PhD, MPhil Speech & language therapy

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Research opportunities

We run a well-established Strathclyde Centre for Doctoral Training (SCDT) in Communication Disorders. This multidisciplinary CDT focuses on a wide range of aspects related to the diagnosis and treatment of people with communication problems. The supervisory pool spans all four University faculties, which provides you with access to the highest level of academic expertise as well as a significant pool of technical resources, including labs for speech & movement analyses, signal processing; systems for eye tracking, or EEG.

You can study an MPhil over one year or a PhD over three years, with the option of studying on a part-time basis.

speech therapy

Strathclyde Research Studentship Scheme (SRSS)

Strathclyde Research Studentship Scheme (SRSS) doctoral studentships are available annually for excellent students and excellent research projects.  There are two main sources of funding: Central University funding, and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - Doctoral Training Partnership (EPSRC - DTP) funding.

The SRSS 2023/2024 competition will open in Autumn 2022 and students successful in this competition will commence studies in October 2023. Faculties will set their own internal deadlines for the competition.

Academics/Supervisors make the applications for this scheme and there are various deadlines across the Department/Schools and Faculties, therefore, in the first instance, all interested students should contact the Department/School where they would like to carry out their research.

Deadline:

Funding:

Funded

MRes/MPhil Interdisciplinary Excellence Awards 2023-24

These master's-level (MRes or MPhil) bursaries are being funded by Research and Knowledge Exchange Services, to facilitate applications to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)'s Doctoral Training Partnership Scotland, the Scottish Graduate School for Arts and Humanities (SGSAH).

The awards are intended to promote interdisciplinary collaboration: preference will be given to research projects with two supervisors from different disciplinary backgrounds, who may, or may not, be located within the same department or faculty. We encourage innovative collaborations within the arts and humanities, and with colleagues in social science, science and engineering.

This competition provides the Home postgraduate research student fee for 1 year (Full-time) or 2 years (Part-time).

International candidates are welcome to apply but they must be able to demonstrate that they can fund the difference between the Home fee and the International fee (approximately £11,300 for 2023/24 entry).

Students undertaking an MRes must start their studies on 1st October 2023. This start date cannot be deferred.

Deadline:

16 June 2023

Funding:

Funded

THE Awards 2019: UK University of the Year Winner

What you'll study

We offer supervision for three main pathways :

  1. PhD/MPhil in Speech and Language Therapy: designed for students with an SLT background who want to study aspects of communication disorders
  2. PhD/MPhil in Applied Linguistics: this is a pathway for students without an SLT qualification who plan to research communication disorders or other aspects of communication in healthy populations
  3. PhD/MPhil in Public Health and Health Policy: hosted by our colleagues in the Centre for Health Policy, we also offer supervision in the pathway for students with medical background who are interested in completing a degree in an area related to our expertise. These students are typically co-supervised by staff in our public health, digital health or health statistics research groups.

Research development programme

In addition to their research, all students enrol in a research development programme. PhD students will collect sufficient credits to graduate with a Postgraduate Certificate in Researcher Professional Development (PgCert RPD).

The programme is designed to support you with your research and develop skills which are important to your professional development and employability:

  • knowledge and intellectual abilities to conduct research
  • personal qualities to succeed in their research and chosen career
  • standards, requirements and conduct of a professional researcher in their discipline
  • working with others and communicating the impact of their research to a wide range of audiences
PhD Speech & Language student Thomas Starr-Marshall
The highlights of studying at Strathclyde have been the opportunities for travel. I really enjoyed travelling to Malta for the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association conference.
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Supervisors

