Doctoral Areas of Study

Preparing the Ne​xt Generation of Researchers

Find the Ph.D. program that is right for you!

Each of the programs in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration take an interdisciplinary approach to the education of doctoral students. Drawing upon intellectually diverse faculty and engaging related disciplines across the university and beyond, our programs offer rigorous substantive and methodological training in a collaborative research environment.

As a Biden School doctoral student, you will gain hands-on experience working with faculty on research that addresses the important challenges of our time. ​

Biden School faculty and staff work on a wide variety of research projects each year, and many interdisciplinary policy areas and research methods are applied when doing this work. For our students, this means that there are a multitude of opportunities for students to get real-world, hands-on experience doing research in an area of interest.

Legacy of Doctoral ​​​​Education in the Biden School​

Doctoral programs in the Biden School have long provided cutting-edge research training with excellent faculty leaders from their fields. More than that, though, they also have a long history of serving as agents of change for the University and the larger society. The School’s initial doctoral program was designed to be different, and a half-century later, all of our doctoral programs reflect the values and characteristics that made that program stand out; all are interdisciplinary, translational, and community-engaged. In recent decades, these characteristics have become more highly valued within the overall priorities of research universities, including the University of Delaware.  Read about the legacy you could join if you study with us. ​​