Locations
Streatham Campus, Exeter and Cornwall Campus, near Falmouth
Programme overview
Undertaking a PhD is a stimulating and rewarding experience and allows you to undertake research into a legal issue that interests you. In order to gain the award of PhD your thesis must bring a new and original standpoint to the study of law either through the development of a novel doctrinal and/or theoretical perspective on the legal issue(s) under discussion and/or through empirical research that creates new insights into a legal issue.
A successful PhD is one that develops a coherent and sustained argument from the beginning to end. Its objectivity derives not from the viewpoint it adopts but the methodology it employs. As such, an important part of the PhD process is the research training you undertake. This training not only provides you with the ability to validate your adopted methodology and results, but also the ability to design, conduct and successfully complete a wide range of future legal research projects.
The PhD is assessed by thesis of a maximum 100,000 words1 and a viva voce examination. The MPhil is assessed by a dissertation of a maximum 60,000 words1; in addition you may be required to take a viva voce examination.
Supervision
Our academics have a very wide range of research interests and MPhil or PhD supervision can be arranged in most fields of legal study. There is particular expertise in European and international law, commercial and common law, English legal history and professional legal studies. Our research web pages include details of the research centres within the School of Law as well as research topics in which supervision can generally be arranged. You can also view staff profiles for more details of the research interests of individual members of academic staff.
Before starting my PhD I was a Research in the European Union Research Centre, Korea University. I decided to study at Exeter partly because of the high quality supervision, and also because the University is one of the pioneers in research in European Law Studies. The research environment at Exeter is very good. Research supervision is of high quality and there are many useful seminars and workshops to improve research skills. Read Soyeon's full profile.
Soyeon Kim, PhD in Law
1Excluding bibliography, appendices and abstract.
