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Please note that applications submitted after your submission deadline will be declined.

Doctoral, MSc and MLitt students please note that applications received any earlier than 3-6 months before the thesis submission deadline will be declined and you will be asked to reapply at the appropriate time.

Applications should only be submitted if you know that you need additional time and not 'just in case' you do.

Extension requests for coursework other than the thesis or dissertation (for example, essays, portfolio coursework, the First Year Assessment) should not be submitted via CamSIS - please contact your Department for advice on how to apply.

For taught courses, short deadlines which would not impact on the dates on which the marks would be considered by the Exam Board and Degree Committee can normally be considered locally - see below under 'Your submission date and how to apply'. 

Note that a longer extension may result in you completing and graduating later than the rest of your cohort, so you should seek clarification on the impact of this from your Department, Faculty or Degree Committee, particularly if the timing of your degree completion will have an impact on your future plans, such as further study, employment or visa applications. 

For all applications made via CamSIS self-service, each case is considered in line with the policy of the Postgraduate Committee, which is set out in the guidance on this page. 

Instructions on how to submit an application can be found on the   'Applying for a change in your student status' page.  Please check the guidance below before applying.

If you have any questions about applying for an extension, please submit a query here:  University of Cambridge Student Registry Office (zendesk.com)

All requests for an extension must include the following information:

• Visa issues
• Medical issues or family circumstances, where a period of intermission should have been requested or a break from study is currently needed
• Attending conferences
• Writing/publishing papers
• Undertaking further research, unless your supervisor, department or Degree Committee make a very strong academic case for this
• A safety net 'just in case' additional time is needed
• Employment 
• Job applications
• Not wishing to leave Cambridge
• Continued funding
• Poor planning -  it should be feasible to complete your research project within the maximum time-frame for your degree (for example, 4 years for a full-time PhD). Therefore reasons such as having collected too much data or a change of direction (unless due to circumstances outside your control) will not normally be considered valid
• Wanting to incorporate new material at a late stage unless there is a very strong case for this material being  essential  to your thesis rather than merely enhancing its quality
• Needing time for proofreading, editing or support with academic writing or wanting more time in order to improve the quality of your thesis  - students are expected to produce a thesis to the required standard within the normal time-frame for submission. In planning your thesis you should factor in time for proofreading/editing. 

Research students who do not submit their thesis by their submission date and do not have an extension approved, will be withdrawn from study. They may be able to apply for  reinstatement  when their thesis is ready for submission for examination but not to continue studying. Temporary withdrawal may not always be possible. You can find more information about the effects of withdrawal from study on the  Withdrawal from Study  page.

Students on taught Masters courses should contact their Department for information about the penalties applied for late or non-submission of work. 

PhD students are advised to read the information outlined on the International Student Office webpage:  https://www.internationalstudents.cam.ac.uk/immigration/student-visa/extending-your-visa-current-phd-student

 It is advisable for MPhil students to contact the International Student Office to check the implications of a change to your submission deadline. Some considerations include:

• Graduate visa eligibility – you may no longer be eligible if your new deadline means that degree approval would not be considered on the same timeline as the rest of your cohort.
• Student visa extension –   Masters students are not normally eligible for a student visa extension.
• ATAS requirements – If ATAS is required for your course and nationality, a change in your course dates may mean that a new ATAS certificate is necessary.

The International Student Office can be contacted by emailing [email protected] . 

Your submission date (thesis/dissertation)

If applying for an extension to the deadline for submitting corrections to your doctoral thesis you need to apply in the same way. 

If your course does not include a dissertation and you have an extension for other work approved by your Department which means your marks cannot be considered by the Exam Board and Degree Committee with those of your cohort, please forward the approval for your extension to  [email protected]  so that we can update your record to show why this is still active beyond your original completion date.

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The PhD programme

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The PhD is awarded after three to four years of full-time research (or five to seven years of part-time study) on the basis of a dissertation of 80,000 words (exclusive of footnotes, appendices and bibliography, but subject to an overall word limit of 100,000 words exclusive of bibliography, table of contents and any other preliminary matter). Examination for the PhD involves an oral examination (viva) by two examiners.

Research students who intend to undertake PhD research are in the first instance automatically registered for a one-year research training programme leading to the Certificate of Postgraduate Study (CPGS) in Legal Studies. They are assigned a supervisory team by the Degree Committee of the Faculty, ordinarily consisting of a supervisor (who is principally responsible for directing and assisting the research) and an advisor (who provides a second point of contact for academic advice). At the end of the first year, the Degree Committee decides whether students should be registered for the PhD. This decision is taken on the basis of the student’s personal progress log, first-year dissertation of 15,000 words, viva conducted by two assessors from within the Faculty, and outline of plans for the full research project. Candidates who successfully complete the requirements of the CPGS and the first-year progress review are retrospectively registered for the PhD.

All full-time PhD students are ordinarily required to be resident in Cambridge for the duration of their research (save where given leave to work away from Cambridge for academic reasons or whilst undertaking fieldwork), and during the first year in particular must attend weekly research training sessions in the Faculty.

