Applying for your business PhD

Hertfordshire Business School has two enrolment phases in each academic year: October and February.

The application deadline for October intake is around mid-June and for February intake is mid-November.

Please contact research degrees administrator at ssahri.res@herts.ac.uk for the precise deadline as it slightly changes from year to year.

Minimum entry requirements

• At least an upper-second class honours degree and/or an MA/MSc (or their overseas equivalent) in Business Management and Strategy, Marketing and Entrepreneurship,  Economics, Finance and Accounting, Employment Studies / Human Resources Management or Management Science and Information Systems  
• Overseas students are required to have a minimum average score of 6.5 from the IELTS exam or equivalent

Research areas

The topic of your research proposal must fall into the research areas covered at the Hertfordshire Business School.

Currently, applications are invited from suitably qualified candidates in any of the following indicative and not exclusive areas:    

• Economics and business in the context of globalisation (e.g. applied economics, international development, international competitiveness, business models, migration and rising economies)    
• The sociology of work and employment, industrial relations or employment relations    
• The impacts of knowledge, innovation and ICT on Small & Medium Enterprises    
• Institutional Economics and Organisational Evolution    
• Critically informed research on Finance and Accounting    
• The creative and cultural industries, especially work and employment, emerging business practices and new technologies.    
• The development of statistical methodologies to answer real-world business problems    
• The customer experience in service contexts and interactions between the marketing and wider social systems    
• Learning and Business    
• Management Science and Statistics, particularly relating to Health Management    
• Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development

You may also want to check the list of supervisors and their research interests and expertise before writing your proposal. All applications are assessed by the responsible Research Tutor and at least two subject experts.

Application procedure

Applicants are required to submit a completed application form, two academic references, transcripts of previous studies at higher education level and a research proposal with maximum 2000 words.

View the guidance on writing a research proposal document on this link

Applicants who fulfil minimum entry requirements will be invited for a panel interview (for overseas applicants this might be done through a video conference call) if their research proposal is original, feasible and has the potential for completion at doctoral level.

For further details on the application process, or to send us your completed applications and required documents please e-mail: ssahri.res@herts.ac.uk