Sociology PhD

Overview

Join a supportive group of leading sociologists working across a range of topics.

Our Sociology PhD empowers students to explore critical and contemporary social issues with critical insight, using creative concepts and methods.

You'll conduct innovative theoretical and empirical research with internationally recognised scholars who will provide supportive and stimulating supervision for your project. 

At Newcastle you'll find staff working across sociology, social anthropology, and crime.

We also have strong interdisciplinary links with:

• health studies
• geography
• migration studies
• sustainable development
• gender studies
• politics
• literature
• history, and more

Find out more about our Sociology staff

We carry out research with high social impact and work closely with policymakers and practitioners.

This provides a rich environment to develop ideas and make research contributions within our discipline and beyond.  

Our research strengths encompass both high social impact - working closely with policy-makers and practitioners - and core theoretical originality - contributing to new ways of understanding the social.

Meet our Sociology research students and read more about their research

Quality and ranking

Professional accreditation review and recognition of professional qualifications in Europe

Professional accreditations are reviewed regularly by professional bodies to ensure they meet the latest industry practices and regulatory standards. This keeps your degree rigorous, relevant, and highly valued by employers, providing a clear pathway into your chosen career.

If you are studying an accredited degree and considering a career in Europe after graduation, it is important to stay informed about international standards. The best resource for current information is the UK Government's guidance on recognition of UK professional qualifications in EU member states.

This official resource provides essential details on:

• whether your profession is regulated in another country.
• the specific steps you need to take to practice abroad.
• which organisations you should contact to begin the process.

What you'll learn

Our research clusters bring together expertise around three themes:

• Power, Inequality and Citizenship
• Imagining Pasts and Futures, and
• Practices, Space and Technologies of Health

We're part of the North East Poverty Commission and also linked to School and Faculty research clusters groups researching: Children and Youth; Gender, Anthropocenes; Conflict, Peace and Security.

This diversity means we support a range of PhDs on topics including:

• practices of care, activism and sustainability
• experiences of poverty, violence, policing and migration
• questions of gender, embodiment, culture and identity
• the organisation of work, leisure, food, education and training
• the social importance of creativity, art and literature

We're part of the ESRC-funded NINE Doctoral Training Partnership, which runs an annual competition for PhD studentships.

Read more about the ESRC-funded NINE Doctoral Training Partnership

Our MA in Sociology and Social Research offers intensive research training for candidates considering pursuing a PhD. This is especially suitable if you're thinking about applying for NINE DTP funding.

Current PhD projects include:

• Zimbabwean migrant families and the UK Health and Care Worker Visa Scheme

• The lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people in Panama’s maritime industry

• The notion of vulnerability in relation to policy custody: policies and practices.

• Affect, grief and Holocaust memory in anti-trans feminism

• Non-participation in Higher Education: class and inequality

• Women returning to rural China: power and agency.

• The politics of care and NHS use of surveillance technologies

• Recording racial and religious hate crime in England and Wales

• Palestinian women at the intersection of colonial and patriarchal violence

• How the emotional consequences of poverty shape women’s lives

• The social and cultural meaning of participatory arts for young people

• A feminist ethnography of community food activism in North-East England.

• Understanding the queer geographies of secondary schools

• Activism, hope and loss: the ‘Corbyn moment’ in UK politics

• Speculative fiction and young peoples’ imaginaries of better community futures.

• Professional football academies: experiences and perspectives of boys and their families

 

With our support you'll make your own original contribution.

How you'll learn

Delivery and teaching methods

PhD programmes consist of individual research and study with the support of at least two expert supervisors who have knowledge of key aspects of your subject, theory or methods. Within the subject area and School you will:

• take part in lively seminar series with nationally and internationally renowned academics
• connect with fellow social scientists across the university in wider networks including the Institute for Social Science and the Gender Research Group

 

Assessment methods

Depending on your modules, you'll be assessed through a combination of:

• Thesis
• Viva

Postgraduate research student support

Our mission is to help you:

• stay healthy, positive and feeling well
• overcome any challenges you may face during your degree – academic or personal
• get the most out of your postgraduate research experience
• carry out admin and activities essential to progressing through your degree
• understand postgraduate research processes, standards and rules

We can offer you tailored wellbeing support, courses and activities.

You can also access a broad range of workshops covering:

• research and professional skills
• careers support
• wellbeing
• health and safety
• public engagement
• academic development

Find out more about our postgraduate research student support

Our staff

PhD students usually have two supervisors who bring together a range of substantive, methodological and theoretical expertise.

