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  • Philosophy, politics and ethics PhD

Philosophy, politics and ethics PhD

The University of Brighton welcomes PhD research in philosophy, politics and ethics through its specialist research Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE).

CAPPE has an unrivalled reputation for fostering scholarship through its educational programme, helping numerous students through from undergraduate to postgraduate taught and research study. We have an active recruitment and a record of success with the AHRC technē funding scheme and are interested in applications from postgraduate research students throughout the year.

As a PhD student you will find supervision and a dedicated community in one of our research areas: applied philosophy and ethics; critical theory and radical politics; and social movements and global politics. 

We also offer professional PhD programmes to students from professional backgrounds (in the arts, the public sector and the medical profession) who already have experience and wish to consolidate their knowledge in a more formal manner.

We welcome approaches to discuss suitable projects across any aspects of philosophy and contemporary critical theory, applied philosophy and ethics, moral and political theory, globalisation, environmental politics and human rights, aesthetics, politics and the philosophy of art and can provide advice on application, proposals and any suitable funding

Apply to 'humanities' in the applicant portal

Apply with us for funding through the AHRC Techne Doctoral Training Partnership

Key information

Your PhD in the areas of Politics, Philosophy and Ethics will be supervised by expert academics who will also guide you towards career decisions and allow your work to draw on and contribute to the wider academic society at Brighton and at partner universities.

As an applied philosophy, politics and ethics PhD student, you will:

  • have a supervisory team comprising two members of academic staff. Depending on your particular area study you may also have additional supervisors from other research institutions or external partners.
  • become part of an active and engaged community of research learning, leading talks, and social events with opportunities to present your work as it progresses and network with other researchers.
  • be part of one or more active research centres, not only the Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics, but others available for networking and academic advice and community across the university. 
  • have desk space and access to a computer in a space specifically designed for research students.
  •  have access to a range of electronic resources via the university’s online library, as well as to the physical book and journal at St Peter’s House Library in central Brighton and other campus libraries.
  • have the opportunity to participate in the activities of the Critical Studies Research Group (CSRG).
  • You will present papers, both internally (e.g. work-in-progress sessions) and externally (e.g. conferences and symposia), throughout the course of your PhD studies. This will normally include a presentation at an international conference towards the end of the period of study.

Academic environment

The Centre for Applied Philosophy, Politics and Ethics (CAPPE) has an exemplary record for nurturing academic talent, engaging students of all levels in philosophical and political debate both formally and informally. Many of our students have taken PhDs with us having studied for undergraduate and master’s degrees, several have stayed to become valuable members of staff.

As well as the close community that we have established in CAPPE itself, we share academic facilities and co-organise events with other Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence across the university. We have a very close allegiance with the Centre for Memory, Narrative and Histories based in the same building, and collaborate regularly with the Centre for Spatial, Environmental and Cultural Politics, and the Centre for Transforming Sexuality and Gender.

Our students also network with colleagues across History of Art and Design, the School of Humanities and Applied Social Science and members of the wider political and philosophical interest groups across Sussex, who come to our regular seminars, including policy-makers, teachers, MPs and academics.

We look forward to hearing your project proposal. As a guide to our major areas of focus, we particularly welcome projects addressing:

  • concerns around the nature, structure and scope of violent conflict including the social and cultural history of modern warfare, with reference to the total wars of the 20th century, legacies and memories of warfare, truth, justice and reconciliation in ‘post-conflict’ societies;
  • political philosophy, moral philosophy, applied philosophy and contemporary critical theory, including neoliberalism; the politics of inequality and applied ethics;
  • colonial and postcolonial cultural and social history with reference to the histories and legacies of transatlantic slavery, forms of migration, diasporic identity, the anglophone Caribbean, the Black Atlantic, and 20th century US cultural history, especially histories of 'race' and civil rights;
  • histories of identity formations such as gender, ‘race’, nation and class and the role of cultural memory in these formations.

 

The list below will highlight some of our strengths in collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches through the lens of politics, philosophy and ethics:

  • Justice, terror and ethics
  • Class, history and politics
  • Philosophy and contemporary critical theory
  • Applied philosophy and ethics
  • Moral and political theory
  • Globalisation, environmental politics and human rights
  • Social and cultural histories of warfare including post-conflict legacies
  • Gender, race and class
  • Race, Empire and colonialism
  • Cultural memory: theory, politics, history
  • Aesthetics, politics and the philosophy of art

Some of our supervisors

 

Profile photo for Dr Cathy Bergin

Dr Cathy Bergin

Bergin has supervised MA theses in the field of African American literature and culture, Caribbean literature, Welsh cultural memory, white settler colonial imaginaryies  and Holocaust Representation. 

