Journalism PhD

The Journalism and Political Communication research cluster, which includes staff and postgraduate researchers, is at the forefront of some cutting-edge research in the subject areas. Much of the research is interdisciplinary, and we work closely with colleagues in the Department of Social and Political Sciences and the various research institutes at the College of Law, Arts and Social Sciences. We also have excellent connections with working journalists, politicians, and activists beyond the university.

Our latest research highlights our expertise, and we are particularly interested in attracting PhD candidates in the following areas:

• Fake news, disinformation, and conspiracy theories (Anita Howarth)
• AI-generated images and content in news and political communication (Anita Howarth)
• Reporting migration (Billur Ozgul and Anita Howarth)
• The role of images in journalism and political communication (Billur Ozgul and Anita Howarth)
• Issues of social justice, including poverty, hunger, and asylum (Anita Howarth)
• Health communication (Billur Ozgul)
• Alternative and resistance media (Billur Ozgul)
• Environmental communication (Anita Howarth)
• Women in politics (Victor Jatula)
• Media in Nigeria (Victor Jatula)

We also have specialist expertise in Europe, Africa, Turkey, and the USA.

You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour.

Our researchers create knowledge and advance understanding, and equip versatile doctoral researchers with the confidence to apply what they have learnt for the benefit of society. Find out more about working with the Supervisory Team.

You are welcome to approach your potential supervisor directly to discuss your research interests. Search for expert supervisors for your chosen field of research.

In addition to our areas of research interest, these are some of the topics we have supervised in the past or are currently supervising:

• Infographics and journalistic cultures
• British journalists and the intelligence services
• Arab media representation of the internal Palestinian conflict: A comparative analysis of news reporting
• News agencies in the age of social media
• Modern slavery: A critical case study of US media-policy interactions on human trafficking
• CNN’s coverage of terrorism against religious targets
• Media and identity in Jordan

The process of applying for a PhD in journalism or political communication at Brunel University of London

Step 1: Find a potential supervisor

Look at our staff profiles to see who might be best suited to act as the primary supervisor for your research based on the topics listed above or broader research areas in journalism and political communication. Then, you are strongly advised to contact them directly to have a preliminary discussion on your ideas to ascertain whether they have the capacity and expertise to supervise your project and, if they do, how you might develop your initial thoughts into a research proposal. At this stage, all you will receive is a potential expression of interest. Alternatively, you might be redirected to another staff member who could supervise the project or be informed that we cannot help.

Step 2: Write a formal academic proposal

Write a formal academic proposal for independent research, then email it to your potential supervisor, who will provide feedback on how you might improve it.

Step 3: Improve your proposal and apply via the PGR admissions portal

Step 4: Interview panel

If the panel considers your revised proposal sufficiently robust for a PhD, there is spare capacity to take you on, and a supervisory team is available to do so, you will be invited to an interview panel with an independent chair. The panel will decide collectively whether to make an offer. The final decision on whether to do so lies with the Head of Department, who will do so considering the proposal's rigour, the panel's recommendations and an assessment of whether there is sufficient expertise and capacity to supervise your project.

Step 5: The PGR Admissions Office will communicate the decision as to whether to accept or reject your application

Step 6: If you are accepted onto the programme

All our post-graduate researchers are assigned a supervisory team comprising a primary supervisor and a second supervisor who may also serve as a research development advisor.

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Find out about what progress might look like at each stage of study here: Research degree progress structure.

Research support

Excellent research support and training

The Graduate School provides a range of personal, professional and career development opportunities. This includes workshops, online training, coaching and events, to enable you to enhance your professional profile, refine your skills, and plan your next career steps as part of the Researcher Development Programme. The researcher development programme (RDP) offers workshops and seminars in a range of areas including progression, research management, research dissemination, and careers and personal development. You will also be offered a number of online, self-study courses on BBL, including Research Integrity, Research Skills Toolkit, Research Methods in Literature Review and Principles of Research Methods.

Library services

Brunel's Library is open 24 hours a day, has 400,000 books and 250,000 ebooks, and an annual budget of almost £2m. Subject information Specialists train students in the latest technology, digital literacy, and digital dissemination of scholarly outputs. As well as the physical resources available in the Library, we also provide access to a wealth of electronic resources. These include databases, journals and e-books. Access to these resources has been bought by the Library through subscription and is limited to current staff and students.

Dedicated research support staff provide guidance and training on open access, research data management, copyright and other research integrity issues.

Find out more: Brunel Library

Support from your department and supervisory team

You will have regular supervision sessions every four or six weeks, and progression reviews every nine months if you are full-time or 18 months if you are part-time. As part of the progression review, you will be required to submit a substantive piece of work that demonstrates suitable progress has been made, and the review will take the form of a discussion with experts in the department who are independent in the sense that they have had no involvement in your PhD. The decision on whether to progress as a student is made at the college level.

The Department of Social and Political Sciences also provides a programme of about 35 seminars for post-graduate researchers organised into various units. First-years are required to attend, and subsequent years are welcome to do so as well. The indicative content, which may change from year to year depending on the needs of the students, is broadly as follows:

• Unit 1: Research principles and approaches for your PhD and after
• Unit 2: A qualitative toolbox for researching human participants.
• Unit 3: A qualitative toolbox for analysing texts, images, and narratives.
• Unit 4: Social, historical, and policy sources and analysis.
• Unit 5: Principles of Quantitative Research
• Unit 6: Concluding unit: Selecting tools, delivering conference papers, and getting published

You will receive tailored careers support during your PhD and for up to three years after you complete your research at Brunel. We encourage you to actively engage in career planning and managing your personal development right from the start of your research, even (or perhaps especially) if you don't yet have a career path in mind. Our careers provision includes online information and advice, one-to-one consultations and a range of events and workshops. The Professional Development Centre runs a varied programme of careers events throughout the academic year. These include industry insight sessions, recruitment fairs, employer pop-ups and skills workshops.

In addition, where available, you may be able to undertake some paid work as we recognise that teaching and learning support duties represent an important professional and career development opportunity.

Find out more.