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Professional Doctorate (ProfD)
Professional Doctorate in Nursing
- Duration:
- Four - Seven Years
- Start Dates:
- October
- Venue:
- Uxbridge Campus
- Key Contact:
- Dr Keiran Henderson
- Tel:
- 01494 603 171
- Email:
- keiran.henderson@bucks.ac.uk
Is this course suitable for me?
The Professional Doctorate (DProf) programme is an innovative programme designed to support and integrate the professional development of practitioners in the fields of nursing, social work and education, and to bring benefits to the organisation in which they work. It aims to improve and enhance professional practice by providing practitioners with a range of research skills, tools and strategies that can be used to support practice-based research. Therefore, prospective applicants include those working in the NHS, private and independent health and social care sector and higher education staff, managers and educators.
Key themes within the programme are: approaches to research, expert practice, innovation in practice, leadership for improvement, quality assurance and risk management, policy creation and implementation and education and learning.
Overview
The main educational aims of the Professional Doctorate programme are to:
- engage in reflective and reflexive activities to explore issues within the students professional field and/or place of work;
- develop the ability to challenge, in an pioneering, substantive and creative manner, professional policies and practice existing within their respective areas;
- provide an innovative contribution to the existing knowledge base and practice within their own profession, through on-going exhibits of work and the final doctoral dissertation;
- disseminate research/project outcomes through the exhibition of work to inform modernization of working practices that lead to better ways of working and foster a research community;
- manage and apply recommendations, emerging from research/project findings to contribute to practice reformation;
- cultivate an empowered approach to practice that is grounded in
- research.
Structure
On commencement of the programme you will attend a week’s residential induction programme. After that a series of study days, organised in two-day blocks (including weekends), supervision meetings, research training and VLE Support
Study days for year 1 will comprise six two-day blocks over the academic year, in each case Friday and Saturday.
The programme is part-time and participants are expected to complete within five years, with provision for earlier or later completion.
Phase 1
Phase 1 covers research training and field skills:
•the philosophy of research, including alternative epistemological positions to provide a context for theory construction
•research design, including the choice of alternative techniques, the formulation of researchable questions and appropriate alternative approaches to research
•methods of data collection and analysis, including quantitative and qualitative methods and appropriate skills
•speicalist/advanced methods relevant to the individual’s own research
•Development of the research proposal based on two key programme themes: e.g. expert practice and quality and risk management
All candidates will be required to complete Phase 1. The research year will initially be taught intensively over five days, followed by two-day events six times over the academic year. For those candidates not wishing to proceed onto Phase 2, the award of Postgraduate Certificate in Research will be awarded at the end of Phase 1 if they have met the relevant criteria.
Phase 2
Candidates will seek and gain ethical clearance and commence their practice-based research/project work with supervisory support. Guest lectures, staff led sessions and action learning sets will provide opportunities for the candidates to continue to engage in critical debate on current issues within their field/s and to learn from other professional fields and practitioners.
In order to progress to Phase 3, candidates will need to have successfully exhibited their work completed throughout Phase 2, completed the data collection for their practice-based research/project work and successfully meet the requirements of the progress assessment. For those candidates not wishing to proceed onto Phase 3 they will be awarded Masters in Professional Practice, if they have met the relevant criteria.
Phase 3
Candidates will develop and produce a 40,000 word dissertation that contextualises and evaluates the work presented through the annual exhibition. Supervisory support from the university and practice supervisors will continue during this phase.
Entry requirements
Normally candidates will be required to have a first degree 1st or 2.1 classification or equivalent; a relevant Masters Degree, have a recognised recordable qualification and three years relevant professional practice. Candidates will be required to be working in an appropriate professional setting, or have access to an appropriate research/project setting.
How to make an application
We hope to have a fully on-line application system shortly, but in the meantime, to apply for a course, please download and print these forms, completing them fully and posting back to the address below.
- Application_form (58.1 KB)
- Notes_for_Guidance (51.6 KB)
- Fee_Authoristaion_Form (61.1 KB)
- Clinical_Reference_Form (57.2 KB)
- Academic_Reference_Form (50.6 KB)
If you are unable to view the forms, please click here to download a free version of adobe reader.
Alternatively, if you call us on 01494 603 171 or email ask@bucks.ac.uk we can post you a hard copy application pack.
Students funded by the NHS or other employer
If the cost of your course is being funded by your employer, please contact your education lead or manager for guidance as to how they would prefer you to make an application.