The School of Law offers opportunities to study by research for the degree of LL.M., M.Phil or Ph.D. in a number of contemporary areas of law, including Law and the Body, Law and Social Justice, Gender and Sexual Orientation Law, Law and Medical Ethics, Evidence, Environmental Law, Law and Popular Culture, Food Law and Human Rights. Study may be on a full time or part time basis.
All research students automatically become members of the Faculty Graduate School and will benefit from the research training, inter-disciplinary and collegiate atmosphere that it has developed. In the School of Law itself, there are IT facilities and research rooms for the exclusive use of research students as well as the on-site computer suites and the main MMU library next door.
The School of Law provides a dynamic location for pursuing quality research across a range of legal, socio-legal and related fields of study. If you wish to join us, please explore the links on the right for further information about research degrees and applications procedures.
Post-graduate study involves students undertaking detailed research into a specific topic in order to produce a sustained academic thesis. Students are expected to work on their own initiative, but with the guidance and support of their supervisors, who will be academics with expertise in the relevant field. The length of the programme and the corresponding assessment varies according to the qualification for which the student is studying:
| Length of the course Assessment | |
| LLM: 1 year FT; 2 yrs PT | Thesis of 30,000 words (max) |
| M.Phil: 2 years FT/ 4 years PT | Thesis of 40,000 words (max) |
| Ph.D: 3 years FT/ 6 years PT | Thesis of 80,000 words (max) |
Our research students come from a variety of academic and professional backgrounds. Many of our students, both from home and overseas, are mature students with prior experience in a variety of professions. Some have legal training or are working as lawyers; others come from disciplines such as medicine or education, where their research often focuses on the implications of the law’s impact on their particular profession. Some students simply wish to examine a particular legal, or socio-legal, point in much more detail than they have previously been able. We are able to accommodate projects taking any of these emphases. Our students also come from a wide variety of countries with differing legal traditions. Students registered with us from outside of the UK include those from Malaysia, the USA, Libya, France and Vietnam.
We are very proud of our students’ achievements. Many have gone on to take academic posts in the School of Law , other departments within Manchester Metropolitan University and at other universities, here and abroad. Our former research students have gone on to roles which have included giving advice to government and NGO’s, and have included sitting on international justice projects with organisations such as the European Council and the UN. Some students have returned to their own specialities but have put their research experience into practice in their own fields of legal services, science, education, nursing and policing.
For further details about research degrees please contact:
Dr Melanie Latham
Research Degrees Coordinator
m.latham@mmu.ac.uk
and
Faculty Research Degrees Administrator
hlss-research@mmu.ac.uk