Before you apply

Identify potential supervisors

All postgraduate research students are allocated a supervisor who will act as the main source of academic support and research mentoring. You may want to identify a potential supervisor and contact them to discuss your research proposal before you apply. 

You can find relevant academic staff members with our staff research interests search

Choose your programme

Choose the programme you wish to study from our A-Z of postgraduate research opportunities.

Check the entry requirements

This includes the:

  • Academic entry requirements 
  • English language requirements (if English is not your first language)

Entry requirements are stated in the 'entry requirements' section of each entry in our Postgraduate research opportunities A-Z.

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Applying if you have not finished your first degree

You can apply for a postgraduate research programme if you have not yet finished your first or masters degree. 

If you receive an offer, it will be conditional on you finishing your degree at the required grade. 

If you are made a conditional offer, then you should upload your final results (transcript and degree certificate) when you recieve them.

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Applying if you need to meet the English language requirements

You can normally apply for a programme if you have not yet met the English language requirements.

If you receive an offer, it will be conditional on you meeting the English language requirements by the date stated on your offer letter.

Please note a few exceptions to the rule where an English test is required at time of application exist. Please check the programme page for details.

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Gather your documents

Before applying for a postgraduate research programme, please make sure you gather the following supporting documentation:

  • Final or current degree transcripts including grades (and an official translation, if needed) – scanned copy in colour of the original document.
  • Degree certificates (and an official translation, if needed): scanned copy in colour of the original document.
  • Two references (is usual) on headed paper and signed by the referee. One must be academic, the other can be academic or professional. References may be uploaded as part of the application form or you may enter your referees contact details on the application form. We will then email your referee and notify you when we receive the reference.  We can also accept confidential references direct to rio-researchadmissions@glasgow.ac.uk, from the referee’s university or business email account.
  • Research proposal, CV, samples of written work

Further details may be available on our postgraduate research opportunities A-Z.