The decision to pursue a Ph.D. in social science is motivated by the commitment to advance knowledge, addressing critical societal challenges, and making a lasting impact on the field. A Ph.D. in social science represents the pinnacle of academic achievement, providing individuals with the opportunity to engage in original, cutting-edge research that contributes significantly to the understanding of human societies, behaviors, and institutions. This is a research program has received full accredited by MQA (ref: MQA/FA14679) since 29th October 2018. This program is open to local and international students.


Field of Study​

The fields and sub-fields of study offered by FSSH consists of, but not limited to:​​

• Political Studies: Electoral studies, public administration, political economy, policy studies​
• International Relations: Strategic and security studies, foreign policy studies​
• Anthropology: Borneo ethnography, anthropology of development, medical anthropology, media anthropology, indigenous communities, cultural studies​
• Social Work: Disability studies, criminology, social policy, youth studies​
• Sociology: Community development, sociology of development, gender studies​
• Development Studies: development and poverty studies, human geography and demographic studies, urbanisation and community development, planning and management​
• Industrial and Employment Relations: Industrial sociology, labour studies, labour economics, labour law​
• Geography Information System and Remote Sensing: spatial social science, spatial modelling​

​You may find our expert and your potential supervisor here https://www.fssh.unimas.my/index.php/home/the-people/lecturers​

Our Ph.D. program is driven to produce graduates who will be:​

1. competent professionals who have state of the art knowledge with practical skills capable of using advanced numerical techniques and digital skills in the field of social sciences.​
2. competent professionals who communicate and interact confidently with internal and external stakeholders in offering creative solutions to solve societal problem using social sciences and methodologies and methods.​
3. competent professionals who lead and advocate professionalism, ethical practices and integrity in the field of social sciences in all settings.​
4. competent professionals who promote positive attitudes, with entrepreneurial mindset and globalised outlook in progressing their career and profession.

Upon graduating from this programme, the students are able to:​

1. Critically synthesise new and current knowledge that address the challenges and the needs of an ever-changing society.​
2. Formulate social scientific research to address societal issues comprehensively. ​
3. Design novel research by employing advanced theoretical and methodological approaches in the discipline of social sciences in producing tangible benefits for the society.​
4. Illustrate commendable interpersonal skills in diverse communities and dynamic organizational context.​
5. Perform effective communication skills in presenting ideas with peers and members of the public competently and respectfully.​
6. Demonstrate mastery of knowledge in the field of social sciences by incorporating state of the art digital technologies in analytical tasks.​
7. Demonstrate mastery of knowledge in the field of social sciences by advancing contemporary analytical and numerical techniques.​
8. Adopt leadership style that balance autonomy and responsibility in a dynamic societal or organisational setting.​
9. Advocate positive attitude and commitment to life-long learning for professional advancement.​
10. Display ability in identifying and addressing needs, risks and resources and able to frame data and information to achieve goals with allocated resources.​
11. Promote legal, ethical, and professionalism while performing duties and conducting research. ​

A student’s progress is evaluated through the submission of a progress report which is done twice a year. As part of the requirements to successfully graduate from this program, students are required to pass GSF7011: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY, pass their proposal defence, publish in Indexed journals, submit a full thesis for internal and external examinations, and pass their viva-voce examination. A student who has satisfied the Examination Committee for Postgraduate Studies in all aspects of their work is eligible for the award of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.​

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Supervision​

In this program, students are closely guided by their respective supervisors. The supervisory team usually consists of one main supervisor and one co-supervisor; they are selected from the academics of this faculty, or within or outside the University, who are experts in the student’s field of study. In some cases, a student may have more than two supervisors in his/her panel of supervisors. It is also common for students to have only the main supervisor with them.

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Interested to know more? Please contact us:

Dr Hafizan binti Mohamad Naim
Postgraduate Coordinator
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
94300 Kota Samarahan
Sarawak, Malaysia
Tel: +6082584100
Fax:+6082584145
mnhafizan@unimas.my

Or visit our FSSH Postgraduate Community website to learn more about the program: https://sites.google.com/view/postgraduatefssh/home​