PhD Biography
The cutting-edge PHD in Biography remains unique to Buckingham and is consistently rated ‘excellent’ by external examiners and inspectors.
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Course overview
About the course
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The PhD in Biography is an advanced research degree, awarded on the basis of a thesis and an oral viva voce examination. The primary purpose of the PhD is the preparation and presentation of a substantial piece of independent and original academic research, completed in three years if studying full-time and usually six years if studying part-time. There is also the possibility of early submission in cases where the student makes particularly rapid progress.
The variety of possible thesis subjects is broad, with most students choosing to study the life of a single historical or literary figure, others writing group biography or ‘prosopography’, and with periods ranging from the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. In some cases, the theory or history of biographical writing is itself a focus, whereas in others the thesis is developed from research in an adjacent discipline (most often, but not exclusively, History). Faculty members are available to advise on the student’s choice of subject (see below, ‘Defining a Subject for Research’).
A large proportion of our PhD students are engaged in full-time study, but there is also an option for part-time study where this fits better with a student’s other commitments. Part-time study can be ideal for those who are looking to gain a postgraduate qualification without leaving employment and wish to develop their careers while they continue earning, or for those who are home-based for whatever reason and wish to develop their skills. All students are expected to engage with the academic life of the University, to attend skills-training meetings where these are relevant, as well as research seminars and workshops. PhD students are further expected to attend annual Research Days that provide an opportunity to share their work with their peers, and to engage with visiting experts in their field.
The University of Buckingham PhD is intended to impart all the skills necessary for the student to work as an independent researcher and writer – skills that are valued by both academic and non-academic employers. But the PhD can be undertaken just as fulfillingly as an exercise in the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and as a means of exploring areas of enquiry that are of particular interest to the student. A number of our most successful student researchers are those who take up doctoral study at the end of a successful career in a different field or profession.
The entry point for PhD study is flexible, but Autumn Term is strongly recommended in order for students to benefit from an annual Humanities Research Induction Day and in order for students to be in step with their peers.
Students are registered initially for the degree of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), although their status is probationary until the first Annual Review has taken place, normally between 12 and 18 months from first registration.
Defining a Subject for Research
Some students know from the outset the precise subject on which they intend to work. For most, however, the definition of a research proposal is a gradual process, with the student starting with a general area of interest, and then focusing on a more closely defined topic as a result of further reading and consultation, usually with their supervisor and the Biography Programme Director.
Entry Requirements
Applicants are normally expected to have a first or upper second-class degree at undergraduate level and a Master’s degree.
Students without a Master’s degree and wishing to undertake doctoral research may enroll on the relevant MA programme in their first year and, given appropriate progress, ‘upgrade’ to PhD registration at the start of their second year of full-time study; the first year of MA study counts as the first of the three years required for the PhD. Part-time options are also available.
Mature students
Age is no barrier to learning and we welcome all applications from all suitably qualified students. The University is committed to lifelong learning, and students joining the PhD programme will encounter a wide variety of age-ranges among their peers.
International students
We are happy to consider all international applications and if you are an international student, you may find it useful to visit our international pages for details of entry requirements from your home country.
The University is a UKVI Student Sponsor.
English levels
If English is not your first language, please check our postgraduate English language requirements.
Selection process
Candidates apply online, sending in their supporting documents, and will be assessed on this basis by the Biography Programme Director and the Tutor for Graduate Admissions.
For help in applying, please contact the Admissions Officer on humanitiespg-admissions@buckingham.ac.uk She can also arrange for you to discuss your research proposal informally with the Course Directors in advance of your submitting the formal application.
Student Contract for prospective students
When you are offered a place at the University you will be notified of the student contract between the University and students on our courses of study. When you accept an offer of a place on the course at the University, a legal contract is formed between you and the University on the basis of the student contract in your offer letter. Your offer letter and the student contract contain important information which you should read carefully before accepting an offer. Further details are available online: Read the Student Contract.
Teaching & Assessment
PhD students undertake supervised but independent research, at the end of which they submit a thesis embodying the results of that research. The length of the dissertation should not be fewer than 70,000 words and no longer than 80,000 words of text (excluding the thesis-abstract, appendices, footnotes, tables, and bibliography).