This overview of the PhD programme must be read in conjunction with the detailed information available under the 'Courses' section (see, in particular, the Course Directory) of the Postgraduate Admissions website . Further information on postgraduate admission to research courses in the Faculty of Law is available from [email protected] or +44 (0)1223 330039.

The Faculty of Law The David Williams Building 10 West Road Cambridge CB3 9DZ United Kingdom

Telephone: +44 1223 330033 Email: [email protected]

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Purpose of Finance course wins top Teaching award and a study on paedophile hunters wins Academic Research award, while Cambridge Judge is Highly Commended for School-wide activities in the Financial Times awards for business education responsibility and impact.

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We’re excited to welcome you into our research programmes and we appreciate that applying for the right PhD can be a challenging process. Find out all you need to know to apply to a Cambridge Judge Business School PhD and successfully navigate the application process.

You will need to gain admission to your PhD via a Cambridge Judge Business School research masters degree. This means you need to already hold or be currently studying for one of the following degrees:

• MPhil in Strategy, Marketing and Operations (SMO)
• MPhil in Innovation, Strategy and Organisation (ISO)

Funding deadlines

Previous PhD Director Jennifer Howard-Grenville offers advice on applying to the doctoral programme.

Hello, I’m Professor Jennifer Howard-Grenville, and I’m the Director of our PhD programme here at the Cambridge Judge Business School We’ve prepared this short video to give you some tips on how our application process works.

Apply via a research masters First, please do not apply directly to the PhD. We only consider applicants who already hold or are studying on one of our Research Masters degrees, the MPhil in ISO, SMO, or Finance. Or the MRes. In extremely rare cases, when a prospective student has already published in top journals in their field, we may consider a direct application.

Ensure you meet our minimum requirements Second, please ensure you meet the minimal requirement for the masters degree to which you are applying. Since it is a competitive process to apply to the PhD from our MPhil programmes, you should also ensure that you’re a strong contender for continuation. This means you have, at a minimum, a first class equivalent in your undergraduate degree. Please look under the International Qualifications tab on the University Admissions website to see what this equates to in your system.

Do you already hold a graduate degree? Our MPhil degrees are designed for students without a graduate degree who are interested in exploring business and management research.

The MRes is for those who already hold a research-oriented graduate degree, and who will then immerse themselves in the topics, literatures and methods for conducting research in a business school setting. To apply for the MRes, you must have been within the top 5% of your class on a prior research-oriented masters degree.

Navigating the admissions process I hope this helps you navigate our process. And we’re excited to welcome new students into our research programmes. Since it is a complex application process, please rest assured that if you apply for a programme that is not the right match and you’re within our minimum qualifications, we will redirect your application internally to make sure you’re considered for the most appropriate programme.

View video with transcript

Admission via a standard research MPhil

Our MPhil degrees are designed for students without a graduate degree who are interested in exploring business and management research. You will need to meet the minimal requirements for the masters degree to which you are applying. Since it is a competitive process to apply to the PhD from our MPhil programmes, you should also ensure that you’re a strong contender for continuation. This means that you have, at a minimum, a first-class equivalent in your undergraduate degree. Please look under the International Qualifications tab on the University Admissions website to see what this equates to in your system. 

To gain admission to Cambridge Judge Business School’s PhD programme via one of the our research MPhil programmes, you will need to take a particular MPhil and specific modules within the programme in order to be eligible to continue to the PhD programme on your desired pathway. 

About the MPhil in Finance

Application deadline

Admissions requirements

MPhil in SMO

About the MPhil in SMO

MPhil in ISO

About the MPhil in ISO

Progress to the PhD programme, after your MPhil year

You need to: 

• submit an application for the PhD programme, which includes a research proposal, paper or literature review that will be assessed for quality and strong references
• perform well in the first term of MPhil modules
• perform well at an interview with a panel of faculty members
• demonstrate a fit between the proposed research and the research expertise in the subject group (resulting in the interview panel recommending supervisors)
• be ranked sufficiently highly by the panel in order to receive an offer (admissions offers are usually conditional on overall performance in the MPhil or parts thereof, and the usual conditions are an overall mark of 70% and 70% in any dissertation). 

We automatically shortlist all PhD applicants from the above 3 research MPhil programmes for interview (applicants currently studying for the MPhil or those who previously completed the MPhil with a grade ≥70% overall and ≥70% in the dissertation). 

Admission via the Master of Research 

The Business School’s Master of Research (MRes) programme offers you another route to the PhD for all pathways except Finance.  To apply for the Cambridge Judge Business School MRes, you will already hold a research-oriented graduate degree, and want to immerse yourself in the topics, literatures and methods for conducting research in a business school setting. 

Students who obtain 70% overall (modules and dissertation combined) and at least 70% in the dissertation component in the School’s Master of Research programme will progress automatically to the PhD programme – no further application is necessary.

Master of Research

About the MRes

Admission directly to the PhD 

All applicants must apply for one of the 3 research MPhils or the MRes in the first instance, or in exceptional cases a Cambridge MPhil in Economic Research.

In very rare cases, outstanding MRes applicants who have exceptional prior research experience (as evidenced by journal publications in reputable management journals) and substantial relevant research methodology training may be considered for entry to the PhD programme directly (without taking the MRes year in the first instance). In this case their MRes application would be transferred to the PhD.

