Doctor of Professional Studies (Transdisciplinary) by Public Works

The Doctor of Professional Studies (Transdisciplinary) by Public Works (DProf Public Works) is unique in the UK for its transdisciplinary approach to thinking, practice and practitioner research.  You will be a high achieving professional practitioner who has a capacity for critical reflection and is motivated by curiosity - both hallmarks of successful learning. You will already have a substantial amount of outputs in the public domain that influence the practice and thinking of your colleagues, teams, members of your sector and beyond. You are looking for new ways to approach the concept of leadership and its manifestation in the world and to the increasing complexity of the problems facing us today. You want to push the boundaries of your own thinking and practice and are prepared to challenge your assumptions and let go of some habits of thought and action.

Why undertake Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf) by Public Works at Middlesex University?

This programme encourages you to think about things differently and creatively and to derive new energy from other ways of seeing, thinking, knowing and doing, starting with looking at the familiar as if it is strange and moving towards developing a transdisciplinary attitude to everything you do. It is a paradigm shift. 

The programme is distinct at other levels: its collegial support; diversity range; enhancement of individual agency; expanded exposure to readings beyond disciplines; its networking and its timescale. It is open to all professional areas and roles. The focus of your research will be defined by your particular work context, role and agency and by your own unique area of interest. As candidates, you come together regularly in virtual cafes for workshops, dialogue and networking, open exchanges and interconnected learning. Our transdisciplinary perspectives inform our creative approaches to researching and navigating complexity recognising that the role of the contemporary professional requires mediation within, between and beyond traditional boundaries. 

This award is primarily concerned with you critiquing your own contributions, deriving new insights from the outputs you have already placed in the public domain to influence others and how to continue to innovate and advance collaborative agency, strategies and leadership. This is also an invitation to professionals not only to join the academy through a doctorate but to influence the university’s strategies and directions. For better futures we need to do things together. 

The public works can be in various forms: from published works in the traditional sense to other embodied expressions of knowledge appropriate to the domains of practice.  Examples include creations/innovations in the areas of digital technologies, science, arts and humanities embodied in artefacts such as scholarly works, art, policies, education programmes, choreographies, inventions, plays, musical scores.  The public domain is understood as a learning reach in your own sector and/or the general public, from communities of practice to organisations. The influence on thinking and practice in any of these areas needs to be evidenced.  

The time frame for this award is a maximum of two years. As a candidate for this award, you will undertake a 25,000–45,000 words critique of your public works, depending on the nature of the works themselves, and present it to a viva panel. With the successful completion of the examination you will achieve a doctorate and can be addressed by the title ‘Dr’.

The programme is delivered on line through virtual meetings and supervision. You can also take advantage of other workshops across the faculty and university and attend campus events when you can. 

Course highlights

• Your supervisory team comprises a practitioner research and public works specialist and a specialist of your choosing to deepen your critique on various aspects of the work from notions of leadership in complexity, to the critical lens you use to interrogate your works. Our approach to supervision is dialogic and collegiate. We will learn as much from you as you learn from us. 

   

• You have the opportunity of fortnightly virtual cafes to engage with professionals from other sectors in discussions stimulated by a range of presentations of relevance to your critique and the expansion of your knowledge, your knowing and your articulation of what has been implicit in your practice that would be of benefit to yourself and others if made explicit. 

   

• The programme acknowledges the contribution made to knowledge and practice that your works have achieved so far and recognises you as innovators. We do not prescribe what you choose to write but work alongside you to stimulate your thinking, creativity and criticality; to expand the resources you draw on and to ensure that writing what matters to you, to your sector or communities of practice, to your values and aspirations, can meet doctoral level criteria of assessment 

   

• Who you are matters to how you do things in the world. You are the author of your works and the increased awareness of perspectives through this programme will influence the quality of the manifestation of your agency in the world. Your thesis will aim to embody that quality

   

• Together we ensure that your inquiry into your own works, which you re-contextualise for a contemporary world, will produce insights and possibly new artefacts of value to you and others    

   

• All doctoral level awards in the UK have to meet the same rigorous criteria but they do that through different emphases. In this programme (a professional doctorate) the emphasis is on practice and your agency as a practitioner, as well as your responsibility, accountability, curiosity, creativity and mediating perspectives, the quality of which is needed for a complex world. 

