Online Professional Doctorate courses

Our online Professional Doctorates enable you to grow as a thought leader and authority in your field by undertaking original research to create new knowledge in your field. All of this is done without putting your career on hold.

Professional Doctorates are structured work-based programmes that involve taught and research phases to advance your understanding of research and enquiry methodologies and develop your research and analytical skills to a high level.

A Professional Doctorate qualification will enable you to build your research credentials while helping you to become a critical and reflective expert practitioner. You’ll undertake an independent research project through which you will create and apply new knowledge in ways that will benefit your organisation, the industry, and the profession, putting you at the forefront of your discipline.

Our online Professional Doctorates can be studied from anywhere in the world and typically take from four to eight years of part-time study to complete. They provide a structured approach to doctoral level study with support throughout from research academics who are experts in their field.

Fingers typing on laptop keyboard

Quality standards

Our online courses have to meet the same strict academic standards as all UK university courses. They are just as high quality and are worth the same.

Find out more about our standardsFind out more about our standards
Technician working on equipment

Academic themes

To develop the most innovative solutions to real-world problems, we collaborate across six academic themes. Aligned to some of the local and global challenges we face, our interdisciplinary approach brings our experts together to deliver the greatest impact.

Explore our six academic themesExplore our six academic themes
Abstract impression of chronic pain in the spine

Research case studies

From helping people live with chronic pain, to using environmental DNA research to trace endangered or invasive species. Learn about some of the research projects we've worked on and what the outcomes have been.

Explore our case studiesExplore our case studies
slides ready for analysis

Explore our research specialisms

We have 16 different research centres and groups, focused on fields such as Data Science, Human Sciences, and Sustainable Engineering. Learn more about their expertise and activities.

Discover our research centres and groupsDiscover our research centres and groups