Learn more about the application process and deadlines

Explore fees and funding options

Contact the admissions team

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PhD in Economics

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This is the most advanced programme of graduate studies in Economics at Cambridge. Upon its completion, candidates are awarded a PhD degree for producing a thesis of high-quality, original, and publishable research over a period of four years (full-time) and seven years (part-time).

A good number of our PhD students receive full or partial funding for their studies, from a variety of funding bodies, such as the ESRC and the Gates Foundation .

Our PhD students receive high quality training on a variety of research methods and are exposed to cutting edge research conducted by our own Faculty members, as well visitors to the Faculty (via the Cambridge-INET Institute , seminars, PhD workshops, locally organised conferences, etc.). Faculty members can supervise a wide range of topics from six broadly defined research areas: microeconomic theory, macroeconomics, econometrics, applied microeconomics, economic history and alternative approaches to economics.

PhD students in Cambridge benefit from a high faculty-to-student ratio and therefore form close relationships with many Faculty members. They also forge strong links with our post-doctoral researchers, and they actively participate in the Faculty’s vibrant research life. They have access to a wide range of facilities, such as their own desk/office space in the same building as regular Faculty members, computing equipment, a variety of software and access to a wide range of databases.

PhD students are encouraged to attend academic conferences and showcase their research work in a variety of ways. Upon completions of their studies, many of our PhD students become academics, or researchers at international or government research institutions (see recent job market placements here ).

Explore here the profiles of our current PhD students.

To obtain the degree of PhD in Economics, students need to:

1. Obtain the Certificate of Postgraduate Study (CPGS) . If accepted for the PhD degree, you will be registered initially for the Certificate of Postgraduate Study (CPGS) in Economics. Students registered for the CPGS are required to:

• Attend the 'How to do Economics' lecture course. Other postgraduate courses in research methods are organised by the Schools of Humanities and Social Sciences and the Physical Sciences, and are available to all PhD students.  
• Undertake a minimum of four courses from PhD or MPhil Modules from at least two subject areas. You must achieve a pass mark (60%) on each component of the coursework. Students who fail any examinations will be called for a viva on the coursework.

• Write a research proposal (maximum length 10,000 words) that should include a review of the relevant literature, a research question, and outline of a research design and methods. The expectation is that this proposal will be for a piece of research that could form the basis of one chapter of a PhD dissertation. You will be given an oral examination on this piece of work and must perform to a satisfactory standard.  
• Attend (a) one of the three research workshops (on microeconomics, macroeconomics or econometrics) at which research students present both their own work and recent papers in the literature - assessment of workshops will be arranged by course organisers; (b) attend at least one of the Faculty's general seminars in which papers are given both by outside speakers and Faculty members;  
• To be registered for the PhD submit an acceptable piece of research (first year chapter) of not more than 20,000 words. The piece of research submitted must be of a standard that would enable it to form the basis of one-third of your eventual PhD thesis. This means that it must contain research that could be expanded upon to constitute one-third of the PhD thesis.

2. Once upgraded to PhD status, a student concentrates on her or his PhD dissertation. In general the thesis format is either in the form of a book divided into chapters, or of three or more connected articles; in either case, the Faculty has a strict limit of 60,000 words. As research progresses, there will be opportunities to present work in progress at research workshops attended by Faculty members and research students. PhD students will also be required to attend research seminars given by outside speakers and Faculty members. 

Upon completion and submission of the PhD thesis, students do an oral examination (viva) with two examiners, one internal to the University of Cambridge (not the supervisor or research advisor), and one external (from any other University in the UK or the rest of the world).

After a successful thesis defence, the examiners recommend awarding the degree of PhD.

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The Department has a large community of around 80 PhD students working on their own projects. The PhD students at Geography and the Scott Polar Research Institute (SPRI) study a broad range of topics that reflect the diverse interests of the academic staff in the Department.

1. Before making an application

Before applying, you should satisfy yourself that advanced study in your chosen research topic can be supervised by an academic at Geography or SPRI. Acceptance of any applicant will be dependent on specialist supervision being available. Unfortunately, if we cannot supervise your topic, we will decline your application regardless of its academic merit. Please check the research groups then look through the online staff list .

Identification of a potential supervisor does not imply a guarantee of admission and the full admissions procedure must be followed in all cases. If your potential supervisor’s details are available from our website, you may e-mail the person with a draft research proposal (maximum 2,000 words). If contact details are not available, kindly e-mail the Postgraduate Office Administrator with your research proposal and the name(s) of whom you are trying to contact.

2. Go to the University’s Postgraduate Admissions Pages

Go to the University’s Postgraduate Admissions pages which has all the information you need to make a formal application. Applicants should plan well in advance to ensure their papers can be processed in time. The deadline for all PhD applicants is March 26th 2024.

Please note this deadline does not apply to applicants for the Cambridge ESRC DTP Interdisciplinary Studentship , who should contact graduate.enquiries @ geog.cam.ac.uk before making an application.

