phd uk geology

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Course Overview

The MPhil/PhD programme provides an excellent forum for students to develop and enhance their specialist, as well as more general transferable, research skills. The programme allows you to gain insight into different research methods and to acquire valuable experience both in carrying out large-scale research projects and in teaching.

An MPhil/PhD is an advanced postgraduate research degree that requires original research and the submission of a substantial dissertation of 60,000 to 100,000 words. At Birkbeck, you are initially registered on an MPhil and you upgrade to a PhD after satisfactory progress in the first year or two. You need to find a suitable academic supervisor at Birkbeck, who can offer the requisite expertise to guide and support you through your research. Find out more about undertaking a research degree at Birkbeck .

Birkbeck shares resources, facilities and expertise in earth and planetary sciences with UCL’s Department of Earth Sciences, thus offering you access to a unique, world-class research environment .

Our key research interests include:

• Clastic sedimentology
• Earthquake geology
• Environmental geochemistry
• Geochemistry
• Geochronology
• Geomorphology
• Paleoenvironmental analysis
• Planetary geology
• Seismic hazards
• Volcanic hazards.

Key information

Geology mphil/phd: 7 years part-time, on campus, starting 2023-24.

• October 2023
• January 2024

Geology MPhil/PhD: 4 years full-time, on campus, starting 2023-24

Geology mphil/phd: 7 years part-time, on campus, starting 2024-25.

• October 2024
• January 2025

Geology MPhil/PhD: 4 years full-time, on campus, starting 2024-25

Find another course:

• Birkbeck was ranked in the top 25 universities in the UK for its Earth Systems and Environmental Science research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
• Overall, Birkbeck's research excellence was  confirmed in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework (REF) with 83% of our research rated world-leading or internationally excellent.
• We are a member of University Geoscience UK , the subject association of geoscience departments, with links to the Geological Society .

Entry Requirements

Good degree in science.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, our usual requirement is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 6.5, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement,  we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services  to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our  English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country .

Visa and funding requirements

If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
• Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

International students who require a Student visa should apply for our full-time courses as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

For full information, read our visa information for international students page .

Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country .

Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

Geology MPhil/PhD: 7 years part-time or 4 years full-time, on campus, starting in academic year 2023-24 or 2024-25

Academic year 2023–24, starting october 2023, january 2024, april 2024.

Part-time home students: £2,500 per year Full-time home students: £4,712 per year Part-time international students : £7,165 per year Full-time international students: £14,175 per year

Academic year 2024–25, starting October 2024, January 2025, April 2025

Part-time home students: £2,539 per year Full-time home students: £4,786 per year Part-time international students : £7,525 per year Full-time international students: £14,885 per year

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases. For more information, please see the College Fees Policy .

If you’ve studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a discount on the tuition fee of this course.

Fees and finance

PhD students resident in England can apply for government loans of over £26,000 to cover the cost of tuition fees, maintenance and other study-related costs.

Flexible finance: pay your fees in monthly instalments at no extra cost . Enrol early to spread your costs and reduce your monthly payments.

We offer a range of studentships and funding options to support your research.

Discover the financial support available to you to help with your studies at Birkbeck.

International scholarships

We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. Discover if you are eligible for a scholarship .

Our research culture

As a research student, you will benefit from a vigorous programme of formal and informal research seminars, and close attention to research supervision. As well as working on your research project, you will also be encouraged to participate in a general training programme of lectures, workshops and seminars designed to provide methodological and theoretical frameworks for your research and structured according to Research Council guidelines. You will also be encouraged to attend lectures within the MRes programme and will have access to the Bloomsbury Postgraduate Skills Network.

Our academic staff in earth and planetary sciences have close links to the Department of Earth Sciences at University College London (UCL) with whom we share some laboratories and collaborate on research. Well-established links with other London colleges and the Natural History Museum provide ready access to further facilities in the capital.

In addition to standard equipment such as EMP, SEM and XRD and generous networked computing facilities, Birkbeck has specialist laboratories and operates a worldwide fieldwork programme. Facilities such as the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) isotope geoscience laboratory at the British Geological Survey in Keyworth, ICP-MS facility at Kingston University and ICP-AES facility at Royal Holloway are also potentially available to research students. In the past, some research students have gone abroad to such places as Utrecht and Vienna to use specialist analytical facilities.

Read more about  our vibrant research culture .

Follow these steps to apply to an MPhil/PhD research degree at Birkbeck:

1. Check that you meet the entry requirements, including English language requirements, as described on this page.

2. Find a potential supervisor for your MPhil/PhD research. You can look at the Find a Supervisor area on this page for an overview, or  search our Experts’ Database  or  browse our staff pages  for more in-depth information. You may also find it helpful to  view the research projects of our current students .

3. Contact the academic member of staff - or the department they teach in - for an informal discussion about your research interests and to establish if they are willing and able to supervise your research. (Please note: finding a potential supervisor does not guarantee admission to the research degree, as this decision is made using your whole application.)  Find out more about the supervisory relationship and how your supervisor will support your research .

4. Draft a research proposal. This needs to demonstrate your knowledge of the field, the specific research questions you wish to pursue, and how your ideas will lead to the creation of new knowledge and understanding.  Find out more about writing a research proposal .

5. Apply directly to Birkbeck, using the online application link on this page. All research students are initially registered on an MPhil and then upgrade to a PhD after making sufficient progress.

Find out more about the application process, writing a research proposal and the timeframe . 

Application deadlines and interviews

You can apply at any time during the year. Entry months for the programme are October, January and April of each year.

If you wish to apply for funding, you will need to apply by certain deadlines. Consult the websites of relevant bodies for details.

Recent research topics.

• Igneous petrology and geochemistry
• Petrology and mineralogy of mantle and lower crustal xenoliths
• Geochemistry of peridotite massifs
• Palaeontology
• Echinoderm palaeoecology in Middle Jurassic marginal marine settings
• The effect of the end Cenomanian extinction event on high marine predator communities
• Designing tidal creeks for managed coastal defence
• Ground-penetrating radar applications in sedimentology
• Palaeoclimate controls on the formation of coastal dunes
• Sedimentary controls on the distribution of arsenic in the Ganges Brahmaputra Delta
• The evolution of coastal dunes in response to Holocene climate change
• Studies of displacement and strain along active normal fault zones in Italy and Greece

Apply for your course

Apply for your course using the apply now button in the key information section .

Finding a supervisor

A critical factor when applying for postgraduate study in geology is the correlation between the applicant’s intellectual and research interests and those of one or more potential supervisors.

Find out more about the research interests of our academic staff:

• Professor Ian A. Crawford, BSc, MSc, PhD : planetary geology and geochemistry.
• Professor Hilary Downes, BSc, MSc, PhD, CGeol : origin and evolution of igneous rocks; geochemistry and petrology of meteorites; lower crustal and mantle xenoliths.
• Philip Hopley, BSc, PhD : palaeoclimatology.
• Eleanor Jennings, PhD : geology, geochemistry, petrology, experimental petrology, planetary accretion.
• Professor Gerald P. Roberts, BSc, PhD : structural geology; earthquake geology and seismic hazards.
• Andrew Rushby, PhD : b iogeochemical controls on planetary habitability; terrestrial exoplanet characterisation, atmospheric dynamics, land/ocean/atmospheric feedbacks; biosignatures.
• Charles J. Underwood, BSc, PhD : palaeoenvironmental analysis, biostratigraphy and palaeoecology; taphonomy of graptolites; taxonomy and evolution of Mesozoic sharks and rays.