How to Write a PhD Research Proposal: Examples & Guide for Indian Students 2026
UK and European PhD programs require a Research Proposal of 1500–3000 words. Most Indian students confuse this with a Statement of Purpose — the proposal must demonstrate independent research thinking, not just research interest. This guide shows you exactly how to structure it.
UK and European PhD programs require a Research Proposal as part of the application. This is the document that most differentiates strong from weak applications at Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial, UCL, Edinburgh, and TU Delft. Unlike the US Statement of Purpose, which emphasises your background and fit, the Research Proposal requires you to demonstrate independent intellectual initiative — to identify a research problem, situate it in the literature, and propose a credible approach.
The Core Structure of a Strong Research Proposal
- 1Title: Specific, research-question-oriented. 'Machine Learning for Healthcare' is too broad. 'Improving Clinical Text De-identification Using Transformer-Based Models: A Transfer Learning Approach' is a title.
- 2Background and Motivation (20–25%): What is the problem? Why does it matter? What has been done so far, and what gap remains? Cite 3–5 key papers.
- 3Research Questions (10%): 2–3 specific, answerable questions that your PhD will address. These should flow logically from the gap identified in the background.
- 4Methodology (30–35%): What approaches will you use? Why these approaches? What are their limitations and how will you address them? If it's an empirical study: what datasets, what evaluation metrics? If theoretical: what frameworks, what proof strategies?
- 5Expected Outcomes and Contribution (15%): What will you produce? A dataset? A new algorithm? A theoretical framework? A clinical tool? Be concrete about the form of the contribution.
- 6Timeline (5–10%): A rough year-by-year plan. Year 1: literature review, pilot study. Year 2: main experiments. Year 3: writing and dissemination. This shows you understand the scope of PhD research.
- 7References: 5–15 key papers, properly formatted.
Positioning Within the Literature
The literature review in a research proposal is not a tour of everything related to your topic. It is an argument — building toward the gap your proposed research will fill. The standard structure: (1) define the broad field and its importance, (2) identify the main research directions within the field, (3) identify where current methods fail or where questions remain open, (4) position your proposed research as the natural next step given this gap.
For Indian students, the temptation is to show comprehensive knowledge by listing many papers. Resist this. Citing 20 papers with one-sentence summaries demonstrates recall, not understanding. Citing 5 papers with analytical discussion of their contributions, limitations, and relationships demonstrates the depth of thinking a PhD requires.
Tailoring Your Proposal to the Supervisor
A strong research proposal is written with a specific supervisor in mind — even when the application is formally submitted to the department. Read your target supervisor's last 3 papers. Identify which of their current research threads your proposed work connects to. In the background section, cite 1–2 of their recent papers naturally — not as flattery, but as authentic engagement with the existing work in the field.
PhD Tracker's professor research module lets you pull and track recent publications for any target faculty member — building your reading list for each proposal.
Common Mistakes in Indian Research Proposals
- Topic too broad — 'I want to research AI in healthcare' is not a research proposal. 'Comparative evaluation of transformer-based vs. rule-based approaches for extracting medication dosing instructions from clinical notes in Hindi-English code-mixed medical records' is a research proposal.
- No gap identification — describing existing work without explaining what's missing means the proposal has no rationale for existing
- Methodology section too vague — 'I will use machine learning techniques' says nothing. What models? What training data? What evaluation framework?
- Ignoring the word limit — submitting a 3000-word proposal when the limit is 1000 words signals inability to communicate concisely, which is a research skill
- No references or inadequate references — a research proposal without literature engagement is not a research proposal
PhD Tracker helps you manage UK and European PhD applications alongside US applications — with separate tracking for research proposals, supervisor contacts, and department-specific requirements.
Track your UK applicationsFrequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a research proposal and a statement of purpose for PhD?
A Statement of Purpose focuses on your background and why you want to do a PhD. A Research Proposal focuses on the specific research you want to do — what problem you'll tackle, why it matters, how you'll approach it, and what outcomes you expect. UK and European PhD programs typically require both. US programs typically require only the SOP (though some programs accept or prefer a more proposal-like SOP).
How long should a PhD research proposal be?
Typical lengths: Oxford: 800–1000 words, Cambridge: 500 words or 1 page, Imperial: 1000 words, UCL: 500–1000 words, UK EPSRC-funded programs: 2–3 pages. European programs vary widely but typically request 1500–3000 words. Always follow the specific program's requirements — never submit a proposal longer than the specified limit.
Do I need a concrete research plan in the proposal?
For a direct PhD (without a preset topic), your proposal should demonstrate that you've thought carefully about a specific research problem and have a credible initial approach — not a complete research plan. You don't need to know exactly how you'll solve the problem; you need to show you understand the problem well enough to work on it. For industry-funded PhD positions in the UK (where the project is predefined), you tailor your proposal to the posted project description.
Can I apply to multiple UK PhDs with the same research proposal?
No — each proposal must be tailored to the specific program and potential supervisor. The research problem should align with the supervisor's current work, your methodology should reference relevant work from their lab, and your research questions should be positioned within the local research context. Generic proposals are immediately identifiable and often used to filter applicants.