Name Area of Expertise 
Dr Joanne Cleland 
  • speech sound disorders in children including, cleft lip and palate
  • persistent speech sound disorders
  • motor speech disorders in children
  • instrumental phonetic techniques for the assessment and treatment of speech disorders, particularly ultrasound 
Dr Wendy Cohen 
  • speech disorders in children and adolescents
  • voice disorders in children and adolescents
  • communication disability in those with an associated genetic condition
  • clinical Education and Professional Development 
Dr Maria Dokovova
  • speech processing
  • phonetics and phonology in multilingual adults
  • articulatory assessment of children with speech sound disorders and cleft lip and palate
Dr Dermot Fitzsimons
  • language and communication disorders in the criminal justice system
  • health inequalities, language and social disadvantage
  • language Disorders in children and adolescents
  • SLT Clinical Practice with children and adolescents
Dr Anja Kuschmann 
  • motor speech disorders in adults and children, in particular, due to cerebral palsy
  • typical speech production across the lifespan
  • speech development in multilingual children
  • use of acoustic and perceptual analyses of speech for the assessment of speech disorders
Dr Eleanor Lawson
  • articulatory phonetics
  • articulatory sociolinguistics
  • vocal tract visualisation
  • speech accommodation
Professor Anja Lowit  
  • motor speech disorders
  • prosody
  • voice
  • bilingualism
  • telehealth
Dr Susan McCool
  • autism and neurodevelopmental conditions
  • child mental health
  • supporting a positive communication environment
  • parent-mediated interventions

 

Postgraduate research at the Strathclyde Doctoral School

The Strathclyde Doctoral School provides a vibrant and comprehensive student-centred research and training environment in order to grow and support current and future research talent.

The School encompasses our four faculties and is committed to enriching the student experience, intensifying research outputs and opportunities, and ensuring training is at the highest level. As a postgraduate researcher, you'll automatically become a member of the Strathclyde Doctoral School.

Find out more about the Doctoral School

Aerial view of students sitting around coffee tables

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Fees & funding

All fees quoted are per academic year unless otherwise stated.

Entrants may be subject to a small fee during the writing up period.

Fees may be subject to updates to maintain accuracy. Tuition fees will be notified in your offer letter.

All fees are in £ sterling, unless otherwise stated, and may be subject to revision.

Annual revision of fees

Students on programmes of study of more than one year should be aware that tuition fees are revised annually and may increase in subsequent years of study. Annual increases will generally reflect UK inflation rates and increases to programme delivery costs.

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Scotland
  • 2023/24: £4,712
  • 2022/23: £4,596
England, Wales & Northern Ireland
  • 2023/24: £4,712
  • 2022/23: £4,596
International
  • £16,050
Funding

Take a look at our funding your postgraduate research web page for funding information.

NHS employees are eligible for a 25% tuition fee reduction to study a PhD in Speech & Language Therapy.

You can also view our scholarships search for further funding opportunities.

Postgraduate research opportunities

Search for all funded and non-funded postgraduate research opportunities.

Additional costs

International students may have associated visa and immigration costs. Please see student visa guidance for more information.

 

Please note: the fees shown are annual and may be subject to an increase each year. Find out more about fees.

Our research

Our research focuses on advancing our theoretical understanding of speech and language difficulties to developing and testing novel management approaches that impact directly on patient wellbeing and service delivery.

Find out more about our research

Child being assessed

Students

The centre currently supervises research students with backgrounds in SLT, linguistics, medicine, (bio)engineering and computing. These include:

Name Area of Expertise 
Margaret Muir (SLT)  Auditory perceptual features of conversational speech and the relationship between intelligibility, severity and non-speech oral movements of the tongue and lips in post-stroke dysarthria
Alexander Barbour (Bio-Engineer) An EEG investigation into prosodic deficits in people with Parkinson's Disease
Rebecca Wagstaff (SLT)  Language production in Parkinson’s Disease: an investigation into the characteristics and underlying linguistic and cognitive mechanisms
Tolulope Ijitona (Signal Process Engineer)  Acoustic-based Assistive Technology Tools for Dysarthria Management
Aisling Egan (SLT)  Perspectives of the Management of Dysphagia and Mealtime Difficulties in Dementia
Revathy Nayar (Computer Engineer)  Machine Learning based Phoneme Mis-Pronunciation Detection and Classification systems to develop Mobile Application based Tools For Children’s Speech Therapy
Louise McKeever (SLT) Speech Motor Control in Children with Autism
Huiyi Wu (Signal Processing Engineer)  Development of a diagnostic tool for voice disorders through the application of neural networks
Theofano Tikka (ENT registrar) Development of a Risk Calculator for Head and Neck Cancer 
Mirihagalla Kankanamalage Inoka Udayangani Sirimanna (SLT) Investigation into the quality of life for repaired cleft lip and palate adolescents Sri Lanka
Nameeka Shahid (SLT) Validation of instruments to measure the impact and participation of Urdu speaking patients diagnosed with dysarthria living in Pakistan
Tom Starr-Marshall (SLT) Differentiating Inconsistency in Phonological Planning and Motor Planning Deficits Using Acoustic and Kinematic Measures
Manali Sharma (Linguist) Aphasia in Hindi-English Bilingual Speakers
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Support & development

