The Government department at the LSE is one of the biggest and best places to carry out research leading to a PhD in politics. The department currently has about 35 faculty engaged in innovative research who are well placed to supervise a very wide range of research projects. Although proposals on all political science topics are welcome the department's particular areas of concentrated knowledge are political theory, comparative politics, public policy and European politics (international relations is covered by a separate affiliated department at the LSE). A vibrant and diverse research culture is assured not least since there are currently over 150 graduate researchers in the department, from virtually every corner of the world.
You will see on the following pages that the department currently offers two PhD programmes, the MPhil/ PhD and the MRes/ PhD. The MPhil/ PhD degree is for those who already have a good Masters degree in a relevant subject and already have a fairly clear idea of what they want to research. This select group are chosen based on their intellectual merit and the quality of their PhD proposal. While students are expected to be active members of research seminars in each year of registration, the primary emphasis is on conducting research and writing the dissertation. The only examination is that of the final thesis. The MRes/PhD is equally selective and begins with rigorous and broad training in political science. This training is designed to equip students with a set of tools and substantive knowledge, that will facilitate the development of their thesis which they will then concentrate on in the remaining years of the programme.
Whichever programme you choose you can expect to be part of an excellent cohort of PhD researchers, to be well supervised, and to have some very rewarding years doing primary research in political science.
For additional queries please contact the Research Programme Administrator.
Email: Eva Gledhill, Gov.Research_Admin@lse.ac.uk
|Telephone: 020 7955 7651
Useful Links
LSE Alumni|
Useful services for PhD completers
PhD Students' Portal|
This is an information portal for MPhil and PhD students at LSE.