How to Find a Supervisor
For Open Competition Applicants:
Studentships in the Open Competition are awarded for projects originated by the student applicant. Once you have an idea of the purpose and scope of your project, you should approach an academic at one of our three partner institutions to see if they will act as your supervisor and help you to refine your project idea as necessary.
If you are applying for a 1+3.5 award you are not expected to have as fully-formed a research proposal as someone who is applying for a +3.5 award and already has a Masters degree or relevant experience.
For CASE Competition Applicants:
CASE Collaborative Studentships are awarded for projects that have already been developed by an academic supervisor in partnership with a non-academic organisation. This means that both your supervisor and the outline of the research project are already in place when you apply.
Where can I find a supervisor?
Staff profiles on departmental websites are a good place to start to find academics who share your research interests. You can also approach academics within departments who are designated as ‘PGR or PhD Tutors’ or Administrative Staff responsible for PGRs.
It is relevant to do this even if you’re applying for a 1+3.5 award and will need to undertake a Masters first because a condition of a 1+3.5 award is that you’ll continue immediately into a PhD programme after your Masters is completed. It’s therefore strongly advised that you choose a supervisor for your Masters degree/ dissertation who will continue to act as a PhD supervisor for you.
If you will be undertaking a Masters programme, you can also look at the modules on the Masters programme, for which you are applying and see who teaches those modules.
Please see below for other sources of guidance on finding a supervisor.