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PhD in Finance

PhD in Finance

2023

Award

PhD

Duration

3 years

School

School of Business & Creative Industries

Start date

January, October

Key areas of research | PhD in Finance

We find that finance professionals and graduates from both the UK and internationally are choosing to pursue a PhD in Finance to strengthen their employability in the finance sector. 

A PhD is an intensive degree that really demonstrates your abilities and passion for a particular specialist area, and so it helps to put you above the competition when it comes to opportunities in the financial industry here in London and further afield. 

Your academic research will be completely self-driven. You might be considering a PhD in Finance if you’re interested in teaching in this area. Or, you might be aware of certain knowledge gaps in the financial industry that you passionately feel need to be addressed. Either way, your research could be focussed within areas like: 

  • Compliance
  • Financial analysis 
  • Budget management 
  • Investment 
  • Fund allocation
  • Financial goal setting
  • Financial planning
  • Mergers & acquisitions

If you’re specifically interested in accounting, we also offer a separate PhD in Accounting and Finance.

You can find lots more information about Research at UWS here.

Apply for a PhD in Finance

UWS intake PhD students twice in the year: October and January. 

Through the application process, you’ll be required to demonstrate your understanding of academic research. You’ll be asked to clearly communicate the research you want to carry out and how you think you’ll achieve it. This will take the form of a research proposal which will be evaluated by the specialist staff here at UWS. If we feel like your research proposal has potential, you’ll then be invited to take part in our Foundational Research Methods Course. The purpose of this course is to not only clarify how academic research works at UWS, but also to strengthen your research proposal further ahead of the degree.  

Once you’ve completed the Foundational Research Methods Course, you can then apply for your PhD in Finance at UWS.

Do you need help with writing your proposal?

There’s lots of useful information out there on how to write a quality academic research proaposal in a clear and concise way. Vitai.ac.uk for example, set out a helpful structure of a proposal that covers everything you need to include.  

Your research proposal should be considered carefully. If you happen to know someone in a related field, or in academia in general, it might be worth getting them to read through your proposal before you submit it to make sure everything makes sense

What are the entry requirements?

For all of our PhDs, there are English language requirements. When you apply you will be required to show your IELTS certificate. Your certificate will need to be dated within 2 years at the time of applying and you will need to have achieved an overall score of 6.5 or higher with no sub-test achieving a score of 6.0 or lower. 

Many of the applicants we have for our finance PhD have done either a master’s degree or an honours degree in finance or a related subject. But, it’s important to note that your ability to carry out academic research at PhD level is not reliant on having qualifications like these. What we’re most interested in is your research proposal and your passion for your chosen area of study. We look at your previous academic qualifications alongside this. 

Get in touch

If you’re unsure about how qualified you are for our PhD in Finance, our PhD in Accounting and Finance or if you have any questions at all, please get in touch with us and we can talk about your options.