University of Essex

Integrated PhD Finance

Our Integrated PhD Finance provides a route to Doctoral study if you do not have a Masters degree or have little or no research training. It enables you to spend your first year completing a full-time Masters qualification, which will equip you with the business knowledge and research skills needed to begin PhD study the following year. Your PhD will then be studied full time, over the next three years.

This PhD follows a 'three paper' thesis, where you produce three research articles, framed by an introduction and conclusion. Your supervisors will support you to submit these papers to conferences and for publication in international journals, so you can begin to build your international research portfolio well before graduation. You benefit from strong industry links with organisations such as Invesco Perpetual and HSBC. Many of our students have gained internships with international banking institutions and have collaborated with local organisations as part of their PhD.

Global financial markets are facing an era of unprecedented upheaval. Just 10 years ago the world was beginning to recover from the financial crash of 2008, but now world markets must recover from a health pandemic that has driven national economies to the brink of collapse. Now more than ever, the finance sector needs decisive leadership and fresh thinking to navigate the crisis and the “new normal” that will emerge in the post-pandemic era.

Our PhD Finance gives you the opportunity to specialise in a wide range of areas such as:

financial econometrics
behavioural finance
corporate finance
banking
international finance
portfolio and risk management
commodity markets
asset pricing
financing of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs)
You study at Essex Business School (EBS) at our Colchester Campus. We are the largest department at the University of Essex and one of the most respected finance groups in the UK. We are a business school with an international outlook and our doctoral students join us from all over the world.

The University of Essex is home to a number of cutting-edge financial research centres and institutes, where academics across disciplines and departments come together to collaborate around a common theme, often engaging with external partners at a national and international level. The Essex Finance Centre (EFiC) works with leading financial services firms and public sector organisations, governments and policy institutions to produce work that makes real-world impact across the globe. The Essex Centre for Macro and Financial Econometrics brings together academic and industry expertise from inside and outside the University of Essex to research and help solve important issues in financial markets.

In addition within Essex Business School our Finance Group is one of the largest groups of finance researchers in the UK. Their research has been cited in the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve and is relevant to real people's lives. Members join the group from all over the world, including Greece, Italy, Spain, China, India and Mauritius and bring with them a wealth of knowledge and expertise.

Professor Neil Kellard, Dean of Essex Business School and member of the Finance Group, carries out research which supports developing countries through forecasting commodity prices. By modelling the effects of different causes, such as natural disasters, his research helps to find solutions to ease the impact of price changes for commodities such as energy and food. Professor Jerry Coakley is an active researcher and teaches as part of the group. His research is extremely topical as he studies the rise in crowdfunding and its impact on the way new and fledgling SMEs finance themselves. Many entrepreneurs may find the big banks turn them away or simply charge too much, leading them to turn to the public to help them crowdfund their way to business success.

Essex Business School provides a highly flexible and supportive PhD experience, where your supervisors develop your professional skills and research expertise in your chosen area. You experience a programme of specialised training, focused on the quantitative methods used to explore markets and financial assets. Seminars and events give you the opportunity to engage with academics and industry practitioners from organisations around the world, encouraging reflection on current economic and business issues.

Once a year, our doctoral students have the opportunity to present their work at our PhD conference.