phd dissertation biography

How to Write a Good Academic Biography (Part 1)

When your journal article gets accepted or you are preparing for a public presentation, you will often be asked for a short academic biography. For many people, these academic bios are more difficult to write than a dissertation. How do you sum up yourself and your work in 3-5 sentences? What do you need to include? What should you leave out?

What You Should Do

• Start with your full name followed by your current position, your general interests, and your current project, keeping them all very brief.
• If you are within a year of receiving a prestigious award, mention that as well.
• Finally, finish with a sentence that’s personal: add a hobby, a pet’s name, the city you live in—whatever you are comfortable with that is personal but not too private.

What You Should Avoid

• Avoid speaking in the first person, i.e., don’t use “I.”
• Don’t divulge details beyond your current position.
• In a longer bio of multiple paragraphs, you may add more awards and information about your master’s and bachelor’s degrees, but not in a short bio. Moreover, don’t add anything that happened before grad school—including your place of birth. For example:

Hi! My name is Scott. I was originally born in Vermont and now I’m a professor at North Yankee University in Fargone, New York (in upstate New York). I study antelopes’ migration patterns and their impact of native grain growth. My interest in antelopes began as a teenager when I first saw one in the wild. I did my undergrad degree in biology at SUNY and my masters and UCLA and my PhD in Forestry at Hunter College.

Related: Finished drafting your academic biography and heading for an international conference? Check out this post now!

The above example is far too casual and Scott’s work and current position are overshadowed by all the other random details. This can be written in a much better way:

Scott Sampson is a professor of Wildlife Biology at North Yankee University. His work focuses specifically on the migration patterns of antelope and their impact on the growth of native grain. His favorite place to do research in his backyard, which opens to the Akron National Forest.

This improvised version is concise, relevant, and makes Scott’s bio appear professional while giving a short description of his personal details.

Longer Bios

For longer bios, follow the same basic rules, but go into a bit more depth about your work, your education, and your future projects or interests. You may also consider adding a line about your immediate family. But as always, leave the personal details for a short and friendly mention at the end of the bio.

Mostly, your bio will be used by someone to introduce you at a conference or public event so if you write your bio using these tips, you will help them give a smooth and accurate introduction. Remember that the bio is the first thing that people know about you so pack it full of the most important things about yourself!

If you would like to know more about different formats of academic biography, read the next article in this series!

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How to Write a Good Academic Biography (Part 2)

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PhD Student Bios

In addition to their studies, doctoral candidates are involved in many aspects of the school. Among other activities, they hold Research or Teaching Fellowships and organize speaker series, conferences, and journals.

Students generally take courses their first two years, and are engaged in research and teaching for at least two more years. After their fourth year, students may or may not remain in residency; many travel to pursue their research, either in the US or abroad.

Click here for recent PhD graduates.

Salma’s research is supported by the Agha Khan program at Harvard University, the International Journal of Urban and Regional Research (IJURR), and Harvard University’s Center for African Research. She holds a Master of Science degree in urban development and planning from the Bartlett, University College London and a Bachelor of Architecture from the American University in Cairo. Before starting her Ph.D. at Harvard university, she worked as an urban planner in Cairo in collaboration with several NGOs, international development organizations, governmental agencies and local municipalities.

[email protected]

Hugo Betting  is an architect and a third-year Ph.D. student. His research explores the entanglement of architecture, science and environment in history, through texts and objects in the nineteenth and twentieth-century North Atlantic.

Integrating architectural history into the framework of cultural history, his current work examines how technology bears both practical and symbolic functions in nature’s exploitation, imitation, reproduction, and “recovery”; how “nature” was used as a moral, social, racial, organizational, and formal reference in the production of the built environment; or, in other words, how nature, human representations, and human productions interact.

His work on the idea of nature’s recovery at the Crystal Palace was presented at the annual Mahindra Humanities Center Graduate Student Conference at Harvard University. His forthcoming paper on the role of natural formations at the Riverside settlement in Illinois will be presented this November at the Symposium of Urban Design History and Theory, held in Delft.

Prior to arriving at Harvard, Hugo completed a Licence’s and a Master’s Degree from Paris La Villette School of Architecture and worked for various architecture studios in Paris. In 2021 and 2022, he received the Arthur Sachs Scholarship.

William Conroy  is a PhD candidate in urban studies and planning at Harvard University. His ongoing dissertation project articulates a theorization of the role of urbanization in the reproduction of capitalist society, doing so with reference to the history of American anti-imperial thought after 1928.

William has presented his academic work at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Geographers and at the Urban Affairs Association Conference, among many other fora. He took his PhD qualifying exams under the supervision of Neil Brenner, Katrina Forrester, and Walter Johnson, with his major exam developing a “reproductionist approach” to the historical geographies of capital, and his minor exam engaging the topic of race and the urban process in the imperial United States after 1870. His own research on those themes has appeared or is forthcoming in leading journals of urban studies, geography, and socio-spatial theory, including Antipode, Environment and Planning A, Theory, Culture & Society, and more. (For more information and publication details, please visit: https://harvard.academia.edu/WilliamConroy)

William has a BA (summa cum laude) from Northwestern University, an MPhil (with distinction) from the University of Oxford, and an AM from Harvard University, where he was named a Presidential Fellow. He is a Research Affiliate at the University of Chicago’s Urban Theory Lab. Prior to graduate school, William worked for several environmental organizations, including as a Princeton in Asia Fellow.

Yazmín M. Crespo Claudio , a Puerto Rican architect and educator, is co-founder/director of taller Creando Sin Encargos (tCSE), a Cambridge/San Juan-based collective working towards socio-spatial design for urban justice since 2012. Crespo-Claudio is a Lecturer and Ph.D. candidate in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Planning at Harvard University. She completed a secondary field in Film and Visual Studies and is working on a certificate in Latin American Studies. Her scholarship addresses the relationship between architecture, education, media, and territory, focusing on pedagogical experiments of architecture in Latin America and the Caribbean. She holds a Master in Design Studies in History and Theory of Architecture from Harvard GSD, a Master of Architecture in Urban Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, and a Bachelor’s in Environmental Design from the Universidad de Puerto Rico’s School of Architecture.

Before coming to Harvard, Crespo-Claudio was the Chair of the Department of Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Interior Design and Assistant Professor at the Universidad Ana G. Méndez in Puerto Rico. She has also taught at Harvard GSD; New York Institute of Technology; Universidad Politécnica de Puerto Rico; Elisava Escola Universitària de Disseny i Enginyeria de Barcelona; Universidad de Puerto Rico; Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico where she was a Professor and Coordinator of the Bachelor of Arts in Design; and Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning. Her writings have been published in, among others,  De Arquitectura, Bitácora Urbano Territorial, Arquine, Polimorfo, ACSA and UIA proceedings, in the books Aprender Arquitectura by Arquine, Repository: 49 Methods and Assignments for Writing Urban Places by COST Action CA181126, and Placemaking with Children and Youth by Louise Chawla et al (co-authored), among others.

She has presented her work at several venues including the CAA Annual Conference, LASA Conference, Docomomo International Conference, CEISAL International Conference, Jornadas de Investigación Género, Arquitectura, Diseño y Urbanismo FADU UBA, World Congress of Architects UIA, Participatory Design Conference, ACSA International Conference , among others. Her work has been exhibited at the 13 th International Architecture Biennale São Paulo (tCSE), Participatory Design Conference Newcastle upon Tyne (tCSE), Storefront for Art and Architecture NYC (tCSE), Kirkland Gallery Cambridge, AIA Puerto Rico , Museu Marítim de Barcelona , and the curation of several art, architecture, and design exhibits. Crespo-Claudio’s work has been recognized with various awards including the  Edita Technical Chamber of Greece at the XIX Congress UIA, and as an Associate Designer at Perkins Eastman the World Architecture Award 2009,  and the  AIA NY Merit Award  for the TKTS Booth in New York.

Crespo-Claudio is the recipient of the American Association University Women (AAUW) Dissertation Fellowship 2023-24. In 2022, She was awarded the Harvard Frederick Sheldon Fellowship and the Jorge Paulo Lemann Fellowship, and the Racial, GSD Equity, and Anti-Racism Fund for Archive IN/IN: International Intersectional Feminism in 2023. Her research has been supported by the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, and Harvard GSD.

Yazmín M. Crespo Claudio

Samira holds a Master of Architecture from University of Toronto and a Master of Science from University of Michigan. She joined the design discipline after five years of medical studies in Iran. Prior to joining Harvard, Samira taught at University of Miami and practiced in Toronto. Her writings have appeared in Winterthur Portfolio (The University of Chicago Press), Thresholds Journal (MIT Press), Informa , Inflection Journal , and Centre , among others. She has exhibited her work at MIT (Keller Gallery), Fashion Art Toronto, University of Texas at Austin, and Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism at Carleton University.

Taylor holds a Bachelor of Architectural Studies and M.Arch from the University of Waterloo and an MA in Urban Planning from Harvard University. Taylor was a lecturer at Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (2021–23) where she has led graduate classes on urban history, planning theory, and local climate governance. She has editorial experience at Log journal, The Architectural Review, and Harvard GSD Publications. Taylor has previously received a Canada Weatherhead Doctoral Fellowship, a Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative Doctoral Fellowship, and a SSHRC Canada Doctoral Fellowship. She is currently a Graduate Student Associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.

Phillip frequently writes about architecture, art, and design. His writing has appeared in  Harvard Design Magazine, Volume, Metropolis, The New York Times, and other publications.  Recent projects include a genealogy of “creaturely” architecture in  Inscriptions: Architecture Before Speech,  edited by K. Michael Hays and Andrew Holder (Harvard University Press), and The Art of Joining: Designing the Universal Connector  (Leipzig: Spector Books), a pocketbook anthology of original research on the architect Konrad Wachsmann. He is a member of the editorial board of  Architect’s Newspaper  and editor of New York Review of Architecture.  In 2020, Phillip co-founded  a83 , a gallery and organization in Soho, New York, with a three-part mission to exhibit, publish, and promote experimental projects in architecture, art, and design.

Phillip completed his Master of Architecture degree at Princeton University, where he graduated with the certificate in Media + Modernity, and received the School of Architecture History and Theory Prize. He received a Master’s degree from Harvard University in 2019. He also holds a professional Bachelor of Architecture degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was awarded the Louis F Valentour Fellowship, the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation Prize for Architecture History, and the AIA Henry Adams Medal. He has practiced in numerous roles with architecture firms and organizations in the United States and Europe, including OMA/Rem Koolhaas, MOS Architects of New York, and C-Lab at Columbia University. In 2018, Phillip was a fellow of the Bauhaus Global Modernism Lab in Dessau, Germany. In 2019, he received a Graham Foundation grant to support his work on an English-language translation of Nicolas Schöffer’s 1969 urban manifesto  La ville cybernétique.

[email protected] phillipdenny.com

Hayley’s current research examines developments in early modern theatre architecture and stage design, considering such topics and themes as the ways in which architecture and architectural thinking were transformed by the dramatic arts and became increasingly tied to other modes of rhetorical address practiced on stage; cultures of secrecy and rivalry characteristic of the profession of ‘scenic designer’ and among practitioners of esoteric theatre-technological knowledge; yet undecided relations between the role and reputation of stage managers called “il corago” or impresari and military commanders responsible for overseeing dynamic theatres of war; scenographic theory and its precarious relationship to practice; aesthetic and spatial programs for auditoria; and the pan-European legacy of architectural dynasties active in theatre and set design, including the families Galliari, Quaglio, and Galli da Bibiena.

Hayley’s interest in theatre architecture began following her visit to the Teatro Goldoni in Florence, Italy, in 2015. Equally inspired by the writings and life of the theatre’s namesake, that of the Venetian playwright Carlo Goldoni, Hayley was inspired to complete her master’s thesis at McGill University on the role and representation of a topic much debated in Goldoni’s creative work: Commedia dell’arte , being a form of Renaissance comic theatre with crude plots and characters like the gnocchi-loving scoundrel Punch ( Pulcinella ). While completing her degree, Hayley spent time as a Research Library Reader at the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles, California, where she consulted copious visual materials from both the Italian Theatre Prints Collection and the Stage and Theatre Design Collection. Prior to matriculating to Harvard in 2020, Hayley completed a three-month research residency at the Fondazione Giorgio Cini’s Institute of Theatre and Opera in Venice, Italy.

For the 2023-24 academic year, Hayley will fulfill the role of MDes Research Tutor in the Narratives Program and will partake in a digital exhibition project with the Harvard Art Museums. The exhibition, which aims to shed light on the material culture of the Crusades, will feature over one-hundred individual objects from the Museums’ collections.

Tamer is an associate member of the Spatial Ethnography Lab, a research collaborative co-founded and led by anthropologist Vyjayanthi Rao. He is also a research member of Neil Brenner’s Urban Theory Lab at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, in which he works on the spatial and political dimensions of extractive economies and large-scale water and energy infrastructure in the restructuring of North Africa. Tamer previously worked as a research assistant in the Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure, focusing on water and energy infrastructure in the US. Furthermore, reflecting his shared interests in critical geography and environmental anthropology, he was awarded the Penny White summer grant to conduct fieldwork in Egypt, investigating the infrastructural landscapes of coastal engineering works in the Nile Delta.

Tamer holds a Master in Design Studies in Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), a Master of Landscape Architecture from FH Anhalt, Germany; a Post-professional Certificate in GIS and Environment from Salford University, UK; and a Bachelor of Architecture from Faculty of Fine Arts, Egypt. Tamer has previously worked as landscape architect in Germany and Egypt, and as an environmental researcher at the Center for the Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage, Bibliotheca Alexandrina.

Before joining the PhD program, between 2020 and 2021, he held the position of Director of Urbanism of the Ministry of Housing of Peru, where he led the development and passing into law of the 2021 National Urban Reform. Prior to this, Jose Carlos worked as an associate and senior associate at the Lima office of Baker McKenzie law firm. He has also served as legal advisor to the World Bank and to the Metropolitan Institute of Planning of Lima.

He has worked as professor of Property Law at the Catholic University Law School and has also taught seminars on urbanism at the schools of architecture of Catholic University and the National University of Engineering in Lima, Peru.

Jose Carlos holds a Master in Urban Planning from Harvard University and is also a licensed lawyer graduated from the School of Law of Catholic University of Peru.

Morgan holds an MPhil in Architecture and Urban Studies with distinction from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree in International Politics and Security Studies from Georgetown University. Formerly a journalist and editor, her work has appeared in The Nation, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Mic, Popular Mechanics, Ploughshares, and Smart Cities Dive.

Charlie holds a Master in Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a B.A. in Art History and English from Williams College. Prior to earning his Masters degree, Charlie worked as a strategist at the New York design consultancy 2×4 before joining the GSD’s Office for Urbanization (OFU). There, he contributed to design research projects on mass transit, climate change adaptation, and new town planning. With Charles Waldheim and OFU, Charlie co-authored 50 Species-Towns , a 2022 publication that presents a speculative approach to rural urbanization in China. He also produces the GSD’s Future of the American City conversation series. Charlie lives in Somerville, MA with his wife Catherine and son Paul.

His recent publications include a paper (with Neil Brenner) on the relationship between processes of extended urbanization, neoliberal agro-industrial restructuring, and the political ecologies of emergent infectious disease; an essay on work and the labor process in the global construction industry; and a paper (with Ayan Meer) on the conceptual convergences between critical agrarian studies and urban theoretical scholarship on planetary urbanization. His broader interests include geographical political economy, political ecology, critical urban theory, state theory, and the historical geography of capitalism from the nineteenth century to the present.

Swarnabh is a Research Affiliate at the Urban Theory Lab, formerly based at the GSD, currently based in the Division of Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. His research has been supported by the Harvard GSAS Graduate Society, the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative, the Weatherhead Center, and the IJURR Foundation. His work has appeared in Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, Dialogues in Human Geography, Urban Studies, and The Avery Review, among other publications.

