PhD and MPhil research projects in sociology can be supervised by any of the Sociology team in the School of Social Policy (see the link to research interests below). Although students wishing to undertake postgraduate research in sociology need to register for a PhD or MPhil in Politics / IR the research undertaken will be sociological and will be supervised by a sociologist. The Sociology team have specialist research knowledge in the areas of social theory, feminism and post-feminism, political sociology, celebrity, religion and the philosophy of the social sciences. This programmes offer you a combination of taught courses in the first year and careful supervision throughout your study, with the aim of helping you to produce a thesis that makes a significant and original contribution to the discipline. We take care to match you with a suitable supervisor, and welcome applications to work in a wide variety of areas. Joint supervision, both between staff within the Department, and with staff in other departments, is possible in some cases. All research students have regular meetings with their supervisors. We encourage you to give conference papers and to publish your work. Sociology at Birmingham has a thriving research culture with staff publishing and supervising graduate students in the following areas: Critical Theory, Feminist Theory, Gender and the Family, Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Political Sociology, Post-Colonialism and Ethnicity, Religion and Faith, Social Theory, Status and Celebrity, Technology and Culture.