Guidance notes for PhD by Portfolio

PhD by Portfolio is a part time award, for 4-5 years.

PhD by Portfolio is open to all applicants: UK and International students. Ideally you will hold Undergraduate or Postgraduate degrees upon application or be able to demonstrate and evidence professional/vocational qualifications, and/or experience to the extent that you can be judged capable of completing the award.

Please visit fees and funding page to find out how much your course will cost.

The application process is online.

The Postgraduate Research Degree page lists all the UCLan Postgraduate Research Degrees and application processes and information. In the process of completing the online application for PhD by Portfolio, a MSWord file containing the initial project proposal should be uploaded as an attachment.

Before applying, it is possible to explore ideas with one of UCLan’s Research Degree Tutors. Email us at researchadmissions@uclan.ac.uk and we will introduce you to the most relevant colleague in your research area. If the applicant already has a contact or potential supervisor for their project, please make this clear in your application document. This will help the application find its way to the relevant people more efficiently.

Portfolio contents may take various forms, however, whatever is provided as evidence – see list below, it is what is discussed about that evidence that contributes to the fuller critique of the problem and/or title to qualify for the Doctoral award. Publications may be included but where they are unattributed e.g. official reports, company publications, they must be accompanied by a third-party verification –e.g. a statement from, for example, a senior manager that confirms the nature and significance of the candidate’s contribution to the work. The synoptic report (15,000 words) will be a synthesis of the three project areas towards the title of the PhD. 

Whilst there is strong emphasis upon the retrospective inclusion of project work in PhD by Portfolio, the PhD Portfolio at Level 8 cannot comprise as a project element, a previously submitted and examined MA thesis (Level 7) or lower level work. However, a PhD by Portfolio project area may stem from such prior research as a development to research at level 8. If relevant, please discuss these issues with your supervisory team.

Examples of materials acceptable for Portfolio submission:

• Project / programme reports
• Project / programme materials
• Feedback from project sponsors
• Published books / chapters / journal papers
• Conference proceedings
• Patents
• Surveys
• Exhibitions/ gallery / productions / artefacts
• CD / DVD / video / film presentations
• Software programs
• Multimedia packages
• Design materials
• Maps

Supervision arrangements are the same as for PhD by traditional thesis. The School will appoint supervisors: as a minimum, a Director of Studies (DoS) and a first Supervisor. Additional supervisors and Advisors may also be appointed. The DoS should be “experienced” i.e. have successfully supervised one previous PhD student to completion.

1.  Application: Initial Proposal – submit a prima-facie case for a project and title.
2. Supervision capacity to be assessed upon application.
3. Proposal or Research Project Approval RPA: Approval of the project concept and confirmation of the supervision team.
4. Ethics Application (an element of the project is to be ‘live’ to trigger an ethics application for data collection)
5. Supervised Portfolio design and compilation, synopsis writing. (There is no transfer stage from MPhil to PhD.)
6. Combine evidence of the 3 projects and the synoptic report constitute the final thesis for exam.
7. Examination – by viva-voce with internal and external examiner(s)

Step 1
Admissions will send the application and supporting information to the Research Degrees Tutor (RDT).

Step 2
The school will determine whether they are in a position to provide supervision. 

Step 3
If supervision is available and preliminary consideration indicates the application (and supporting documents) meets criteria for PhD by Portfolio (i.e. is likely to be sufficient to support a doctoral level award), the applicant and potential supervisor (as may be nominated by the applicant in their application*) will be invited to interview by the School RDT.

*Nomination of a potential supervisor in application does not guarantee that that member of academic staff will take up the role of supervision.

Applicants who are not successful may use the Complaints procedure in the Admissions and Applicants Complaints procedure policy.

Following the formal interview (with RDT and potential supervisor) and acceptance as a Postgraduate Research Student on PhD by Portfolio, you will have 3 months, under supervision, to formulate your RPA document from your initial proposal. The RPA document will set out the content and intentions of the 3 project areas AND the project title of the PhD by Portfolio. The RPA will also confirm the supervision arrangements for the project. The RPA will be refereed prior to Research Degree Board Approval.

You can enrol and pay fees from the next standard entry point. You will also be required to attend one of our research induction events to familiarise yourself with research degree programme milestones, processes and support available. Details will be provided at the point of enrolment.

Following approval from RPA, an ethics application will be made for the whole project, and in particular the live element of the project – and proceed with data collection under supervision.

The Portfolio is to be compiled and a synoptic report to be written, ensuring that across the whole thesis (body of work) that the criteria for PhD are being met. The expected time for compiling the Portfolio and writing the synoptic commentary is 1-2 years although a further 12 months may be permitted. You can only proceed to examination once the synoptic commentary has been written and examination arrangements approved by the Research Degrees Board

If you are studying for a PhD by Portfolio you are required to complete the Annual Assessment of Progression exercise to ensure you are progressing satisfactorily. 

The required length of the Synoptic Commentary is 15,000 words. Further guidance on the format is contained in the ‘Thesis and Examinations Guide’ section of the Research Student Assessment Handbook. The Synoptic Commentary should show critical analysis of how the project areas are linked and distinct – analysing each projects’ contribution and providing synthesis between them. It should demonstrate that the whole portfolio makes an independent, significant and original contribution to knowledge to the nominated topic/title chosen by the candidate.

Achieved by the Director of Studies submitting a student’s Examination Arrangements to the Research Degrees Board.

Examiners are proposed by the School and must meet the same criteria as examiners for other doctoral awards. The criteria can be found in the Academic Regulations. Portfolios supported by the overarching Synoptic Commentary should demonstrate that the candidate has attained a doctoral level of research and skills and meets the criteria for the award as defined in Academic Regulation A1.1