After spending 50 months to finish my first PhD at Cambridge, I’m going to do my second PhD in 6 months.

Does earning a PhD within 3–12 months from elite UK, European or Australian universities sound too good to be true? Then, you should read this article.

Brief Overview

I enrolled as a PhD in Sociology candidate at the University of Cambridge in October 2020. I intermitted my PhD studies for eight months to relocate to Boston to conduct research as a Fellow at the Harvard University Asia Center. Therefore, undertaking the external fellowship delayed my PhD progress at Cambridge.

Normally, PhD students spend three to four years of full-time research before submitting their PhD theses for examination in the UK. Given my eight-month PhD intermission, my thesis submission date was delayed to December 2024, with passing the viva in February 2025.

People (laypersons, I should say) usually assume that there is only one legitimate way to earn a PhD — which involves spending years finishing an 80,000–100,000-word doctoral thesis and subsequently passing the viva.

PhD by Published Work

However, there is another legitimate way to earn a PhD that people do not often discuss: which is PhD by Published Work.

What is PhD by Published Work? PhD by Published Work, or PhD by publication, refers to a process where a university committee confers a doctorate based on an assessment of the quality and depth of an individual’s existing portfolio of academic published work.

For example, librarians or administrative and technical staff in academia or industry may develop an interest in publishing academic work (such as journal articles, books, or book chapters) during their careers. These individuals working in academia or industry may already have an established portfolio of academic published work, despite not having undertaken PhD or even master’s programmes.

Universities often offer an opportunity for those who have a track record of academic publications but did not undertake a traditional PhD programme to enrol via the PhD by Published Work route.

To enrol, you typically need to submit your existing portfolio of academic publications to the relevant PhD programme administrator at the university you wish to apply to. The administrator usually passes your portfolio to the relevant degree committee for consideration. Once provisional approval is granted, you can formally apply for the PhD programme via the “PhD by Published Work” route instead of the traditional thesis route.

Once enrolled, candidates are typically given three to twelve months (depending on the university’s policies) to write a 5,000–10,000-word summary justifying why their existing academic work constitutes a significant contribution to their academic field(s) and warrants the conferral of a doctorate.

Securing My Next PhD Offer through PhD by Published Work

Over the past few weeks, I have been in touch with representatives of Warwick Medical School. The relevant degree committee has reviewed my existing portfolio of academic publications in social medicine and public health. They have informally approved my application for the PhD in Health and Social Studies (via the PhD by Published Work route) at Warwick Medical School.

As the remainder of 2025 is very hectic for me with over dozens of deadlines, the administrator at Warwick Medical School and I have agreed on my enrolment as a PhD by Published Work candidate starting in Spring 2026 (i.e., March) instead of Fall 2025 (i.e. September/October). I will be given six months (until the end of September 2026) to submit a 10,000-word summary explaining why my existing work merits a PhD in Health and Social Studies.

Then, I expect to be scheduled for a PhD viva in November 2026. Upon successfully passing my PhD viva, I expect to earn my second PhD, this time from a Medical School, by the end of 2026.

A Few Things to Keep in Mind

PhD by Published Work is very common across the UK and is relatively common in some other Western countries, such as Europe and Australia. However, as far as I am aware, most American universities do not seem to offer the PhD by Published Work route. Therefore, if you would like to earn a PhD by Published Work, you should focus on applying for PhD programmes in the UK, Europe, Australia and/or even Canada. This is because the PhD by Published Work route has a relatively long standing tradition in Europe, Australia, and Canada.

Also, in the UK, for example, while many top-ranked universities offer PhDs by Published Work, some are reluctant to accept applicants who already hold a PhD degree. This is because some universities reserve the PhD by Published Work route for applicants who, for various reasons, lacked the opportunity or resources to undertake a conventional PhD by thesis earlier in their careers.

However, in my case, after communicating with Warwick Medical School, the university representatives acknowledged that I recently earned my first PhD at Cambridge and confirmed their willingness to accept my application for a second PhD via the Published Work route.

Therefore, if you are considering applying for a PhD by Published Work as a legitimate shortcut (perhaps “alternative” is a better word) to earning a PhD degree, you should speak directly with your universities of interest to understand their specific admission criteria.

So, do you want to earn a PhD degree from an elite university within 12 months? If you already have a track record of academic publications, then PhD by Published Work may be an option for you.

---

Thanks for reading my sharing. If you would like to learn more about (mental) health, personal development and/or (online) education from me, please feel free to subscribe to my newsletter below. Also please feel free to browse my blog — Society & Growth — for more content at https://jasonhungofficialblog.com/.