Swarnabh holds a Master of Philosophy in Urban Studies (with distinction) from the University of Cambridge where he studied as a Bass Scholar and a Master of Architecture from Yale University. Before coming to Harvard, he worked for several years at Diller Scofidio + Renfro in New York City where he was involved in projects spanning art, media, and architecture.

www.swarnabhghosh.com

Hannah holds a Master of Arts with distinction in the Archaeology of Buildings from the University of York and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Williams College. Before her PhD, she was a resident fellow at the Preservation Society of Newport County, where she researched patron-architect relationships in late-19 th century America. She also previously worked as a consultant for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations across the U.S. Her dissertation research has been supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Renaissance Society of America, the Yale Center for British Art, and the North American Conference on British Studies. She is currently the Robert H. and Clarice Smith Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in Architecture Engineering from The University of Jordan, where she was awarded the Issa Hassan Abu Al Ragheb Award for Academic Excellence. She also holds a Master of Arts in Architectural History with distinction from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. Her master’s thesis focused on the architect’s agency and the politics of knowledge in the “digital generative architecture” discourse.

She has worked as a visiting lecturer at Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan, where she taught a class on the theories and applications of Building Information Modeling (BIM). She was also a research consultant at Studio-X Amman, run by Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation and the Columbia Global Centers, where her research focused on the history of urban planning in the city of Amman and the different digital technologies used in mapping the urban change and their influence on the ways the city has been represented and narrated. In 2019, Hanan participated in the Global Modernism curatorial research residency at the Bauhaus Foundation in Dessau, Germany, and edited Handle with Care: Unpacking a Bulky Table, an anthology that looks at a table designed by Marcel Breuer as a case study, investigating the incorporation of everyday objects into the design canons. Hanan’s doctoral research has been supported by the Canadian Centre for Architecture, the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The Weatherhead Center, and The Charles Babbage Institute. In 2022, she was named ACADIA (The Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture) inaugural cultural history fellow.

Photo credit: Portrait by Enrique R. Aguilar for MENTES vol. 2, 2022.

Gabriel was Assistant Curator for the 17th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia 2021. Past curated exhibitions include “Walls of Air” (the Brazilian Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale) and “Housing+” (the 3rd Biennial Exhibit of the MIT L. Center for Advanced Urbanism). His recent books include: The World as an Architectural Project (MIT Press, 2020); 8 Reactions for Afterwards (RioBooks, 2019); and Walls of Air: Brazilian Pavilion 2018 (Bienal de São Paulo, 2018).

Graduated from the Master of Science in Urban Design program at MIT, Gabriel has held research positions at the School of Architecture and Planning, the Leventhal Center for Advanced Urbanism and the Senseable City Lab, and taught graduate-level seminars, workshops and studios at the same school.

For his PhD at Harvard, Gabriel is looking at the history of urbanization in the Amazon basin. His research interest suggests that the way politics and power got spatialized in that region has defined the framework through which we conceive of and relate to the Amazon, and that a new reading of it can, in turn, inform the way we understand and address broader urbanization processes as well as the responses from our design disciplines.

[email protected] gabrielkozlowski.com tomorrowanew.org

Anny has a background and strong interest in archives, knowledge infrastructures, and material history. Her professional experience includes work in special collections libraries, including Frances Loeb Library’s Special Collections and Houghton Library, where she supported their exhibitions, communications, and public programs. Prior to her graduate studies, she worked on communications and publications at Snøhetta, and has been a writer and editor at various architecture and landscape architecture firms for over 6 years. She has been an invited speaker in courses at the Syracuse University School of Architecture, Yale School of Architecture, Harvard GSD, the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, and has edited and been published in publications including the New York Review of Architecture , Failed Architecture , POOL , Constructs , and volume 1 . She holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Brown University.

Sunghwan earned his Master in Design Studies (MDes) degree in Energy and Environment from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2021. He received the Dean’s Merit Scholarship during his study and his master’s thesis, entitled Controlling Wind Pressure around Building by Multiangle Ventilation Louver for Higher Natural Ventilation Potential , was awarded to Daniel L. Schodek Award for Technology and Sustainability.

Before joining the Harvard community, Sunghwan double majored in Interior Architecture & Built Environment and Architecture & Architectural Engineering at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. After receiving his bachelor’s degree, Sunghwan worked as a construction engineer at Samsung Construction and Trading company for six years. His invaluable experiences with building an airport in Mongolia and constructing a residential complex in Seoul profoundly shaped his research ideas and motivated him to contribute to the field of architecture.

In his dissertation, Adam researches the mid-twentieth century entanglement of wartime policies, government agencies, private sector collaborations, and mass media technologies that led to the production of military “mock villages.” Constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in collaboration with architects, landscape architects, and Hollywood scenographers, mock villages were—and remain—elaborate stage sets where the US military rehearses combat operations before conducting them in actual theaters of war. His dissertation focuses on the Pacific Theater and especially the western United States where, in the 1940s, mock villages emerged as a key military technology in the war between the US and Japan. A goal of this research is to demonstrate how the invention of a novel form of architecture—the military mock village—coincided with the production of new forms of violence and destruction that persist today. In addition to the Safra Center, his project has been supported by the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and the Graham Foundation.

Before coming to Harvard, Adam practiced for nearly a decade in several design offices including Olson Kundig Architects, Allied Works Architecture, and Snøhetta, where he was the director of post-occupancy research. His writing can be found in Thresholds , The Avery Review , and Log, among others.

Sarah holds both a Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania School of Design, where the focus of her research was conflict between the collective desire to memorialize and the protective impulse to stigmatize, sanitize, or obliterate sites with traumatic or violent associations.

Prior to her enrollment at Harvard, Sarah was a public historian for the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission where she wrote about lesser-known episodes in New York City’s past: female reformers’ creation of the first purpose-built kindergarten in Brooklyn, the adaptation of Civil War-era manufactories by Abstract Expressionist artists for use as studios, and Redemption-era racism through the lens of Tin Pan Alley’s 1890s-1910s popular music businesses.

Before joining the Ph.D. program, Miranda taught advanced studio courses as a Visiting Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture. At Virginia Tech she also developed a course on social mapping and GIS with a regional focus in Appalachia, which received support and recognition from other departments at the university and won the ACSA / Temple Hoyne Buell Center’s 2023 Course Development Prize in Architecture, Climate Change, and Society.

Before teaching, she worked as an architect at RODE Architects in Boston, MA on the largest supportive housing project north of New York City, as well as flood-resilient, Passive House, and community-oriented projects. She has also worked at firms in Boston and New York specializing in affordable housing, historic preservation, and adaptive reuse.

Caroline Filice Smith is doctoral candidate in Urban Planning and the ‘22-‘23 Democracy Doctoral Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance at the Harvard Kennedy School. Their work focuses on racialized histories of urban design across the US and its empire, histories of activist planner-architects, and reparative and abolitionist models of urban design. Caroline’s dissertation project explores the emergence of “participatory planning” in the mid-twentieth century. Through a focus on federally funded—yet activist led—community action programs in the US, Caroline’s research examines how the Black Power movement, the War on Poverty, and models of community development originally designed to quell insurgency abroad, intersected to form the foundation of a now central paradigm of US urban planning practice. This work touches on issues of democratic social engineering, cold war imperialism, 20 th  century anti-racist urban uprisings, and struggles for self-determination across the US.

In addition to their dissertation, Caroline teaches and conducts research as part of the  Urban Design and the Color Line  project and has recently completed an anti-racist planning toolkit with the Highline Network and the Urban Institute ( link ), and a report for the Architectural League of NY on landscape and community-led, post-coal futures for Appalachia.  They are a Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative doctoral fellow, having previously served as an Irving Innovation Fellow, and their work has been funded by the Graham Foundation, the Knight Foundation, the Warren Center for American Studies, the Canadian Center for Architecture, and the Harvard Mellon Urban Initiative. Caroline holds a Master of Architecture in Urban Design with Distinction from the GSD, where they were awarded both the Thesis Prize and Academic Excellence Award in Urban Design – additionally, Caroline holds a Bachelor of Architecture from Virginia Tech. Prior to coming to Harvard, Caroline spent five years in professional architectural practice – most of which was spent working for UNStudio in their Shanghai office, and less of which was spent practicing in Los Angeles where they were actively involved in the Occupy movement.

Prior to doctoral studies, Sam worked in urban science-policy engagement for a Sustainability Research Network supported by the US National Science Foundation and as a research associate with the global cities research team at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Professionally, he has contributed to reports commissioned by UN Environment, the World Bank, and NATO. His scholarly work has been published in  Global Environmental Change .

Sam holds master’s degrees in urban planning and Latin American studies from the University of Texas at Austin. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from Tulane University.

Eldra has presented work at conferences organized by the Southeast Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians, Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, the European Architectural History Network, and the Première Université d’été de programme STARACO (STAtus, RAce, et COuleur) at the University of Nantes.

Currently, she is a lecturer and principal advisor to the MDesign Historic Preservation Program for the Department of Architecture at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Additionally, she was the Nettie Seabrooks Graduate Curatorial Intern in European Art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, where she assisted museum curators with an upcoming exhibition entitled “Color of Faith.” Eldra has taught courses at the GSD in Western Architectural history and theory, from the Renaissance to the present. Before coming to Harvard, Eldra was an architectural design reviewer in the District of Columbia Office of Planning. Eldra has an MS in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania and a BS from Morgan State University.

Angela Wheeler is a sixth-year PhD candidate and graduate associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. Her dissertation examines historic neighborhood conservation in the postwar Soviet Union and its development as an urban planning tool, site of transnational exchange, and arena for local identity politics. She is broadly interested in the history of heritage conservation movements, experimental and activist approaches to heritage, and the role of preservation pedagogy in design curricula.

After working with the International Council of Monuments and Sites as a Fulbright grantee in Tbilisi and conducting HUD surveys of Hawaii public housing, she completed an MSc in Historic Preservation at Columbia University. Her thesis, Socialist in Form, National in Content , investigated official attempts to reconcile historic preservation and postmodern aesthetics with Soviet ideology in the Brezhnev era.

Angela’s recent projects include a Graham Foundation grant for “Indigenous Outsiders: Endangered Islamic Heritage in the Republic of Georgia,” an exhibition and publication documenting the wooden mosques of Georgia’s Adjaran Muslim community. Her chapter on mosques of Russia and the Caucasus appeared in Rizzoli’s Mosques: Splendors of Islam (2017) and her book, the Tbilisi volume for DOM’s Architectural Guides series (2023), offers the first comprehensive English-language guide to the city since glasnost. Angela has taught graduate and undergraduate courses on architecture and urban history at Amherst College and the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Ziwei holds a Master in Landscape Architecture, a Master in Design Studies in Urbanism, Landscape, Ecology from the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD), and a Bachelor of Architecture from Southeast University, China. She has also experience as an urban designer for one year for Stoss Landscape Urbanism, where she participated in projects in China, the U.S., and the United Arab Emirates.

How to Write a Dissertation: Step-by-Step Guide

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• Doctoral students write and defend dissertations to earn their degrees.
• Most dissertations range from 100-300 pages, depending on the field.
• Taking a step-by-step approach can help students write their dissertations.

Whether you're considering a doctoral program or you recently passed your comprehensive exams, you've probably wondered how to write a dissertation. Researching, writing, and defending a dissertation represents a major step in earning a doctorate.

But what is a dissertation exactly? A dissertation is an original work of scholarship that contributes to the field. Doctoral candidates often spend 1-3 years working on their dissertations. And many dissertations top 200 or more pages.

Starting the process on the right foot can help you complete a successful dissertation. Breaking down the process into steps may also make it easier to finish your dissertation.

How to Write a Dissertation in 12 Steps

A dissertation demonstrates mastery in a subject. But how do you write a dissertation? Here are 12 steps to successfully complete a dissertation.

Choose a Topic

It sounds like an easy step, but choosing a topic will play an enormous role in the success of your dissertation. In some fields, your dissertation advisor will recommend a topic. In other fields, you'll develop a topic on your own.

Read recent work in your field to identify areas for additional scholarship. Look for holes in the literature or questions that remain unanswered.

After coming up with a few areas for research or questions, carefully consider what's feasible with your resources. Talk to your faculty advisor about your ideas and incorporate their feedback.

Conduct Preliminary Research

Before starting a dissertation, you'll need to conduct research. Depending on your field, that might mean visiting archives, reviewing scholarly literature , or running lab tests.

Use your preliminary research to hone your question and topic. Take lots of notes, particularly on areas where you can expand your research.

Read Secondary Literature

A dissertation demonstrates your mastery of the field. That means you'll need to read a large amount of scholarship on your topic. Dissertations typically include a literature review section or chapter.

Create a list of books, articles, and other scholarly works early in the process, and continue to add to your list. Refer to the works cited to identify key literature. And take detailed notes to make the writing process easier.

Write a Research Proposal

In most doctoral programs, you'll need to write and defend a research proposal before starting your dissertation.

The length and format of your proposal depend on your field. In many fields, the proposal will run 10-20 pages and include a detailed discussion of the research topic, methodology, and secondary literature.

Your faculty advisor will provide valuable feedback on turning your proposal into a dissertation.

Research, Research, Research

Doctoral dissertations make an original contribution to the field, and your research will be the basis of that contribution.

The form your research takes will depend on your academic discipline. In computer science, you might analyze a complex dataset to understand machine learning. In English, you might read the unpublished papers of a poet or author. In psychology, you might design a study to test stress responses. And in education, you might create surveys to measure student experiences.

Work closely with your faculty advisor as you conduct research. Your advisor can often point you toward useful resources or recommend areas for further exploration.

Look for Dissertation Examples

Writing a dissertation can feel overwhelming. Most graduate students have written seminar papers or a master's thesis. But a dissertation is essentially like writing a book.

Looking at examples of dissertations can help you set realistic expectations and understand what your discipline wants in a successful dissertation. Ask your advisor if the department has recent dissertation examples. Or use a resource like ProQuest Dissertations to find examples.

Doctoral candidates read a lot of monographs and articles, but they often do not read dissertations. Reading polished scholarly work, particularly critical scholarship in your field, can give you an unrealistic standard for writing a dissertation.

Write Your Body Chapters

By the time you sit down to write your dissertation, you've already accomplished a great deal. You've chosen a topic, defended your proposal, and conducted research. Now it's time to organize your work into chapters.

As with research, the format of your dissertation depends on your field. Your department will likely provide dissertation guidelines to structure your work. In many disciplines, dissertations include chapters on the literature review, methodology, and results. In other disciplines, each chapter functions like an article that builds to your overall argument.

Start with the chapter you feel most confident in writing. Expand on the literature review in your proposal to provide an overview of the field. Describe your research process and analyze the results.

Meet With Your Advisor

Throughout the dissertation process, you should meet regularly with your advisor. As you write chapters, send them to your advisor for feedback. Your advisor can help identify issues and suggest ways to strengthen your dissertation.

Staying in close communication with your advisor will also boost your confidence for your dissertation defense. Consider sharing material with other members of your committee as well.

Write Your Introduction and Conclusion

It seems counterintuitive, but it's a good idea to write your introduction and conclusion last . Your introduction should describe the scope of your project and your intervention in the field.

Many doctoral candidates find it useful to return to their dissertation proposal to write the introduction. If your project evolved significantly, you will need to reframe the introduction. Make sure you provide background information to set the scene for your dissertation. And preview your methodology, research aims, and results.

The conclusion is often the shortest section. In your conclusion, sum up what you've demonstrated, and explain how your dissertation contributes to the field.

Edit Your Draft

You've completed a draft of your dissertation. Now, it's time to edit that draft.

For some doctoral candidates, the editing process can feel more challenging than researching or writing the dissertation. Most dissertations run a minimum of 100-200 pages , with some hitting 300 pages or more.

When editing your dissertation, break it down chapter by chapter. Go beyond grammar and spelling to make sure you communicate clearly and efficiently. Identify repetitive areas and shore up weaknesses in your argument.

Incorporate Feedback

Writing a dissertation can feel very isolating. You're focused on one topic for months or years, and you're often working alone. But feedback will strengthen your dissertation.

You will receive feedback as you write your dissertation, both from your advisor and other committee members. In many departments, doctoral candidates also participate in peer review groups to provide feedback.

Outside readers will note confusing sections and recommend changes. Make sure you incorporate the feedback throughout the writing and editing process.

Defend Your Dissertation

Congratulations — you made it to the dissertation defense! Typically, your advisor will not let you schedule the defense unless they believe you will pass. So consider the defense a culmination of your dissertation process rather than a high-stakes examination.

The format of your defense depends on the department. In some fields, you'll present your research. In other fields, the defense will consist of an in-depth discussion with your committee.

