MPhil & PhD in Visual Sociology

You should normally have (or expect to be awarded) a taught Masters in a relevant subject area.

You might also be considered for some programmes if you aren’t a graduate or your degree is in an unrelated field, but have relevant experience and can show that you have the ability to work at postgraduate level.

International qualifications

We accept a wide range of international qualifications. Find out more about the qualifications we accept from around the world.

If English isn’t your first language, you will need an IELTS score of 6.5 with a 6.5 in writing and no element lower than 6.0 to study this programme. If you need assistance with your English language, we offer a range of courses that can help prepare you for postgraduate-level study.

Find out more about tuition fees.

Find out more about funding opportunities for home/EU applicants, or funding for international applicants. If you're applying for funding, you may be subject to an application deadline.

You apply directly to Goldsmiths using our online application system. 

Before submitting your application you'll need to have: 

• Details of your education history, including the dates of all exams/assessments
• The email address of your referee who we can request a reference from, or alternatively an electronic copy of your academic reference
• Contact details of a second referee
• A personal statement – this can either be uploaded as a Word Document or PDF, or completed online

          Please see our guidance on writing a postgraduate statement

• If available, an electronic copy of your educational transcript (this is particularly important if you have studied outside of the UK, but isn’t mandatory)
• An up-to-date CV
• Details of your research proposal

You'll be able to save your progress at any point and return to your application by logging in using your username/email and password.

Before you apply for a research programme, we advise you to get in touch with the programme contact, listed above. It may also be possible to arrange an advisory meeting.

Before you start at Goldsmiths, the actual topic of your research has to be agreed with your proposed supervisor, who will be a member of staff active in your general field of research. The choice of topic may be influenced by the current research in the department or the requirements of an external funding body. The choice of topic may be influenced by the current research in the department or the requirements of an external funding body. You should look at our staff research interests to see if we are the right department for you and whether there is a member if staff who may match your research interests.

If you wish to study on a part-time basis, you should also indicate how many hours a week you intend to devote to research, whether this will be at evenings or weekends, and for how many hours each day.

Research proposals

Along with your application and academic reference, you should also upload a research proposal at the point of application. 

This should be in the form of a 1,500-3,000-word statement of the proposed area of research and should include: 

• delineation of the research topic
• why it has been chosen
• an initial hypothesis (if applicable)
• a brief list of major secondary sources
• the name of a staff member who you believe would be interested in acting as your supervisor

When to apply 

We accept applications from October for students wanting to start the following September. 

We encourage you to complete your application as early as possible, even if you haven't finished your current programme of study. It's very common to be offered a place conditional on you achieving a particular qualification. 

If you're applying for external funding from one of the Research Councils, make sure you submit your application by the deadline they've specified. 

Selection process 

Admission to many programmes is by interview, unless you live outside the UK. Occasionally we'll make candidates an offer of a place on the basis of their application and qualifications alone.

Find out more about applying.

Recent and current funded research

Goldsmiths Sociology has a long track record of funded research, with research funded by UK research councils, British Academy, European Union, and charities including Leverhulme, Wellcome and Joseph Rowntree. We are also in research collaboration with industry, local and national government and public bodies.

Current and recent projects include: 

Member of staff	Title of project	Funding body	Start date	End date
Monica Greco	Biopolitics and Psychosomatics: Participating Bodies	Wellcome Trust	April 2016	July 2016
Maria O'Reilly	Gendered Agency in War and Peace	BA Leverhulme Small Grant	April 2015	July 2016
Vik Loveday	Precarity at Work	BA Leverhulme Small Grant	April 2015	May 2016
Emma Jackson	The Choreography of Everyday Multiculture: Bowling Together?	ESRC	January 2015	December2017
Val Gillies	Troubled Families and Inter Agency Collaboration: Lessons from Historical Comparative	ESRC	December2014	November 2015
Marsha Rosengarten, Martin Savransky & Daniel Neyland	‘Situated efficacy’ as a novel approach to interdisciplinary in the devising and delivery of effective medical and behavioural interventions	Brocher Foundation	November 2014	March 2015
Katrina Jungnickel	Near Miss Project	Creative Exchange	October 2014	May 2015
Marsha Rosengarten & Martin Savransky	Towards a Concept of Situated Efficacy: An Alternative Mode for Collboration between Social Science and Biomedicine	BA Leverhulme Small Grant	April 2014	March 2015

Find out more about . 

Paolo

"There is a sense of being part of a lively community of learning and of contributing to a fruitful research enterprise."

"I used to work full-time, 9 to 5, in Peckham Jobcentre Plus, and had done this for a few years, until my son was born: this gave me a chance to re-think my daily routine, and consider the important things in life. So I decided to enrol in a part-time MPhil & PhD in Visual Sociology, which could both upgrade my photographic skills and make me see life around me in a more meaningful way.

After that, at my own pace, I decided to continue the studies and enrolled on a part-time PhD in Visual Sociology. What I most like about it are the supportive environment, the feeling that you are valued as an individual, and the mix of tools, both theoretical and practical, that have been proposed to me. There is a sense of being part of a lively community of learning and of contributing to a fruitful research enterprise."