When making the formal application PhD applicants will need to provide a statement (maximum 2,000 words) detailing your research proposal, including aims and methods, sources and the location of the proposed research. Your proposal should include a list of specific resource needs for your research such as travel budget, fieldwork, laboratory equipment, chemical and IT needs. Please state in your application which academic in the Department your believe has interests that are closest to your own and therefore might supervise your research. It is advisable to approach the Academic identified in advance to discuss your proposal.

Physical Geography applicants choosing from the list of topics do not need to include a research proposal but should include information about why you have chosen a topic and the relevant experience you have for the chosen topic.

If you are applying for a PhD programme, and have only recently started a masters degree at a new institution, we understand that it may be more suitable for you to request references from your prior academic and/or professional environment.

Cambridge Funding Competitions deadlines:

GATES (US) – 11th October 2023;

GATES (non-US), Trusts and Research Councils – 5th December 2023;

NERC DTP ( home and international students ) – 5th January 2024 (although you are encouraged to apply by 5th December to be considered for other funding sources too).

Applications must be made in advance of these dates to be considered for funding, please note these deadlines are earlier than the final admissions deadline. Please also note these deadlines include submission of all your references which must have been submitted by your referees in advance of these funding deadlines.

Doctoral work in the Department is funded through Research Council funding ( ESRC , AHRC and NERC ), studentships from the Cambridge Trust , the Gates Foundation and other funding agencies. While the Geography Department has modest funds for fieldwork or conference attendance, it does not fund PhD studentships.

• Overseas applicants should look in particular at scholarships available through the Gates Foundation and scholarships administered by the Cambridge Trust . You should apply for these by the advertised deadline when you complete your formal application. Information can be found and eligibility can be checked via the University’s Postgraduate Admissions page.
• UK students should look in particular at the Research Council studentships and funding available via the Cambridge Trust .

It is advisable to complete a Funding Search to help you find the most suitable funding options from those listed above.

Finance information for PhD courses run by the Department is to be found from the University’s Postgraduate Admissions pages .

In addition to fees and maintenance, you will need to ensure you have funds to cover all fieldwork, laboratory work, access to data, archives and travel needs for the length of your study. You should ensure that you have sufficient funds or that your funding body provides sufficient support.

Apply now for entry in 2024

See more videos about Postgraduate study at the Department of Geography

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Prospective phd in politics and international studies.

The application and funding portal for October 2024 entry is now closed.

Our PhD in Politics and International Studies is structured as a three-year programme. With the expectation that PhD students will submit a full draft of their thesis at the end of the third year or soon after.

This is a research degree and is completed through the submission of a thesis of up to 80,000 words. As a full-time programme, it is completed in a period of between three and four years – that is between nine and twelve university terms. 

The First Year

The first year of the PhD is spent in Cambridge, with two major activities: firstly, developing a research topic with the guidance of a supervisor and secondly, training in research methods.

The development of the topic often involves extensive reading into relevant literature, the discovery of relevant information sources (such as archives or databases), and formulating plans for primary research, such as through making plans for fieldwork. This is done in combination with your primary supervisor, who discusses your progress and reviews your written work, usually fortnightly. You are also appointed a second supervisor who can be drawn upon for additional advice.

The first year culminates in the production of a report, which serves as the basis for the registration exercise at the end of the year. This registration exercise is required to move on to official registration for the PhD degree and is conducted through a meeting with your second supervisor and an independent assessor. Its purpose is to ensure that your research project is viable, that an appropriate methodology is applied and that relevant literature is drawn upon.

The second major focus of the first year is research training. There is a weekly seminar on the methodological and philosophical questions that underpin research in the contemporary social sciences, which all first-year PhD students attend. Alongside this, PhD students choose two further courses to attend from a range of options, such as statistics, qualitative methods and languages.

As the induction process and training courses start at the beginning of October, entry to the PhD programme must also begin then. We cannot therefore accept applications to begin at other points during the academic year.

The Second and Third Years

The content of the second and third years varies considerably depending on the type of research being conducted. Many students spend a considerable portion of the second year of their PhD out of Cambridge on fieldwork, while others are resident throughout. To assist you in the development of your research, we schedule an annual meeting with your primary and secondary supervisor, for which you produce a report for discussion.

In the second year and onwards, many of our PhD students contribute to the Department's teaching programme, principally in small-group teaching of undergraduates (supervisions).

There is also the opportunity to deliver a lecture if your research interests align with the taught courses. There is no obligation to be involved in this, but many of our PhD students consider this valuable experience, particularly for those considering academic careers.

Dissertations are assessed through an oral examination with two senior academics, of whom at least one must be external.

Supervision

Full-time candidates on the course are expected to devote themselves fully to their studies . Full-time students must spend at least three terms resident in Cambridge.  Part-time students are required to attend Cambridge and undergo formal supervision with their supervisor at a frequency agreed upon between the supervisor and student and determined by the nature of the research project. Generally, we would expect part-time students to be resident in Cambridge for around 45 days per year, spread throughout the year, for supervision and training.

