Applications

Entry Qualifications
Applicants for an LLM by Research or MRes Social Sciences should normally have a good first degree in law or a related subject from a recognised higher education institution in the UK or overseas. Applicants for the MPhil/PhD programme should normally have a good undergraduate and master degree in law or in a related subject from a recognised higher education institution in the UK or overseas. Please click here for further information about entry requirements for international students.

We welcome applications from those whose first language is not English. Candidates should be able to provide evidence of proficiency in English. Our usual entry requirements are:

IELTS: 7.0 overall (6.5 in all components)
TOEFL: Internet-based score of 100 overall (minimum 22 in the listening, writing and reading components; and 23 in the speaking component)
PTE: 70 overall (minimum 62 per component)

If you do not quite meet our entry requirements we may require you to complete a pre-sessional English for Academic Purposes course at INTO University of East Anglia.

Research Proposal
The core of a research degree application is a research proposal of up to 2,000 words. The proposal is not expected to be a finished document, and you may wish to refine or change your research focus in negotiation with your supervisors at a later date.

Your proposal should include the following:

Your research topic: Identify your area of interest and indicate your research question(s). It should be clear from the proposal that you have identified a particular topic for further study rather than just a broad area – undue influence rather than contract law, or abuse of dominance rather than competition law. You should also specify what it is about the area that you feel is unclear, under-investigated or controversial and therefore in need of further examination.

Review of the literature: In this section you should explain what other work has been done in your field. For a PhD you should also explain what you think your work will add to knowledge in the area. What is it that you propose to examine that has not been studied in detail before? Is it an area of law of practical importance in which the courts have failed to produce clear doctrine? Is it an area where the law has a clear social or economic impact (eg in competition or family law) which has not been evaluated?

Method: You need to indicate how you will answer your research question(s). Is this a doctrinal thesis? Do you intend to look at the statutes and case law and synthesise an explanation of how the law fits together and the policy justifications behind it? Will it be a comparative thesis, where you look at English law alongside the law of other jurisdictions of which the Law School has expertise – eg German law, South African law (in the family area), US law (especially in competition law), drawing comparisons and identifying lessons that jurisdictions can learn from each other? Is it an empirical thesis where you ask those affected by the law about their experiences (ie survey work), or is it quantitative empirical work where you examine statistical evidence about the impact of the law? How will you use the data you collect? Will you examine the law from a particular theoretical standpoint, or do you wish to compare different jurisprudential viewpoints?

Timescale: Provide a timescale for the conduct of your research.

References: Provide a list of references to the sources which you have mentioned in your application.

Applicants should refer to the areas of research pages and any indicative research projects for potential research students on members’ of faculty own webpages. You are welcome to contact members of academic staff directly to discuss research ideas and to request a particular supervisor, although this is not a requirement.

Law