Question: What is a PhD?

Emma Daniels answered on 16 Jun 2020:

Hi Alexia! PhD stands for ‘Doctor of Philosophy’, but that doesn’t mean PhD students always study philosophy… A PhD is a type of postgraduate study, which means you do it after going to university to get an undergraduate degree (a Bachelors degree or a Masters degree). To get a PhD, you need to do research in order to complete an original thesis. A thesis is a big, written report of all the research you’ve done during the PhD, and it needs to show that you’ve contributed something new and exciting to whichever field you’re studying. So your work needs to be original, you can’t just repeat what other people have done! You can do a PhD in pretty much any subject you like, but it’s normally related to the subject you studied at undergraduate level. Once you’ve done the research and written it up in a thesis, you have to ‘defend’ your PhD in a viva. This is a spoken exam where experts in your area of research ask you questions to make sure you fully understand the research you’ve done. If you pass the viva, then you’re awarded a doctorate degree and you get to put Dr. in front of your name! In the UK, PhDs take 3-4 years to complete, but they can be longer in other countries. I hope this helps!