Applying for a PhD is an exciting step, but narrowing down your topic and putting together a solid research proposal can feel like a daunting task. If you are wondering where to start, you are not alone.

We caught up with three current PhD students at UWS to get their honest advice on how to navigate the process, choose a strong topic, and make your application shine. Here is what they had to say.

Logan, PhD student

Sport and Exercise Science

My top tips for narrowing down a topic are thinking about what you see in practice. Try to think about issues that you see in your line of work, community or in the media; how could you improve these issues or add knowledge in this area? Look for the gaps and ways you could address these!

Try and get your passion across as much as possible, as well as the originality component.

When writing your proposal, think about your motivations and the difference you could make to the area. What are you going to do that no one else has done?

Kennagh, PhD student

Performance

You want to demonstrate your knowledge in your subject area.

Make sure that you’re showing how much you're engaging with current practices, research and key academics within your proposal, and the depth of your understanding.

Also, do not be afraid of reaching out to your previous lecturers or supervisors for some assistance on putting together a solid proposal - again, the doctoral team at UWS are a huge help with this too!

Emma, PhD student

Social Sciences

Having applied for a UWS VC-funded studentship, the topic was already set. This was a blessing and a curse because yes, the topic had been decided on, but I wasn’t sure whether there were expectations on how the project should be executed. My approach was to meet with the supervisor team to find out more about the project and what they were looking for, which was really helpful.

I’m sure this will vary depending on the project and the supervisors; however, I found out that they wanted me to build around the topic they had chosen - choose methods, theory, apply data and make sure to produce a doable project. Essentially, indicate that I had understood the topic they had chosen and that I would be able to deliver on the proposed project.

I didn’t do anything spectacular in my proposal. I researched, I made sure I understood what I was talking about and I wrote about what I knew. That did the trick.

One thing that might be helpful to know is that everything you’ve written in your proposal is subject to change. Once you get in, your topic might completely change, even if you’ve not come up with the topic yourself. Your methods will most likely change as you read and learn more about your topic. So don’t stress about it too much. You are only showing the supervisors and the admissions team that you can plan research.

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Last updated: 24/03/2026