This thesis must demonstrate familiarity with, and an understanding of the subject, its principal sources and authorities. It should display critical discrimination and a sense of proportion in evaluating evidence and the judgements of others. A PhD thesis must embody an original contribution to the knowledge of the discipline either by the discovery of new knowledge or by the exercise of a new and independent critical approach.
Seminar Dates and Venues for 2026-27
For their first year of study most PhD students choose to attend some or all of the same seminars and classes as students taking the MA by Research in Biography (see below). These provide the critical awareness of the subject that is an essential prerequisite for advanced biographical work.
The programme aims not only to offer a stimulating intellectual experience, but one which is an enjoyable social experience as well.
Unless otherwise stated below, all seminars and events take place at 51 Gower Street (Bloomsbury, London) between 5:30-6:30pm. Where drinks take place after a London seminar, they conclude no later than 7:30pm and any post-seminar dinners with our speakers conclude c.8:30pm.
Tuesday 13 October
Course Induction Day (10-5pm) – including seminar with Professor Adam Sisman (biographer of James Boswell, AJP Taylor, Wordsworth and Coleridge, Hugh Trevor Roper and John Le Carré) and an Introduction to the History of Biography
Monday 2 November
Humanities Induction Day (9-5pm) at the Society of Antiquaries, Somerset House, Piccadilly
Tuesday 10 November
Seminar with Dr. Martin Spychal on researching Nineteenth Century Political Lives
Tuesday 24 November
Class on using memoirs, letters and diaries as sources, and on the Ethics of Biography
Tuesday 8 December
Seminar with Professor Kathryn Hughes (biographer of George Elliot, Mrs Beeton and the commercial artist Louis Wain) including discussion of Biography Today
Tuesday 26 January
Class on the legacy of Romantic, Victorian and Modernist Biography
Tuesday 2 February
Seminar with Caroline Moorehead OBE (biographer of Sidney Bernstein, Freya Stark, Bertrand Russell, Iris Origo, Lucie de la Tour du Pin, and Mussolini’s daughter Edda) including discussion on Conducting Interviews
Tuesday 9 February
Class on the ‘2nd Golden Age of Biography’ (1980s-90s), Quest Biography, and the First Person in Biography
Tuesday 2 March
Seminar with Dr. Lucy Worsley OBE (biographer of Jane Austen, Queen Victoria, William Cavendish, Agatha Christie and other royal lives) including discussion of Royal Biography
Tuesday 9 March
Class on Literary Biography
Tuesday 16 March
Class onGroup Biography
Tuesday 23 March
Seminar with Anne Sebba (biographer of Enid Bagnold, Laura Ashley, Mother Teresa, William Bankes, Jennie Churchill, Mrs Simpson, Ethel Rosenberg, and the members of the Women’s Orchestra of Auschwitz) including discussion of Writing about Historical Trauma
Tuesday 13 April
Seminar with speaker TBC
Tuesday 27 April
Seminar with Flora Fraser (biographer of George and Martha Washington, Pauline Bonaparte, Queen Caroline, the daughters of George III, Emma Hamilton, and Flora MacDonald) including discussion of Writing Women’s Lives
Wednesday 3 June
Biography Research Day (2-7pm) at the campus in Buckingham, including presentations by MA and PhD students of their research in progress, including feedback from a professional or academic biographer, who will also present a paper for discussion prior to drinks and dinner
Tuesday 22 June
Class on Writing an Abstract and on Preparing a Book Proposal
Our speakers for the current 2025-26 academic year or in previous years have included: Frances Wilson, Frances Spalding, Jeremy Lewis, Rupert Shortt, Caroline Dawnay, Andrew Lownie, Andrew Gordon, Miranda Seymour, John Cornwell, Simon Heffer, Craig Brown, Hallie Rubenhold, Norma Clarke, Catherine Taylor, Horatio Clare, Matthew Sturgis, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Richard Holmes, Anne Chisholm, Ray Monk, Charles Spicer, Francesca Peacock, Miranda Kaufmann and Catherine Ostler.
