Doctoral Centre

About us

The Doctoral Centre provides a freely-accessible and wide-ranging programme of research training in skills for humanities researchers of all sorts and wherever they may be located. It also co-ordinates and facilitates paid-for short courses and summer schools run by the institutes and other centres and departments at SAS.

Internally, it oversees the academic experience of MPhil and PhD students in the School and provides expertise and support in learning technology for all teaching and learning across SAS.

The Doctoral Centre provides essential training and resources for humanities researchers both within the University of London School of Advanced Study and throughout the UK.

External Research Training and Resources

The online research training programme (available and free to all) is designed to meet the needs of humanities researchers in Britain and around the world for high-quality training in research methods, skills and software. The majority of attendees are doctoral students, but established academics frequently also use our courses to develop new skills or acquire proficiency in emerging technologies and techniques.

Alongside the free training programme, the Doctoral Centre co-ordinates the programme of summer schools and short courses offered by the institutes, centres and other departments of the School of Advanced Study. Fees are chargeable for these courses, but they are costed at a level which should make them widely accessible to researchers.

Doctoral Study and Research Resources

Within SAS the Doctoral Centre oversees and co-ordinates the academic experience of research students in the constituent institutes and centres. In collaboration with the Registry, the Research Office and the School and University quality assurance committees it creates and reviews strategy and policy with respect to teaching and learning at MPhil and PhD level, as well as promoting and supporting best practice in teaching and supervision.

The Doctoral Centre also develops and maintains SAS’s online teaching and learning platforms, Study Online and ReShaped. Our learning technologists provide expertise and support for online and computerised teaching initiatives across the School.

SAS Research Student Management System

The Research Student Management System has been developed to keep track of the progression of each research student within SAS.  It is part of the existing SITS student record system and is used by students and supervisors to register the important milestones as students progress through their studies.  Further information is available via our Student Guide and Supervisor Guide.