PhD Nutrition and Health

Duration	Full time: 2-4 years Part time: 4-8 years
Course type	Full-time, Part-time route available
Study location	��

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Study for a PhD degree with the School of Health Professions and join a supportive community of researchers who are working to further understand the relationship between nutrition and health. You work on an advanced research project with a small supervisory team of academic experts under the direction of a Director of Studies and are expected to fully engage with your personal skills development and to present your research in a range of scholarly contexts.

Course details

Programme overview
This full time or part time doctoral programme is suitable for people who have a particular research question or topic in mind, and wish to explore this through independent study in order to produce an original contribution to the subject. If you aspire to a research career this is the most appropriate research degree to undertake. The research team carries out research in a range of areas of nutrition and health from dietetic practice and nutritional management of disease in childhood and adults, public health nutrition, to nutrition and ageing and nutrition and metabolism.
You will be guided by a small supervisory team of academic experts under the direction of a Director of Studies and will be expected to fully engage with skills development and training and to present your research in a range of scholarly contexts.
Your PhD will be assessed via submission of either a written thesis (up to 80,000 words) and a viva voce (an oral examination).
For full details of what doing a PhD entails at the ��, please visit our postgraduate research degrees pages .

Entry requirements

All applicants must meet the entry criteria for a Faculty of Health research degree which are:

you'll usually need a 2:1 degree from a UK University or equivalent and an academic IELTS score of 6.5 (with no less than 6 in each component test area) or equivalent if you are a non-UK applicant
two satisfactory academic references
evidence of funding for the duration of your course.

For more general guidelines and application requirements, please visit the research degrees applicants page.

Fees, costs and funding

Please visit tuition fees for postgraduate research for information about fees.

You are responsible for meeting all of the costs related to your own research project, beyond the resources available in the department.

Please visit our postgraduate research money matters page to find out more about issues related to fees, funding, loans and paying for your programme of study.

How to apply

Potential applicants should first identify a member of academic staff who may be a suitable supervisor, and contact them by email to discuss possible directions for a research proposal. The research proposal must be agreed by the supervisor and the school’s postgraduate research coordinator (Dr Lisa Bunn) before an application to study can be made. You can identify research areas of interest at the University by browsing our school’s research groups and looking at publication outputs from ��-based researchers.

In addition to completing the online application form (which includes space for a personal statement), you must also upload a research project proposal. Your research proposal should outline your research topic, your key aims and the research question/problem you are addressing, a brief literature review, your proposed methodology, and an explanation of why this topic is significant or important.

Your personal statement should briefly explain why you have chosen to apply to our programme and what you feel you can offer our research community.

Submitting your application

Complete your application and upload supporting documents to the Doctoral College by completing our online application form.

Questions on the application process?

We're here to help. Please contact the Doctoral College and we'll be happy to assist you.

More information and advice for applicants can be referenced in our admissions policy which can be found on the student regulations, policies and procedures page. Prospective students are advised to read the policy before making an application to the University.

If you have a disability and would like further information on the support available, please visit Disability Services .

Support is also available to overseas students applying to the University from our International Office .

Find more information about applying for a postgraduate research programme .

Access our Masters of Clinical Research modules

In addition to the extensive personal development training programme offered through the Doctoral College and �� Institute of Health Research (PIHR), students studying this PhD programme have free access to up to three modules offered from the Masters of Clinical Research (MClinRes) . Study is as a short course option and can be undertaken through face-to-face, distance or hybrid learning. The modules on offer include:

Project design for research

Applied quantitative research methods

Applied qualitative research methods (MCR701)

Applying evidence to practice

Systematic review

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Funding for postgraduate research students

If you are considering starting a postgraduate research course, you could get help to pay for your course and living costs.

Find out more about the funding options available to you

Postgraduate research students listening to a talk

Doctoral College

Find out more about the Doctoral College and the support it offers students, supervisors and examiners of postgraduate research at the ��.

Supporting excellence and employability across all stages of the researcher journey

Our PhD students past and present

Find out about the experiences of dietetics and health PhD students

Dietetics, Human Nutrition and Health Research Group

Nutrition is integral to life and health; it influences growth, development, maintenance of health, and can be used to treat disease. This research group encompasses all these aspects of nutritional research and collaborates across professions and with other institutes, promoting interdisciplinary research in the area of nutrition.

All PhD students and potential applicants are welcome to join the research group's weekly meetings.