Course summary

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (October/November 2022). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas. The DPhil in International Development provides an opportunity for outstanding students to pursue in-depth multi- and interdisciplinary research, guided by leading scholars in the field, into processes of social, political and economic development and change in the global South. Academics at the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID) can offer supervision in a wide range of subjects, including migration, refugees and humanitarianism; urban, agrarian and environmental development; political and social change and conflict; state-making and disciplinary regimes; public health and social policies; global governance, diplomatic studies, and security; economic growth and structural transformation; macroeconomics and public finance; firms and households; poverty and inequality; and technology. The department also has close connections with other departments and research centres across the University. As a DPhil student you will undertake your own original research project under the guidance of your supervisor, whom you will typically meet two to three times a term. The supervisor will help develop and guide your project and, at later stages, provide feedback on chapter drafts. However, you will work to a significant extent on your own, and you will need a high level of motivation and self-discipline. During an initial probationary period as a Probationer Research Student (PRS), you will develop and begin work on your thesis topic. You will be offered training in relevant research methods, language, computing and other skills, and you will have the opportunity to attend lectures, seminars and classes in your general topic area. Full-time students are expected to be resident in Oxford for the PRS period. As a PRS, you will also take one taught course, either in research methods or from an Oxford master’s degree relevant to your research, which will be examined. Full-time students usually transfer to full DPhil status by the end of their first year and part-time students usually transfer by the end of their second year. Following satisfactory progress and transfer to full DPhil status, you may leave Oxford for up to three terms (six terms for part-time students) in order to conduct fieldwork, if the project requires. You will then continue the course by carrying out your own research under the guidance of your supervisor, with whom you will continue to meet or correspond with regularly. Full-time students should return to Oxford after fieldwork for at least three terms. Time to completion depends on the complexity of an individual student’s research programme and on the amount of fieldwork that may be required. The University considers that the normal time for completion of the DPhil should be three to four years (four to eight years for part-time), or for students who transfer to the DPhil after the MPhil in Development Studies two to three years (four to six years for part-time), although the exact time will vary depending on the complexity and ambition of the project. In exceptional circumstances there are procedures in place which allow students to apply for extensions of time or to suspend their status for fixed periods of time.