• How to apply  
• Fees and Funding  

Testimonials from current students

"POLIS’ unparalleled array and quality of resources have remained crucial to my growth as a researcher. Diligent research experts like my supervisor and advisor have guided me through fine tuning my academic voice, acquainting myself with my ontological outlook, and even confronting some of my political inclinations. The depth and rigor of the PhD modules around methodology and professional development have rooted my thesis design and helped me envision longer term applications for my work. Above all, navigating this PhD with my POLIS peers, alumni, faculty, and staff has fashioned an intellectual home for me, contributed to my confidence, and steadied my sense of belonging at Cambridge. Whether it’s forging through top tier research conferences, teasing out field studies in foreign countries, or navigating everyday challenges like illness or impostor syndrome, I can always count on a member of the POLIS community to see me, hear me, and stand with me. And that has almost always been the determining factor in my success."

Abii-Tah Bih -  PhD Student POLIS  (April 2022)

"A PhD at POLIS has been a fantastic choice. Graduate students have the opportunity to be connected to faculty researching across a wide range of issues and approaches. There are many opportunities to broaden intellectual horizons by attending workshops or talks, and I encourage anyone considering applying to do so!"

Say Jye Quah -  PhD Student POLIS- 2022

“A wonderful place to carry out independent research, POLIS paves the way for serendipitous and life-changing opportunities, within and beyond the world of academia. The PhD community is truly phenomenal, filled with passionate and driven students who bring a diverse range of perspectives and approaches to their study. I have found POLIS to be a rewarding research environment and have been privileged to find much support and inspiration from my peers and academic staff. “ 

Elizabeth Paradis - 2022

"Coming to the programme with a different intellectual background, I was immediately made to feel at home at POLIS by the sheer diversity of research carried out and the varied kinds of approaches people bring to the PhD programme. The openness and friendly support, the in-depth and challenging discussions, as well as the encouraging process of developing your own project in constructive exchange and collaboration with other PhD students make the programme an intellectually stimulating and deeply enriching experience."

Carl Pierer PhD Student POLIS  2021

"The structure of the PhD course, amazing staff, the events and workshops organised by the different centres at POLIS all provide a fertile ground for one to thrive. The diversity of research topics means you are always learning something different from your colleagues. I am grateful to be part of the POLIS family."

Edward Murambwa, PhD Student POLIS  - 2019

The Department of Politics and International Studies, The Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DP

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Doyle among three Brown scholars elected to American Academy of Arts and Sciences

With their election to the prestigious honor society, Francis J. Doyle III, Prudence Carter and Greg Hirth join the nation’s leading scholars in science, public affairs, business, arts and the humanities.

Three Brown University scholars have been elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences , one of the nation’s most prestigious honor societies. The new members from Brown are Francis J. Doyle III, a professor of engineering and Brown’s provost; Prudence Carter, a professor of sociology; and Greg Hirth, a professor and chair of the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences. They are among a class of 250 new members , who include leading thinkers in science, public affairs, business, arts and the humanities. Members are selected through a competitive process that recognizes individuals who have made preeminent to their disciplines and to society. Founded in 1780, the academy is one of the nation’s oldest learned societies and independent policy research centers. The new members join a distinguished group of individuals elected to the academy before them, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Mead and Martin Luther King Jr. This year’s new class of members features prominent artists and scholars including George Clooney, Tim Cook and Jhumpa Lahiri. “We honor these artists, scholars, scientists and leaders in the public, nonprofit and private sectors for their accomplishments and for the curiosity, creativity and courage required to reach new heights,” said David Oxtoby, president of the academy. “We invite these exceptional individuals to join in the academy’s work to address serious challenges and advance the common good.”  

Doyle, who became Brown’s 14th provost in 2023, is an accomplished chemical engineer and academic leader. Prior to his role at Brown, he served as dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. As a scholar, Doyle applies systems engineering principles to the analysis of regulatory mechanisms in biological systems.

His work includes the design of drug-delivery devices for diabetes; modeling, analysis and control of gene regulatory networks underlying circadian rhythms; and computational analysis for developing diagnostics for post-traumatic stress disorder. Doyle has been recognized as a fellow of multiple professional organizations and is a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Medicine. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Princeton University, a certificate of post-graduate studies from Cambridge University and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. “I am humbled and excited by this unexpected honor, which aptly comes at a moment when my career has transitioned to a role that entails supporting academic activities across the wide breadth of fields of scholarship that the academy encompasses,” Doyle said. “I hope to learn from, and be inspired by, current and former members of this fellowship in the quest to expand knowledge and its impact.” With the addition of Doyle, Carter and Hirth, a total of 47 current and former Brown faculty members have been elected to the academy. Others include University President Christina H. Paxson, Nobel Laureates Leon Cooper and Michael Kosterlitz, and National Medal of Science winner S. James Gates, Jr. Brown Engineering’s Joan Wernig and E. Paul Sorensen Professor of Engineering Linda Abriola, L. Herbert Ballou University Professor of Engineering and Professor of Physics Arto Nurmikko, and Henry Merritt Wriston Professor of Neuroscience and Professor of Engineering John Donoghue are also members. Induction ceremonies for new members will take place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in September 2024.

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Two from MIT awarded 2024 Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans

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MIT graduate student Riyam Al Msari and alumna Francisca Vasconcelos ’20 are among the 30 recipients of this year’s Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans. In addition, two Soros winners will begin PhD studies at MIT in the fall: Zijian (William) Niu in computational and systems biology and Russell Legate-Yang in economics.

