PhD in Education in the UK

Our PhD in Education at the 国产吧精品福利 of Brighton, UK, will help you play a role at the cutting-edge of research. Join us for your journey to the top of the educational ladder where your advancing knowledge can contribute to the future of society's learning, teaching and training.

Brighton, on the South Coast a short train ride from London, has been a highly-valued home for educational studies since the nineteenth century. The 国产吧精品福利 of Brighton traces its early history back to the original colleges that taught art education, physical education, medical education and, in 1909, led to the founding of the Brighton Municipal Training College for trainee teachers.

In our modern department, the educators of the future develop skills that generate knowledge for themselves and others. The research community brings together state-of-the-art academic methodologies with wide professional experience and a diverse range of interests across formal and non-formal educational contexts at all ages.

Our long-established doctorate in Education invites students to draw on all their skills and experience to shape research that has impact. We offer PhD study in both full and part-time modes and welcome students with significant professional experience, who are able to use and share the career skills they have developed, as well as those who have recently completed first degrees and wish to take advantage of their academic momentum. As a postgraduate research student in Education, you will combine theoretical analysis with fieldwork data collection, and have a chance to produce publishable and influential studies.

Our PhD Education students have gone on to a variety of different roles following the successful completion of their research. These include academic posts as lecturers and postdoctoral research assistants at Brighton and elsewhere. Many have gone on to management positions in related areas such as business consultancy.

Contact an expert in this field

Successful applicants have invariably had support with their application from one of our academics. We suggest you approach a suitable academic staff member with relevant research interests before progressing with your application.

Details of our Phd in Education, UK

The research of our supervisory staff generates knowledge that advances social justice and fosters critical understanding of learning and teaching in diverse cultures and complex worlds.

Our research considers and represents learners of all ages but with a special recognition of the educational experience of young citizens across a range of fields and phases from early years to university and/or the workplace. We examine the extent and nature of rights, agency, participation and inclusion in learning events and spaces, researching relationships between educational institutions and wider society along with the social, cultural and political contexts within which these processes all take place. This includes educators working in different professional contexts such as healthcare, sport or the arts. We have pioneered narrative and biographical methodologies and approaches and, as part of this, listen to educators’ and learners' stories and examine their life histories, to better understand their experiences and world views.

Staff expertise spans the scholarship of teaching and learning across a range of specialisms, including:

pedagogy, practice and professional educational development
educational policy
education management
educational issues facing children, young people, adults and those who work with them
specialist disciplinary education, including: health education, sports education, arts education, STEM education
youth work and other non-formal educational contexts
schooling from early years, primary and secondary to further and higher education
children and young people’s rights in UK and international contexts
the development and working lives of educators in different educational settings
mentoring and coaching in education settings
examining pedagogical practices in higher education.

PhD students take an active role in a range of intellectual and social activities within the department and will have an active and welcoming forum for research discussions through our Education Research Excellence Group (REG) which encourages students to present work-in-progress and network with other researchers.

Research supervisors for your doctorate in Education

You will benefit from research supervision comprising two or maximum three members of academic staff. To ensure the right mix of expertise alongside specialists in , one of the supervisors might come from the wider School of Education, Sport and Health Sciences or from an external expert.

You will identify your primary potential supervisor for your doctorate in education from the early stages of application and they will usually then support you throughout your programme of study, helping you find any additional support to carry out your research, guiding your learning of rigorous research methods and preparing you for the next stage of your career.

You should consider the staff listed at the foot of the page and create a short draft research proposal identifying your suitability for supervision from that person's research specialism.

Research training and support for your doctorate in Education

PhD students in Education are offered a range of developmental opportunities to help challenge and broaden their academic and professional thinking. You will have the opportunity to network with other doctoral students and staff across the university to share ideas and expertise. You will be supported with conference presentation preparation, with research planning and publication activities as well as grant applications and network-building, for example by joining our Education Research Excellence Group. Whatever the focus of your PhD project, you will be able to draw on research approaches from a variety of related fields.

As a member of the Brighton Doctoral College, you will benefit from regular opportunities on a training programme designed to support postgraduate researchers at all stages of the PhD and help them achieve their career goals. Attendance at appropriate workshops within this programme is encouraged, as is contribution to the various seminar series hosted by the school and the annual Postgraduate Research Festival. Academic and technical staff also provide more subject-specific training.

Resources for PhD Education students

We pride ourselves on conducting research within the context of professional practice and our students join us from various stages in their careers or at the point of a career change.

As well as academic staff experienced in the profession, you will benefit from access to internationally-linked research resources, including a contemporary range of electronic resources via the university’s Online Library, as well as the physical book and journal collections housed within campus libraries. The library services are connected to national and international collections and students also have the option of inter-library loans.

Research Excellence Framework

The 国产吧精品福利 of Brighton had an outstanding performance in the Research Excellence Framework (REF2021) and its earlier iterations with over 75 per cent of research outputs in Education in REF2021 in either the world-leading or internationally excellent categories.

Our department of Education

Students studying for a doctorate in Education have a base on the 国产吧精品福利 of Brighton's Falmer Campus as part of the wider School of Education, Sports and Health Sciences, where PhD students from a range of health disciplines can meet and exchange ideas. This is where our disciplinary facilities and our supervisory staff can normally be found.

You and your fellow postgraduate researchers will have the opportunity to attend and present at research seminar sessions, and to integrate with researchers over a range of relevant specialisms. You will be welcomed into our Education Research Excellence Group and may also find closely aligned researchers in one of the university's Centres of Research and Knowledge Exchange Excellence (COREs) or Research Excellence Groups (REGs), especially where you are working with a specialist disciplinary or societal focus.