Supervision
Every PhD student in the School of Humanities is supported by two supervisors. Supervisors are experts in their field of study and support students throughout the PhD. Students will also benefit from the advice and support of other academic members of adjacent Faculties, who will be involved in progression through the various stages of the PhD, including Annual Review meetings with a senior professor (where progress is monitored and support offered towards the planning of the next period of study).
Each student is allocated two supervisors. There is a First (or Principal) Supervisor, who is the student’s regular guide during his or her research, and with whom the student meets regularly throughout the year. There is also a Second Supervisor, whom the student may consult on a more limited basis where a ‘second opinion’ may be helpful, or where a particular area of expertise is required.
Supervisions take place at 51 Gower Street (as above), online, or at other locations of mutual convenience.
Programme Director
Ophelia Field is the author of a critically acclaimed life of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744) titled The Favourite, first published in 2002 and in revised edition in 2018. In 2008, she produced a group biography, again set in the early eighteenth century, titled The Kit-Cat Club: Friends Who Imagined a Nation, which was one of the Financial Times’ History Books of the Year. She has also written and taught extensively on the essay form, including a chapter on political essays in On Essays: Montaigne to the Present (OUP, 2020). She has been teaching on The University of Buckingham’s Biography Programme since 2019, and previously taught biography at the University of London’s Centre for Editing Lives and Letters (CELL).
More information
Enquiries should be directed in the first instance to our Admissions Officer (London Programmes), at humanitiespg@admissions@buckingham.ac.uk or by telephone to +44 (0)1280 827514. It is usually also possible to speak with the Programme Director, in advance of submitting your application: please contact the Admissions Officer to arrange this.
After your course
Founded by eminent historian Professor Emeritus Jane Ridley thirty years ago, this Programme has produced many alumni who have gone on to successfully publish academic and popular biographical works.
The University’s Course Directors, students’ supervisors, and the Research Officer and Tutor for Graduate Students are available to discuss students’ post-graduation plans and how they may utilise most effectively the skills acquired during their studies.
What our alumni say
“I loved every stage of my PhD time. The classes gave me so much, not just from professional teaching but by the exchange of ideas with other students and visiting experts. I enjoyed the ferreting in archives, websites and books that research demands. I relished the crafting inherent in writing a thesis; I even liked the “buffing up” period that good writing demands. Since my PhD, I have found employment as a tutor, and I have earned a research project from which I hope a book will emerge.”
– Dr. Christina Dykes (PhD awarded 2021)
“Completing Buckingham’s Biography PhD course was a fantastically rewarding experience. As somebody who began as a Master’s student, the transition over to doctoral status was made very straightforward – just one element that demonstrates the flexibility of the University (another being the encouragement and support I received in switching biographical subjects mid-stream).
The seminar discussions and the supervisory guidance – of both former (Jane Ridley) and current (Ophelia Field) Programme Directors – was consistently peppered with profound insights into the life-writing form gleaned by a deep professional experience in the genre. If you’re thinking of writing a biography but are overwhelmed by the thought of setting out unguided, you couldn’t do better than to sign up with Buckingham!”
– Dr. Harland Mitford (PhD awarded 2026)
Course fees
The fees for this course are:
| Start | Type | 1st Year | Total cost |
|---|---|---|---|
Month Year Full-time (2 Years) | UK | £00,000 | £00,000 |
| INT | £00,000 | £00,000 | |
Month Year Full-time (2 Years) | UK | £00,000 | £00,000 |
| INT | £00,000 | £00,000 |
The University reserves the right to increase course fees annually in line with inflation linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI). If the University intends to increase your course fees it will notify you via email of this as soon as reasonably practicable.
Course fees do not include additional costs such as books, equipment, writing up fees and other ancillary charges. Where applicable, these additional costs will be made clear.
Scholarships and bursaries
How to apply
Apply direct
Apply online from this page as:
- You can apply until shortly before the course starts.
- There are no application fees.
You can apply directly through our website by clicking the ‘Apply Now’ button.