Walk into your defense with confidence. You're now an expert in your topic. Answer questions concisely and address any weaknesses in your study. Once you pass the defense, you'll earn your doctorate.

Writing a dissertation isn't easy — only around 55,000 students earned a Ph.D. in 2020, according to the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics. However, it is possible to successfully complete a dissertation by breaking down the process into smaller steps.

Frequently Asked Questions About Dissertations

What is a dissertation.

A dissertation is a substantial research project that contributes to your field of study. Graduate students write a dissertation to earn their doctorate.

The format and content of a dissertation vary widely depending on the academic discipline. Doctoral candidates work closely with their faculty advisor to complete and defend the dissertation, a process that typically takes 1-3 years.

How long is a dissertation?

The length of a dissertation varies by field. Harvard's graduate school says most dissertations fall between 100-300 pages .

Doctoral candidate Marcus Beck analyzed the length of University of Minnesota dissertations by discipline and found that history produces the longest dissertations, with an average of nearly 300 pages, while mathematics produces the shortest dissertations at just under 100 pages.

What's the difference between a dissertation vs. a thesis?

Dissertations and theses demonstrate academic mastery at different levels. In U.S. graduate education, master's students typically write theses, while doctoral students write dissertations. The terms are reversed in the British system.

In the U.S., a dissertation is longer, more in-depth, and based on more research than a thesis. Doctoral candidates write a dissertation as the culminating research project of their degree. Undergraduates and master's students may write shorter theses as part of their programs.

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Biographical Resources: A Research Guide: Dissertations and Theses

• Introduction
• National and International Biographies
• Biographical Indexes
• K. G. Saur Indexes & Microfiche
• Subject Biographies
• Dissertations and Theses
• Research Help

Biographical information in Dissertations

Many dissertations and theses contain biographical sketches of the doctoral or masters degree candidate. These biographies are normally written by the author, so use caution. ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global is the place to start searching for this information.

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• Next: Research Help >>
• Last Updated: Apr 25, 2024 4:28 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.cornell.edu/biographyresearch

Dissertation Structure & Layout 101: How to structure your dissertation, thesis or research project.

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) Reviewed By: David Phair (PhD) | July 2019

So, you’ve got a decent understanding of what a dissertation is , you’ve chosen your topic and hopefully you’ve received approval for your research proposal . Awesome! Now its time to start the actual dissertation or thesis writing journey.

To craft a high-quality document, the very first thing you need to understand is dissertation structure . In this post, we’ll walk you through the generic dissertation structure and layout, step by step. We’ll start with the big picture, and then zoom into each chapter to briefly discuss the core contents. If you’re just starting out on your research journey, you should start with this post, which covers the big-picture process of how to write a dissertation or thesis .

*The Caveat *

In this post, we’ll be discussing a traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout, which is generally used for social science research across universities, whether in the US, UK, Europe or Australia. However, some universities may have small variations on this structure (extra chapters, merged chapters, slightly different ordering, etc).

So, always check with your university if they have a prescribed structure or layout that they expect you to work with. If not, it’s safe to assume the structure we’ll discuss here is suitable. And even if they do have a prescribed structure, you’ll still get value from this post as we’ll explain the core contents of each section.  

Overview: S tructuring a dissertation or thesis

• Acknowledgements page
• Abstract (or executive summary)
• Table of contents , list of figures and tables
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Literature review
• Chapter 3: Methodology
• Chapter 4: Results
• Chapter 5: Discussion
• Chapter 6: Conclusion
• Reference list

As I mentioned, some universities will have slight variations on this structure. For example, they want an additional “personal reflection chapter”, or they might prefer the results and discussion chapter to be merged into one. Regardless, the overarching flow will always be the same, as this flow reflects the research process , which we discussed here – i.e.:

• The introduction chapter presents the core research question and aims .
• The literature review chapter assesses what the current research says about this question.
• The methodology, results and discussion chapters go about undertaking new research about this question.
• The conclusion chapter (attempts to) answer the core research question .

In other words, the dissertation structure and layout reflect the research process of asking a well-defined question(s), investigating, and then answering the question – see below.

To restate that – the structure and layout of a dissertation reflect the flow of the overall research process . This is essential to understand, as each chapter will make a lot more sense if you “get” this concept. If you’re not familiar with the research process, read this post before going further.

Right. Now that we’ve covered the big picture, let’s dive a little deeper into the details of each section and chapter. Oh and by the way, you can also grab our free dissertation/thesis template here to help speed things up.

The title page of your dissertation is the very first impression the marker will get of your work, so it pays to invest some time thinking about your title. But what makes for a good title? A strong title needs to be 3 things:

• Succinct (not overly lengthy or verbose)
• Specific (not vague or ambiguous)
• Representative of the research you’re undertaking (clearly linked to your research questions)

Typically, a good title includes mention of the following:

• The broader area of the research (i.e. the overarching topic)
• The specific focus of your research (i.e. your specific context)
• Indication of research design (e.g. quantitative , qualitative , or  mixed methods ).

For example:

A quantitative investigation [research design] into the antecedents of organisational trust [broader area] in the UK retail forex trading market [specific context/area of focus].

Again, some universities may have specific requirements regarding the format and structure of the title, so it’s worth double-checking expectations with your institution (if there’s no mention in the brief or study material).

Acknowledgements

This page provides you with an opportunity to say thank you to those who helped you along your research journey. Generally, it’s optional (and won’t count towards your marks), but it is academic best practice to include this.

So, who do you say thanks to? Well, there’s no prescribed requirements, but it’s common to mention the following people:

• Your dissertation supervisor or committee.
• Any professors, lecturers or academics that helped you understand the topic or methodologies.
• Any tutors, mentors or advisors.
• Your family and friends, especially spouse (for adult learners studying part-time).

There’s no need for lengthy rambling. Just state who you’re thankful to and for what (e.g. thank you to my supervisor, John Doe, for his endless patience and attentiveness) – be sincere. In terms of length, you should keep this to a page or less.

Abstract or executive summary

The dissertation abstract (or executive summary for some degrees) serves to provide the first-time reader (and marker or moderator) with a big-picture view of your research project. It should give them an understanding of the key insights and findings from the research, without them needing to read the rest of the report – in other words, it should be able to stand alone .

For it to stand alone, your abstract should cover the following key points (at a minimum):

• Your research questions and aims – what key question(s) did your research aim to answer?
• Your methodology – how did you go about investigating the topic and finding answers to your research question(s)?
• Your findings – following your own research, what did do you discover?
• Your conclusions – based on your findings, what conclusions did you draw? What answers did you find to your research question(s)?

So, in much the same way the dissertation structure mimics the research process, your abstract or executive summary should reflect the research process, from the initial stage of asking the original question to the final stage of answering that question.

In practical terms, it’s a good idea to write this section up last , once all your core chapters are complete. Otherwise, you’ll end up writing and rewriting this section multiple times (just wasting time). For a step by step guide on how to write a strong executive summary, check out this post .

Need a helping hand?

Table of contents

This section is straightforward. You’ll typically present your table of contents (TOC) first, followed by the two lists – figures and tables. I recommend that you use Microsoft Word’s automatic table of contents generator to generate your TOC. If you’re not familiar with this functionality, the video below explains it simply:

If you find that your table of contents is overly lengthy, consider removing one level of depth. Oftentimes, this can be done without detracting from the usefulness of the TOC.

Right, now that the “admin” sections are out of the way, its time to move on to your core chapters. These chapters are the heart of your dissertation and are where you’ll earn the marks. The first chapter is the introduction chapter – as you would expect, this is the time to introduce your research…

It’s important to understand that even though you’ve provided an overview of your research in your abstract, your introduction needs to be written as if the reader has not read that (remember, the abstract is essentially a standalone document). So, your introduction chapter needs to start from the very beginning, and should address the following questions:

• What will you be investigating (in plain-language, big picture-level)?
• Why is that worth investigating? How is it important to academia or business? How is it sufficiently original?
• What are your research aims and research question(s)? Note that the research questions can sometimes be presented at the end of the literature review (next chapter).
• What is the scope of your study? In other words, what will and won’t you cover ?
• How will you approach your research? In other words, what methodology will you adopt?
• How will you structure your dissertation? What are the core chapters and what will you do in each of them?

These are just the bare basic requirements for your intro chapter. Some universities will want additional bells and whistles in the intro chapter, so be sure to carefully read your brief or consult your research supervisor.

If done right, your introduction chapter will set a clear direction for the rest of your dissertation. Specifically, it will make it clear to the reader (and marker) exactly what you’ll be investigating, why that’s important, and how you’ll be going about the investigation. Conversely, if your introduction chapter leaves a first-time reader wondering what exactly you’ll be researching, you’ve still got some work to do.

Now that you’ve set a clear direction with your introduction chapter, the next step is the literature review . In this section, you will analyse the existing research (typically academic journal articles and high-quality industry publications), with a view to understanding the following questions:

• What does the literature currently say about the topic you’re investigating?
• Is the literature lacking or well established? Is it divided or in disagreement?
• How does your research fit into the bigger picture?
• How does your research contribute something original?
• How does the methodology of previous studies help you develop your own?

Depending on the nature of your study, you may also present a conceptual framework towards the end of your literature review, which you will then test in your actual research.

Again, some universities will want you to focus on some of these areas more than others, some will have additional or fewer requirements, and so on. Therefore, as always, its important to review your brief and/or discuss with your supervisor, so that you know exactly what’s expected of your literature review chapter.

Now that you’ve investigated the current state of knowledge in your literature review chapter and are familiar with the existing key theories, models and frameworks, its time to design your own research. Enter the methodology chapter – the most “science-ey” of the chapters…

In this chapter, you need to address two critical questions:

• Exactly HOW will you carry out your research (i.e. what is your intended research design)?
• Exactly WHY have you chosen to do things this way (i.e. how do you justify your design)?

Remember, the dissertation part of your degree is first and foremost about developing and demonstrating research skills . Therefore, the markers want to see that you know which methods to use, can clearly articulate why you’ve chosen then, and know how to deploy them effectively.

Importantly, this chapter requires detail – don’t hold back on the specifics. State exactly what you’ll be doing, with who, when, for how long, etc. Moreover, for every design choice you make, make sure you justify it.

In practice, you will likely end up coming back to this chapter once you’ve undertaken all your data collection and analysis, and revise it based on changes you made during the analysis phase. This is perfectly fine. Its natural for you to add an additional analysis technique, scrap an old one, etc based on where your data lead you. Of course, I’m talking about small changes here – not a fundamental switch from qualitative to quantitative, which will likely send your supervisor in a spin!

You’ve now collected your data and undertaken your analysis, whether qualitative, quantitative or mixed methods. In this chapter, you’ll present the raw results of your analysis . For example, in the case of a quant study, you’ll present the demographic data, descriptive statistics, inferential statistics , etc.

Typically, Chapter 4 is simply a presentation and description of the data, not a discussion of the meaning of the data. In other words, it’s descriptive, rather than analytical – the meaning is discussed in Chapter 5. However, some universities will want you to combine chapters 4 and 5, so that you both present and interpret the meaning of the data at the same time. Check with your institution what their preference is.

Now that you’ve presented the data analysis results, its time to interpret and analyse them. In other words, its time to discuss what they mean, especially in relation to your research question(s).

What you discuss here will depend largely on your chosen methodology. For example, if you’ve gone the quantitative route, you might discuss the relationships between variables . If you’ve gone the qualitative route, you might discuss key themes and the meanings thereof. It all depends on what your research design choices were.

Most importantly, you need to discuss your results in relation to your research questions and aims, as well as the existing literature. What do the results tell you about your research questions? Are they aligned with the existing research or at odds? If so, why might this be? Dig deep into your findings and explain what the findings suggest, in plain English.

The final chapter – you’ve made it! Now that you’ve discussed your interpretation of the results, its time to bring it back to the beginning with the conclusion chapter . In other words, its time to (attempt to) answer your original research question s (from way back in chapter 1). Clearly state what your conclusions are in terms of your research questions. This might feel a bit repetitive, as you would have touched on this in the previous chapter, but its important to bring the discussion full circle and explicitly state your answer(s) to the research question(s).

Next, you’ll typically discuss the implications of your findings . In other words, you’ve answered your research questions – but what does this mean for the real world (or even for academia)? What should now be done differently, given the new insight you’ve generated?

Lastly, you should discuss the limitations of your research, as well as what this means for future research in the area. No study is perfect, especially not a Masters-level. Discuss the shortcomings of your research. Perhaps your methodology was limited, perhaps your sample size was small or not representative, etc, etc. Don’t be afraid to critique your work – the markers want to see that you can identify the limitations of your work. This is a strength, not a weakness. Be brutal!

This marks the end of your core chapters – woohoo! From here on out, it’s pretty smooth sailing.

The reference list is straightforward. It should contain a list of all resources cited in your dissertation, in the required format, e.g. APA , Harvard, etc.

It’s essential that you use reference management software for your dissertation. Do NOT try handle your referencing manually – its far too error prone. On a reference list of multiple pages, you’re going to make mistake. To this end, I suggest considering either Mendeley or Zotero. Both are free and provide a very straightforward interface to ensure that your referencing is 100% on point. I’ve included a simple how-to video for the Mendeley software (my personal favourite) below:

Some universities may ask you to include a bibliography, as opposed to a reference list. These two things are not the same . A bibliography is similar to a reference list, except that it also includes resources which informed your thinking but were not directly cited in your dissertation. So, double-check your brief and make sure you use the right one.

The very last piece of the puzzle is the appendix or set of appendices. This is where you’ll include any supporting data and evidence. Importantly, supporting is the keyword here.

Your appendices should provide additional “nice to know”, depth-adding information, which is not critical to the core analysis. Appendices should not be used as a way to cut down word count (see this post which covers how to reduce word count ). In other words, don’t place content that is critical to the core analysis here, just to save word count. You will not earn marks on any content in the appendices, so don’t try to play the system!

Time to recap…

And there you have it – the traditional dissertation structure and layout, from A-Z. To recap, the core structure for a dissertation or thesis is (typically) as follows:

• Acknowledgments page

Most importantly, the core chapters should reflect the research process (asking, investigating and answering your research question). Moreover, the research question(s) should form the golden thread throughout your dissertation structure. Everything should revolve around the research questions, and as you’ve seen, they should form both the start point (i.e. introduction chapter) and the endpoint (i.e. conclusion chapter).

I hope this post has provided you with clarity about the traditional dissertation/thesis structure and layout. If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below, or feel free to get in touch with us. Also, be sure to check out the rest of the  Grad Coach Blog .

Psst... there’s more!

This post was based on one of our popular Research Bootcamps . If you're working on a research project, you'll definitely want to check this out ...

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36 Comments

many thanks i found it very useful

Glad to hear that, Arun. Good luck writing your dissertation.

Such clear practical logical advice. I very much needed to read this to keep me focused in stead of fretting.. Perfect now ready to start my research!

what about scientific fields like computer or engineering thesis what is the difference in the structure? thank you very much

Thanks so much this helped me a lot!

Very helpful and accessible. What I like most is how practical the advice is along with helpful tools/ links.

Thanks Ade!

Thank you so much sir.. It was really helpful..

You’re welcome!

Hi! How many words maximum should contain the abstract?

Thank you so much 😊 Find this at the right moment

You’re most welcome. Good luck with your dissertation.

best ever benefit i got on right time thank you

Many times Clarity and vision of destination of dissertation is what makes the difference between good ,average and great researchers the same way a great automobile driver is fast with clarity of address and Clear weather conditions .

I guess Great researcher = great ideas + knowledge + great and fast data collection and modeling + great writing + high clarity on all these

You have given immense clarity from start to end.

Morning. Where will I write the definitions of what I’m referring to in my report?

Thank you so much Derek, I was almost lost! Thanks a tonnnn! Have a great day!

Thanks ! so concise and valuable

This was very helpful. Clear and concise. I know exactly what to do now.

Thank you for allowing me to go through briefly. I hope to find time to continue.

Really useful to me. Thanks a thousand times

Very interesting! It will definitely set me and many more for success. highly recommended.

Thank you soo much sir, for the opportunity to express my skills

Usefull, thanks a lot. Really clear

Very nice and easy to understand. Thank you .

That was incredibly useful. Thanks Grad Coach Crew!

