MPhil/PhD in Economic History
Programme Code: RPEH
Department: Economic History
For students starting this programme of study in 2023/24
Guidelines for interpreting programme regulations
In addition to progressing with their research, students are expected to take the listed training and transferable skills courses. Students may take courses in addition to those listed, and should discuss this with their supervisor.
Paper |
Course number, title (unit value) | |
Year 1 | ||
|---|---|---|
Training courses |
Compulsory (examined): | |
|
EH401 Historical Analysis of Economic Change (0.5) | |
|
EH402 Quantitative Analysis in Economic History I (0.5) | |
|
EH520 Approaches to Economic and Social History (0.0) | |
|
And, where appropriate, a pre-sessional statistics course. | |
|
Optional (not examined): | |
|
Supervisors may require students in their first or subsequent years of study to take other relevant economic history courses, methodological courses provided by the Department of Methodology or the Institute of Historical Research or skills training courses as required for their thesis topic. | |
Transferable skills courses |
Compulsory (not examined): | |
|
EH590 Thesis Workshop in Economic History (0.0) | |
Year 2 | ||
Training courses |
Compulsory (not examined): | |
|
EH590 Thesis Workshop in Economic History (0.0) | |
Year 3 | ||
Training courses |
Compulsory (not examined): | |
|
EH590 Thesis Workshop in Economic History (0.0) | |
Year 4 | ||
Training courses |
Compulsory (not examined): | |
|
EH590 Thesis Workshop in Economic History (0.0) | |
Progression and upgrade requirements
During the Summer Term students are required to submit at least one draft thesis chapter and a 3-5 page thesis outline to the department's Graduate Review Committee. Students taking one or more MSc examination may, with the support of their supervisor, apply to defer their submission of work to no later than the start of the 7th week of the Summer Term. The Committee will interview all students during the Summer Term, and re-registration for a second year will be conditional on the work presented being of a satisfactory standard. All students are expected to gain broad knowledge of the subject from graduate level course work in their first year and active participation in workshops, seminars and conferences to complement the expertise gained from intense thesis research.
By the Summer Term of the second year the Graduate Review Committee will normally expect to see about half the thesis in draft. The Committee will interview students, and if the submitted work is of an acceptable standard, students will be upgraded from MPhil to PhD. Students may defer the upgrade decision until their third year for fieldwork or other reasons, but only with the support of their supervisor.
Format of submitted thesis:
A PhD thesis in Economic History can take one of two forms:
- a monograph of up to 100,000 words, OR
- a series of papers, such that the thesis:
- consists of at least three publishable papers that are thematically connected,
- includes an introduction that articulates the connection between your papers.
Co-operation with a co-author(s) on part of the thesis is permitted, subject to the following conditions.
- The thesis must contain, at least, the equivalent of three main chapters or papers of which you are the sole author. This allows, for example, the replacement of one sole-authored paper (or chapter) with two co-authored papers (or chapters).
- The paper(s) (or chapter(s)) written with a co-author must not contain the core findings of your thesis.
- Your co-author cannot be your supervisor.
Note for prospective students:
For changes to graduate course and programme information for the next academic session, please see the graduate summary page for prospective students. Changes to course and programme information for future academic sessions can be found on the graduate summary page for future students.