Undertaking a PhD allows you to develop in-depth knowledge and make a meaningful contribution to your chosen field. With expert guidance from a single supervisor or two co-supervisors, you'll carry out an extensive independent research project on a topic of your choice and produce a thesis of up to 100,000 words. This degree presents the opportunity to gain expertise in your area of interest while also honing a range of transferable skills. On graduating, you'll be very well prepared for specialist career paths both within academia and beyond. If you study full time, you'll usually complete your PhD in three years. You can fit your studies around other commitments by studying part time, in which case your PhD will take five years to complete. Whether you study full time or part time, you'll have the option to spend an additional year writing up, depending on how your research is progressing.<br><br>The Medical Humanities Research Group brings together researchers who work on a broad range of topics across the interaction between literature/culture and medicine and health. Our focus is interdisciplinary, and we have strong connections with colleagues in medical engineering, health sciences and primary care, as well as service users across the city, particularly through the University's Centre for Medical Humanities. The Centre is one of the most active of its kind in the UK, organising conferences, workshops and career training and development sessions. Our research approach is to utilise the critical thinking practices of the arts and humanities to ask questions rooted in experiences, practices, representations and histories of medicine, health, illness, disability and care. We use fictions, cultural theory and the creative arts to develop innovative approaches to exploring meanings of medicine and health. We have a strong record of collaborative study with partners both nationally and internationally, and our research has been funded by the Wellcome Trust, AHRC, British Academy, Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering. Leeds is a founder member of the Northern Network for Medical Humanities Research and we are active in the development of Critical Medical Humanities across the UK