My stress level just dropped at least 15 points after watching this. Just starting my thesis for my grad program and I feel a lot more capable now! Thanks for such a clear and helpful video, Emma and the GradCoach team!

Do we need to mention the number of words the dissertation contains in the main document?

It depends on your university’s requirements, so it would be best to check with them 🙂

Such a helpful post to help me get started with structuring my masters dissertation, thank you!

Great video; I appreciate that helpful information

It is so necessary or avital course

This blog is very informative for my research. Thank you

Doctoral students are required to fill out the National Research Council’s Survey of Earned Doctorates

wow this is an amazing gain in my life

This is so good

How can i arrange my specific objectives in my dissertation?

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Tips for writing a PhD dissertation: FAQs answered

From how to choose a topic to writing the abstract and managing work-life balance through the years it takes to complete a doctorate, here we collect expert advice to get you through the PhD writing process

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Embarking on a PhD is “probably the most challenging task that a young scholar attempts to do”, write Mark Stephan Felix and Ian Smith in their practical guide to dissertation and thesis writing. After years of reading and research to answer a specific question or proposition, the candidate will submit about 80,000 words that explain their methods and results and demonstrate their unique contribution to knowledge. Here are the answers to frequently asked questions about writing a doctoral thesis or dissertation.

What’s the difference between a dissertation and a thesis?

Whatever the genre of the doctorate, a PhD must offer an original contribution to knowledge. The terms “dissertation” and “thesis” both refer to the long-form piece of work produced at the end of a research project and are often used interchangeably. Which one is used might depend on the country, discipline or university. In the UK, “thesis” is generally used for the work done for a PhD, while a “dissertation” is written for a master’s degree. The US did the same until the 1960s, says Oxbridge Essays, when the convention switched, and references appeared to a “master’s thesis” and “doctoral dissertation”. To complicate matters further, undergraduate long essays are also sometimes referred to as a thesis or dissertation.

The Oxford English Dictionary defines “thesis” as “a dissertation, especially by a candidate for a degree” and “dissertation” as “a detailed discourse on a subject, especially one submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a degree or diploma”.

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The title “doctor of philosophy”, incidentally, comes from the degree’s origins, write Dr Felix, an associate professor at Mahidol University in Thailand, and Dr Smith, retired associate professor of education at the University of Sydney , whose co-authored guide focuses on the social sciences. The PhD was first awarded in the 19th century by the philosophy departments of German universities, which at that time taught science, social science and liberal arts.

How long should a PhD thesis be?

A PhD thesis (or dissertation) is typically 60,000 to 120,000 words ( 100 to 300 pages in length ) organised into chapters, divisions and subdivisions (with roughly 10,000 words per chapter) – from introduction (with clear aims and objectives) to conclusion.

The structure of a dissertation will vary depending on discipline (humanities, social sciences and STEM all have their own conventions), location and institution. Examples and guides to structure proliferate online. The University of Salford , for example, lists: title page, declaration, acknowledgements, abstract, table of contents, lists of figures, tables and abbreviations (where needed), chapters, appendices and references.

A scientific-style thesis will likely need: introduction, literature review, materials and methods, results, discussion, bibliography and references.

As well as checking the overall criteria and expectations of your institution for your research, consult your school handbook for the required length and format (font, layout conventions and so on) for your dissertation.

A PhD takes three to four years to complete; this might extend to six to eight years for a part-time doctorate.

What are the steps for completing a PhD?

Before you get started in earnest , you’ll likely have found a potential supervisor, who will guide your PhD journey, and done a research proposal (which outlines what you plan to research and how) as part of your application, as well as a literature review of existing scholarship in the field, which may form part of your final submission.

In the UK, PhD candidates undertake original research and write the results in a thesis or dissertation, says author and vlogger Simon Clark , who posted videos to YouTube throughout his own PhD journey . Then they submit the thesis in hard copy and attend the viva voce (which is Latin for “living voice” and is also called an oral defence or doctoral defence) to convince the examiners that their work is original, understood and all their own. Afterwards, if necessary, they make changes and resubmit. If the changes are approved, the degree is awarded.

The steps are similar in Australia , although candidates are mostly assessed on their thesis only; some universities may include taught courses, and some use a viva voce. A PhD in Australia usually takes three years full time.

In the US, the PhD process begins with taught classes (similar to a taught master’s) and a comprehensive exam (called a “field exam” or “dissertation qualifying exam”) before the candidate embarks on their original research. The whole journey takes four to six years.

A PhD candidate will need three skills and attitudes to get through their doctoral studies, says Tara Brabazon , professor of cultural studies at Flinders University in Australia who has written extensively about the PhD journey :

• master the academic foundational skills (research, writing, ability to navigate different modalities)
• time-management skills and the ability to focus on reading and writing
• determined motivation to do a PhD.

How do I choose the topic for my PhD dissertation or thesis?

It’s important to find a topic that will sustain your interest for the years it will take to complete a PhD. “Finding a sustainable topic is the most important thing you [as a PhD student] would do,” says Dr Brabazon in a video for Times Higher Education . “Write down on a big piece of paper all the topics, all the ideas, all the questions that really interest you, and start to cross out all the ones that might just be a passing interest.” Also, she says, impose the “Who cares? Who gives a damn?” question to decide if the topic will be useful in a future academic career.

The availability of funding and scholarships is also often an important factor in this decision, says veteran PhD supervisor Richard Godwin, from Harper Adams University .

Define a gap in knowledge – and one that can be questioned, explored, researched and written about in the time available to you, says Gina Wisker, head of the Centre for Learning and Teaching at the University of Brighton. “Set some boundaries,” she advises. “Don’t try to ask everything related to your topic in every way.”

James Hartley, research professor in psychology at Keele University, says it can also be useful to think about topics that spark general interest. If you do pick something that taps into the zeitgeist, your findings are more likely to be noticed.

You also need to find someone else who is interested in it, too. For STEM candidates , this will probably be a case of joining a team of people working in a similar area where, ideally, scholarship funding is available. A centre for doctoral training (CDT) or doctoral training partnership (DTP) will advertise research projects. For those in the liberal arts and social sciences, it will be a matter of identifying a suitable supervisor .

Avoid topics that are too broad (hunger across a whole country, for example) or too narrow (hunger in a single street) to yield useful solutions of academic significance, write Mark Stephan Felix and Ian Smith. And ensure that you’re not repeating previous research or trying to solve a problem that has already been answered. A PhD thesis must be original.

What is a thesis proposal?

After you have read widely to refine your topic and ensure that it and your research methods are original, and discussed your project with a (potential) supervisor, you’re ready to write a thesis proposal , a document of 1,500 to 3,000 words that sets out the proposed direction of your research. In the UK, a research proposal is usually part of the application process for admission to a research degree. As with the final dissertation itself, format varies among disciplines, institutions and countries but will usually contain title page, aims, literature review, methodology, timetable and bibliography. Examples of research proposals are available online.

How to write an abstract for a dissertation or thesis

The abstract presents your thesis to the wider world – and as such may be its most important element , says the NUI Galway writing guide. It outlines the why, how, what and so what of the thesis . Unlike the introduction, which provides background but not research findings, the abstract summarises all sections of the dissertation in a concise, thorough, focused way and demonstrates how well the writer understands their material. Check word-length limits with your university – and stick to them. About 300 to 500 words is a rough guide ­– but it can be up to 1,000 words.

The abstract is also important for selection and indexing of your thesis, according to the University of Melbourne guide , so be sure to include searchable keywords.

It is the first thing to be read but the last element you should write. However, Pat Thomson , professor of education at the University of Nottingham , advises that it is not something to be tackled at the last minute.

How to write a stellar conclusion

As well as chapter conclusions, a thesis often has an overall conclusion to draw together the key points covered and to reflect on the unique contribution to knowledge. It can comment on future implications of the research and open up new ideas emanating from the work. It is shorter and more general than the discussion chapter , says online editing site Scribbr, and reiterates how the work answers the main question posed at the beginning of the thesis. The conclusion chapter also often discusses the limitations of the research (time, scope, word limit, access) in a constructive manner.

It can be useful to keep a collection of ideas as you go – in the online forum DoctoralWriting SIG , academic developer Claire Aitchison, of the University of South Australia , suggests using a “conclusions bank” for themes and inspirations, and using free-writing to keep this final section fresh. (Just when you feel you’ve run out of steam.) Avoid aggrandising or exaggerating the impact of your work. It should remind the reader what has been done, and why it matters.

How to format a bibliography (or where to find a reliable model)

Most universities use a preferred style of references , writes THE associate editor Ingrid Curl. Make sure you know what this is and follow it. “One of the most common errors in academic writing is to cite papers in the text that do not then appear in the bibliography. All references in your thesis need to be cross-checked with the bibliography before submission. Using a database during your research can save a great deal of time in the writing-up process.”

A bibliography contains not only works cited explicitly but also those that have informed or contributed to the research – and as such illustrates its scope; works are not limited to written publications but include sources such as film or visual art.

Examiners can start marking from the back of the script, writes Dr Brabazon. “Just as cooks are judged by their ingredients and implements, we judge doctoral students by the calibre of their sources,” she advises. She also says that candidates should be prepared to speak in an oral examination of the PhD about any texts included in their bibliography, especially if there is a disconnect between the thesis and the texts listed.

Can I use informal language in my PhD?

Don’t write like a stereotypical academic , say Kevin Haggerty, professor of sociology at the University of Alberta , and Aaron Doyle, associate professor in sociology at Carleton University , in their tongue-in-cheek guide to the PhD journey. “If you cannot write clearly and persuasively, everything about PhD study becomes harder.” Avoid jargon, exotic words, passive voice and long, convoluted sentences – and work on it consistently. “Writing is like playing guitar; it can improve only through consistent, concerted effort.”

Be deliberate and take care with your writing . “Write your first draft, leave it and then come back to it with a critical eye. Look objectively at the writing and read it closely for style and sense,” advises THE ’s Ms Curl. “Look out for common errors such as dangling modifiers, subject-verb disagreement and inconsistency. If you are too involved with the text to be able to take a step back and do this, then ask a friend or colleague to read it with a critical eye. Remember Hemingway’s advice: ‘Prose is architecture, not interior decoration.’ Clarity is key.”

How often should a PhD candidate meet with their supervisor?

Since the PhD supervisor provides a range of support and advice – including on research techniques, planning and submission – regular formal supervisions are essential, as is establishing a line of contact such as email if the candidate needs help or advice outside arranged times. The frequency varies according to university, discipline and individual scholars.

Once a week is ideal, says Dr Brabazon. She also advocates a two-hour initial meeting to establish the foundations of the candidate-supervisor relationship .

The University of Edinburgh guide to writing a thesis suggests that creating a timetable of supervisor meetings right at the beginning of the research process will allow candidates to ensure that their work stays on track throughout. The meetings are also the place to get regular feedback on draft chapters.

“A clear structure and a solid framework are vital for research,” writes Dr Godwin on THE Campus . Use your supervisor to establish this and provide a realistic view of what can be achieved. “It is vital to help students identify the true scientific merit, the practical significance of their work and its value to society.”

How to proofread your dissertation (what to look for)

Proofreading is the final step before printing and submission. Give yourself time to ensure that your work is the best it can be . Don’t leave proofreading to the last minute; ideally, break it up into a few close-reading sessions. Find a quiet place without distractions. A checklist can help ensure that all aspects are covered.

Proofing is often helped by a change of format – so it can be easier to read a printout rather than working off the screen – or by reading sections out of order. Fresh eyes are better at spotting typographical errors and inconsistencies, so leave time between writing and proofreading. Check with your university’s policies before asking another person to proofread your thesis for you.

As well as close details such as spelling and grammar, check that all sections are complete, all required elements are included , and nothing is repeated or redundant. Don’t forget to check headings and subheadings. Does the text flow from one section to another? Is the structure clear? Is the work a coherent whole with a clear line throughout?

Ensure consistency in, for example, UK v US spellings, capitalisation, format, numbers (digits or words, commas, units of measurement), contractions, italics and hyphenation. Spellchecks and online plagiarism checkers are also your friend.

How do you manage your time to complete a PhD dissertation?

Treat your PhD like a full-time job, that is, with an eight-hour working day. Within that, you’ll need to plan your time in a way that gives a sense of progress . Setbacks and periods where it feels as if you are treading water are all but inevitable, so keeping track of small wins is important, writes A Happy PhD blogger Luis P. Prieto.

Be specific with your goals – use the SMART acronym (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely).

And it’s never too soon to start writing – even if early drafts are overwritten and discarded.

“ Write little and write often . Many of us make the mistake of taking to writing as one would take to a sprint, in other words, with relatively short bursts of intense activity. Whilst this can prove productive, generally speaking it is not sustainable…In addition to sustaining your activity, writing little bits on a frequent basis ensures that you progress with your thinking. The comfort of remaining in abstract thought is common; writing forces us to concretise our thinking,” says Christian Gilliam, AHSS researcher developer at the University of Cambridge ’s Centre for Teaching and Learning.

Make time to write. “If you are more alert early in the day, find times that suit you in the morning; if you are a ‘night person’, block out some writing sessions in the evenings,” advises NUI Galway’s Dermot Burns, a lecturer in English and creative arts. Set targets, keep daily notes of experiment details that you will need in your thesis, don’t confuse writing with editing or revising – and always back up your work.

What work-life balance tips should I follow to complete my dissertation?

During your PhD programme, you may have opportunities to take part in professional development activities, such as teaching, attending academic conferences and publishing your work. Your research may include residencies, field trips or archive visits. This will require time-management skills as well as prioritising where you devote your energy and factoring in rest and relaxation. Organise your routine to suit your needs , and plan for steady and regular progress.

How to deal with setbacks while writing a thesis or dissertation

Have a contingency plan for delays or roadblocks such as unexpected results.

Accept that writing is messy, first drafts are imperfect, and writer’s block is inevitable, says Dr Burns. His tips for breaking it include relaxation to free your mind from clutter, writing a plan and drawing a mind map of key points for clarity. He also advises feedback, reflection and revision: “Progressing from a rough version of your thoughts to a superior and workable text takes time, effort, different perspectives and some expertise.”

“Academia can be a relentlessly brutal merry-go-round of rejection, rebuttal and failure,” writes Lorraine Hope , professor of applied cognitive psychology at the University of Portsmouth, on THE Campus. Resilience is important. Ensure that you and your supervisor have a relationship that supports open, frank, judgement-free communication.

If you would like advice and insight from academics and university staff delivered direct to your inbox each week, sign up for the Campus newsletter .

Authoring a PhD Thesis: How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Dissertation (2003), by Patrick Dunleavy

Writing Your Dissertation in Fifteen Minutes a Day: A Guide to Starting, Revising, and Finishing Your Doctoral Thesis (1998), by Joan Balker

Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation: Coping with the Emotional, Interpersonal, and Spiritual Struggles (2015), by Noelle Sterne

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This page lists resources for dissertations (general and RLL-related) along with information on electronic dissertations. In general, Harvard's Interlibrary Loan service cannot obtain dissertations; in many cases you'll need to acquire directly from the institution where the work was submitted. 

To find doctoral dissertations from North American universities and some European institutions, search:

Dissertations and Theses Full Text

This is the largest database with 2.7 million citations for Masters and PhD dissertations. Full text for most dissertations from 1997 on (at this writing, 1.2 million full text dissertations available for download in PDF format). Hosted by ProQuest. Use Harvard's Get It Interlibrary Loan link to request print dissertations.

  Harvard dissertations and theses

As above, most of these from 1997 are available via ProQuest.

Havard dissertations and theses since 2012 are also available in our online repository, DASH , and in HOLLIS. If a dissertation from 2012 forward is not available in full text, the author has placed an embargo on it (up to 5 years) and the library won't be able to obtain it, but you may be able to ask the author.

Use Harvard's Interlibrary Loan to obtain any theses and dissertations found by searching

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Request item through Get It (ILL link)

To find print sources, search HOLLIS Classic: Subject beginning with... e.g. Dissertations, Academic--France--Bibliography.

dissonline.de Search for German and Swiss electronic dissertations and "Habilitationen." For dissertations that have not been digitized, search the catalog of the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek .

Gegnir (IS) Click on "Námsritgerðir" (Icelandic interface) or "Thesis search" (English interface) to limit to dissertations.

HELKA (FI) Select the Advanced Search and "Väitöskirja/Dissertation or Thesis" from the search box.

