Self-funded PhDs

About the project

Self-funded PhDs give you the chance to work with our established research academics in an area we have identified as a priority for research. You will be able to select from a range of pre-defined research topics.

If none of the advertised opportunities are right for you, you can also create your own research project. To do this, the project would need to be developed as a proposal and would need to be discussed with a potential supervisor before you apply. This is to ensure your research area aligns with our research focus. We recommend that you look at our research centres and groups for our current research areas and review our guidance on how to write a research proposal .

How long a PhD takes

A PhD usually takes three years full-time and up to six years part-time. For self-funded PhDs, there are a range of options that may be available to you to help you fund your PhD.

How to apply

Contact the project supervisor(s) directly via the details on their staff profile, to find out more about project availability and how you can apply.

Current opportunities

These are the self-funded PhDs available across our Colleges:

• Excellence and expertise in further education teachers’ professional formation
• Understanding interfirm relationships in the era of digital transformation
• Antecedents, outcomes, and mechanisms of employee and leader proactivity
• Blockchain Technology: How to unblock the chain for improving business sustainability and transparency

Centre for Business Improvement

• Pro-environmental capabilities in SMEs
• The role of co-creation in rural town centre identities
• Behaviour change for sustainable tourism and improved wellbeing and quality of life
• Place-based sustainability leadership

Centre for Supply Chain Improvement

• Exploring the compatibility of lean manufacturing methods and circular economy practices
• Digital supply chain strategy
• Diplomacy and political discontent
• Dealing with the Past: Exploring new pathways of accountability for colonial-era atrocities
• Chinese and global financial integration

Digital and Material Artistic Research Centre

• Going viral: narratives, metaphors and symbols of a pandemic
• Reaching new audiences in the curation, exhibition and production of artists' film and video
• Public sculpture of post-war Derbyshire artist Ronald Pope: modernism, regionalism, civic engagement
• Advanced CFD Modelling of Port Fuel Hydrogen Injection for Locomotive Engines
• Making microcontinents: Determining the role of the lithosphere and mantle in controlling plate motions, microplate rifting events, and subsequent distributions of resources

Data Science Research Centre

• Enhancing video game artificial intelligence via machine learning and evolutionary strategic interactions
• Dynamic edge artificial intelligence models to empower Internet of Things-based systems
• Artificial intelligence model security
• Detecting and responding to adversarial tools
• Smart contracts for access monitoring

Psychology Research Groups

Everything you need to know about how to join us for your PhD.

Our studentships provide funding and financial support for exceptional students looking to study a PhD.

Find out what the tuition fees are for MPhils and PhDs at Derby, as well as what sources of funding there are to help pay for them.

• Exploring the role of emptiness meditation for improving health and wellbeing
• Cyberbullying in adolescents with an acquired brain injury
• Understanding the experiences of those involved in image-based sexual abuse

Research areas