She is has supervised PhD theses to completion in  Memorialisation in the Postmodern-Neoliberal Conjuncture;  Women's literature in Belize: Memory, Identity and the Legacy of slavery; Male Performance Wear and authenticity in Country Music 1947-1992; Models of authentic inner voice as social critique in the post-war novel; The Pink Triangle: The politics of forgetting and remembering the homosexual victims of Nazi persecution and British representations of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-23. She is currently supervising PhDs in folk horror and counterinsurgency in Northern Ireland, American Women’s study abroad in Europe, rethinking “blackness” as a racial identity and intergenerational familial storytelling in Northern Ireland. She is interested in supporting research in the following areas: African American writing; enslavement and representation; black radical history; Caribbean Culture and Identity; Marxist literary history; post-colonialism; Irish studies; Holocaust memorialisation; novel studies; transnational solidarities.

Profile photo for Dr Tom Bunyard

Dr Tom Bunyard

Tom has been involved in PhD supervision since 2013, and has brought two projects to completion. He would be interested in supervising research projects in areas such as Debord and the Situationists, Marx and Marxism, Hegel and reactions to Hegel’s philosophy, contemporary critical and cultural theory, and continental philosophy.  

Profile photo for Dr Francesca Burke

Dr Francesca Burke

I am interested in supervising students in any area of Middle Eastern politics or international relations, especially projects related to Palestinian and Israeli politics, social movements, student activism and the role of higher education in politics, citizenship, nationalism, mobilisation and resistance.

Profile photo for Deanna Dadusc

Deanna Dadusc

Deanna Dadusc is currently supervising two PhD students, conducting research on the politics of bordering in Calais and on the hostile environment in the UK, respectively. 

She is available for supervision on PhD projects related to processes of criminalisation of social and political struggles, as well as on border violence and the crimininalisation of migration. She also welcomes proposals informed by feminist and decolonial methodologies. 

Profile photo for Prof Mark Devenney

Prof Mark Devenney

My main supervisory interests include:

Contemporary Politics

Political Philosophy

Populism

Critical Theory

Post-Marxistm

Envronmental Politics

Postcolonial and Decolonial theories

Neoliberalism

The politics of literature.

I will also accept students writing PhDs on particular critical theorists including Adorno, Agamben, Badiou, Balibar, Brown, Butler, Cixous, Derrida, Habermas, Laclau, Mouffe,Ranciere, Zizek and others working in related areas.

I have supervised many students to completion and welcome students interested in researching these and related areas.

Profile photo for Dr Robin Dunford

Dr Robin Dunford

I am interested in supervising projects on human rights, humanitarian intervention, the responsibility to protect, decoloniality, social movements, nonviolence, civilian protection, and the politics of resistance.

Completed Students

Dr Afxentis Afxentiou: The Politics and Ethics of Drone Bombing (supervised with Michael Neu and Lucy Noakes)

Dr Marina Espinoza: Legitimising the Obama Administrations Drone Programme (with Bob Brecher)

Current Students:

Beatriz Arnal Calvo: Nonviolence and Civilian Protection

Luke Beesley: On Our Own Behalf: Theory, Strategy, and Practice within the Disabled People’s Movement in Britain

Andrew Lebbie: Marxist Theories of Imperialism and China-Africa Relations 

Laura Wilson: Making Women More Visible in the Global Era of War and Peace: a Feminist Critique of New Cosmopolitanism

Profile photo for Dr Joanna Kellond

Dr Joanna Kellond

I welcome PhD projects related to any of my research interests. I am particularly interested in working on projects related to the work of Donald Winnicott; feminist psychoanalytic theory and philosophy; and the politics of care. More broadly, I am interested in working on projects related to psychoanalysis as it intersects with cultural, social and political questions and debates. This includes studies focused on literature, visual culture, Critical Theory, philosophy, history or politics. I am also interested in supervising projects in the field of Critical Theory that relate to the themes of care, reproduction, gender or feminism.