The P.D. Soros Fellowships for New Americans program recognizes the potential of immigrants to make significant contributions to U.S. society, culture, and academia by providing $90,000 in graduate school financial support over two years.

Riyam Al Msari

Riyam Al Msari, born in Baghdad, Iraq, faced a turbulent childhood shaped by the 2003 war. At age 8, her life took a traumatic turn when her home was bombed in 2006, leading to her family's displacement to Iraqi Kurdistan. Despite experiencing educational and ethnic discriminatory challenges, Al Msari remained undeterred, wholeheartedly embracing her education.

Soon after her father immigrated to the United States to seek political asylum in 2016, Al Msari’s mother was diagnosed with head and neck cancer, leaving Al Msari, at just 18, as her mother’s primary caregiver. Despite her mother’s survival, Al Msari witnessed the limitations and collateral damage caused by standardized cancer therapies, which left her mother in a compromised state. This realization invigorated her determination to pioneer translational cancer-targeted therapies.

In 2018, when Al Msari was 20, she came to the United States and reunited with her father and the rest of her family, who arrived later with significant help from then-senator Kamala Harris’s office. Despite her Iraqi university credits not transferring, Al Msari persevered and continued her education at Houston Community College as a Louis Stokes Alliances for Minority Participation (LSAMP) scholar, and then graduated magna cum laude as a Regents Scholar from the University of California at San Diego’s bioengineering program, where she focused on lymphatic-preserving neoadjuvant immunotherapies for head and neck cancers.

As a PhD student in the MIT Department of Biological Engineering, Al Masri conducts research in the Irvine and Wittrup labs to employ engineering strategies for localized immune targeting of cancers. She aspires to establish a startup that bridges preclinical and clinical oncology research, specializing in the development of innovative protein and biomaterial-based translational cancer immunotherapies.

Francisca Vasconcelos ’20

In the early 1990s, Francisca Vasconcelos’s parents emigrated from Portugal to the United States in pursuit of world-class scientific research opportunities. Vasconcelos was born in Boston while her parents were PhD students at MIT and Harvard University. When she was 5, her family relocated to San Diego, when her parents began working at the University of California at San Diego.

Vasconcelos graduated from MIT in 2020 with a BS in electrical engineering, computer science, and physics. As an undergraduate, she performed substantial research involving machine learning and data analysis for quantum computers in the MIT Engineering Quantum Systems Group, under the guidance of Professor William Oliver. Drawing upon her teaching and research experience at MIT, Vasconcelos became the founding academic director of The Coding School nonprofit’s Qubit x Qubit initiative, where she taught thousands of students from different backgrounds about the fundamentals of quantum computation.

In 2020, Vasconcelos was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford, where she pursued an MSc in statistical sciences and an MSt in philosophy of physics. At Oxford, she performed substantial research on uncertainty quantification of machine learning models for medical imaging in the OxCSML group. She also played for Oxford’s Women’s Blues Football team. 

Now a computer science PhD student and NSF Graduate Research Fellow at the University of California at Berkeley, Vasconcelos is a member of both the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research Lab and CS Theory Group. Her research interests lie at the intersection of quantum computation and machine learning. She is especially interested in developing efficient classical algorithms to learn about quantum systems, as well as quantum algorithms to improve simulations of quantum processes. In doing so, she hopes to find meaningful ways in which quantum computers can outperform classical computers.

The P.D. Soros Fellowship attracts more than 1,800 applicants annually. MIT students interested in applying may contact Kim Benard, associate dean of distinguished fellowships in Career Advising and Professional Development.

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How the Columbia protests sparked campus demonstrations across the country

It just added fuel to the fire.

The decision by Columbia University’s president, Nemat “Minouche” Shafik, to call in the New York Police Department to clear pro-Palestinian protesters from the campus last week appears to have sparked the spate of increasingly strident demonstrations that have erupted at universities in New York City and across the country in recent days, students and faculty members said.

Since Thursday, when police arrested 108 Columbia University demonstrators, including Rep. Ilhan Omar’s daughter, Isra Hirsi, similar protests have erupted on campuses across the country, from New York University and Yale University to the University of Illinois and out west to the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Southern California, which shut its gates late Wednesday because of the growing demonstrations.

The encampment at Columbia sprung up April 17, the day Shafik was grilled about on-campus antisemitism by the Republican-led House Committee on Education and the Workforce. Shafik faced questions about her handling of antisemitism on campus after Hamas' attack on Israel on Oct. 7 alongside two members of Columbia’s Board of Trustees and the head of its antisemitism task force. The next day, Shafik had police clear the encampment; more than 100 protesters were arrested.

That got Rachel, 19, a Columbia student who asked to be identified only by her first name because of fear of retaliation or suspension by the school, off the fence and into one of the tents that pro-Palestinian demonstrators had raised on the campus in upper Manhattan.

“I think that that was sort of the straw that broke the camel’s back, because students had already been feeling incredibly suppressed and censored by President Shafik,” Rachel said.

