Dr Martin Fischer, Restitution of Mistaken Payments
• Dr Veronica García de Cortázar Galleguillos, Using Human Rights Obligations to More Effectively Address Mistreatment and Violence against Women in Childbirth
• Dr Shaun Matos, The Incorporation of External Rules into International Investment Law
• Dr Luciana Morón, An Intentionalist Defence of Updating Interpretations of Statutes in the UK
• Dr Yanwen Zhang, The Judicial Function and Institutional Design of Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanisms

2022 23

• Dr Joseph Crampin, Good Faith in International Dispute Settlement
• Dr Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg, Ending the Sharp War: Paradigm Shift & the History of International Humanitarian Law
• Dr Gonenc Gurkaynak, Innovation Considerations in Merger Control Analysis: Competition Law at Crossroads
• Dr Jeevan Hariharan, The Protection of Physical Privacy under English Law
• Dr Yusaku Kurahashi, Empirical studies of derivative actions in Japan
• Dr Daniella Lock, The Protection of ECHR Rights in UK National Security Law
• Dr Peter Lythe, Utility, Truth, and God: Religion in the Thought of Jeremy Bentham
• Dr Andrew McLean, Competition Law under Financial Capitalism
• Dr Terry McGuinness, Still the 'forgotten service'? An empirical study of coroners’ backgrounds, attitudes and experiences in England and Wales
• Dr Luminita Olteanu, Rethinking Trade Mark Reputation and Its Susceptibility to Dilutive Harms

2021 22

• Dr Conor Crummey, An Interpretivist Theory of the Principle of Legality
• Dr Joyman Lee, Structure and Rulemaking in English, Japanese and Quebec Trusts
• Dr Edmund Robinson, The Obligation to Avert Risks of Violence under the European Convention on Human Rights
• Dr Nicholas Sinanis, Exemplary Damages: A Critical History
• Dr Ernesto Vargas Weil, Stability and Change in Property Law: A Comparative Approach to the Principle of Numerus Clausus

2020 21

• Dr Pritam Baruah, Moral and Political Values in Legal Theory: An Informational-Atomist Account of Reasoning with Values
• Dr Hitesh Dhorajiwala, Relational Dynamics: Organising Rights and Work Relationships
• Dr Julius Grower, From Disability to Duty: From Constructive Fraud to Equitable Wrongs
• Dr Jean Ménard, Getting There with Parents: Interactional Processes Surrounding Withdrawal of Life-Sustaining Treatments in a London NICU
• Dr Phillip Morgan, Tort Law and the Voluntary Sector – Protecting Volunteers from Liability in Negligence
• Dr Nikolaos Pavlopoulos, The Identity of Governments in International Law
• Dr Natalie Sedacca, Domestic Labour and Human Rights?: Challenging the Exclusion of Domestic Workers
• Dr Priya Urs, The Gravity Criterion for Admissibility in the Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court

The experience of undertaking a PhD exceeded everything. It was the best decision I ever made… Presenting internationally, making friends, and growing as a researcher were things that made me who I am today.

Luminita Olteanu

Assistant Professor, University of Warwick School of Law, and former PhD student

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