Master of Philosophy (Law)

An MPhil is a research degree, not coursework. Students admitted into QUT's Master of Philosophy (Law) are essentially doing a scaled-down PhD, working under a single or small team of academic supervisors on an original legal research thesis over roughly one to two years, rather than sitting through lectures and exams. It suits people who already have a strong law or related honours-level qualification and want to test whether they're suited to (or want to build a track record for) doctoral-level legal research, an academic career, or specialist policy/research roles.

QUT's law faculty has active research strengths in areas like technology and law, health law, and Indigenous legal issues, and MPhil candidates typically align their thesis topic with an existing supervisor's research area to get meaningful guidance rather than working in isolation. There's no fixed curriculum in the conventional sense; progress is marked by milestones (research proposal, confirmation of candidature, periodic progress review) rather than semester-based units.

Graduates either progress to a PhD (the MPhil can function as a stepping stone with credit transfer in some cases), move into specialist legal research or policy roles, or use the qualification alongside existing legal practice experience for academic or think-tank positions.