PhD in Social Science

At HKUST, we offer the largest interdisciplinary university-level program in humanities and social science in Mainland China and Greater China and the only one to have an explicit, program-wide, comparative focus as exemplified by our innovative Global China Studies degrees.

Like every university of excellence, we are dedicated to research and teaching. What sets us apart from our peers is our explicit focus on global, especially North American and Chinese, best practices in teaching, graduate training and placement, and our own research.

The Ph.D. in Social Science prepares students who wish to pursue a career in academia, policy research, or consultancy related to the affairs of society, polity, or economy, broadly conceived. As with MPhil students, Ph.D. students are assigned a thesis advisor and provided with a postgraduate studentship that carries with it the responsibilities of teaching/research assistance.

Typically, students may choose to specialize either in the field of Political Economy, which covers areas of specialization in politics, economics, regional geography, international relations and Science, Technology and Society (STS), or Social Relations and its attendant specialization in the disciplines of sociology, psychology, anthropology, and demography. To ensure that our Ph.D. graduates have strong research skills, students are required to take the following four compulsory methodology courses regardless of their field of specialization.