How to apply for a PhD

How to apply for a PhD in the School of Social and Cultural Studies

Thank you for your interest in applying for entry to PhD study in the School of Social and Cultural Studies, (SACS). At Victoria University of Wellington the PhD degree requires the candidate to research and write a doctoral thesis with a maximum length of 100,000 words. PhD study is usually full-time for a period of three years, and full-time students must submit their thesis within four years.

Find out if we can provide the appropriate supervision for the kind of PhD study you are interested in by looking through the Staff Directory and current Research Students for an idea of our research and supervision interests. Please note that we will only consider accepting your application if we think that there is a member of staff who can provide you with appropriate supervision expertise.

The Faculty of Graduate Research Application

If you are interested in enrolling in a PhD, then you must apply through the Faculty of Graduate Research (FGR). This application also covers Wellington Doctoral Scholarships. The University accepts PhD applications three times a year—1 March, 1 July, and 1 November. Please note that these are strict deadlines. You should begin the PhD application process by visiting the FGR website and working out exactly what documents you need to assemble for this application. SACS strongly recommends that you begin organising your documentation well before the deadline so as to maximise the strength of your application.

A crucial part of your application documentation is the Expression of Research Interests. This Expression should comprise three main elements:

  1. An explanation of why you have decided to apply for PhD study.
  2. An outline of your potential PhD topic. Drawing on established literature, this will explain why your study is important and how it is relevant to the discipline. This outline should contain an indicative bibliography.
  3. An explanation of why you think the programme to which you are applying is a good ‘fit’ with your research interests.

Consultation with School

Before you submit your formal application to the FGR, you should contact the relevant Postgraduate Coordinator or your preferred supervisor at least six weeks before the university deadline for applications so we can assess your proposal. We want to know if you are suitably qualified for PhD study and have a viable research project. Thus, a good application will describe your research project in a clear, scholarly and persuasive manner. An important consideration for us is whether there seems to be a ‘fit’ between the PhD project that you wish to research and the kind of supervision expertise that the programme can offer. When you approach the programme, please send the following information:

  • a current curriculum vitae;
  • a short research proposal (no more than 2 pages);
  • a paragraph explaining why you want to study with us at Victoria University of Wellington.

If we decide that your project will be a good fit, we will encourage you to make a formal application to the FGR.

Some PhD proposals and projects are characterised by interdisciplinarity (or study across different disciplines). If this is true of the project you are proposing, then it might be that the ‘fit’ you are seeking to establish between yourself and SACS involves either a combination of SACS subjects (for example, Cultural Anthropology, Criminology, Study of Religion, Sociology or Social Policy) or a blending of expertise from two different University programmes, one of which is located in another School. If your topic does use an interdisciplinary approach, you should also contact the Postgraduate Coordinators of the different University programmes involved and ensure that each programme knows of the involvement of the other.

Wellington Doctoral Scholarships

You can find out about available financial support from Victoria University of Wellington by visiting the Scholarships page of the University’s website. Although students can enrol in PhD without financial assistance from Victoria University of Wellington (some holding other scholarships or forms of private funding), many SACS students are recipients of a Wellington Doctoral Scholarship.

At Victoria University of Wellington, as is true of New Zealand universities in general, PhD scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis. The most important single element of the competition for Victoria Doctoral Scholarships is your ability to demonstrate a high Grade Point Average (GPA). PhD applicants to Victoria University of Wellington who have gained an A (or higher) GPA from their most recent postgraduate degree are strongly encouraged to apply for a Wellington Doctoral Scholarship.

Most applicants will have completed, or be in the process of completing, a Master’s degree (most commonly a Master of Arts). Aspiring PhD students are permitted to apply before the completion of their Master’s degree, and some do. However, it is more difficult before Master’s completion to demonstrate the high level of academic merit that is expected of a Wellington Doctoral Scholarship recipient. Before applying for a Wellington Doctoral Scholarship, therefore, it is worth considering whether you should apply now or whether it is better to wait until your Master’s degree is finished.