Preparing Your Doctoral Research Proposal

Overview

This is session is only open to postgraduates who are not currently studying at Oxford University. If you are a current Oxford University master's student, please register for our master's session instead, taking place on 26 November 2025.

Postgraduate students come from a diverse range of backgrounds and many have doctoral aspirations. However, to be successfully admitted onto a doctoral research degree all students, irrespective of their academic discipline, will be required to produce a detailed, compelling and robust research proposal. This is a fundamental pre-requisite before any piece of PhD/DPhil research can proceed and it forms the core action plan for carrying out any empirical or desk-based research.

The Graduate School here at Oxford Lifelong Learning, Department for Continuing Education, is offering practical support and experiential advice, free of charge, to postgraduates who are seeking to develop their own doctoral research proposal prior to formally applying to any academic institution.

You don't need to be considering applying to Oxford University to join.

The session will be hosted by the Co-Directors of the Graduate School.

Programme details

The session will be three hours in duration, plus some preparatory work.

The format will be hybrid, with participation either in-person in Oxford at Rewley House, or online through Microsoft Teams.

Content discussed during the session will include:

  • systematic/literature reviews
  • due diligence on potential primary sources and data sets
  • proposed methodologies
  • designing research questions
  • projects plans
  • possible structure
  • provisional title
  • proposal length and style
  • ethical considerations

Whilst focusing on the actual research proposal, reference will also be made to other important aspects of the doctoral application eg potential supervisors, choice of referees, personal motivation, time and financial commitment, self-assessment of skills etc.

Fees

Free

Learning outcomes

The aim of this session is to provide you with the knowledge and understanding of the following:

  • what a research proposal is
  • why a research proposal is important
  • how to go about developing a good research proposal.

Application

This is session is only open to postgraduates who are not currently studying at Oxford University.

If you would like to express interest in attending please email gradschool@conted.ox.ac.uk with proof of your highest qualification and attach a current CV and confirm how you wish to attend (in person or online).

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.