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Outside the classroom

We have a vibrant departmental community, with regular and varied colloquia, conferences and talks by visiting speakers that we encourage you to attend as a postgraduate student. Warwick also has a wide range of societies covering academic and non-academic interests, and postgraduate students have a range of dedicated spaces on campus, in addition to the spaces available to all students. We’ve picked out just some of the groups, events and resources available to make sure you settle in and make the most of your time as a Philosophy postgraduate student.

Our community

We are a large, active and welcoming department with around ninety postgraduate students studying for a Philosophy Master’s degree or PhD, and over twenty permanent members of academic staff. You’ll find many opportunities to engage with this community; as part of your studies, day-to-day around the department, and beyond your course. You’ll have a personal tutor to support you in your progress, as well as embedded workshops, seminars and professional development sessions to ensure you have the skills and knowledge you need to succeed. There are also a number of reading or discussion groups dedicated to specific areas of philosophy. We host a range of events and research activities which we encourage you to get involved in.

Each week there are talks from visiting philosophers, members of staff and graduate students discussing their work in progress. You’ll find a busy programme of conferences and colloquia covering a very broad extent of specialisms, regular graduate and departmental seminars to get involved with, and many more informal and social research gatherings. The Philosophy Society and Philosophy and Literature Society are very social and supportive, meeting weekly as well as having their own calendar of events including social gatherings, guest speakers and alumni evenings.

Groups, forums and societies

Philosophy Society (PhilSoc) and Philosophy and Literature Society have weekly socials, weekly mini-speaker events and talks and support sessions in various aspects of the subject. Additionally 'Phil ‘n’ Tea' is a great chance to catch up with others who are interested in your subject area, over free tea and biscuits on Friday afternoons: warwicksu.com/societies

Fortnightly departmental graduate seminars provide an opportunity to meet other graduate students and staff, as well as a chance to present your own research and to engage in the questions and discussions across a range of topics. Previous seminars have been titled: ‘A Husserlian response to Berkeley’s puzzle’, ‘Elements of a pragmatic theory of metaphor’, and ‘Two Arguments to motivate the higher-order belief account of agnosticism’.

Philosophy reading groups

We have a number of departmental reading groups, which have previously included: Foucault; Logic; Poetry and Philosophy. These provide a useful forum for staff and students at all levels of study to meet and discuss the topics of interest within these areas.

The London-Warwick Graduate Mind Forum aims to forge and maintain a cross-institutional research community for graduate students working in the philosophy of mind, broadly construed. Currently, the network consists of students in the philosophy departments of the University of Warwick, King’s College London and University College London. Each term they hold a research day, where students from each department present their work for commentary and discussion.

Dedicated spaces

On the first floor of the University Library there is a postgraduate reading room, accessed via a code lock. On the ground floor of the Library, there is another computer cluster, with 150 machines. Access is available 24 hours a day, using your library card for entry. A Help Desk is available during office hours.

The PG Hub is a space for Warwick postgraduate taught and research students to access support and to work and meet other postgraduate students day to day, not just study.

The Philosophy department postgraduate common room (S2.40), is for your use and acts as a central meeting point for postgraduates working in the department. You can also book the common room for a specific meeting or event.