Det Kongelige Bibliotek/The Danish Royal Library (DK) Search on "thesis," "dissertation," or "afhandling" (the latter if you want dissertations in Danish) together with your search terms.

Libris (SE) Select "Dissertations" under "Type of publication" box to limit your search to dissertations.

Nasjonalbiblioteket (NO) Select "Post graduate theses" in the search box to limit your search to dissertations.

National Academic Research and Collaborations Information System (NARCIS): Promise of Science   (NL) The "Promise of Science" provides access to over 21,000 full-text doctoral e-theses from all Dutch universities. It is a subset of NARCIS and DAREnet. Dates of coverage vary, but dissertations are mostly from recent years.

Österreichische Dissertationsdatenbank (AU) This database references over 55,000 dissertations and theses held at Austrian Universities; select dissertations are available online.

Ongoing research and development in the e-sphere:

Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD) , an inter national organization dedicated to promoting the adoption, creation, use, dissemination, and preservation of electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs).

The Guide for Electronic Theses and Dissertations A wiki maintained by the NDLTD ETD Revision Team. Addresses issues for submission and administration of e-dissertations, whether born-digital or digital versions of print documents.

The European Working Group of the NDLTD is the DART-Europe E-theses Portal (DEEP). Intended to be the single European portal for dissertations, DART-Europe is a collaboration of research libraries and library consortia, endorsed by LIBER (Ligue des Bibliothèques Européennes de Recherche).

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PhD Biography

The cutting-edge PHD in Biography remains unique to Buckingham and is consistently rated ‘excellent’ by external examiners and inspectors.

Course overview

• Doctor of Philosophy
• From £8,267 per year *
• From £4,133 per year *
• From £14,500 per year *
• From £7,250 per year *
• School of Humanities and Social Sciences

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Join our summer open day to tour our beautiful campus, attend a subject session, and chat to our staff and students.

13 July 2024

Upcoming events

Why not meet us at our next online or in-person event?

About the Course

Course outline.

The cutting-edge MA in Biography was founded in 1996, and its emphasis on historical biography remains unique to Buckingham. Since then, in response to student demand, the available options have been extended to include our PhD Biography. Study can be on either a full-time or a part-time basis.

The Programme’s team has expertise in a broad range of historical periods, from the Early Modern period to the present day, and the course places particular emphasis on understanding individual subjects within their historical, social and political context. We also encourage those looking to work on life writing or critical literary biography to join us, and to benefit from the experience of academics working across the faculties (including Dr Pete Orford who has published a biography of Charles Dickens, and Dr Peter Sloane who works on refugee life writing and memoir).

Course structure

For their first year of study students attend the same weekly seminars as students taking the MA by Research in Biography. These provide the critical awareness of the subject that is an essential prerequisite, and take place as follows:

• Autobiography (September to December)
• Special Paper in Biography (January to June)
• Research Methods (January to June)

The modules on Biography and Autobiography are designed to combine the study of classic biographies and memoirs with contemporary writing. In addition, the Research Methods module provides an invaluable and innovative training, especially devised for biographers.

Guest seminars on the course are led by leading biographers, memoirists, critics, publishers and agents. Previous teachers and speakers on the course have included Andrew Motion, Kathryn Hughes, Frances Wilson, Frances Spalding, Jeremy Lewis, Rupert Shortt, Caroline Dawnay, Andrew Lownie, Miranda Seymour, John Cornwell, Simon Heffer, Catherine Taylor, Lucy Hughes-Hallett, and Craig Brown.

During the early part of the course, research students refine their research proposal with their supervisor, for eventual discussion with the Research Officer. Once the research proposal has been accepted, students concentrate on conducting independent research and the preparation of their thesis, with the one-to-one support of the supervisor and the support of their peers in small group classes once or twice a term.

Programme staff

The Programme Director, Ophelia Field, is the author of a critically acclaimed life of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough (1660-1744) titled The Favourite , first published in 2002 and in revised edition in 2018. In 2008, she produced a group biography, again set in the early eighteenth century, titled The Kit-Cat Club: Friends Who Imagined a Nation , which was one of the Financial Times’ History Books of the Year. Ophelia has also worked for over 25 years as a policy analyst and communications consultant for a range of human rights and refugee organisations including ECRE, Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights, and the Council of Europe. She has been teaching on the University of Buckingham’s Biography Programme since 2019, and previously taught at the Centre for Editing Lives and Letters (CELL).

Dr Christina Dykes is a Lecturer on the Programme. She is a historian whose PhD, taken under the Biography Programme in 2021, was titled Bend’or, 2nd Duke of Westminster, 1879-1953: A Reappraisal . Her wider professional experience includes 35 years working in public affairs, which has given her a deep awareness and knowledge of political processes. Together with Prof. Jo Silvester she has published ‘Selecting Political Candidates: A longitudinal study of assessment centre performance and political success in the 2005 UK election’ in the J ournal of Occupational and Organisational Psychology , 25 March 2007. She headed the Development Department at CCHQ, was instrumental in the creation of the Conservative Muslim Forum, advised the Leadership Centre for Local Government and has provided leadership coaching. She is a Deputy Chairman of the London Recruitment Advisory Board concerned with the appointment of London’s Justices of the Peace.

The Biography Programme was designed and founded by Professor Jane Ridley, an Oxford-trained historian and biographer. Her extensive and award-winning biographical publications include The Young Disraeli (1995); The Architect and his Wife: A Life of Edwin Lutyens (2002); Bertie: A Life of Edward VII (2012); and George V: Never a Dull Moment (2021). She has contributed widely to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and to publications such as the Spectator, the Literary Review and the Times Literary Supplement . She remains closely associated with the Programme as a Professor Emeritus, and regularly speaks to our students.

Teaching takes place at the University’s London premises: 51 Gower Street Bloomsbury London WC1E 6HJ

The normal periods of study for achieving this research degree is three years full-time or six years part-time.

Administrative arrangements

A system of preliminary registration for all research degrees is in operation to allow students to prepare a formal proposal during the early part of their course. Admission to research degrees is normally on a provisional basis while the candidate, with the help of the supervisor, refines the proposal for the research, including developing a work plan and identifying the requirements for support and resources and how these will be met. Students are registered for the degree of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), although their status is probationary until the first Annual Review has taken place, normally between 12 and 18 months from first registration.

In some cases, students undertaking the MA by Research may move on to doctoral study and count the MA towards the first year of their PhD.

All research students must also subject their work to an annual progress review.

In addition to PhD Biography, we offer a variety of other PhD programmes .

Entry Requirements

Entry requirements.

Applicants are normally expected to have a first or second class, upper division degree or significant experience. A Master’s degree is preferred.

Mature students

Age is no barrier to learning and we welcome all applications from suitably qualified students.

International students

We are happy to consider all international applications and if you are an international student, you may find it useful to visit our international pages for details of entry requirements from your home country.

The University is a UKVI Student Sponsor .

English levels

If English is not your first language, please check our postgraduate English language requirements . If your English levels don’t meet our minimum requirements, you may be interested in applying for our Pre-sessional English Language Foundation Programmes .

Selection process

Candidates apply online, sending in their supporting documents, and will be assessed on this basis by the Programme Director. The Programme Director or Admissions Assistant will be happy to answer any enquiries. Call us on +44 (0)1280 820227 or get in touch via our online form .

Student Contract for prospective students

When you are offered a place at the University you will be notified of the student contract between the University and students on our courses of study. When you accept an offer of a place on the course at the University a legal contract is formed between you and the University on the basis of the student contract in your offer letter. Your offer letter and the student contract contain important information which you should read carefully before accepting an offer.  Read the Student Contract.

Teaching & Assessment

Quality teaching.

We offer high quality, traditional Oxbridge-style teaching, which leads to our degrees being recognised around the world. The standards of degrees and awards are safeguarded by distinguished external examiners – senior academic staff from other universities in the UK – who approve and moderate assessed work.

The Programme’s courses have consistently rated ‘excellent’ by external examiners and inspectors.

Teaching methods

One of the distinctive features of the programme is the value attached to the supervision which is provided for students working on dissertations. One-on-one supervisions are held at least twice a term while the dissertation is being prepared. While the dissertation must be the candidate’s independent work, it is the supervisor who offers advice, as needed, on refining the topic, on primary sources, on secondary reading, on research techniques and on writing and structure. Regular group discussions between doctoral students allow the exchange of research experiences and mutual support.

Assessment methods

Degrees by research require an original contribution to the body of knowledge in a particular academic or professional discipline, and a substantial engagement with primary sources.

PhD students without relevant MAs may be asked to complete the short pieces of coursework of the Biography MA, and all doctoral students are assessed by a Dissertation/Thesis of 80,000-100,000 words that conforms to the MHRA style guide.

All research degrees are regulated by the Research Committee and students are required to conform to guidelines laid down in the Research Degrees Handbook .

After Your Course

Graduate employment.

Our graduates have gone on to further study at most of the world’s leading universities, including Harvard, London, Oxford and Cambridge and secured jobs in senior positions around the world. Among our alumni we have a graduate who became the head of his country’s civil service and one who became a leading Formula One motor-racing driver. Another secured a position as the Minister of Sabah and one female law graduate became the first British lawyer to become a French Advocate.

What our students and alumni say

“I came across an advert for the Biography MA, one afternoon, whilst idly trawling the internet at the magazine publishing house where I was working. I had graduated in English from Bristol University in the previous year. Though the magazine work was interesting, it was the research that interested me most and I was desperate to write something longer than 100 words. I eventually decided to do an MA but I didn’t want a course that just felt like a continuation or a development of my first degree. So when I saw the advert for the Buckingham course I was immediately intrigued. As an avid reader of biographies, I was excited by the prospect of studying the history and development of biography writing and, more importantly, by the opportunity to write a biography of my own, under the guidance of a respected and prize-winning biographer. “I was not disappointed by my decision. Very early on I decided to do the MA by research so that I could write a larger dissertation, rather than as a taught course with a number of smaller assignments. In 2007 I was upgraded to MPhil because of the quality and extent of my research. And in that year my biography was shortlisted for the Daily Mail Biographers’ Club Prize. “Jane Ridley is incredibly friendly, knowledgeable and supportive. As a published biographer she knows the business of writing and publishing biography inside-out and as a historian she encourages thorough research, good writing and an academic engagement with the subject. My fellow students were a fascinating mix of people, both younger and older and from all walks of life. The course has given me access to agents, publishers and many well-known biographers. I am so glad that I made the decision to study Biography at Buckingham, I now have a book that I’m hoping to publish. The course is fascinating and I would strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to do an MA, but one that’s a little bit different to the rest.”

Anna Thomasson

“After twenty years in the Army, I set up a ships’ crewing business to employ the Gurkha soldiers with whom I’d served. I settled for a while in Buckingham and took the MA in Biography from 2001-2002, attracted by the course’s unique melding of history and literature. Highly stimulating and great fun, the course offered a perfect balance of theory and the study of an eclectic range of biographies, giving students scope to study subjects of their choice. I found the dissertation subject I had chosen was of such interest that I carried on with the research after gaining the MA and turned it into a book. This, The Butcher of Amritsar, a life of Brigadier Reginald Dyer, the perpetrator of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre of 1919, was published in 2005. “The Biography MA gave me the tools to launch out on a career as a biographer: the theoretical framework; a knowledge of the major biographical figures, texts and techniques; an exposure to British research resources and an introduction to agents and publishers, one of whom published my book. Above all, it gave me a thirst to write. “As a result of launching my book in Hong Kong, where I now live, I was invited in 2005 to become a moderator for the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival and am now a member of the Festival’s Authors Committee. I review regularly for the online Asian Review of Books and occasionally for other journals. In 2008, with others, I founded and still chair the Hong Kong Tongzhi Literary Society, a group dedicated to the fostering of local literature in both English and Chinese. I am still writing, and am now working on a life of Leslie Cheung, a hugely popular Hong Kong film and pop star.”

Nigel Collett

“Bernard Shaw once remarked that youth is wasted on the young, and much the same can be said for education. I managed a Third Class degree in English from New College, Oxford, and then spent thirty years properly educating myself in preparation for an MA in Biography at Buckingham. Where there had been stress, here was pleasure, where there had been intellectual pride, here was genuine curiosity, where there had been tortuous essays on Donne, here were enjoyable bibliographies to compile. “Jane Ridley’s gently sardonic approach, combined as it is with an understated rigour and first rate academic proficiency, makes the course agreeably sociable as well as intellectually stimulating. Indeed, in many ways it is perhaps as close to a Platonically ideal notion of what being at university is for as it is possible nowadays to get. “I applied in order to be made to write about my father, Huw Wheldon; this was initially a need, not a want, but the unfailing support and encouragement I received from Jane and from other tutors (and fellow students) made it less an act of piety than an act of literary endeavour (though I hesitate to go so far as to say an act of scholarship). “I heartily recommend this course to anyone with an interest either in themselves or in someone else: it will demonstrate that biography is not simply a way of seeing an individual, but is also a way of seeing a world.”

Wynn Wheldon

Fees & Scholarships

The fees for this course are:

Postgraduate loan scheme

A system of postgraduate loans for Masters’ degrees in the UK is supported by the UK Government. The loan will provide up to £11,222 for taught and research Masters’ courses in all subject areas. The loans can be used for tuition fees, living expenses or both.

Scholarships

Details of scholarships can be found on our Bursaries and Scholarships page . You should make an application to study at the University and receive an offer letter confirming our acceptance of your application before applying for a scholarship.

You may also find it useful to visit our External Funding page .

Accommodation

Due to the mode of study on this course you will not normally need a room in University accommodation during your degree.

How To Apply

Apply directly

You can apply directly using our online application form – all you need to do is click the ‘apply’ button at the bottom of this page.

Examples of Biographical Statement and Abstract

Biographical statement.

Once articles have been selected and accepted for publication each year, authors will be asked to submit a biographical statement to be included in the Advocates’ Forum . The biographical statement should include the author(s) full name. In addition, it is also appropriate to discuss your personal history, academic program and/or field placement, and interest in the article’s subject. The biographical statement may not exceed 75 words. Below is an example taken from the 2009 volume of the Advocates’ Forum :

"Kathryn Saclarides is a second-year social administration student at the University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice. She received a bachelor’s degree in anthropology and Spanish from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in bioethics from La Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Madrid, Spain. Her current field placement is with the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC). She is interested in migration patterns, ethnic neighborhoods, and transnational communities."

The abstract should appear on the second page of your manuscript, immediately following the title page. The abstract should briefly summarize the argument advanced in your manuscript, and should be limited to no more than 100 words. For additional guidance on composing abstracts, refer to the  Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association . Below is an example taken from an issue of Advocates’ Forum (Charlotte L. Hamilton, “Anti-Drug Legislation and the Rising Incarceration of Women: Recommendations for Future Sentencing Reform,” Advocates’ Forum [2005]: 33-43).

The Anti-Drug Abuse Acts of 1986 and 1988 led to a rapid increase in the number of incarcerated Americans. The rate of female incarceration has risen at a particularly high rate over the past 20 years. This article discusses the evolution of drug sentencing policy since 1986. It looks at characteristics of incarcerated women in order to understand how drug policy has influenced this population. The way women participate in the drug trade interacts with minimum sentencing laws to contribute to the rise in female incarceration. The article concludes with policy recommendations for a more equitable drug sentencing system.

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• Dissertation

In consultation with the advisor, who also serves as first reader of the dissertation, students invite faculty members to join the dissertation committee, which is ordinarily formed no later than one term after the completion of the general exam. The committee is typically comprised of three readers , though a student may have as few as two or as many as four .

What is the Dissertation Committee?

The dissertation committee is composed of either three or four members, at least two of whom are ordinarily members or formal affiliates of the History Department. The adviser must be a member of the History Department.

• First Reader / Adviser: The Dissertation Committee is chaired by a member of the History Department who has been designated as the student’s adviser. The Adviser works closely with the student at all stages of the dissertation, from formulation of the topic through writing and defense.
• Second Reader: a senior or junior faculty member from the history department, or affiliated with the department as listed in the Courses of Instruction. If a student wishes to include a second reader who is not affiliated with the department, he or she submits a petition to the coordinator for approval by the director of graduate studies.
• Third Reader: may be a member of another department, faculty, or university. With the permission of the advisor and the DGS, a candidate may choose not to approach a third reader for academic reasons. If a student wishes not to have a third reader, he or she must make that decision known to the Coordinator of Graduate Studies by the end of the spring semester of their fourth year.
• Fourth Reader: optional; may be added toward the completion of the dissertation. Note: the dissertation defense committee will consist of the student's dissertation committee plus one additional member (see "Oral Defense and Defense Committee" below.)

