PhD African Languages and Cultures

The MPhil/PhD in African Languages and Cultures at SOAS is a research degree in the broad general area of African studies. Students study research topics that may include African languages from a descriptive, comparative, philological, or textual point of view, or African literature (author-based, thematic, or comparative), or performing arts within SOAS core expertise.

Supervision is provided for research leading to MPhil and PhD degrees, with a primary and secondary supervisor. Students register as MPhil students in year 1, and the upgrade from MPhil to PhD takes place at the end of the first academic session for full-time students or at the end of the second academic session for part-time students. Year 2 is normally spent on research, and year 3 is devoted to writing up the PhD thesis.

We normally require a 2.1 bachelor's degree (or its equivalent) plus a Masters degree in appropriate subject area plus one reference. In exceptional cases we may accept applicants who do not meet these criteria if they show evidence of a strong Masters degree and/or appropriate level of relevant work experience.

International applicants should also see Doctoral School English language requirements

• Africa Matters
• Amnesty International
• Arab British Chamber of Commerce
• BBC World Service
• British High Commission
• Council for British Research in the Levant
• Department for International Development
• Edelman
• Embassy of Jordan
• Ernst & Young
• Foreign & Commonwealth Office
• Google
• Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies
• Middle East Eye
• Saïd Foundation
• TalkAbout Speech Therapy
• The Black Curriculum
• The Telegraph
• United Nations Development Programme
• UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency
• Wall Street Journal