MPhil/PhD in African Languages and Cultures

All students register in year 1 of the programme as MPhil students. The upgrade from MPhil to PhD takes place at the end of the first academic session for full time students (or at the end of the second academic session for part time students).

All new MPhil/PhD students are provided with a supervisory committee consisting of a primary and secondary supervisor. In the first year students are expected to meet their main supervisor on a fortnightly basis. Supervisions should last at least an hour. Students should also meet with their secondary supervisors at least once a semester.

The student’s primary supervisor is almost always a member of the department in which the student is registered. The second supervisor, who acts in a supplementary advisory capacity, may be from the same department or other SOAS departments.

The student’s progress is further overseen by the LCL Convenor of Doctoral Studies.

In the first year, students prepare for research by following a generic training organised by SOAS Doctoral School. The module in semester one is compulsory, while the module in semester two is optional. In addition students attend a Research Training Seminar convened at the departmental level by the LCL Convenor for Doctoral Studies. 

Students may also be encouraged by supervisors to attend additional taught courses relevant to their research and to their training needs. These may include specialist disciplinary, language or regional culture courses or research training in other SOAS departments.

Year 1

Year 1 students must submit a 5000 word piece of work for the Common Core Research Module convened by the Doctoral School. The submission date is around the middle of December.

Full time Year 1 (year 2 for part time students) are required to submit a core chapter and research proposal (of about 10,000 words) to the supervisory committee by the middle of May (exact date to be confirmed). This chapter typically includes the following elements:

• research rationale and context of proposed research
• main research questions
• literature review
• theoretical and methodological framework and considerations
• proposed research methods
• ethical issues (where applicable)
• outlining structure of PhD dissertation
• schedule of research and writing
• bibliography

Adjustments to one or more of these sections, including additions or deletions where appropriate, are possible by prior arrangement between the student and lead supervisor.

In addition, students will be required to complete a data management plan as well as an online Research Ethics training.

The upgrade process from MPhil to PhD status is based upon an assessment of the core chapter by the student’s research committee. Students will also normally give a 20 minute oral presentation followed by a discussion. The oral presentation is given to departmental staff and research students. On successful completion of the core chapter, students are formally upgraded to PhD and proceed to the second year. 

If the assessors consider there to be shortcomings in the upgrade chapter, students will be asked to revise it before the upgrade to PhD status can be confirmed. Students are not normally permitted to proceed to the second year until the upgrade process has been completed.

Year 2

The second year (or part time equivalent) is normally spent engaged in research. This may be by any combination of fieldwork and research in libraries and material collection as agreed between the student and the supervisor(s).

Year 3

The third year (or part time equivalent) is devoted to writing up research for the PhD thesis. During this time, students will normally give a presentation in a research seminar organised by the Departmental Research Tutor, comprising a select number of staff members with special expertise in the topic and other research students. During the third year (or part time equivalent) students will present draft chapters to their main supervisor for comment, before completing a final draft of the thesis. 

Once a full draft is complete, the work is assessed by all members of the supervisory committee and the student can either submit the thesis or move on to Continuation Status to be given a further 12 months to complete the thesis and submit for examination. The thesis must be completed within 48 months from the time of registration (or part time equivalent).

The thesis – not to exceed 100,000 words in length – is examined by two leading authorities in the field.

PhD degrees are awarded by SOAS from registration in 2013 and are subject to SOAS regulations.

Module changes and availability

The information on the website reflects the intended programme structure against the given academic session. The modules are indicative options of the content students can expect and are/have been previously taught as part of these programmes. 

However, this information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability is subject to change.