You should have a second-class honours undergraduate degree or equivalent in law, or containing some study of law. Other undergraduate degrees, such as criminology or other social sciences, may be considered as appropriate, on a case by case basis.Non-standard applications, such as those with substantial experience in an appropriate field, will also be considered on a case-by-case basis.
International
We welcome applicants with international qualifications. Please view the country guides for further information regarding the equivalency of your degree. International applicants will be required to provide evidence of their English language ability, for example by achieving an IELTS score of 6.5 overall (with a minimum of 5.5 in each element) or equivalent. View our English language requirements . Pre-sessional English language courses are available if you do not meet these requirements.

To view other accepted qualifications please refer to our tariff glossary.

We welcome deferred entry applications. If you wish to apply for deferred entry then please indicate this within your personal statement.

Applicants are expected to have completed a masters level qualification to a high standard (e.g. at 'merit' or 'distinction' level) as well as either a good 2:1 or first class honours undergraduate degree in an area of study appropriate to your project proposal. We are happy to consider equivalent qualifications (for instance, you may have studied different subjects at undergraduate and masters level but have worked in and/or developed an interest in your sector since then). We also accept exceptional undergraduate students (1st class) from a cognate discipline straight in to PhD where there is an associated excellent research proposal. If you do not already have a masters degree, you may be interested in one of our masters level research degrees – for instance, an MPhil degree, or MSc Criminology . Further details about the University’s research degree awards.

You will also need to provide evidence that you are ready to pursue the project you propose in your application. This will take the form of a research proposal.

If English is not your first language, you must have proficiency in written and spoken English (normally a minimum test score of 6.5 for IELTS, or equivalent). Given the nature of the programme, you’ll be expected to read and engage with complex theoretical texts and debates for which fluency in English is essential.

For more general guidelines and application requirements, please visit the research degrees applicants page.