Language, Policy and Planning

Entry requirements

Suitable for graduates in Welsh or other Humanities and Social Science subjects. Students who have not completed an MA or a research methods training course normally follow the research skills module of the taught MA while preparing for their MPhil/PhD thesis.

A 1st or an upper 2nd class UK Honours degree, or equivalent, is required.

Candidates who wish to submit their MPhil or PhD dissertation in Welsh, and who have not graduated in Welsh, must satisfy the School as to the standard of their written and oral skills in the language.

The School of Welsh also welcomes applications from UK or overseas non-Welsh speaking students who wish to study and submit their MPhil or PhD dissertation through the medium of English.

Months of entry

January, April, July, October

Course content

Join our curious, challenge-led community and develop your research into language – with experts in the fields of language policy and planning, language rights and politics, language variation and change, sociolinguistics of bilingualism and multilingualism, and the sociology of language.

This PhD is lead by the Language, Policy and Planning Research Unit in the School of Welsh. Projects include international research on language policy and planning, language rights and politics, language variation and change, sociolinguistics of bilingualism and multilingualism, and sociology of language.

The Unit aims to be at the leading edge in national and international language-planning developments. Particular emphasis is placed on understanding the social, economic and environmental implications of language over both time and space. The Unit's work ranges in geographic scale from the local to the global whilst the full spectrum of quantitative and qualitative research techniques is deployed.

Information for international students

Applicants whose first language is not English are normally expected to meet the minimum University requirements (e.g. 6.5 IELTS). Please see our English Language Requirements guidance for more details.

Fees and funding

Find out more about UK government postgraduate doctoral loans.