SOAS-Wits Joint MPhil/PhD in Applied Development Economics
London, United Kingdom
DURATION
3 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2024
TUITION FEES
GBP 3,997 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Full-time SOAS at the home institution
Introduction
This joint PhD programme delivered in partnership with the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa will coordinate a programme of work in heterodox (feminist) economics or political economy that focuses on the way in which mutually reinforcing tendencies of climate breakdown, financialisation, and post-pandemic economic and social pressures affect multiple dimensions of wellbeing, including the institutions, norms, policies and practices conditioning daily life in Africa.
Why study the SOAS-Wits Joint MPhil/PhD in Applied Development Economics?
- We are ranked 27th in the UK for economics (QS World University Rankings 2023)
- We are top 20 in the UK for student satisfaction with teaching (Complete University Guide 2023)
- We are top 40 in the UK for economics (Complete University Guide 2023)
The joint PhD between SOAS and Wits pushes the boundaries of heterodox economics or political economy by anchoring the analysis explicitly in African realities and confronting particular conceptual frames with emerging empirical evidence. Whether they focus on a micro or macro object, the research projects will have in common a systemic and historical analysis, taking into account, as appropriate, intersecting social relations, mutations of the state and evolving international political-economic and financial relations.
The research projects will hence strengthen analysis that is strongly theoretically grounded while empirically informed, in contrast to current trends in (development) economics to eschew theory in favour of an experimental and purely empirical knowledge base. The research programme will also be explicitly decolonial, by critically querying existing research practices, by drawing on knowledge across Africa, and explicitly situating contemporary phenomena in their historically evolved (and regionally interdependent) contexts.
Admissions
Curriculum
The research degree embodies a core of training in research methods combined with a clear structure of progression thereafter. The duration and structure of the research degree will be as follows:
Full-time Research Degree: 3 years plus 1 year writing up
Year 1 - Research Training
Research training will be offered by the SOAS Economics Department and the SOAS Doctoral School and delivered in a blended fashion, providing the opportunity for remote attendance for the PhD students with Wits as their home institution.
Year 1 – Literature Review and Upgrade
Students will normally be expected to set the foundations of their project through an extensive literature and plan for the continuation of the research and, on this basis, pass an upgrade from MPhil to PhD status within 9 months of commencing the degree.
Year 2-3 - Research
Core research undertaken; primary and secondary data collection as appropriate, thesis chapters finalised. Students may also choose to undertake international mobility to and from their home institution.
Year 4 - Write up
If necessary, a fourth year can be taken to write the final thesis. Examination of the thesis will take place after submission within the 4th year.
Program Outcome
Upon successful completion of the programme, students will be awarded a single co-badged certificate conferred by both SOAS and Wits.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
Graduates of this programme will leave with a solid grounding in technical and statistical skills, research methods and data collection and an ability to think laterally, take a global perspective, and employ critical reasoning with a detailed insight into the context of African countries.