Noting that the last time a Columbia University president summoned the police to disperse student demonstrators was back in 1968, at the height of the Vietnam War, Rachel said what she called Shafik’s attempt to intimidate them was backfiring.

“Movements inherently boil when they’re facing extra suppression,” she said.

The Columbia students protesting the war have demanded that the school cut financial ties with Israel and divest from Israeli companies. And they have inspired students across the country to do the same.

“This is about solidarity," said Alex, a Jewish student at the University of Michigan who is part of the pro-Palestinian movement and asked to be identified only by his first name out of fear of retaliation. "We have colleges all across the nation performing a synchronized act because we work together. This is a collective movement far beyond the United States."

Organizers say they were also inspired by protests against the apartheid government of South Africa that an earlier generation of Michigan students took part in.

“It’s never been bigger than it is right now,” said a masked male organizer, who asked to remain anonymous out of fear of retaliation. “We’ve seen that this has been effective in achieving concessions from the administration towards divestment from Israel, apartheid and genocide.”

But it has also sparked a backlash, particularly from politicians on the right who have been urging university administrators to crack down hard on the protesters.

"You have to have law and order on campus," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told NBC News' Stephanie Gosk after he met with Jewish students at Columbia. "Listen, taxpayer funding comes to institutions like this. The American people are demanding that we bring order to this chaos. We have this kind of thing mushrooming around the country right now."

Encampments have continued on Columbia's campus into this week, with Shafik calling for classes to be held virtually Monday and initially giving the demonstrators a deadline of midnight Tuesday to fold up their tents and disperse before she announced that conversations would continue over the next 48 hours without forcing the encampment to be removed.

“We are making important progress with representatives of the student encampment on the West Lawn,” a college spokesperson said.

Marianne Hirsch, a Columbia University English professor, said Shafik has been "squashing peaceful protest, squashing open debate, not allowing students to express their opinions and debate their opinions."

And the fact that Shafik summoned the police last Thursday, a day after she was questioned at the congressional hearing, is no coincidence, she said.

"I’m extremely concerned about antisemitism my entire life, and I’m extremely distressed right now to see how antisemitism is being weaponized and used, misused ... under the guise of safety and security," Hirsch, whose parents were Holocaust survivors, said Tuesday.

Later, Hirsch said she “cannot but agree this is motivated by trying to pacify congressional members who are trying to interfere in the running of this school.”

Early Monday, Shafik said that classes would be held virtually Monday and that school leaders would come together to discuss a way to bring an end to “this crisis.”

Several Jewish students at Columbia have told NBC News the antisemitism they experienced was very real and that they're steering clear of the campus for their own safety.

“The tension is so high,” said Itai Dreifuss, 25, a junior and an Israeli who says he has been spat on and taunted by campus protesters waving Hamas flags. “It’s definitely frustrating to be a part of this campus right now. You feel so helpless, and you feel so exposed.”

Speaking with reporters, Johnson said he heard that Jewish students had been "running for their lives."

Gosk challenged that assertion, telling Johnson that while some Jewish students she spoke with "are certainly afraid for their safety," they are "not running for their lives."

"I had standing room only with a house full of Jewish students talking about the intimidation and threats that they experienced," Johnson replied.

Sueda, a graduate student who helped organize the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia and asked to be identified only by her first name to avoid reprisals, said students escalated pressure on the university and started the tent encampments after previous forms of protest did not lead to the intended results.

"Have those protests yielded any material results from the university? Have they yielded an acknowledgment of the pain felt by Palestinians and by the community that is in solidarity with them? Have they yielded any statements of sorrow or regret by the university for their overly punitive treatment of pro-Palestinian students? No," she said.

Oren Root, a longtime New York City lawyer and Columbia University graduate who was at the school when anti-Vietnam War protests rocked it in 1968, said Shafik's summoning of police was "an extraordinary miscalculation."

"President Shafik and her advisers clearly didn't learn from history," said Root, who was a top editor at The Spectator, the Columbia student newspaper, in 1968 and 1969. “Calling in the cops was clearly a mistake. Things have not gotten any calmer.”

The decision in 1968 by university President Grayson Kirk to have the police forcibly remove protesters from the buildings they were occupying only inflamed the situation and tarnished Columbia's reputation for many years, Root said.

Root, who called for Shafik's resignation in an opinion piece in The Spectator on Monday , said Columbia also appears to have chosen a side in the Gaza battle.

In response, a spokesperson for Shafik did not address Root's criticisms or the calls for her resignation.

"President Shafik is focused on deescalating the rancor on Columbia’s campus," the spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday. "She is working across campus with members of the faculty, administration, and Board of Trustees, and with state, city, and community leaders, and appreciates their support."

New York police also arrested more than 100 protesters at NYU's Gould Plaza on Monday night.

Pro-Palestinian encampments have also been established at other schools that have been the sites of anti-Israel demonstrations, like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.

New York Mayor Eric Adams said this week he believed "outside agitators" were using the Israel-Hamas war as an excuse to cause violence and mayhem in the city.

“We can’t have outside agitators come in and be destructive to our city," Adams said at a news conference Tuesday. "Someone wanted something to happen at that protest at NYU."

It was not clear how many of those arrested at Columbia were students and how many were outsiders. Police did not respond to two requests for comment on the arrests.

