The Institute of Criminology has a well-established programme for those wishing to study for a doctorate. Each year, a small number of students are admitted to the doctoral programme. Candidates for the Ph.D. must normally pursue supervised research in residence in Cambridge for at least nine consecutive terms (three years) for full-time students, or 15 terms (five years) for part-time students. Completion of the doctoral programme involves, among other requirements, the writing of a dissertation of up to 80,000 words exclusive of footnotes, appendices and bibliography but subject to an overall word limit of 100,000 words exclusive of bibliography. The Institute encourages applications from suitably qualified applicants of all nationalities. Proposals for doctoral research on any criminological topic will be considered. From the point of view of the Institute and the Faculty, the PhD supervisor has overall responsibility for a student’s work towards the degree. In the early stages of the degree, a student can expect a supervisor to provide guidance about what is required, and about possible directions for the student's research, and depending on the individual case, this guidance may be quite detailed. In the early stages of the degree, a student can expect to meet with the supervisor quite frequently (perhaps fortnightly, or even weekly in the case of full-time PhDs). Later on, meetings may be necessary only once a month to discuss work in progress. Part-time PhD students can expect a minimum of two supervisions per term, with the potential for up to four supervisions in total per term. The Institute runs a comprehensive Training, Support and Development (TSD) programme for its PhD students. Frequent seminars are designed to develop research skills, technique and thinking. There are TSD internal workshops and students are also able to attend the many interdepartmental PhD workshops.