We have the largest group of academic lawyers in Ireland and leading researchers of high international standing across many of the main fields of law including European Union law, commercial law, criminology, criminal justice and criminal law, regulatory studies, constitutional law and governance, human rights, administrative law, employment law, environmental law, intellectual property law, WTO law, legal history, agricultural law and private law.

The aims of the PhD programmes offered by the School of Law in UCD are:

• that candidates will conceive, design and give effect to a substantial and innovative piece of research which will expand the frontiers of knowledge. This is done by developing of a substantial body of work (leading to publication of a monograph or a series of academic articles);

• that candidates will be able to evaluate and synthesise new and complex ideas;

• that candidates will become effective communicators orally and through writing;

• that candidates will demonstrate knowledge and understanding in their chosen field of legal study. They will develop advanced conceptual frameworks and provide systemic understanding of the problems they identify; and

• that candidates will be able to promote intellectual, social and cultural advancement in a knowledge-based society.

Apart from being the highest level of academic achievement, obtaining a PhD is now regarded as an essential feature in the curriculum vitae of anyone aspiring to a career in academia. Many graduates of UCD Law School's PhD Programme are now themselves academics either in or outside Ireland. Graduates in recent years from UCD Law School's PhD programme have been appointed to academic positions in HEC Paris, the Queen's University Belfast, the University of Portsmouth, the University of Ulster at Jordanstown, University College Dublin, the University of Maynooth, Dublin City University and NUI Galway, among other institutions and universities.