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PhD in Marketing

2023

Award

PhD

Duration

3 years

School

School of Business & Creative Industries

Start date

January, October

Key areas of study | PhD in Marketing

The academic research you carry out as part of a PhD will be invaluable for your employability. As well as the qualification itself, you will acquire specialist knowledge that means you can be the perfect candidate for your chosen area of marketing, no matter how niche it might be.  

We find marketing and business graduates and professionals across the UK and from further afield are choosing a PhD in Marketing to put themselves above the competition when it comes to opportunities in the world of business, and in creative fields too.

You might be considering a PhD in Marketing if you’re interested in teaching in the marketing fields. Or, you might be aware of certain gaps in market knowledge that you are keen to fill with your own research. Whatever your reason for choosing a marketing PhD, your research area will be entirely self-driven. Your research could be focussed on any area within marketing, for example:

  • Content marketing
  • Product marketing
  • Branding
  • Relationship marketing 
  • Visual marketing 
  • Media planning

We also offer a PhD in Digital Marketing which may be more relevant to your area of interest if you’re keen to explore research in areas like SEO marketing, social media marketing or influencer marketing. 

Have a look at the School of Business & Creative Industries section on the Research area of our website to see the most up to date information on the research centres and groups that the university are connected with.

How to apply for a PhD in Marketing

Once you apply, you’ll be asked to demonstrate your understanding of academic research. You will need to clearly communicate the research you plan to carry out and how you’ll achieve it. This information will take the form of a research proposal which will be evaluated by the marketing specialist staff here at UWS. 

Then, if we feel like your research proposal has potential, you’ll be invited to take part in our Foundational Research Methods Course. This short course will not only clarify the research journey here at UWS, but also strengthen your research proposal. 

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

UWS London has 2 PhD student intakes. These happen in October and January. 

Do you need help with writing your proposal?

Your research proposal should be considered carefully. There’s lots of useful information out there on how to write a quality academic research proposal 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.  

If you 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?

Many of our marketing PhD applicants will have completed either a master’s degree or an honours degree in a relevant area like business studies, marketing communications, PR or advertising. However, your ability to carry out academic research at PhD level is not reliant on this. We’re most interested in your research proposal, and your qualifications will only be considered alongside this.

For all of the PhDs that UWS London offer, there are English language requirements. If English isn’t your first language, 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. 

Get in touch

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

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