Throughout the research and writing phase, students are urged to maintain communication with all readers, and submit chapters as they are completed to the committee as a whole.

To complete the administrative process of forming the committee, students submit the dissertation committee form to the coordinator. The form requires the signatures of each reader, so please begin collecting signatures as soon as possible.

Changes to the Dissertation Committee

After establishing a dissertation committee, a student may choose to replace a reader. This decision should be made after careful consideration and consultation with his or her advisor. The student should initiate discussions with the current and potential reader; and it is important there should be no ambiguity about the new reader’s agreement to serve on the Committee. The Graduate Coordinator, once notified, will update the official record of committee names.

Oral Defense and the Defense Committee

Students defend their dissertation before it is approved by the  dissertation defense committee .* The defense committee consists of the student’s dissertation committee plus one additional member drawn from the History Department, another Harvard department, or outside the University. Prior to the oral defense, each member of the defense committee may write a detailed report on the dissertation, but this is not required. The defense itself should last approximately two hours. It is open to the intellectual community of faculty and graduate students as well as friends and family of the candidate. Once the dissertation has been successfully defended, the members of the  defense committee  sign the dissertation acceptance certificate, and append their reports to it.

Defense Deadlines

The defense needs to be held before the GSAS dissertation submission deadline, and final dissertations must be submitted to the members of the Dissertation Defense Committee at least one month in advance to give them time to prepare their reports. This suggests the following timelines:

For a May Degree : Dissertation due at GSAS by mid-May . Therefore, the defense must occur no later than early May (again, with final draft submitted at least a month prior).

For a November degree : Dissertation due at GSAS by mid-September . Therefore, the defense must occur no later than early September (with final draft submitted at least a month prior).

Students can also apply for a March degree . The GSAS dissertation submission deadline for March degrees is in mid-January, which means that students aiming for the March degree will need to defend by mid-December, before the winter break.

Where do I submit my dissertation?

Online submission of the dissertation via ETD @ Harvard is required by the Graduate School. Dissertations must be received by 11:59 pm on the deadline date for the given degree period. NO EXTENSIONS TO THIS DEADLINE ARE PROVIDED.

http://www.registrar.fas.harvard.edu/registration-enrollment-degrees/graduation-diplomas/phd-dissertation-submission

Dissertations should be submitted in their final format, in accordance with the guidelines listed in the Form of the PhD Dissertation booklet, and ready for publication. The Registrar’s Office will review the document for formatting compliance. Formatting errors may prevent the conferral of the degree and the student may need to apply for the next available degree period. A sample dissertation as well as the Top Ten Common Errors are provided for your convenience.

The following two surveys must be completed and completion confirmation codes provided during dissertation submission.

1. Survey of Earned Doctorates

2. GSAS Exit Survey of Postgraduate Plans

In addition to the electronic dissertation submission, an electronic copy of your signed Dissertation Acceptance Certificate must also be submitted. It must be signed by a minimum of three readers , two of whom must be members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. The student name must match the legal name on file at the Registrar's Office .

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Authoring a PhD

How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation

• © 2003
• Latest edition
• Patrick Dunleavy 0

London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK

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• Covers all the core aspects of doctoral research, from forming research questions through to final submission
• Includes a chapter on getting published, with practical guidance on writing and submitting journal papers and reshaping a thesis into a monograph
• Draws on the author’s own experience of supervising over 30 PhD students

Part of the book series: Macmillan Study Skills (MASTSK)

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Table of contents (9 chapters)

Front matter, becoming an author.

Patrick Dunleavy

Envisioning the Thesis as a Whole

Planning an integrated thesis: the macro-structure, organizing a chapter or paper: the micro-structure, writing clearly: style and referencing issues, developing your text and managing the writing process, handling attention points: data, charts and graphics, the end-game: finishing your doctorate, publishing your research, back matter.

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About this book

This engaging and highly regarded book takes readers through the key stages of their PhD research journey, from the initial ideas through to successful completion and publication. It gives helpful guidance on forming research questions, organising ideas, pulling together a final draft, handling the viva and getting published. Each chapter contains a wealth of practical suggestions and tips for readers to try out and adapt to their own research needs and disciplinary style.

Authors and Affiliations

About the author, bibliographic information.

Book Title : Authoring a PhD

Book Subtitle : How to Plan, Draft, Write and Finish a Doctoral Thesis or Dissertation

Authors : Patrick Dunleavy

Series Title : Macmillan Study Skills

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-80208-7

Publisher : Red Globe Press London

eBook Packages : Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies Collection , Social Sciences (R0)

Copyright Information : The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2003

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XIII, 297

Additional Information : Previously published under the imprint Palgrave

Topics : Research Methods in Education

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PhD in Bioinformatics Data Science

A Ph.D. in Bioinformatics Data Science will train the next-generation of researchers and professionals who will play a key role in multi- and interdisciplinary teams, bridging life sciences and computational sciences. Students will receive training in experimental, computational and mathematical disciplines through their coursework and research. Students who complete this degree will be able to generate and analyze experimental data for biomedical research as well as develop physical or computational models of the molecular components that drive the behavior of the biological system.

Students must complete a minimum of 15 hours of coursework, plus 3 credit hours of seminar, 6 credit hours of research and 9 credit hours of doctoral dissertation. The Ph.D. requires a minimum of 33 credits. Students who are admitted directly after a B.S. degree will be required to complete up to 9 additional credits in order to fulfill the core curriculum in the following areas: Database Systems, Statistics, and Introduction to Discipline. In addition, if students entering the program with an M.S. degree are lacking equivalent prerequisites, they also will be required to complete courses in these three areas; however, these courses may fulfill the elective requirement in the Ph.D. program, if approved in the program of study.

Academic Load

PhD students holding research assistantships (or teaching) are considered full-time with 6 credit hours . Students without RA or TA  are considered full-time if enrolled in at least 9 credit hours or in sustaining credit. Those enrolled for fewer than 9 credit hours are considered part-time students. Generally, a maximum load is 12 graduate credit hours; however, additional credit hours may be taken with the approval of the student’s adviser and the Graduate College. A maximum course load in either summer or winter session is 7 credit hours. Permission must be obtained from the Graduate College to carry an overload in any session. 

Bioinformatics Data Science Courses

Students must take one course in each of the following areas (9 credits):

Prerequisites

Students must fulfill core curriculum in each of the following areas (3-9 credits):

Elective Courses

Students must take two courses to compliment their bioinformatics data science dissertation project (6 credits): 

See Elective courses

Students must take six semesters of seminar (three 0 credit; three 1 credit) and give a presentation during three semesters.

Other Requirements:

• Formation of Graduate Dissertation Committee
• Successful completion of Graduate Preliminary Exam
• Research on a significant scientific problem
• Successful completion of Ph.D. Candidacy Exam
• Successful completion of Dissertation Defense

Formation of Graduate Committee

The student needs to establish a Dissertation Committee within the first year of study. The Committee should consist of at least four faculty members, including the primary faculty advisor (serving as the Committee Chair), a secondary faculty advisor (in a complementary field to the primary advisor), a second faculty from the home department, and one CBCB affiliate faculty outside the Departments of the primary and secondary advisors or from outside the University. Students must complete the Dissertation Committee Formation form and submit to the Associate Director.

Students should convene their dissertation committee at least once every six months.

Preliminary Examination

The preliminary examination should be taken before the end of the fourth semester and will consist of an oral exam in subjects based on the Bioinformatics Data Science core.* In recognition of the importance of the core curriculum in providing a good test of the student’s knowledge, students must achieve a minimum 3.0 GPA in the core curriculum before taking the preliminary exam. Students will not be permitted to take the preliminary examination if the core grade requirements and cumulative GPA of 3.0 has not been achieved. The exam will be administered by the Preliminary Exam Committee , which will consist of one instructor from each of the three core courses. Each member of the Committee will provide a single grade (pass, conditional pass or fail) and the final grades will be submitted via the Results of Preliminary Exam Form :

• Pass . The student may proceed to the next stage of his/her degree training.
• Conditional pass . In the event that the examination committee feels that the student did not have an adequate background or understanding in one or more specific areas, the Preliminary Exam Committee will communicate the conditional pass to the student and must provide the student with specific requirements and guidelines for completing the conditional pass. The student must inform the Preliminary Exam Committee, the Graduate Program Director and Program Committee when these conditions have been completed. The Preliminary Exam Committee will then meet with the student to ensure all recommendations have been completed and whether a re-examination is necessary. If required, the re-examination will be done using the same format and prior to the beginning of the next academic semester. If the student still does not perform satisfactorily on this re-examination, he/she will then be recommended to the Graduate Affairs Committee for dismissal from the graduate program.
• Failure . This outcome would indicate that the Examination Committee considers the student incapable of completing degree training. The student’s academic progress will be reviewed by the Graduate Affairs Committee, who will make recommendations to the Program Director regarding the student’s enrollment status. The Program Director may recommend to the Graduate College that the student be dismissed from the Program immediately.

*Students who need to complete prerequisite courses may request a deadline extension for the preliminary and subsequently the candidacy examination. Requests must be submitted to the Graduate Program Committee prior to the start of the third semester.

Candidacy Exam

The candidacy examination must be completed by the end of the sixth semester of enrollment.* It requires a formal, detailed proposal be submitted to the Dissertation Committee and an oral defense of the student’s proposed research project. Upon the recommendation of the Dissertation Committee, the student may be admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. degree. The stipulations for admission to doctoral candidacy are that the student has (i) completed one academic years of full-time graduate study in residence at the University of Delaware, (ii) completed all required courses with the exception of BINF865 and BINF969, (iii) passed the preliminary exams, (iv) demonstrated the ability to perform research, and (v) had a research project accepted by the Dissertation Committee. Within one week of the candidacy exam, complete and submit the Recommendation for Candidacy for Doctoral Degree form for details. A copy of the completed form should be given to the Associate Director.

*Students who need to complete prerequisite courses may request a deadline extension for the preliminary and subsequently the candidacy examination.  Requests must be submitted to the Graduate Program Committee prior to the start of the third semester.

Dissertation Exam

The dissertation examination of the Ph.D. program will involve the approval of the written dissertation and an oral defense of the candidate’s dissertation.  The written dissertation will be submitted to the Dissertation Committee and the CBCB office at least three weeks in advance of the oral defense date.  The oral defense date will be publicly announced at least two weeks prior to the scheduled date. The oral presentation will be open to the public and all members of the Bioinformatics Data Science program. The Dissertation Committee will approve the candidate’s dissertation. The student and the primary faculty advisor will be responsible for making all corrections to the dissertation document and for meeting all Graduate College deadlines.  Within one week of the dissertation defense, complete and submit the Certification of Doctoral Dissertation Defense Form. A copy of the completed form should be given to the Associate Director.

Recent PhD Dissertations

Postdramatic African Theater and Critique of Representation Oluwakanyinsola Ajayi

Troubling Diaspora: Literature Across the Arabic Atlantic Phoebe Carter

The Contrafacta of Thomas Watson and Simon Goulart: Resignifying the Polyphonic Song in 16th-century England and France Joseph Gauvreau

Of Unsound Mind: Madness and Mental Health in Asian American Literature Carrie Geng

Cultural Capitals: Postwar Yiddish between Warsaw and Buenos Aires Rachelle Grossman

Blindness, Deafness, and Cripping the Grounds of Comparison in Comparative Literature Kathleen Ong

Counter-Republics of Letters: Politics, Publishing, and the Global Novel Elisa Sotgiu

Red Feminism: The Politics and Poetics of Liberation Botagoz Ussen

‘Through the Looking Glass’: The Narrative Performance of Anarkali Aisha Dad

Indeterminate “Greekness”: A Diasporic and Transnational Poetics Ilana Freedman

Imagined Mothers: The Construction of Italy, Ancient Greece, and Anglo-American Hegemony Francesca Bellei

The Untimely Avant-Garde: Literature, Politics, and Transculturation in the Sinosphere (1909-2020) Fangdai Chen

Recovering the Language of Lament: Modernism, Catastrophe, and Exile Sarah Corrigan

Beyond Diaspora:The Off Home in Jewish Literature from Latin America and Israel Lana Jaffe Neufeld

Artificial Humanities: A Literary Perspective on Creating and Enhancing Humans from Pygmalion to Cyborgs Nina Begus

Music and Exile in Twentieth-Century German, Italian, and Polish Literature Cecily Cai

We Speak Violence: How Narrative Denies the Everyday Rachael Duarte Riascos

Anticlimax: The Multilingual Novel at the Turn of the 21st Century Matylda Figlerowicz

Forgetting to Remember: An Approach to Proust’s Recherche Lara Roizen

The Event of Literature:An Interval in a World of Violence Petra Taylor

The English Baroque:The Logic of Excess in Early Modern Literature Hudson Vincent

Porte Planète; Ville Canale –parisian knobs /visually/ turned to \textual\ currents Emma Zofia Zachurski

‘…not a poet but a poem’: A Lacanian study of the subject of the poem Marina Connelly The Tune That Can No Longer Be Recognized: Late Medieval Chinese Poetry and Its Affective Others Jasmine Hu The Invention of the Art Film: Authorship and French Cultural Policy Joseph Pomp Apocalypticism in the Arabic Novel William Tamplin The Sound of Prose: Rhythm, Translation, Orality Thomas Wisniewski

The New Austerity in Syrian Poetry Daniel Behar

Mourning the Living: Africa and the Elegy on Screen Molly Klaisner

Art Beyond the Norms: Art of the Insane, Art Brut, and the Avant-Garde from Prinzhorn to Dubuffet (1922-1949) Raphael Koenig

Words, Images and the Self: Iconoclasm in Late Medieval English Literature Yun Ni

Europe and the Cultural Politics of Mediterranean Migrations Argyro Nicolaou

Voice of Power, Voice of Terror: Lyric, Violence, and the Greek Revolution Simos Zenios

Every Step a New Movement: Anarchism in the Stalin-Era Literature of the Absurd and its Post-Soviet Adaptations Ania Aizman

Kino-Eye, Kino-Bayonet: Avant-Garde Documentary in Japan, France, and the USSR Julia Alekseyeva

Ambient Meaning: Mood, Vibe, System Peli Grietzer

Year of the Titan: Percy Bysshe Shelley and Ancient Poetry Benjamin Sudarsky

Metropolitan Morning: Loss, Affect, and Metaphysics in Buenos Aires, 1920-1940 Juan Torbidoni

Sophisticated Players: Adults Writing as Children in the Stalin Era and Beyond Luisa Zaitseva

Collecting as Cultural Technique: Materialistic Interventions into History in 20th Century China Guangchen Chen

Pathways of Transculturation: Chinese Cultural Encounters with Russia and Japan (1880-1930) Xiaolu Ma

Beyond the Formal Law: Making Cases in Roman Controversiae and Tang Literary Judgments Tony Qian

Alternative Diplomacies: Writing in Early Twentieth-Century Shanghai, Istanbul, and Beyond? Alice Xiang

The Literary Territorialization of Manchuria: Rethinking National and Transnational Literature in East Asia from the Frontier Miya Qiong Xie World Literature and the Chinese Compass, 1942-2012 Yanping Zhang

Anatomy of ‘Decadence’ Henry Bowles

Medicine As Storytelling: Emplotment Strategies in Doctor-Patient Encounters and Beyond (1870-1830) Elena Fratto

Platonic Footnotes: Figures of Asymmetry in Ancient Greek Thought Katie Deutsch

Children’s Literature Grows Up Christina Phillips Mattson

Humor as Epiphanic Awareness and Attempted Self-Transcendence Curtis Shonkwiler

Ethnicity, Ethnogenesis and Ancestry in the Early Iron Age Aegean as Background to and through the Lens of the Iliad Guy Smoot

The Modern Stage of Capitalism: The Drama of Markets and Money (1870-1930) Alisa Sniderman

Repenting Roguery: Penance in the Spanish Picaresque Novel and the Arabic and Hebrew Maqāma Emmanuel Ramírez Nieves

