Classical Languages and Literature (Research)

The information provided on this page was correct at the time of publication (November 2025). For complete and up-to-date information about this course, please visit the relevant University of Oxford course page via www.graduate.ox.ac.uk/ucas.

The DPhil programme is a research degree intended to make it possible for the successful candidate to aspire to a career in research and teaching at university level anywhere in the world where the Classical subjects are studied.

The DPhil takes the form of the composition of a substantial dissertation of up to 100,000 words, based on new research on a subject of your choice.

The best dissertations are published, many in the Oxford University Press series of the Oxford Classical Monographs which exists for this purpose.

The vision of the DPhil as a necessary stage of an academic career, following on from master's-level education and preparing for postdoctoral work and beyond, is reflected in five other ways:

1. Doctoral students are required to set the topics of their individual specialisation in a larger understanding of developments in the field across the world.
2. They are encouraged to pursue a diversity of scholarly interests while working on their doctoral dissertation, so as to start building a larger portfolio of specialities. They may produce articles or review books in areas somewhat different from that of their dissertation, and towards the end of their doctoral work may begin to contemplate a postdoctoral project.
3. The Classics Faculty assists doctoral students in continuing to develop necessary research skills, and acquiring or improving knowledge of relevant ancient and modern languages. Competence in Latin and/or Ancient Greek is an admission requirement.
4. Doctoral students may be trained and given experience (with mentoring) in undergraduate teaching of several different kinds, eg class, lecture, tutorial.
5. There are other structures, within the Classics Faculty, the Humanities Division and the wider University, to help with career-development and with academic placement.

Finally, it is fully recognised that some students will choose not to pursue a professional career in Classics, and the structures mentioned in the points above are tailored to their needs too. The experience of the Classics DPhil programmes is intended to be personally fulfilling and intellectually enriching in itself, and the cognitive skills required are highly transferable to other walks of life.

You will have the opportunity to attend seminar talks by visiting speakers as well as attend the many other academic activities that take place in the Ioannou Centre for Classical and Byzantine Studies.