What will you study on Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf) by Public Works?

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:

• an independent chair
• DProf programme leader
• your adviser
• at least one independent member with experience of assessing research at the appropriate level.

This panel evaluates your work and states what improvements need to be made before it can be submitted for final examination.

Teaching

How is the Doctor of Professional Studies (DProf) by Public Works facilitated?

Your procedural task on this doctoral programme is to select and organise your public works for submission and prepare a critical commentary on them to be presented for written and oral examination.  

To reach that stage you will need to develop in levels of criticality to mature your critical commentary to doctoral level. Regular attendance at the virtual cafes and contact with your supervisory team are essential for progress to be made at the academic level and also helps to ensure the effective management of any problems which may arise during the allocated period for this programme. Your supervisors attend supervision meetings regularly to share insights and support the programme’s transdisciplinary approach.  

There will be a review after 6 months to see how you are getting on and whether you have enough support or are able to engage sufficiently with the support offered. The virtual cafes are excellent networking spaces attended by a mixture of candidates, faculty and guests who are graduates of the programme. Presentations for discussion are given by both faculty and candidates and can range from the ‘provenance’ of your public works to critical lenses with which to critique them; from conceptualising practice to nuances in ethics; from radical creativity to insight-ing; from the complicated to the complex; from disciplinary to transdisciplinary; and how to write beautifully and coherently. There are also mock viva presentations where you can be an audience or present. All sessions are recorded and readings to support the workshops uploaded onto the Public Works platform in case you miss the occasional one.  

Assessment

 
The degree is assessed through written submission, 25,000–45,000 words critique of your public works. This is presented for oral examination to a chaired viva panel of examiners. This programme nominates three examiners – a research academic; a representative from your sector who is a proficient practitioner; and an internal examiner with experience in examining doctorates and well versed in public works doctorates.

Student support

We offer lots of support to help you while you're studying including financial advice, wellbeing, mental health, and disability support.

Additional needs

We'll support you if you have additional needs such as sensory impairment or dyslexia. And if you want to find out whether Middlesex is the right place for you before you apply, get in touch with our Disability and Dyslexia team.

Wellness

Our specialist teams will support your mental health. We have free individual counselling sessions, workshops, support groups and useful guides.

Work while you study

Our Middlesex Unitemps branch will help you find work that fits around uni and your other commitments. We have hundreds of student jobs on campus that pay the London Living Wage and above. Visit the Middlesex Unitemps page.

Fees and funding

The fees below are for the 2025/26 academic year.

UK students¹

Part-time students: £6,400 per year

International students²

Part-time students: £9,050 per year

Fees disclaimers

1. UK fees: The university reserves the right to increase postgraduate tuition fees in line with changes to legislation, regulation and any government guidance or decisions. The tuition fees for part-time UK study are subject to annual review and we reserve the right to increase the fees each academic year by no more than the level of inflation.

2. International fees: Tuition fees are subject to annual review and we reserve the right to increase the fees each academic year by no more than the level of inflation.

Any annual increase in tuition fees as provided for above will be notified to students at the earliest opportunity in advance of the academic year to which any applicable inflationary rise may apply.

Student testimonials

"The DProf by Public Works programme has helped me to assess my contributions to the field over the years and chart out a course for the future. The process requires a constant questioning of one's contributions starting with the most basic question – "why is this important?" The process requires introspection and the reassessing of one's assumptions and this has inevitably led to excellent personal and professional growth."

Dr Rohan Bedi

Senior Executive, Money Laundering Risk (AML)

"As an experienced consultant in the arts and cultural sector, I had carried out a lot of research over several years and wanted to find a way to find time for reflection on this body of work and my working practices. The DProf by Public Works programme at Middlesex was ideal as I was able to continue with my work whilst studying. The process was an amazing learning experience and gave me the chance to validate my work which would not have been possible with a conventional doctorate programme."

Dr Susanne Burns

Development Consultant

"This has been a truly transformative experience. It allowed me to privilege professional knowledge generated in and through work, research and practice at doctoral level. This is something we desperately need in an environment where knowledge is more often created in complexity and through the interplay of the person, workplace, organisation and context. A doctorate for the future?"

Dr Ruth Pilkington

Academic Developer, Higher Education

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.