How to apply – PhD study

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You can apply for postgraduate research using our Postgraduate Online Application Form:

Postgraduate Online Application Form

The form has comprehensive instructions for you to follow, and pop-up help is available on each page. 

Medicine graduates

If you are a graduate in Medicine and wish to apply for an MD research degree, you'll need to apply via a different route. To make an MD research application, please visit the Medical School webpages:

Medical School

Completing your application

The form is divided into two parts. Part 1 is for personal information, including English language ability, and previous education and employment. You have to complete all of the mandatory fields in this part (marked with a *) before you can go on to Part 2. Part 2 is where you select the course or courses you want to apply for. You can apply for a total of three different postgraduate courses.

Staff and students share their advice on applying for a PhD at Sheffield, including what makes a strong research proposal

Supporting documents

You'll need to include certain documents to support your application, for example evidence of your previous qualifications and a personal statement. You can supply these simply by uploading them to the relevant sections of your online application.

You can find more information about the supporting documents you'll need, and how to supply them, on our Supporting Documents webpage:

Supporting documents


Submitting your application

Your application will only be submitted to us when you click the 'Submit Application' button. If you've forgotten to fill in any sections, you'll be prompted to go back and complete them at this stage. When you've successfully submitted the completed form, we'll confirm this on-screen. We'll also send you an email confirmation.

If you want to apply for more than one course, you don't need to submit them all at the same time. Each course choice has its own 'Submit Application' button.

If you have any problems completing your online application, please contact us:

Contacts for prospective students

See our key dates webpage for application deadlines:

Deadlines for postgraduate courses


After you've applied

When we've created your applicant record, we'll send you a second email to confirm this. This email will include your applicant and choice numbers, as well as information about what happens next.

You can find more information about what happens after you submit your application, and about preparing to study at the University of Sheffield, on the After You Apply webpage:

After you apply


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