Doing a PhD

[Phdhumanrights]

I'm wondering if I'd be mad to do a PhD. I currently can't work due to a disability. I am at home twiddling my thumbs and thought that I could spend this time studying.

My interest is human rights. I have an LLM in international human rights law and development.

I'm thinking of doing a PhD in something to do with human rights for example Refugees, human trafficking or some other relevant area.

Ideally I'd speak to someone who specialises in human rights law and get advice on what to study.

Does this sound like a silly idea?

A PhD is a lot of work. Are you sure that you would manage a PhD if you currently can't work due to a disability?

Are you not currently miserable and crushingly anxious, but aspire to be? Congratulations, a PhD might be for you!

In all seriousness: it's a lot of work and a lot of money for something that realistically is likely to hold you back workwise rather than help you. How do you foresee paying for it?

No it’s not mad. But I’d recommend thinking through what a PhD will give you. I have a (legally-related) PhD, it was extremely interesting but also a huge amount of work with many moments of doubt. Think about what the PhD will do for you- career prospects, personal interest, contributing to the debate- all good reasons but you need to know your reason, because if you’re not sure then you will struggle when it gets tough.

Would you be looking for funding?

If you just want to do something interesting, I’d recommend a second masters.

Yes, I imagine so.

How would it hold me back? I'm looking to work in policy, research or advocacy and being a specialist would be very helpful.

Would you plan on seeking employment after completing it?

I'm not sure about funding at the moment. I'm just looking at the idea. I think my next step would be to call a department for a chat.

Yes, hopefully.

I have two.

Would you be able to do relevant volunteering? Eg for Citizens Advice. Just wondering if there is another way to build up your specialist area.

I already have quite a lot of experience, I've worked at the CABx, Red Cross and other charities and did an internship at the UN.

But do the jobs actually exist? And would a PhD make you competitive for them, if you had it alongside your current experience? There is absolutely fuck all money in human rights law. PhDs hold most people back careerwise outside of academia because they don't actually make you more qualified for jobs people actually want to pay you for; they just make you more indebted and keen to be paid more to make back your investment, but that's not how employment works. A PhD makes you a hyperspecialist in a very small space which, in most cases, has no commercial application or usefulness. And academia is an oversubscribed disaster.

I think if it opens up more career options for you then go for it

A PhD will fill the employment gap on your CV and give you something interesting to do. You will have employment opportunities in education, charities and presumably law. Your two masters degrees demonstrate your academic competence. I think you should start reaching out to potential supervisors and see how you feel after speaking to them. Good luck 👍

I did mine under similar circumstances, part time over 6 years, absolutely worth it, and to counter all the people who will try to put you off and describe horrible experiences, I loved it and would happily do another! Just make sure you pick the right supervisors for you and your project, this matters far more than the institution.

The kind of work I'd be looking at is:

Refugee protection, policies, human rights investigation, research and influencing NGOs, think tanks or advocacy groups or working in advisory roles.

I'm thinking of doing a PhD looking at international law and protections for refugee women. It's just an idea at the moment.

Third then.

I realise you’re getting some negative responses. I think this is largely because you’ve presented it as something to do because you’re twiddling your thumbs- this would be a really bad reason to do a PhD. Your later answers sound more focused.

I would recommend developing your ideas and then approaching potential supervisors for advice. Just asking them what to do makes you sound a bit uncertain and uncommitted. Better to be able to make a case for a particular subject and approach with the proviso that you want funding and you want a PhD that leads somewhere so can they help you fine tune your proposal? And it allows them to say that you’ll never get funding for Y but how about X instead.

You should definitely apply for funding. It’s not only worth over £100k, it’ll also open doors to all sorts of additional support and training.

You'll need to first do loads of reading to decide on a research idea and write a research proposal. You can also check on findaphd and similar sites and explore PhDs in your area to find a good fit. Also look at different university websites and see what their research programs look like and what the application process is. Simply emailing departments won't be of any help. They aren't going to advise you on what to do.

I don't mind negative responses. I really don't want to do another masters.

I'd like advice on which human rights issue to focus on so am a bit loathe to commit to something. I could contact the course leader of my LLM, she's very approachable. I'm sure she'd be happy to advise.

Thanks for the advice on funding, I hadn't really thought about it.

I'm thinking of doing the same, part time. People don't realise that I love research. I'm glad yours worked out.

That's great advice thank you.

come over to the Academic Common Room board on Mumsnet and you'll get plenty of advice from people in academia including PhD students.

The first major hurdle in a PhD is getting funding - if you can get funding, then that gives you really clear evidence that your supervisor and dept think you are great and will support you and help make the PhD work. An unfunded PhD can work but there is a much higher risk of failure.

Second, look carefully for a supervisor - your nearest university may not have the right person studying the right topic. are you prepared to move if needed? do you have a particular topic that you are passionate about? if so, email potential supervisors in that topic.

someone has mentioned findaphd.com etc and that is good. but there can also be internal university scholarships (not many of them) which give you more flexibility in topic and supervisor. Typically you want to contact potential supervisors in October, write your proposal in November / December for an early January deadline with interviews and funded decisions in Jan / Feb. So you are too late for a Sept 2025 start but can plan now for Sept 2026.

@parietal

That's really helpful, thanks. I didn't realise funding was so important but it seems to be crucial. I'm certain I'll get good academic references if that's a part of it.

Moving is tricky due to ongoing medical issues.

I'm very passionate about human rights in general, I wrote my thesis on human trafficking and my focus has always been women. However I also love war crimes and the law of combat. I'm wondering if war crimes against women and protecting women during war would be feasible. But job wise, refugee law is a hot topic and isn't going away...I need to think of job opportunities.

This is why I need to discuss it with someone, then I can look to see what funded opportunities are available and take it from there.

I can ask to have my thread moved. Many thanks.

That's a pretty damning summary of PhDs, mine didn't do me any harm and it was an experience to say the least.
Got me a good job too, good luck.