The “Poetics of Diagram” John Kim

Dreaming Empire: European Writers in the Fascist Era Robert Kohen

The Poetics of Love in Prosimetra across the Medieval Mediterranean Isabelle Levy

Renaissance Error: Digression from Ariosto to Milton Luke Taylor

The New Voyager: Theory and Practice of South Asian Literary Modernisms Rita Banerjee

Be an Outlaw, Be a Hero: Cinematic Figures of Urban Banditry and Transgression in Brazil, France, and the Maghreb Maryam Monalisa Gharavi

Bāgh-e Bi-Bargi: Aspects of Time and Presence in the Poetry of Mehdi Akhavān Sāles Marie Huber

Freund-schaft: Capturing Aura in an Unframed Literary Exchange Clara Masnatta

Class, Gender and Indigeneity as Counter-discourses in the African Novel: Achebe, Ngugi, Emecheta, Sow Fall and Ali Fatin Abbas

The Empire of Chance: War, Literature, and the Epistemic Order of Modernity Anders Engberg-Pedersen

Poetics of the unfinished: illuminating Paul Celan’s “Eingedunkelt” Thomas Connolly

Towards a Media History of Writing in Ancient Italy Stephanie Frampton Character Before the Novel: Representing Moral Identity in the Age of Shakespeare Jamey Graham

Transforming Trauma: Memory and Slavery in Black Atlantic Literature since 1830 Raquel Kennon

Renaissance Romance: Rewarding the Boundaries of Fiction Christine S. Lee

Psychomotor Aesthetics: Conceptions of Gesture and Affect in Russian and American Modernity, 1910s-1920s Ana Olenina

Melancholy, Ambivalence, Exhaustion: Responses to National Trauma in the Literature and Film of France and China Erin Schlumpf

The Poetics of Human-Computer Interaction Dennis Tenen

Novelizing the Muslim Wars of Conquest: The Christian Pioneers of the Arabic Historical Novel Luke Leafgren

Secret Lives of the City: Reimagining the Urban Margins in 20th-Century Literature and Theory, from Surrealism to Iain Sinclair Jennifer Hui Bon Hoa

Archaic Greek Memory and Its Role in Homer Anita Nikkanen

Deception Narratives and the (Dis)Pleasure of Being Cheated: The Cases of Gogol, Nabokov, Mamet, and Flannery O’Connor Svetlana Rukhelman

Aesthetic Constructs and the Work of Play in 20th Century Latin American and Russian Literature Natalya Sukhonos

Stone, Steel, Glass: Constructions of Time in European Modernity Christina Svendsen

See here for a full list of dissertations since 1904 .

Founded as a graduate program in 1904 and joining with the undergraduate Literature Concentration in 2007, Harvard’s Department of Comparative Literature operates at the crossroads of multilingualism, literary study, and media history.

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Congratulations to mai nguyen ’24: 2023–2024 bowdoin undergraduate prize winner.

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Dissertation Defense

The following steps are meant to help you begin thinking about your defense, dissertation, and eventually graduation. Please contact the Student Services Office if you have any questions about the process or requirements.

Planning Your Dissertation Defense

Steps for planning your defense.

Meet with your committee and determine a date and time. Some faculty travel extensively, so it is a good idea to start this process early.

Once you have a confirmed time, contact the Student Services Office. They will help in booking rooms for both the public and closed door sessions.

Tip : Some faculty travel extensively, so it's a good idea to start this process early. Room reservations can also be tricky depending on the time selected. The more notice you can provide, the more likely one of your top choices for rooms will be available.

Your chair must be someone outside of the department who is an Academic Council member. Your Oral Examination Committee must have a total 5 members including the University Chair. If you need help finding one, your advisor and other committee members should be able to help. University policy regarding chairs and your committee can be found in the  Stanford Bulletin .

Deliver a draft of your dissertation to each of your committee members 30 days prior to your defense. Some committee members may prefer just an emailed draft, however others may prefer a paper copy so be sure to check on preferences of each of your committee members!

Bring your University  Oral Examination Form  to the Student Services office (Gilbert 118 or via email) at least 2 weeks before your defense. The Student Services Office will bring this back to you or your advisor at your defense.

If you’d like the Student Services Office to create and post flyers for your defense, please send them a picture to use and your title 2 weeks before your defense.

Following your defense, please turn in the University Oral Examination Form to the Student Services Office as soon as possible.

Dissertation Submission

Submit your dissertation.

The following needs to be done, in order, to complete the dissertation submission process:

Visit the e-dissertation/thesis center in Axess  

This is often your advisor, but can be any Academic Council member on your committee. They will need to log in to Axess and approve your dissertation before the deadline once you’ve uploaded your dissertation.

Turn in your signed signature page and title page to the Student Services Center at Tresidder (see the guidelines PDF for formatting instructions).

Signatures must be actual ink signatures on acid-free paper.  Only your reading committee should be included on your signature page. Do NOT include your defense chair or any committee members only present for the defense.

Upload and submit your dissertation.

This  video  that will walk you through the upload process.

Guidelines for formatting, etc.

Registrar’s Office site for all dissertation information

Submission Deadlines

The entire process must be complete and dissertation approved by the Registrar’s Office by the following deadlines: Autumn Quarter 2021 – Friday, December 7, 2021 at 12:00pm Winter Quarter 2022 – Friday, March 19, 2022 at 12:00pm Spring Quarter 2022 – Wednesday, June 4, 2022 at 12:00pm Summer Quarter 2022 – Friday, August 27, 2022 at 12:00pm

Be sure that you also apply to graduate in the quarter you’re submitting! To file your application through Axess: Select "Apply to Graduate" from the drop down menu on the Student Center Academics tab and complete the entire application to graduate process.

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• Fall 2023 Issue

Doctoral Students Tackle Impactful Research

Nicole Choquette and Emmanuel Lozada-Soto were recently named the recipients of the 2024 Kenneth R. Keller Research Award.

By Jess Clarke

As an Illinois native who’d lived all her life there, Nicole Choquette wanted a new state and different crop focus as she considered doctoral programs in plant breeding.

She had planned to go beyond corn and soybeans, key research areas at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where Choquette earned undergraduate and graduate degrees.

“Toward the end of my master’s program, I said I’d never study corn again,” she recalls. “But then a great opportunity came up at NC State University, and I said, ‘OK, I’m going to go study corn there.’”

So, Choquette headed to North Carolina and worked as a graduate research assistant for Jim Holland, a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) professor in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences

She has no regrets — Choquette ultimately was recognized for her scholarship as an NC State crop science doctoral student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.    

Choquette and animal science Ph.D. student Emmanuel Lozada-Soto, both 2023 graduates, are the 2024 winners of CALS’ Kenneth R. Keller Award , a $2,500 prize for excellence in doctoral dissertation research within the college. The award’s namesake is a late CALS faculty member, recognized for his work for the university and agricultural development.

Lozada-Soto also originally thought he’d pursue a different doctoral path at CALS than the one he chose. He’d planned to study molecular biology but faced an unexpected obstacle: “I fell in love with quantitative genetics,” he says.

His interest shifted when he was invited to help with the animal breeding and genetics research of then-CALS professor Francesco Tiezzi, who became Lozada-Soto’s adviser when he was an NC State animal science master’s student .       

In quantitative genetics, he was intrigued by how many traits, including weight and milk production with cows, were controlled by genes and the environment. “We can see the genetic structure of the traits, so we can improve them,” Lozada-Soto says. “We can use science to uncover this hidden genetic architecture.”

His dissertation research stemmed from that, helped by an NC State master’s degree in statistics he’d already earned, and overseen by his doctoral adviser, CALS professor Christian Maltecca.   

Promising Research

Lozada-Soto examined the best ways to measure inbreeding and genetic diversity in cattle to determine how inbreeding affects their health and milk and meat production. The aim was to find out how harmful inbreeding potentially could be to animals and production.

He used molecular tools to study the cows’ genetic composition — half a million beef cattle and over four million dairy cows. With such a large and broad sampling, “I could more accurately quantify the genetic diversity and levels of inbreeding,” Lozada-Soto says.

The main conclusions of his research: In dairy cows, inbreeding can increase the incidence of reproductive disease; in beef cattle, inbreeding reduced growth and weight on average. Now dairy and beef producers can use the data to impact mating decisions, with the ultimate goal to increase food production.   

Lozada-Soto’s doctoral work eventually could increase genetic diversity and possibly counteract impacts of disease and climate change. Choquette’s dissertation research also has that potential.

The objective of her research was to try adapting tropical corn to temperate environments. With more plant diversity from different corn varieties, “That can help make our current corn breeding lines more resistant to climate change,” Choquette says.

Her focus was on quickening adaptation. The process is difficult because of the overall shorter daylight hours over a year’s time in tropical areas than in North Carolina. Introducing new varieties to longer day lengths “kind of freaks them out,” so the plants don’t flower and develop kernels on time, which can reduce their yield, she notes.

Choquette selected for the flowering time to be earlier, so plants could go through their developmental process in a single season. That entailed cross-pollinating tropical corn, taking pollen from one plant and putting it on another plant to select for the traits she wanted. “As we did that, we got rid of those bad individuals that were late flowering,” she says.   

Her research concluded that selecting for flowering time in breeding programs can make plants flower earlier, “so you can adapt tropical germplasm to new environments,” she notes.

Choquette’s research and the new, diverse plant populations she created can be used broadly by corn breeding programs. “Someone might discover that these plants have good resistance to disease,” she says. “This is an important resource they wouldn’t have access to otherwise.”

Breeding Possibility

As CALS students, Choquette and Lozada-Soto had resources and opportunities they may not have had otherwise.

Choquette thrived in the tight-knit graduate student community. “In the Plant Breeding Consortium ,” she says, “it was easy to make your friends and find your people. That was huge.”

Huge for Lozada-Soto were the conferences where he presented papers on his research and the paid research jobs he had in Canada and Italy. “That filled my Rolodex of contacts. Once I graduated, that became a great resource for me to expand my network,” he says.

Now Lozada-Soto and Choquette have full-time positions that overlap with their dissertation research.

Lozada-Soto is an animal scientist in Colorado for the USDA’s National Animal Germplasm Program, which maintains a collection of nearly 1.3 million tissue samples that represent about 65,000 animals. The program safeguards genetic diversity of agricultural animals to potentially expand food production and counteract climate change and disease.  

“I’ll be a lifelong geneticist. I’ll always be in this field,” he says.

In a different field, Choquette is a diversity breeder for Benson Hill, a Missouri breeding company. The business focuses on quality traits in soybeans’ protein and oil to ultimately grow healthier beans for animals. She adds new types of soybeans to their database that could potentially unlock new genetic traits for more nutritious animal feed.

As Choquette builds on the research that led to her Keller Award, that recognition — which she’s been told only a few crop science students have received — boosts her confidence.

“That honor makes me carry my head higher,” she says. Whatever her eventual career direction, she says “the possibilities are endless.”

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2023/2024 PhD Recipients Thesis Titles

2022-2023 PhD Thesis Titles    2021-2022 PhD Thesis Titles    2020-2021 PhD Thesis Titles   

2018-2019 PhD Thesis Titles    2017-2018 PhD Thesis Titles    2019-2020 PhD Thesis Titles   

2018-2019 PhD Thesis Titles    2017-2018 PhD Thesis Titles    2016-2017 PhD Thesis Titles  

2015-2016 PhD Thesis Titles    2013-2014 PhD Thesis Titles    2012-2013 PhD Thesis Titles   

2011-2012 PhD Thesis Titles  

Candidates for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Solomon abiola, b.s. princeton university, m.s. carnegie mellon university; translational biomedical science.

Thesis: The Rise of Temperature and Fall of Fever: A 21st-Century Translational Science Approach to Infectious Disease Forecast using Machine Learning Transformers, mHealth Application Node and Wearable Device Edge

Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Miller  

Sara Ali, B.S. Rochester Institute Of Technology, M.S. University of Rochester; Biophysics

Thesis: A Bioinformatics Pipeline for Identifying Structurally Conserved ncRNAs: From Prediction to Validation

Advisor: Dr. David Mathews  

Naemah Alkhars, B.S. Kuwait University, M.S. University of Rochester; Translational Biomedical Science

Thesis: Three-dimensional Maternal influence on Children at High Risk of Severe Early Childhood

Advisor: Dr. Jin Xiao  

Katherine Andersh, B.S. University Of Arizona, M.S. University of Rochester; Neuroscience

Thesis: The role of proinflammatory cytokines in glaucomatous neurodegeneration

Advisor: Dr. Richard Libby  

Uday Baliga, B.S. Colorado State University, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: Gene Delivery:  Multigenic approaches

Advisor: Dr. David Dean  

Sara Blick-Nitko, B.S. Rochester Institute of Technology, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: Platelet Ido1 in Plasmodium yoelii Uncomplicated Malaria Infection

Advisor: Dr. Craig Morrell  

Zachary Brehm, B.M. SUNY College Potsdam, M.S. SUNY College Potsdam; Statistics

Thesis: Statistical Methods for the Analysis of Complex Tissue Bulk RNA-seq Data

Advisor: Dr. Matthew McCall  

Tina Bui-Bullock, B.S. The University Of Texas At Austin, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology and Immunology

Thesis: Elucidating Host Factors That Modulate Staphylococcus aureus Osteomyelitis Severity in Obesity-Related Type 2 Diabetes

Advisor: Dr. Steven Gill  

Kimberly Burgos Villar, B.A. Daemen College, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: Expression and Function of SPRR1A, a Novel Marker of the Ischemic Cardiac Border Zone

Advisor: Dr. Eric Small  

Wesley Chiang, B.S. University Of California-Irvine, M.S. University of Rochester; Biophysics

Thesis: Nano for Neuro: Developing Hybrid Quantum Dot Nano-Bio Assemblies to Probe Neuroinflammatory Activation

Advisor: Dr. Todd Krauss  

Jessica Ciesla, B.S. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, M.S. University of Rochester; Biochemistry

Thesis: Mechanisms Through Which Metabolism and the Human Cytomegalovirus UL26 Protein Contribute to Anti-Viral Signaling

Advisor: Dr. Joshua Munger  

Martin Cole, B.E. The Open University, M.S. University of Rochester; Statistics

Thesis: Scratching the Surface: Surface-Based Cortical Registration and Analysis of Connectivity Functions

Advisor: Dr. Xing Qiu  

Luke Duttweiler, B.A. Houghton College, M.A. SUNY Brockport, M.A. University of Rochester; Statistics

Thesis: Spectral Bayesian Network Theory: Graph Theoretic Solutions to Problems in Bayesian Networks

Advisor: Dr. Sally Thurston and Dr. Anthony Almudevar  

Esraa Furati, M.B.B.S. University of Dammam, M.S. University of Rochester; Pharmacology

Thesis: Insights into the Roles of Aging and Chemokine Signaling During Neuromuscular Regeneration

Advisor: Dr. Joe Chakkalakal

Erin Gibbons, B.S. University Of Connecticut, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology and Immunology

Thesis: Investigation of mTORC1-mediated genes Neutrophil Elastase and Glycoprotein-NMB  Demonstrates Tumor Promotion and GPNMB as a Serum Biomarker for  Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)

Advisor: Dr. Stephen Hammes  

Christie Gilbert Klaczko, B.S. SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry; Translational Biomedical Science

Thesis: Oral Cross-kingdom Bacterial-fungal Interactions in a Cross-sectional Pregnant Population Living in Low Socioeconomic Status in Rochester, New York

Jimin Han, B.S. Duquesne University, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: Investigating the role of CLN3 in retinal pigment epithelium dysfunction in CLN3-Batten

Advisor: Dr. Ruchira Singh  

Jarreau Harrison, B.S. CUNY Medgar Evers College, M.S. University of Rochester; Pharmacology

Thesis: HSPB8 Attenuates Pathological Tau Accumulation

Advisor: Dr. Gail Johnson  

Alicia Healey, B.S. Simmons College, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology and Immunology

Thesis:Aryl hydrocarbon receptor activation modulates monocytic cell responses during respiratory viral infection

Advisor: Dr. B. Paige Lawrence  

Omar Hedaya, B.S. Kuwait University, M.S. University of Rochester; Biochemistry

Thesis: uORF-mediated Translational Regulation of GATA4 in the Heart

Advisor: Dr. Peng Yao  

Emma House, B.S. Wayne State University, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: Investigating the Role of CD4+ T Cells in Flavorings-Related Lung Disease

Advisor: Dr. Matthew D. McGraw  

Yechu Hua, B.A. Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Health Services Research and Policy

Thesis: Did Greater Price Transparency of Hospital Care Lower Health Care Costs?

