The Doctorate in Professional Studies by Public Works (DProf Public Works) is for high achieving professional practitioners who already have a substantial amount of outputs in the public domain which influence practice and contribute to knowledge (public works).
What is distinctive about the DProf by Public Works is that it is open to all professional areas as the focus is defined by the candidate’s particular work context and area of activity and their own unique area of interest. This may be located within a profession or sector, or may be more individual in nature. The approach is inter-professional and cuts across disciplines (trans-disciplinary) even where candidates have strong roots in a particular profession or occupation. The public works can be in various forms from published works in the traditional sense to other embodied expressions of knowledge. Examples include the preparation of computer programmes, scholarly works, edited texts, specialist reports prepared for government departments and other public bodies, translations, collections of artefacts, videos, photographic records, musical scores, and diagrammatic representations. (Please refer to our case studies listed under the case studies tab)
This award is primarily concerned with the individual critiquing their own contributions and deriving further learning from the knowledge outcomes they have placed in the public domain. The value of this undertaking to the individual is the impact on future directions and outputs and to others it is a valuable insight into the processes and skills required to transform research into useful outputs that influence thinking, action and practice.
The time frame for this award is one year. As a candidate for this award you will undertake a 20 – 25,000 word critique of your public works and present it to a viva panel. With the successful completion of the examination you will achieve a doctorate and can be addressed with the title ‘Dr’.
Your task on this doctoral programme is to select and organise your public works for submission and prepare a context statement. Regular contact with your adviser and consultant is essential for progress to be made at the correct academic level and also helps to ensure the effective management of any problems which may arise during your period of registration.
If you are a candidate at the start of your second study period, your adviser reports to the doctoral assessment board on the quality of your draft work for the proposed degree, with particular reference to the content, rationale and length of the context statement, and its relation to the public works.
If progress is deemed satisfactory, you may continue to prepare your work for submission. Once your adviser is satisfied that your intended submission, taken as a whole (the public works and the context statement), is likely to be considered to fulfil the requirements for the award of the DProf by Public Works, the work may be submitted for examination.
If concerns about quality are raised by the adviser when they report to the doctoral assessment board, they will advise you that the draft work must be submitted to a programme approval panel (known as the 'registration panel'). A registration panel consists of:
This panel evaluates your work and states what improvements need to be made before it can be submitted for final examination.
You can enrol throughout the year at a time appropriate for you. The application process involves a detailed statement on which you receive written and oral guidance and the submission of your public works for review by a specialist in your area of influence and expertise. If the review is successful, an academic advisor is assigned to you at the start of your programme. They will advise you on structure and how to meet the doctoral criteria of this award, and are available to you during your period on the programme.
An academic consultant who is a specialist in your area will also be nominated in consultation with you to engage with you on the specialist nature of your public works. You will also have resources such as handbooks and online materials to enhance your learning journey as well as access to seminars, workshops and lectures held at the campus.
Delivery is through the advisor and consultant, the programme handbooks, the virtual learning environment and university learning resources. Candidates are invited to all research seminars and events which are also recorded and posted up on the VLE. A timetable of drafts is worked out between you and your advisor. A viva will be arranged once there is notification of your intended submission date. The viva panel includes two external examiners and one internal.
In summary, the examination process is in two parts. First, each examiner independently completes a preliminary report on the public works and context statement you have submitted. Second, you give an oral presentation and discuss your submission of work with the examiners. This is also known as a viva voce. You must satisfy the examiners both in respect of the quality of your written submission and the quality of your engagement during the oral presentation in order to be awarded the degree.
You can find out more about teaching and assessment in the programme specification.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.