119 Philosophy PhD Degree Programs

The School of History, Religions, and Philosophies at SOAS offers a vibrant, stimulating, and interdisciplinary research environment. Our members of staff cover a wide range of philosophical traditions across the Global North and the Global South, prioritising decolonial and comparative discourse.

The PhD in Comparative Gender Studies is a 4-6 year program for students with substantial MA-level background in gender studies theory and methodologies who wish to specialize in interdisciplinary research and teaching in an academic setting. Accredited in both the US and Austria, the program combines elements of North American and European style degrees with coursework, research proposal development, and a Comprehensive Exam in the first year, followed by research and dissertation writing alongside professional development in subsequent years.

The Doctor of Philosophy, PhD, is designed to prepare candidates for a career as an academic or researcher in the public and private sectors.

The Faculty of Philosophy of the USC has been teaching for more than two decades a doctoral program that, although its name has changed slightly (Current Questions of Philosophy, Philosophy, Philosophy: Current Questions), has as fundamental objectives to train students to research and train students in the various burning questions of contemporary philosophy.

The third-degree (PhD.) study programme in Systematic Philosophy focuses on scientific analytical, critical, argumentative, and interpretative procedures within specific areas of systematic philosophy.

Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy at CEU are fully funded study program with a standard duration of 4 years that awards a US and an Austrian degree. The Department of Philosophy offers a Doctoral Program in a variety of areas, for instance, Metaphysics and Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, History of Philosophy, and Moral and Political Philosophy.

Doctor of Philosophy in Cognitive Science The Department of Cognitive Science offers a PhD program in Cognitive Science. This research-based, interdisciplinary program offers specialization in the fields of social cognition, cognitive development, and formal and biological models of perception and learning. Students may take courses in cognitive psychology, philosophy of mind, cognitive anthropology, visual perception and computational modelling.

For this degree, students write a thesis under supervision, on a topic selected in consultation with the Department. The topic must be in line with the expertise of the available lecturers. An article of publishable quality must be submitted with the thesis. A Doctoral conference of both the proposal and the thesis is required in accordance with the regulations of the Department of Philosophy.

The Florence-Pisa Doctorate in Philosophy was established through an agreement between the University of Florence and the University of Pisa. It aims to train scholars who, drawing on core competencies in all aspects of philosophical disciplines, will provide original contributions in one or more specific fields

The purpose of doctoral studies in the field of Philosophy of Religion is for students to cultivate, in the usual way for advanced studies, their ability to examine, using philosophical tools and approaches, religious phenomena and issues relating to the religious dimension of human culture, including theological thought and its traditions. Students learn to reflect critically on these approaches and their results and to interpret them both in their specific context and within the framework of current academic knowledge. In direct connection with its multidisciplinary nature, this study program develops the skills necessary for analyzing complex issues, and students learn to combine various specialist perspectives and discourses in evaluating specific findings and testing hypotheses, while at the same time ensuring that the methods used are appropriate, the thinking is precise, and complex or controversial problems are expressed clearly. The study program not only leads to the acquisition of expert knowledge and skills, but also develops the ability to understand views, concepts, teachings and theories that are non-traditional or differ from one’s own, cultivates argumentative approaches to critical debate, and refines the ability to evaluate oneself and to formulate one’s own opinion or position.

The PhD in Late Antique, Medieval and Early Modern Studies has earned international recognition for its methodological richness and the application of innovative research tools; the curriculum stresses the interconnectedness of various disciplines, emphasizing multi- and interdisciplinary comparative research. Our departmental faculty of recognized experts in their respective fields provides students with supervision and guidance not only to help them accomplish the immediate goal of submitting their dissertations successfully within four years but also to assist them with regard to their future careers.

The graduate is a highly educated expert who has shown an ability to develop their knowledge in a creative way. The dissertation demonstrates an outstanding contribution in a specialisation chosen from a wide range of themes, including the history of ideas, practical and theoretical philosophy and topics in contemporary thinking. The graduate is equipped, in terms of knowledge, method and language skills, to do independent research in philosophy and social sciences. He/she can be employed as a researcher in social sciences, university teacher, editor or translator of expert publications, critic, commentator, or executive worker and analyst in state administration. The graduate has analytical and language skills applicable to a large scale of professions which need critical thinking, ranging from public agencies to private enterprises.

The PhD program in Network Science is a research-oriented program that provides the only PhD degree in this field in Europe. Network science provides essential tools to study complex systems including society online and offline, the economy or urban traffic. Accordingly, the program provides hands-on experience with large datasets characterizing those systems and the skills needed to analyze them.

The PhD program in economics prepares you to conduct cutting-edge original research addressing the fundamental economic questions of our time.  Learn the skills of leading economists, choose from many specializations, and develop your research program.  You can utilize your knowledge in faculty positions in academia, in governmental organizations, as well as in the private sector.

The PhD in Comparative History offers doctoral education matching the highest international standards for prospective scholars and teachers. A particular - indeed unique - feature of the program is that it focuses on the comparison, interconnectedness, and entanglements of distinct geo-cultural regions: Central, Southeastern, and Eastern Europe, and the Eastern Mediterranean, in close relation to the history of other historical regions, most notably with Western Europe and the Middle East.