Meanwhile, a group of 25 Senate Republicans sent a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland asking the Biden administration to address the protests across the nation.

“These pro-Hamas rioters have effectively shut down college campuses and have literally chased Jewish students away from our schools," the letter read. "You need to take action to restore order and protect Jewish students on our college campuses."

The letter did not ask Garland to take steps to protect the pro-Palestinian protesters.

Doha Madani is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News. Pronouns: she/her.

Selina Guevara is an NBC News associate producer, based in Chicago.

Corky Siemaszko is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital.

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The PhD in Physics is a full-time period of research which introduces or builds upon, research skills and specialist knowledge. Students are assigned a research supervisor, a specialist in part or all of the student's chosen research field, and join a research group which might vary in size between a handful to many tens of individuals.

Although the supervisor is responsible for the progress of a student's research programme, the extent to which a postgraduate student is assisted by the supervisor or by other members of the group depends almost entirely on the structure and character of the group concerned. The research field is normally determined at entry, after consideration of the student's interests and the facilities available. The student, however, may work within a given field for a period of time before their personal topic is determined.

There is no requirement made by the University for postgraduate students to attend formal courses or lectures for the PhD. Postgraduate work is largely a matter of independent research and successful postgraduates require a high degree of self-motivation. Nevertheless, lectures and classes may be arranged, and students are expected to attend both seminars (delivered regularly by members of the University and by visiting scholars and industrialists) and external conferences. Postgraduate students are also expected to participate in the undergraduate teaching programme at some time whilst they are based at the Cavendish, in order to develop their teaching, demonstrating, outreach, organisational and person-management skills.

It is expected that postgraduate students will also take advantage of the multiple opportunities available for transferable skills training within the University during their period of research.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the research programme, students will have demonstrated:

• the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, through original research or other advanced scholarship, of a quality to satisfy peer review, extend the forefront of the discipline, and merit publication;
• a systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of knowledge which is at the forefront of an academic discipline or area of professional practice;
• the general ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project for the generation of new knowledge, applications or understanding at the forefront of the discipline, and to adjust the project design in the light of unforeseen problems;
• a detailed understanding of applicable techniques for research and advanced academic enquiry; and
• the development of a PhD thesis for examination that they can defend in an oral examination and, if successful, graduate with a PhD.

The Postgraduate Virtual Open Day usually takes place at the end of October. It’s a great opportunity to ask questions to admissions staff and academics, explore the Colleges virtually, and to find out more about courses, the application process and funding opportunities. Visit the  Postgraduate Open Day  page for more details.

See further the  Postgraduate Admissions Events  pages for other events relating to Postgraduate study, including study fairs, visits and international events.

Key Information

3-4 years full-time, 4-7 years part-time, study mode : research, doctor of philosophy, department of physics, course - related enquiries, application - related enquiries, course on department website, dates and deadlines:, lent 2024 (closed).

Some courses can close early. See the Deadlines page for guidance on when to apply.

Easter 2024 (Closed)

Michaelmas 2024, easter 2025, funding deadlines.

These deadlines apply to applications for courses starting in Michaelmas 2024, Lent 2025 and Easter 2025.

Similar Courses

• Physics MPhil
• Planetary Science and Life in the Universe MPhil
• Computational Methods for Materials Science CDT PhD
• Mathematics MPhil
• Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics PhD

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Congratulations to the 2024 Commencement Marshals!

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The Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (Harvard Griffin GSAS) is proud to announce the 2024 Commencement Marshals. One of Harvard's most cherished traditions, to be named a marshal is considered an honor for a graduating student.

Selected by the Harvard Griffin GSAS Student Council and nominated by fellow students, graduate program administrators, or Harvard faculty, the Commencement Marshals play a crucial role on graduation day, assisting the School's deans in organizing the procession from the Lawns at Richards Hall to Harvard Yard. As they lead the graduating class into Tercentenary Theatre, they proudly raise the Harvard Griffin GSAS gonfalon, a symbol of its history and tradition.

The 2024 Commencement Marshals representing the doctor of philosophy are:

• Jonathan Boretsky, PhD, mathematics
• Iman Mohamed Said Darwish, PhD, history of science
• Gino Domel, PhD, engineering sciences
• Kelcee Alexandria Everette, PhD, biological and biomedical sciences
• Sonya V. Gupta, AM, regional studies–Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia
• Ayana LaShae Henderson, PhD, biological and biomedical sciences
• Chanthia C. Ma, PhD, biological and biomedical sciences
• Amy Tsang, PhD, sociology.

Sonya V. Gupta, AM, regional studies—Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, has been chosen as the 2024 Commencement Marshal representing graduates with a master of arts, master of science, or master of engineering. Ms. Gupta and Ms. Henderson have also been selected as the student speaker for their respective Harvard Griffin GSAS Diploma Awarding Ceremony. 

Congratulations to all the 2024 marshals on behalf of the entire Harvard Griffin GSAS community!

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Meet the 2023 Harvard Griffin GSAS Commencement Marshals!

Each year, the GSAS Student Council (GSC) chooses its Commencement marshals to represent the School’s graduating class.