We value our PhD students – their research education is important to us because they will become the academics, researchers, medical and health care professionals and policy makers of the future. We offer postgraduate research leading to the degree of PhD in a wide range of health-related topics. PhD students are initially registered for a probationary period and proceed to full PhD registration after one year, subject to a successful upgrade viva. Students will be expected to demonstrate original thought and a capacity for critical evaluation. The research towards a PhD would normally take approximately three years, with a further year to write the PhD thesis and take the viva voce exam. The University and the Faculty provide a programme of training in generic, transferable skills, as well as research skills, as these are clearly important for the future employment prospects of our graduates.

www.surrey.ac.uk/healthandsocialcare

Research for an MD may be carried out in the clinical workplace and/or in the Faculty and will be supervised jointly by a collaborative supervisor from the hospital and a principal supervisor from the Faculty. The research area may be in any branch of medicine that links in with our research portfolio and students should expect to commit approximately two years to research and training activities, plus some time to write up the MD thesis and take the viva voce exam.

As an alternative pathway to PhD, we also offer a Doctorate of Clinical Practice. We welcome informal conversations to ensure that the right route is selected for each individual.

www.surrey.ac.uk/pgms

This programme has been developed for experienced health, allied health and social care practitioners who would like to advance their skills by conducting a major piece of clinical research, and to enhance their clinical and service development leadership capability. We provide a clinical  research training that meets a wide range of multidisciplinary needs for professional development at a higher level. All our postgraduate research students are also members of the Faculty Graduate School. 

The DClinPrac is open to experienced practitioners involved in clinical practice or practice development who aim to work or are working in leadership and advanced practice roles. It is relevant for practitioners in the UK and Europe in the speciality of health, allied health and social care. The distance learning and peer support, together with the modular structure, provide an innovative doctoral programme. 

The programme consists of six core interdisciplinary modules which are provided in an integrated framework over the first two years of the programme. The third and fourth years focus on a major original research project. Assessment combines a portfolio of evidence including an academic paper and a viva voce examination on the submitted thesis. 

The core modules are:

• Introduction to Doctoral Studies
• Communities of Practice
• Policy, Politics and Power
• Advanced Research Methods
•  Leadership in Health Care Organisations
• Service Evaluation: Change, Risk and Development

www.surrey.ac.uk/postgraduate/dclinprac