Who can apply for an EGS Doctoral degree?
Applicants for the Doctoral programme should normally hold a Master's degree (or equivalent qualification) with a strong academic record.
Prospective students are encouraged to review the research interests of academic staff on the departmental website and identify potential supervisors whose expertise aligns with their proposed area of research. The department can only admit students where appropriate supervisory expertise and capacity exist.
What does an EGS Doctoral degree involve?
The Doctoral degree is a research-intensive programme in which students undertake an original research project under the supervision of an academic staff member in the Department of Environmental and Geographical Science.
The primary outcome of the degree is a doctoral thesis of up to 80,000 words, which is examined by three external examiners. Through the research process, doctoral candidates are expected to make an original contribution to knowledge and demonstrate the ability to undertake independent research at an advanced level.
Within six months of registration, candidates are required to present a research proposal to the department. The proposal should outline the research problem, aims and objectives, theoretical or conceptual context, and proposed methodology. Proposal presentations provide an opportunity for staff and postgraduate students to offer constructive feedback that can be used to strengthen the final proposal.
Following the presentation, candidates are expected to revise the proposal in response to feedback received. The proposal must be approved through the relevant departmental and faculty processes before doctoral candidature can be confirmed.
Projects involving human participants must obtain ethical clearance from the Faculty of Science Research Ethics Committee before data collection can commence. Students should discuss ethical requirements with their supervisor at an early stage and ensure that the ethics approval process is incorporated into their research timeline.
Information on the ethics application process can be found here:
https://science.uct.ac.za/research-ethics
What is the application process?
Information on admission requirements, application deadlines, required documentation, academic references, and the application process for Dissertation Master's and PhD degrees can be found under the Degrees and Courses section of the departmental website.