We strongly encourage you to contact potential supervisors to discuss a research topic and proposal before applying online.

Alternatively, you can contact the Sociology Postgraduate Research Co-Directors to discuss your PhD at Newcastle. These are:

• Dr Miranda Iossifidis
• Dr Ruth Graham

Find out more about:

• our research
• our staff specialisms

Your development

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) researcher development programme 

Each faculty offers a researcher development programme for its postgraduate research students. We have designed your programme to help you:

• perform better as a researcher
• boost your career prospects
• broaden your impact

Through workshops and activities, it will build your transferable skills and increase your confidence.

You’ll cover:

• techniques for effective research
• methods for better collaborative working
• essential professional standards and requirements

Your researcher development programme is flexible. You can adapt it to meet your changing needs as you progress through your doctorate.

Find out more about the Researcher Education and Development programme

Doctoral training and partnerships

There are opportunities to undertake your PhD at Newcastle within a:

• Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT)
• Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) / Doctoral Landscape Award (DLA)

Being part of a CDT or DTP/DLA has many benefits:

• They combine research expertise and training of a number of leading universities, academic schools and academics.
• You’ll study alongside a cohort of other PhD students.
• They’re often interdisciplinary.
• Your PhD may be funded.

If there are currently opportunities available in your subject area you’ll find them when you search for funding in the fees and funding section on this course.

The following centres/partnerships below may have PhD opportunities available in your subject area in the future:

• ESRC Northern Ireland/North East (NINE) Doctoral Training Partnership

Your future

A PhD deepens your understanding of the social world and enriches your methodological skills. It is the route into academic research careers but will also prepare you for a range of professional roles across the public, private and third sector.

Our Careers Service

Our expert Careers Service is here to help you take the next steps in your professional life. We will support you while you’re studying with us and for up to three years after you graduate.

You will have access to expert one-to-one advice and guidance through our campus careers centre and online, along with digital resources, workshops, networking opportunities, and careers and recruitment events.

We’ve been awarded 5 QS Stars for Student Employability (2025). Many of our degrees are shaped by strong links with national and international businesses. We are committed to helping you access real-world experience opportunities and develop key skills through paid work placements and internships.

Visit our Careers Service website

Facilities

You'll be based at the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology in the Henry Daysh Building, and have access to:

• Postgraduate study facilities
• A networked desktop PC, printer and scanner (where required)
• Specialist software and laboratories (as required by the project)

Fees, Funding and Scholarships

Tuition fees for 2027 entry (per year)

Home fees for research degree students

For 2026-27 entry, we've aligned our standard Home research fees with those set by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).  For 2027-28 entry, we will again be aligning our standard Home research fees with UKRI. They will announce their fees in Spring 2027.

Tuition fee increases

As a general principle, you should expect the tuition fee to increase in each subsequent academic year of your course, subject to government regulations on fee increases and in line with inflation.

EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals - tuition fee status

Depending on your residency history, if you’re a student from the EU, other EEA or a Swiss national, with settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme, you’ll normally pay the ‘Home’ tuition fee rate and may be eligible for Student Finance England support.

EU students without settled or pre-settled status will normally be charged fees at the ‘International’ rate and will not be eligible for Student Finance England support. You may be eligible for a scholarship worth 25% off the international fee. Search our funding database. 

If you are unsure of your fee status, check out the latest guidance.

Scholarships

We support our EU and international students by providing a generous range of Vice-Chancellor's automatic and merit-based scholarships. See our searchable postgraduate funding page for more information. 

Search for funding and scholarships

Find funding available for your course

Select your country

What you're paying for

Tuition fees include the costs of:

• matriculation
• registration
• tuition (or supervision)
• library access
• examination
• re-examination
• graduation

Find out more about:

• living costs
• tuition fees

Deposit

If you are an international student or a student from the EU, EEA or Switzerland and you need a visa to study in the UK, you may have to pay a deposit.

You can check this in the How to apply section.

Funding deadlines

If you're applying for funding, always check the funding application deadline. This deadline may be earlier than the application deadline for your course.

For some funding schemes, you need to have received an offer of a place on a course before you can apply for the funding.

How to apply

Open days and events

Find out about how you can visit Newcastle in person and virtually

Overseas events

We regularly travel overseas to meet with students interested in studying at Newcastle University.

Visit our events calendar for the latest events