Research Degrees in Migration Studies

1. Governance

The DPhil in Migration Studies shall be under the supervision of the joint Graduate Studies Committee of the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and the Department of International Development. 

2. Attendance requirements

The DPhil in Migration Studies shall be offered on a full-time and part-time basis. Full-time students are required to meet the residence requirements set out in §6 of the General Regulations for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Part-time students are required to meet the following attendance requirements for their period of part-time study: attendance for a minimum of 30 days of university-based work each year, normally coinciding with the full terms of the academic year, to be arranged with the agreement of their supervisor, for the period that their names remain on the Register of Graduate Students unless individually dispensed by the joint Graduate Studies Committee. During a student's probationary period the attendance arrangements must take account of relevant induction and training events scheduled by the departments.

3. Transfer to MLitt or DPhil status

Candidates will normally be expected to achieve Transfer of Status in their third term (sixth term for part-time students) and not later than their fourth term after admission (eighth term for part-time students). 

Applications should be submitted to the Departmental Office, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology not later than Friday of week 8 of their third term (sixth term for part-time students) and will comprise of two copies the following:

(a) a completed Transfer of Status application form; and 

(b) a paragraph summary of the research question, methodological and theoretical approaches; and

(c) a research proposal of between 10,000-12,000 words; and

(d) confirmation from the supervisor that all courses identified in the Training Needs Analysis, including completion of research methods training (unless dispensed by the joint Graduate Studies Committee based on prior experience) have been satisfactorily completed.

Full details of each of the requirements are set out in the DPhil student handbook.

Candidates will also be required to give a presentation of their proposed research projects at an appropriate and agreed work in progress seminar convened by the School of Anthropology and Museum Ethnography and the Department of International Development.

The joint Graduate Studies Committee will appoint two assessors who will read the work, interview the student and submit a recommendation to the committee in a written report. The committee will then decide whether Transfer of Status will be approved.

A student whose first application for Transfer of Status is not approved (including where the outcome is a recommendation to transfer to the MLitt) is permitted to make one further application and will be granted an extension of one term (up to two terms for part-time students) to Probationer Research Student status if necessary. If after a second attempt, the joint Graduate Studies Committee can neither approve transfer to the DPhil nor to the MLitt, the student will be removed from the Register of Graduate Students. 

4. Integrated Thesis Format

In consultation with their supervisor(s) and the Director of Graduate Studies, doctoral students may opt to submit a thesis in the integrated format. The thesis chapters must be framed by an introduction, a literature review and a conclusion. Such a body of work must address an overarching research question and represent a coherent and focused body of research and must overall be equivalent to what would normally be acceptable for a thesis in the monograph format. There is no formal limit on the number of chapters, but the normal thesis word limits apply. 

Work that is the product of collaborative effort may be included in the thesis, on condition that the candidate is responsible for the majority contribution to that work, in terms of intellectual development, practical implementation, and writing up, and that their contribution is demonstrated; any collaborators or co-authors must certify in writing to joint Graduate Studies Committee what part of the work represents that of the candidate.

Candidates who wish to proceed by this route should elect to do so before applying for Confirmation of Status. Should a candidate subsequently wish to revert to monograph format, they must submit a written application to the Director of Graduate Studies, with the support of their supervisor, detailing the reasons for the change.

Specific procedures relating to the integrated thesis format are detailed in the DPhil student handbook.

5. Confirmation of DPhil status

Candidates will normally be expected to achieve Confirmation of Status in their seventh term (fourteenth for part-time students) and not later than their ninth term (eighteenth for part-time students).  

Applications should be submitted to the Departmental Office, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology not later than Friday of week 8 of their seventh term (fourteenth term for part-time students) and will comprise of two copies the following:

(a) a completed Confirmation of Status application form; and

(b) an outline structure of the thesis, consisting of chapter headings and a brief statement of the intended outcome; and

(c) an outline timetable detailing the work completed and what activities are planned for the remaining stages; and 

(d) two completed draft chapters of the final thesis, not exceeding 20,000 words.

Applications for candidates wishing to submit using the integrated thesis format will comprise the following: 

(a) a completed Confirmation of Status application form; and

(b) an introduction to the thesis including a statement outlining how the chapters are integrated as a complete text; and

(c) a statement listing any papers published or accepted for publication, or under consideration for publication, outlining the candidate’s contributions to any collaborative efforts; and (as a separate document) a statement of permissions from collaborators to include the work in the thesis, with each confirming the extent of the candidate’s contribution; 

(d) two completed draft chapters of the final thesis, not exceeding 20,000 words.

Full details of the requirements for Confirmation of Status are set out in the DPhil student handbook.

All candidates will also be required to give a presentation of part of their work at a third year seminar series, workshop, or a conference in Oxford or elsewhere in the UK. 

The joint Graduate Studies Committee will appoint two assessors who will read the work, interview the student, and submit a written report to the committee. The committee will then decide whether Confirmation of Status will be approved.

A student whose first application for Confirmation of Status is not approved is permitted to make one further application, normally within one term (two terms for part-time students) of the original application, and will granted an extension of one term (up to two terms for part-time students) if necessary. If after the second attempt the joint Graduate Studies Committee can neither approve the application nor approve transfer to the MLitt, the student will be removed from the Register of Graduate Students. 

6. Theses

DPhil theses which exceed 100,000 words, and MLitt theses which exceed 50,000 words, (including notes and captions to figures within the main text, but excluding the abstract and other front matter, the bibliography, and any appendices, glossaries, etc.) are liable to be rejected unless students have, with the support of their supervisor, been granted permission to exceed the word limit by the joint Graduate Studies Committee. 

Appendices should only be used to provide data sets or other factual or methodological material ancillary to the thesis proper. The main text of the thesis should contain all the information required to understand the arguments presented within it, without the need to resort to an appendix.