The Graduate School

The Graduate School is a friendly, supportive study environment for all our research students studying subjects within Humanities & Social Sciences.

Our staff will support you through your studies and you'll become part of a community of students who get involved with our workshops, seminars and competitions.

Postgraduate Certificate in Researcher Professional Development (PgCert RPD)

Our PgCert RPD programme aims to ensure you get the most out of your current research activities at Strathclyde and help you prepare for your future career as a researcher.

We'll help you recognise and develop your transferrable skills that'll have a positive impact on your research, now and in the future.

Find out more about the PgCert RPD programme.

Careers

The University Careers Service can help you with everything from writing your CV to interview preparation. Take a look at our Careers Service pages to get more information.

Student support

From financial advice to our IT facilities, we have a wide range of support for all students here at Strathclyde. Get all the information you need at Strathlife.

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Apply

We strongly advise you contact one or more potential supervisors or the Postgraduate Research Director, Dr Louise A. Brown Nicholls (hass-psh-pgr@strath.ac.uk), before completing the online application. Please click on the ‘Supervisors’ tab above for further information.

Entry requirements

You require to have a first-class or upper second-class UK Honours degree, or overseas equivalent, in speech and language pathology or a related subject.

The application

During the application you'll be asked for the following:

  • your full contact details
  • transcripts and certificates of all degrees
  • proof of English language proficiency if English isn't your first language
  • two references, one of which must be academic
  • funding or scholarship information
  • research proposal of 250 to 1,000 words in length, detailing the subject area and topic to be investigated

By filling these details out as fully as possible, you'll avoid any delay to your application being processed by the University.

Supervisors

You'll need to identify your research supervisor before you finalist your application, preferably as early as possible. When you've identified a potential supervisor, based on how well your research interests match theirs, drop them an email to introduce yourself. In the email, make sure you attach a draft of your research proposal along with a copy of your CV for the supervisor to look at. Don't worry about how rough your research proposal may be at this stage – you'll have help from the School of Psychological Sciences and Health to refine it.

If your chosen supervisor is available to work with you, they'll confirm this and nominate a potential second supervisor. As soon as a second supervisor is confirmed, an offer of study will be sent to you through Pegasus; our online application system.

When you accept our offer, you'll receive a full offer in writing via the email address you provide.

Accepting an offer

When you've accepted our offer, we'll need you to fulfil any academic, administrative or financial conditions that we ask.

UK or EU students

If you're applying as a UK or EU student, you'll then be issued with your registration documentation.

Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Speech and Language Therapy

PhD
full-time
Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Speech and Language Therapy

PhD
part-time
Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Speech and Language Therapy

MPhil
full-time
Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Speech and Language Therapy

MPhil
part-time
Start date: Oct 2022 - Sep 2023

Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Speech and Language Therapy

PhD
part-time
Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Speech and Language Therapy

MPhil
part-time
Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Speech and Language Therapy

PhD
full-time
Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Speech and Language Therapy

MPhil
full-time
Start date: Oct 2023 - Sep 2024

Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

Speech and Language Therapy

PhD
part-time
Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

Speech and Language Therapy

MPhil
part-time
Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

Speech and Language Therapy

PhD
full-time
Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

Speech and Language Therapy

MPhil
full-time
Start date: Oct 2024 - Sep 2025

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Contact us

Anja Lowit

Telephone: +44 (0)141 548 3058

Email: a.lowit@strath.ac.uk

Graham Hills Building, 40 George Street, Glasgow

Speech & Language Therapy

Telephone: +44 (0)141 548 4001

Email: hass-postgrad@strath.ac.uk