PhD Finance

London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London

As one of the largest finance departments in the world, we're able to offer opportunities for research in virtually any field in finance. This programme is intended to train you as a researcher at the top level. You’ll begin on the two-year Master of Research qualification, which will provide rigorous academic training (see “Programme content” below) and equip you with the necessary tools for the PhD programme: you'll study microeconomics, econometrics, asset pricing and corporate finance, and you'll be expected to attend departmental research seminars. You’ll need to meet certain requirements to progress to the PhD itself in the third year, but once you do you’ll begin to do your own research, culminating in a substantial piece of work that is worthy of publication and which makes an original contribution to the field of finance. Our programme is distinctive in its integration of finance and economics. You'll leave with a broad understanding of finance and its relations to other fields in economics. As one of the largest finance departments in the world, we're able to offer opportunities for research across a wide range of fields in finance. We have strengths in theory and empirics, asset pricing and corporate finance, as well as financial econometrics, behavioural finance, macro-finance, and microeconomic analysis of financial markets and institutions. You're expected to participate in the regular departmental seminars (weekly), as well as occasional workshops and conferences given by internationally renowned speakers. This is viewed as an important part of the learning process on the MRes/PhD in Finance.