As a postgraduate doctoral student in Education, you are encouraged to meet for informal discussions and supportive activities and on an annual basis for research conference/celebrations. We value all personal input from researchers and those interested in becoming researchers, and those who are interested to find out more about research and share ideas and knowledge.

The school is proud of a long-standing strength in professional practice and education, with accreditation of our taught courses by the Department for Education and established links with the wider educational institutions and structures in East Sussex and the South East of England.

Aerial picture of Falmer campus

Paddock Field 1 2023

Our leafy Falmer Campus brings researchers and teacher training students together, benefiting from a range of specialist facilities.

Research themes

Researchers within the department are engaged in work across a broad range of areas; we are, therefore, able to accommodate a wide range of doctoral research interests. Our particular areas of expertise currently include:

children and young people’s learning and education
children and young people’s rights and voice
educators’ initial, early and continuing professional learning and development
the role of video technology in facilitating professional learning and development
educators’ use of digital tools
professional identities
educator wellbeing
educator retention
mentoring and coaching
professional migration and boundary crossing
pedagogy in formal and informal contexts
higher education pedagogy, policy and practice.

Supervisory staff for PhD in Education

We strongly recommend that you apply with the support of one of our academics. By establishing your supervisor from the early stages of application, you will be supported through the application process and can make the best start to your programme of study.

You should consider the staff listed below and create a short draft research proposal identifying your suitability for supervision from that person's research specialism and your place in the wider context of the department's research ambitions. Their contact details are available on their full profile.

Our primary staff supervising in the discipline are listed. For further information on university supervisory staff, including cross-disciplinary options, please visit

My supervisory interests encompass a range of topics within primary mathematics pedagogy and the application of policy in the primary classroom. I have a particular interest in social factors influencing the learning of mathematics and issues of equity in mathematics learning particularly relating to the learning experiences of those identified as lower attaining. I am also interested in reserach focusing on school governance and school improvement and research from a critical realist perspective. I am interested in supervision of research which utilises聽 qualitative and mixed methods approaches as well as that utilisting large quantitative data sets.

Current and recent supervision at Masters and Doctoral level includes collaborative teacher learning in primary schools, the development of fluency in calculation in primary school mathematics, mathematics anxiety in high school students, primary school leadership in response to inspection, values in secondary mathematics education.

Alison鈥檚 supervisory interests include learning, teaching and professional development in schools and higher education, mathematics education pedagogy and learning, including the role of affect and emotions, and intervention approaches to research. She is interested in supervising students with interests related to these areas.

Alison is Course Leader of the Education MA. She supervises students on the PhD, EdD and MA programmes in the UK and the Mauritius Institute of Education.

Doctoral completions:

Stefanie Edwards:聽Promoting and sustaining Lesson Study as a form of effective professional learning: an investigation of the practices enacted by teacher, school and system leaders

Shalini Jagambal Ramasawmy: Teacher and learner experiences of translanguaging as pedagogy in a Mauritian grade 7 English language class聽

My research interests and supervisory interests include: Science education, formative assessment, classroom assessment, teacher assessment literacy. Science teaching and learning: including the nervous system, learning about the brain, microscopes in the classroom and moss.聽 organisms. Science teachers, teacher well-being, teacher recruitment and retention, emotional needs of teachers.

He welcomes PhD supervision in projects involving game-based learning, educational escape rooms, generative AI in education, interactive storytelling, and the creative application of computing in the arts and media.

Dr Fotaris welcomes PhD supervision in projects involving game based learning, educational escape rooms, generative artificial intelligence in education, virtual/augmented educational environments, and the creative application of computing in the arts, fashion, and media.

Andy is interested to work with applicants seeking to conduct research relating to the professional learning, development and/or well-being of teachers, leaders and other professionals. Specific foci may include but are not restricted to studies of:

Mentoring and/or coaching for early career teachers / professionals
Mentoring and/or coaching across professions
Judgementoring
ONSIDE Mentoring
Co-mentoring (collaborative, compassionate mentoring and coaching)

I am not in a position to take on any new doctoral students at the moment. 聽I currently supervise in areas including the following:

Addressing disadvantage in education
(Post)digital technologies & education.
Vulnerability and wellbeing
Leadership and school improvement
Learner voice and dialogic learning
Challenging school readiness.

I am working with PhD and EdD students within the field of Early Years and I welcome enquiries from prospective candidates who are interested in my specific areas of specialism which include:

'Professional Love'
Infants, toddlers & children under 3 years of age
Attachment based relationships - 聽Love, Care and Intimacy
Theory, policy and practices with infants and toddlers
Quality and learning/ policy, practice and pedagogy
The Rights of babies and young children
Professional adult roles 鈥� e.g primary caregiving/key person approach
Parent roles

I have supervised ten students to successful completion of their doctorates and examined 17 full doctoral theses.

Making an application

Once you have prepared a first-rate application you can apply to the 国产吧精品福利 of Brighton through our . When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the 国产吧精品福利 of Brighton staff. We strongly recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2025–26

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
Student	Full-time fees	Part-time fees
UK	£5,006	£2,503
International (including EU)	£16,390	N/A
International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law	£14,950	N/A

PhD by Publication
Study method	Fees
Full-time	N/A
Part-time	£2,503

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the 国产吧精品福利 of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.