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Professional Doctorates

The Faculty of Health and Social Care provides two professional doctorate programmes. One is the professional doctorate programme in nursing, leading to the award of Doctorate in Nursing. The other is the professional doctorate programme for allied health professions leading to profession specific awards of Doctorate in Occupational Therapy, Doctorate in Optometry, Doctorate in Physiotherapy, or Doctorate in Radiography. Currently 19 students are undertaking study for these qualifications which are studied over five years.

Professional doctorate programmes differ from the traditional MPhil/PhD route (described above) in that there is a taught component which is delivered in the first two years. This is followed by a research component in years three to five. In the research component, students carry out a profession specific research study, with the support of a supervisory team, and produce a research thesis.

Details of the professional doctorate programme in nursing can be found in the Nursing section of the prospectus. Details of the professional doctorate programme for the allied health professions can be found in the Allied Health Professions section of the prospectus.