项目介绍

2021年7月29日

About the course

The DPhil Criminology is offered as either a full-time 3-4 year degree, or a part-time 6-8 year degree. The DPhil entails researching and writing a thesis of between 75,000 and 100,000 words under the guidance of at least one supervisor who will be an acknowledged authority on their chosen topic. 

As a first-year full-time student, or in your first two years as a part-time student, you will follow courses of instruction in criminological research methods to develop your skills whilst working under the guidance of at least one supervisor who will be an acknowledged authority on their chosen topic. After three or at most four years (no later than eight years for the part-time pathway) you are expected to submit your final thesis.

Criminology DPhil skills training sessions are offered by the Centre for Criminology. You must complete both modules during your DPhil and you can choose which term/academic year it would be most useful for you to take each.

Module 1, Intellectual foundations, is an eight week module that will help you think theoretically about criminological research and engage with the intellectual foundations of criminology in order to assist you in developing theoretical and conceptual frameworks for your own projects.

Module 2, Professional Development, is an eight week module that will help you with your professional development and to give you opportunities to present your own work ‘in progress’ and learn to critique the work of your peers.

The Faculty of Law and Social Sciences Division also offer skills training as appropriate to different stages of the graduate career. There are also opportunities to access advanced and specialist research training. 

The areas in which members of the Centre for Criminology are able to offer supervision include:

• policing and security
• sentencing
• crime, risk and justice
• human rights and criminal justice
• victims
• procedural justice and legitimacy
• prisons
• sociology of punishment
• restorative justice    
• the death penalty
• border control and the criminalisation of migration
• public attitude and responses to crime
• the politics of crime and justice
• crime and the family
• race and gender
• miscarriages of justice
• crime, criminology and social/political theory
• youth justice

Research seminars bring you and other students together with academic and other research staff in the department to hear about ongoing research and provide an opportunity for networking and socialising.

You will be encouraged to attend the Oxford criminology and informal research seminars organised by the centre. You will also have the opportunity to discuss your research plan at the criminology discussion group and at the criminological research workshops, held in Trinity term.

Further information about studying part-time

The faculty’s research degrees are not available by distance learning. Although there will be no requirement to reside in Oxford, part-time research students must attend the University on a regular basis (particularly in term-time: October and November, mid-January to mid-March, and late April to mid-June) for supervision, study, research seminars and skills training. In addition, they will sometimes ‘meet’ with their supervisors online.

The faculty appreciates that part-time research students will have non-standard attendance and work patterns. To ensure a comprehensive integration into the faculty’s and University’s research culture and with their full-time peer groups, a pattern of attendance at training events and research seminars would form part of the general study agreement for part-time students, alongside the individualised arrangements between supervisor and student. You cannot be enrolled in the part-time course if you need a visa to study in the UK.

Supervision

The allocation of graduate supervision for this course is the responsibility of the Centre for Criminology and it is not always possible to accommodate the preferences of incoming graduate students to work with a particular member of staff. Under exceptional circumstances a supervisor may be found outside the Centre for Criminology.

It is expected that you will have at least two substantial supervisions in each term (or for part-time students, at least one each term) and students and their supervisors tend to have other online or in person contact in addition to this, especially when the student is preparing for ‘milestone’ assessments.

Assessment

You will be admitted in the first instance to Probationer Research Student (PRS) status.

In your third term (sixth term for the part-time pathway), you will normally apply for transfer from PRS status to full DPhil status by submitting a research outline and a substantial piece of written work. These are assessed by two members of the Centre for Criminology, who will also interview you about your work. A similar exercise then takes place in your sixth term (twelfth term for the part-time pathway) when you will apply for Confirmation of DPhil status.

After three or at most four years (no later than eight years for the part-time pathway) you are expected to submit your final thesis. Your thesis of between 75,000 and 100,000 words will be read by two examiners who conduct an in-depth oral examination with the student, known as a viva voce. On the basis of their report, you will either be awarded the DPhil or referred back to make revisions to the thesis.

Graduate destinations

Recent graduates of the DPhil Criminology have pursued careers in the following areas:

• professional careers in criminal justice agencies and the law
• university research and teaching in academic criminology and law schools
• research careers
• government departments
• voluntary organisations in the crime and justice field

Changes to this course and your supervision

The University will seek to deliver this course in accordance with the description set out in this course page. However, there may be situations in which it is desirable or necessary for the University to make changes in course provision, either before or after registration. The safety of students, staff and visitors is paramount and major changes to delivery or services may have to be made in circumstances of a pandemic (including Covid-19), epidemic or local health emergency. In addition, in certain circumstances, for example due to visa difficulties or because the health needs of students cannot be met, it may be necessary to make adjustments to course requirements for international study.

Where possible your academic supervisor will not change for the duration of your course. However, it may be necessary to assign a new academic supervisor during the course of study or before registration for reasons which might include illness, sabbatical leave, parental leave or change in employment.

For further information please see our page on changes to courses and the provisions of the student contract regarding changes to courses.

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