Profile photo for Dr Andy Knott

Dr Andy Knott

I'm interested in projects grappling with populism considered broadly, including contemporary, empirical, theoretical and historical accounts. Alongside tackling the notion of the people, my interest in political subjects include the individual, the multitude, the ochlos, and so on.

My research also investigates thinking about politics, space, and time, and am keen to take on projects that seek to re-/think these. Current work involves re-thinking left, right and centre, but this interest is in spatial categories more broadly and their interaction, but also directing attention towards the space of politics.

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Dr Toby Lovat

Supervisory interests include: Kant, German Idealism, Critical Theory (especially Adorno and Frankfurt School), Speculative Realism.   

Profile photo for Dr Vicky Margree

Dr Vicky Margree

She is particularly interested in supervising research projects in the areas of feminist philosophy, reproductive politics, Victorian and Edwardian fiction, Gothic and supernatural fiction, utopianism and Afrofuturism, and women's writing and the short story.

Profile photo for Dr Michael Neu

Dr Michael Neu

Michael is keen on supervising students who do critical work on "just" war, "humanitarian" intervention, violence more broadly, and friendship.

He has previously supervised Afxentis Afxentiou's PhD on "The Politics and Ethics of Drone Bombing" (with Robin Dunford and Lucy Noakes), which Afxentis passed with no corrections.

As a second supervisor, Michael is currently supervising Pam Laidman's work on "Self-Neglect" (with Bob Brecher).

Profile photo for Dr German Primera Villamizar

Dr German Primera Villamizar

I am intrested in supervisions in the areas of contemporary continental philosophy (in particular french post-structuralism and Italian philosophy), Biopolitics, Black studies, post-marxism, The politics of War, political violence and modern political thought. 

Profile photo for Dr Anita Rupprecht

Dr Anita Rupprecht

  • Histories and cultures of British transatlantic slavery and resistance
  • Histories, cultures and representations of 18C and 19C abolitionism
  • Transatlantic slavery and the archive
  • Capitalism and Slavery
  • Caribbean, Diasporic and Black Atlantic Literatures
  • Postcolonial Theory, Identity and Culture
  • Cultural Memories of Empire, Colonialism and Transatlantic Slavery
Profile photo for Dr Raphael Schlembach

Dr Raphael Schlembach

Raphael is interested in receiving proposals for doctoral studies in his areas of expertise, including critical approaches to:

  • protest and social movements
  • criminal justice and social policy
  • migration and citizenship
  • policing and security
  • nationalism and the far right
  • critical and democratic theory

For current funding opportunities see: http://www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk/apply/

Profile photo for Dr Rebecca Searle

Dr Rebecca Searle

Rebecca supervises students researching contemporary British History. She has particular expertise in the history of housing, the politics of property, the history of sexuality and the impact of war on society. She works with students across social, political, cultural and economic history and with students specialising in politics, sociology or philosophy who want to incorporate historical analysis into their research. 

Profile photo for Dr Zoe Sutherland

Dr Zoe Sutherland

Zöe is particularly interested in supervising MA and PhD theses on disability theory and politics, feminist theory and politics, gender/sexuality studies, capitalism, Marx and Marxism, Kantian and Post-Kantian philosophy, critical theory, philosophical aesthetics and contemporary art.

Profile photo for Dr Clare Woodford

Dr Clare Woodford

I welcome enquiries for doctoral research. Successful applicants join CAPPE's thriving Critical Theory research community and benefit from our international exchange programme and research network with Johns Hopkins; Berkeley, UoC; NUI Galway; PoliTesse/Arendt Centre, Verona; University of Buenos Aires; University of Recife; and UNAM. I currently supervise in the areas of radical democratic theory; populism; post-Marxism; poststructuralist thought; queer theory and sexualities; and social policy, but will consider applications across any area of my work. Current competitive funding opportunities are available through University of Brighton; AHRC http://www.techne.ac.uk/; ESRC https://www.southcoastdtp.ac.uk/; and https://unialliance.ac.uk/dta/futuresocieties/

 

For further supervisory staff including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website. 

 

Making an application

You will apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Sign in to our online application portal to begin.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistance during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2022–23

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
 Full-timePart-time

UK

£4,596 

£2,298

International (including EU)

£15,282 

£7,641

International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law

£13,464 

£6,732


PhD by Publication
Full-time Part-time
 N/A  £2,298 (UK)

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.

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