Postgraduate opportunities
The School of Dentistry offers postgraduate teaching and research in the form of professional doctorates. These doctorates enable students the final accreditation and training needed to pursue their career in dentistry.
Our professional doctorate in dental science offers students a high-quality training experience led by a committed team of dentistry specialists.
What is a professional doctorate?
Professional doctorates make up a small but significant proportion of the doctoral qualifications currently on offer in the UK. Professional doctorates contain taught elements with significant lecture and seminar content, but the final award of the doctorate is based on a supervised research project normally located within the candidate's profession and assessed through the submission of a thesis. The criteria for the research project assessment are similar to a PhD.
For further information from The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education regarding professional doctorate degrees please see DDSc Doctoral Degree CharacteristicsDDSc Qualifications Framework.
Professional degrees for clinicians
These programmes are designed for clinical professionals. As with any other research degree, you will, with the advice and guidance of your personal supervisors, produce a piece of original research. The difference is that your research will be informed by your own area of expertise and will usually seek to develop an understanding that contributes to professional excellence and greater knowledge of your clinical specialism.
International recognition
The UK professional doctorate is an internationally recognised and respected academic qualification. Our DDSc students come from inside and outside the European Union. A higher degree from a Russell Group university like the University of Liverpool is recognised for its quality and value by employers worldwide.
Professional doctorate and specialist training
The professional doctorate is a qualification that contains professional skills training. Students who successfully complete the DDSc programme in the relevant subject area and will be awarded the DDSc (endodontic/orthodontic/paediatric dentistry practice/special care dentistry) from the University of Liverpool. GDC specialist curricula and the Royal Colleges membership examination are mapped and embedded into the DDSc programme. This allows our students to sit the Royal College exams and obtain both the professional doctorate and Royal College membership.
PhD opportunities
With excellent facilities, cutting-edge technology and collaborations with world-class researchers, we are looking for prospective PhD students to work with us on a range of exciting projects.
Research environment to produce the best results
Our research culture is friendly, supportive and positive. We enjoy collaborations with colleagues across the university and beyond.
We welcome and support prospective students who are either able to self-fund their PhD studies or are planning for or have already secured a funded PhD scholarship. Interested candidates please email ilcamspgradmin@liverpool.ac.uk Information about the level of funding needed to self-fund is available here.
European Union or international students whose first language is not English are usually required to provide an IELTS (or equivalent) test score to demonstrate their proficiency in English. See here for full details.
My main aim coming to Liverpool was to join a program that would challenge and bring out the best in me. The clinical experiences that I have gained in this research rich environment was more than I could ever asked for! Now it’s time to take what I have learnt and make a difference.