Science Studies

Entry requirements

Bachelor's degree : 2:1 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in a relevant background including Sociology, Geography, Philosophy, Linguistics, Anthropology, Science or Engineering

Master's degree: a good Master's degree in the same disciplines.

We may also consider non-standard applicants, please contact us for information.

If you have studied outside of the UK, we would advise you to check our list of international qualifications before submitting your application.

Additional Requirements

As part of your application you will also need to provide a viable research proposal. Guidance can be found on our writing a research proposal webpage.

Months of entry

January, April, July, October

Course content

Students doing a PhD in Science Studies join an international and interdisciplinary research community with students working on PhDs in Sociology, Gender and Women’s Studies, Science Studies, Media and Cultural Studies and Applied Social Science. We offer supervision for PhDs in a number of areas including cultural imaginaries and material practices of science and technology, policy analysis, environment, health and medicine, and information and communications technologies.

You will be assigned PhD supervisors (usually two), and consideration will be taken to match you with supervisor(s) whose current active research interests and expertise are relevent to your chosen topic. Close working relations are enjoyed with other departments at Lancaster, and in some cases there is cross-departmental supervision.

A programme of skills and dissertation workshops designed specifically for postgraduate students within the Sociology Department runs throughout the year.

In addition, you are encouraged to attend any relevant MA taught modules, but are not required to take any for credit as part of your degree.

Information for international students

We may ask you to provide a recognised English language qualification, dependent upon your nationality and where you have studied previously.

We normally require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 7.0, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test. We also consider other English language qualifications.

If your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.

Contact: Admissions Team +44 (0) 1524 592032 or email pgadmissions@lancaster.ac.uk

Fees and funding

Learn more at our fees and funding page