Advisor: Dr. Yue Li  

Feng Jiang, B.S. Wuhan University, M.S. University of Rochester; Biochemistry

Thesis: The Molecular Mechanism and Biological Impact of Cis-acting Elements and Trans-acting Factors in mRNA Translation Regulation

Amber Kautz, B.S. Cornell University, M.S. Boston University; Epidemiology

Thesis: Maternal Non-Adherence to the Dietary Fat Recommendations During Pregnancy and Neonatal Adiposity and Infant Weight Gain: The Role of Inflammation

Advisor: Dr. Diana Fernandez  

Gabrielle Kosoy, B.S. SUNY College At Geneseo, M.S. University of Rochester; Biophysics

Thesis: Understanding vaccine antibody response: high throughput measurements of equilibrium affinity constants for influenza, cross-reactivity of SARS antibodies, and asthmatic response

Thomas Lamb Jr., B.S. St Josephs College, M.S. University of Rochester; Toxicology

Thesis: Chemical Characterization and Lung Toxicity of Humectants and Flavored E-cigarettes

Advisor: Dr. Irfan Rahman  

Linh Le, B.S. Truman State University, M.S. Truman State University, M.S. University of Rochester; Neuroscience

Thesis: The effects of microglial adrenergic signaling and microglial renewal on Alzheimer’s disease pathology

Advisor: Dr. Ania Majewska  

Jiatong Liu, B.S. Huazhong University of Science and Technology, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: The Role of Senescent Cells in Aging Fracture Healing

Advisor: Dr. Lianping Xing  

Daniel Lopez, B.A. University Of California-Los Angeles, M.A. Stanford University. MPH Cuny Hunter College; Epidemiology

Thesis: The Neurobiological Correlates of Problematic Gaming Behaviors in Adolescents

Advisor: Dr. Edwin van Wijngaarden  

Ferralita Madere, B.S. Xavier University Of Louisiana, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology

Thesis: Elucidating Complex Transkingdom Interactions in the Female Reproductive Tract Microbiome in Health and Disease

Advisor: Dr. Cynthia Monaco  

Courtney Markman, B.S. Rochester Institute Of Technology, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: The role(s) of JAG1 during Embryonic Cochlear Development

Advisor: Dr. Amy Kiernan  

Andrew Martin, B.S. North Adams State College, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology

Thesis: Mechanism and Consequence of IFN--mediated Loss of Tissue Resident Macrophages on Host Immunity to Toxoplasma gondii

Advisor: Dr. Felix Yarovinsky  

Alyssa Merrill, B.S. Nazareth College Of Rochester, M.S. University of Rochester; Toxicology

Thesis: Pregnancy-dependent Cardiometabolic Effects of Anti-estrogenic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

Advisor: Dr.Marissa Sobolewski and Dr. Deborah Cory-Slechta  

Briaunna Minor, B.S. Xavier University Of Louisiana, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology

Thesis: Implications for Targeting Tumor Associated Neutrophils to Attenuate Estrogen Mediated Lymphangioleiomyomatosis Progression

Mostafa Mohamed, M.S. Alexandria University, M.D. Alexandria University; Epidemiology

Thesis: Association Between Chemotherapy Dosing, Treatment Tolerability, and Survival Among Older Adults with Advanced Cancer

Advisor: Dr. David Rich  

Adrián Moisés Molina Vargas, B.S. University of Alcala, M.S. University of Rochester; Genetics

Thesis: Developing Design Strategies for Efficient and Specific CRISPR Cas13 RNA-Targeting Applications

Advisor: Dr. Mitchell O'Connell  

Teraisa Mullaney, B.S. Rochester Institute Of Technology, M.S Rochester Institute Of Technology, M.S. University of Rochester; Health Services Research and Policy

Thesis: Understanding the Role of Navigation Capital in Health Services and Social Determinants of Health: A Health Capability Explanation

Advisor: Dr. Peter Veazie  

Daxiang Na, B.S. Peking University, M.S. Peking University, M.S. Brandeis University, M.S. University of Rochester; Genetics

Thesis: An Investigation of the Relationship between Auditory Dysfunctions and Alzheimer’s Disease Using Amyloidosis Mouse Models

Advisor: Dr. Patricia White  

Thomas O'Connor, B.S. SUNY University at Buffalo, M.S. University of Rochester; Genetics

Thesis: Adaptive and Protective Responses of Skeletal Muscle to Endurance Exercise in the Context of Aging, Juvenile Radiotherapy, and Tubular Aggregate Myopathy

Advisor: Dr. Robert Dirksen and Dr. James Palis  

Raven Osborn, B.A. University Of Missouri-Columbia; Translational Biomedical Science

Thesis: Single-cell gene regulatory network analysis reveals cell population-specific responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection in lung epithelial cells

Advisor: Dr. Juilee Thakar and Dr. Stephen Dewhurst  

Emily Przysinda, B.A. Skidmore College, M.S. University of Rochester; Neurobiology and Anatomy

Thesis: Social processing and underlying language deficits in schizophrenia during naturalistic video viewing

Advisor: Dr. Edmund Lalor  

Emily Quarato, B.S. University Of Alabama At Birmingham, M.S. University of Rochester; Program

Thesis: High levels of mesenchymal stromal cell efferocytosis induces senescence and causes bone loss

Advisor: Dr. Laura Calvi  

Zahíra Quiñones Tavárez, B.S. Pontificial Catholic University Mother and Teacher, M.P.H. University of Rochester; Translational Biomedical Science

Thesis: Linking Exposure to Flavors in Electronic Cigarettes and Coughing

Advisor: Dr. Deborah Ossip  

Matthew Raymonda, B.S. University Of North Carolina At Wilmington, M.S. University of Rochester; Biochemistry

Thesis: Identifying Metabolic Vulnerabilities Associated with Viral Infections

Savanah Russ, B.A. SUNY Geneseo, M.P.H Yale University; Epidemiology

Thesis: Association Between Community-Level Socioeconomic Status and Spatiotemporal Variation in COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake

Advisor: Dr. Yu Liu  

Cooper Sailer, B.S. University at Buffalo, M.A. University at Buffalo, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: Characterization of CAR-T cell phenotypes to augment response against solid tumors

Advisor: Dr. Minsoo Kim  

Jishyra Serrano, B.S. Universidad Adventista De Las Antillas; Translational Biomedical Science

Thesis: Prenatal Maternal Stress and Inflammation: Association to Childhood Temperament

Advisor: Dr. Thomas O'Connor  

Yuhang Shi, B.A. Henan Agricultural University, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology

Thesis: Interactions Between Viruses and the Innate Antiviral Factors SERINC5, BST2 and BCA2

Advisor: Dr. Ruth Serra-Moreno  

Anjali Sinha, B.E. PES Institute of Technology, M.S. University at Buffalo, M.S. University of Rochester; Neuroscience

Thesis: Role of mAChR signaling and M-current in EVS mediated responses of mammalian vestibular afferents

Advisor: Dr. J. Chris Holt  

Celia Soto, B.S. SUNY Geneseo, M.S. University of Rochester; Pathology

Thesis: Elevated Lactate in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Bone Marrow Microenvironment Dysfunction

Advisor: Dr. Benjamin Frisch  

Michael Sportiello, B.S. University Of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology

Thesis: Investigating CD8 T cell tissue resident memory phenotype, function, metabolic activity, and differentiation

Advisor: Dr. David Topham  

Kumari Yoshita Srivastava, B.S. National Institute of Science Education And Research, M.S. National Institute of Science Education And Research, M.S. University of Rochester; Biophysics

Thesis: Structure and Function Analysis of Bacterial Riboswitches that Control Translation

Advisor: Dr. Joseph Wedekind  

Kathryn Toffolo, B.S. SUNY College at Buffalo, M.S. University of Rochester; Neuroscience

Thesis: Semantic Language Processing: Insight into Underlying Circuitry and Development using Neurophysiological and Neuroimaging Methods

Advisor: Dr. John J. Foxe  

Megan Ulbrich, B.S. University Of Pittsburgh, M.S. University of Rochester; Microbiology and Immunology

Thesis: The Activity of Vibrio cholerae Effector VopX Targets Host Cell Pathways that Reorganize the Actin Cytoskeleton

Advisor: Dr. Michelle Dziejman  

Erik Vonkaenel, B.S. Slippery Rock University Of Pennsylvania, M.A. University of Rochester; Statistics

Thesis: Methods for Microglia Image Analysis

Amanda Wahl, B.S. Saint John Fisher College, M.S. University of Rochester; Pharmacology

Thesis: Redefining the function of salivary duct cell populations utilizing a structural, functional, and computational approach

Advisor: Dr. David Yule  

Yunna Xie, B.S. Sichuan University, M.S. Universität Heidelberg; Health Services Research & Policy

Thesis: Is Physician Expertise Working as a Barrier to the Implementation of New Clinical Interventions? A Neural Network Approach

Shen Zhou, B.S. Shanghai University, M.S. Brandeis University, M.S. University of Rochester; Genetics

Thesis: The Study of c-Cbl in Clear Cell Sarcoma

Advisor: Dr. Mark Noble

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5 RS PhD Students Defend Dissertations

• By: Michael Williams
• May 14, 2024

A big congratulations to all five Romance Studies PhD students who successfully defended their dissertations this spring!

Tiffany Bailey

Dissertation Title:  Girl Gang: Black Girlhood in France Represented Through Contemporary Film and Literature

Brittany Bernard

Dissertation Title:  Revenants: Gendered Memories of Trauma in the Works of Leïla Sebbar, Diane Kurys, Alice Zeniter, and Mati Diop

Joanna Ducey

Dissertation Title:  Ontological Exiles & Returns:  Memory & Mourning in 21st Century Francophone Literatures & Film

Braden Clinger

Dissertation Title:  Mediations of Popular Belief in the Southern Cone: Museums, Prose, New Media, and Film on the Traditional Guarani Frontier

Natanael Saraí García Santos

Dissertation Title:  Ficciones sobre la infancia. La semilla de la identidad nacional en el México posrevolucioinario (1920 – 1950)

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2024 Best Doctoral Dissertation Advances Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering, Seismic Design

• by Molly Bechtel
• May 21, 2024

Sumeet Kumar Sinha is this year's recipient of the University of California, Davis, College of Engineering Zuhair A. Munir Award for Best Doctoral Dissertation. The award recognizes the methods, findings and significance of Sinha's research, which featured several first-of-its-kind approaches and analyses in the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering and is actively informing seismic design practices.   

The college established the annual award in 1999 in honor of Zuhair A. Munir, the former dean of engineering who led the college from 2000 to 2002 and acted as associate dean for graduate studies for 20 years. The award recognizes a doctoral student, their exemplary research and the mentorship of their major professor.  

A two-time Aggie alum, Sinha received his master's degree in 2017 and Ph.D. in 2022 from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, where he was mentored by Associate Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou and Professor Emeritus Bruce Kutter . He is now an assistant professor in the Department of Civil Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and co-founder of BrahmaSens, a startup that specializes in the development of sensing technologies and solutions for application in various sectors including health-monitoring of civil infrastructures.  

"It's really a special honor to get this [award]," said Sinha. "It acknowledges both the depth and significance of the research I conducted during my Ph.D."   

Sinha's dissertation is of notable significance in California, where agencies like the Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, which funded his research, are eager to identify improved design methods in seismically active regions of the state.  

In " Liquefaction-Induced Downdrag on Piles: Centrifuge and Numerical Modeling, and Design Procedures ," Sinha focuses on the effects of earthquakes on deep foundations, like piles, in soils that can liquefy. Liquefaction occurs when wet sand-like soils lose their strength due to increased pore water pressure during earthquake shaking. This causes the soil to behave like a liquid, leading to significant ground deformations.   

After the shaking stops, the soil slowly regains its strength as the water drains out, but this settling and densifying process, called reconsolidation, can drag down piles downward. Additional downdrag loads have not always been properly accounted for in conventional design.   

Through centrifuge model tests at the UC Davis Center for Geotechnical Modeling , Sinha developed numerical models to evaluate scenarios. His findings include procedures for accurately estimating downdrag loads and the corresponding demands on pile foundations, as well as practical methods to design bridges in a more efficient and economical way.  

"Dr. Sinha's methods, approaches, documentation, results and overall findings have been, by any standards, novel and meticulous," said Ziotopoulou in her nomination letter. "His research represents a significant and original contribution to the field of geotechnical earthquake engineering, and his findings have already been implemented into practice by major design firms."  

Sinha's research was recognized with a DesignSafe Dataset Award , an Editor's Choice in his field's top journal and the Michael Condon Scholarship from the Deep Foundations Institute. He has published seven papers in peer-reviewed journals.  

Of perhaps greater meaning to Sinha is making improvements in the design codes to make them more informed, feasible, economical, resilient and sustainable through the complete understanding of the mechanism obtained through his findings from experiments, developed numerical models and design procedures, which are available publicly via platforms such as GitHub and DesignSafe.   

"My philosophy has always been to convert whatever I'm doing into a product, a tool which has a wider impact," explained Sinha. "During my Ph.D., I tried to go beyond the deliverables so that I maximize the impact of [my research]."  

Sinha is grateful for his mentors' and peers' influence and support during the five-year Ph.D. program at UC Davis.  

"I have learned a lot from [Professors Katerina Ziotopoulou and Bruce Kutter] academically as well as professionally," said Sinha. "The Geotechnical Graduate Student Society also had a very important role in my overall experience at UC Davis."  

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A Chicago teen entered college at 10. At 17, she earned a doctorate from Arizona State

Dorothy Jean Tillman II participates in Arizona State University’s commencement, May 6, 2024, in Tempe, Ariz. Tillman, 18, earned her doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health in December at age 17 from the school. Tillman, of Chicago, began taking college courses at age 10. She earned her associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees before she turned 17. (Tillman Family via AP)

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CHICAGO (AP) — Dorothy Jean Tillman II’s participation in Arizona State University’s May 6 commencement was the latest step on a higher-education journey the Chicago teen started when she took her first college course at age 10.

In between came associate’s, bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

When Tillman successfully defended her dissertation in December, she became the youngest person — at age 17 — to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health at Arizona State, associate professor Leslie Manson told ABC’s “Good Morning America” for a story Monday.

“It’s a wonderful celebration, and we hope ... that Dorothy Jean inspires more students,” Manson said. “But this is still something so rare and unique.”

Tillman, called “Dorothy Jeanius” by family and friends, is the granddaughter of former Chicago Alderwoman Dorothy Tillman.

When most students are just learning to navigate middle school, her mother enrolled Tillman in classes through the College of Lake County in northern Illinois, where she majored in psychology and completed her associate’s degree in 2016, according to her biography.

Tillman earned a bachelor’s in humanities from New York’s Excelsior College in 2018. About two years later, she earned her master’s of science from Unity College in Maine before being accepted in 2021 into Arizona State’s Behavioral Health Management Program.

Most of her classwork was done remotely and online. Tillman did attend her Arizona State commencement in person and addressed the graduating class during the ceremony.

Tillman told The Associated Press on Tuesday that she credits her grandmother and trusting in her mother’s guidance for her educational pursuits and successes.

“Everything that we were doing didn’t seem abnormal to me or out of the ordinary until it started getting all of the attention,” said Tillman, now 18.

There have been sacrifices, though.

“I didn’t have the everyday school things like homecoming dances or spirit weeks or just school pictures and things like that ... that kind of create unity with my peers,” she said.

She has found time to dance and do choreography. Tillman also is founder and chief executive of the Dorothyjeanius STEAM Leadership Institute. The program includes summer camps designed to help young people in the arts and STEM subjects.

She said her plans include public speaking engagements and fundraising for the camp, which Tillman said she hopes to franchise one day.

Tillman is motivated and has innovative ideas, said Manson, adding, “And truly, I think what is inspiring is that she embodies that meaning of being a true leader.”

Jimalita Tillman said she is most impressed with her daughter’s ability to show herself and her successes with grace, but to also understand when to “put her foot down” when choosing between social outings and her education.

Associated Press researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.