Executive PhD in Finance

In the first year you will attend four residential weeks during which you will participate in a series of seminars designed to train you in the theory and methods necessary to conduct high quality finance research. These courses are academically rigorous and require substantial preparation time before each residential week.

Week One – September

• Quantitative Research Methods: Fundamentals of Statistics (Dr Elisabetta Pellini)
• Choosing Your Research Question (Professor Charles Baden-Fuller)
• Elements of Research Design (Professor Davide Ravasi)
• Philosophy of Social Science (Professor Hugh Wilmott)
• Research Ethics (Dr Janina Steinmetz and Dr Hans Frankfort)
• Managing the PhD Experience (Dr Daisy Chung)
• Managing a Research Project (Professor Barbara Casu Lukac)
• Introduction to Library Resources (Library Staff)

Week Two - December

• Quantitative Research Methods I (Professor Giovanni Urga & Dr Elisabetta Pellini)
• Survey Design I (Dr Canan Kocabasoglu-Hillmer)
• How to Write a Literature Review (Professor Bobby Banerjee)
• Research Topics in Finance I: International Finance (Professor Ian Marsh)
• Empirical Methods in Finance I (Professor Francisco Urzua)
• Library Services and Online Resources - Working Session (Library Staff)
• Finance Research Seminar (External Speaker)

Week Three - March

• Quantitative Research Methods II (Professor Giovanni Urga & Dr Elisabetta Pellini)
• Empirical Methods in Finance II (Professor Francisco Urzua)
• Research Topics in Finance II: Mergers and Acquisitions (Professor Meziane Lasfer)
• Research Topics in Finance III: Banking and Financial Regulation (Professor Barbara Casu)
• Survey Design II (Dr Canan Kocabasoglu-Hillmer)
• Organisations: Early Debate and Implications for Trading Floors (Dr Daniel Beunza)
• Interview Techniques (Professor Paula Jarzabkowski)
• Finance Research Seminar (External Speaker)

Week Four - June

• Quantitative Research Methods III (Professor Giovanni Urga & Dr Elisabetta Pellini)
• Empirical Methods in Finance III (Professor Francisco Urzua)
• Survey Design III (Dr Canan Kocabasoglu-Hillmer)
• Research Topics in Finance IV: Banking and Financial Regulation (Dr Angela Gallo)
• Responsible Investing: Ethnographic Discovery and Finance (Dr Daniel Beunza)
• Finance Research Seminar (External Speaker)
• PhD Finance Research Days (full time PhD workshop)
• Research Presentations (all cohorts)

Year 2 – First Paper and Transfer Panel

Your research training continues in this second year with workshops focused on developing specific skills such as academic writing, advanced level reading groups where we delve deeply into key current research papers.

Alongside this, you will commence research in your chosen topics and the year culminates with the defense of your first research paper before a transfer panel committee. After the successful defense of your transfer panel paper you will move onto the final two years of the PhD programme.

Week Five - September

• Quantitative Research Methods IV (Professor Giovanni Urga & Dr Elisabetta Pellini)
• Empirical Methods in Finance IV (Professor Francisco Urzua)
• Research Topics in Finance V: Behavioural Finance (Dr Simon Heyley)
• Responsible Investing: Corporate Social Responsibility (Dr Daniel Beunza)
• Finance Research Seminar (External Speaker)
• Transfer Panel: What You Need to Prepare (Professor Barbara Casu Lukac)
• Academic Writing Workshop

Week Six – June

• Quantitative Research Methods V (Professor Giovanni Urga & Dr Elisabetta Pellini)
• Empirical Methods in Finance V (Professor Francisco Urzua)
• Responsible Investing: Morality and Markets (Dr Daniel Beunza)
• How to Publish a Research Paper and Work with Co-Authors (various faculty)
• Dissertation: Thinking about the Viva (Professor Barbara Casu Lukac)
• Finance Research Seminar (External Speaker)
• PhD Finance Research Days (full time PhD workshop)
• Research Presentations and Transfer Panels (all cohorts)

Year 3 – Supervised Research

You complete your remaining research papers in years three and four, and will defend your work in the viva voce exam soon after completion of your thesis. Training continues in the final two years but the focus shifts towards preparing you for publishing your research.

You will attend workshops designed to help you to publish your work and to introduce you to the academic job market if applicable.

Year four will be focussed on completing the writing of your dissertation, and preparing for the viva voce examination, while continuing to pursue publications and/or academic positions where applicable.

Thorsten Beck
Professor of Banking and Finance

Barbara Casu
Professor of Banking, Course Director of MSc Banking and International Finance, and Director of the Executive PhD programme

Daniela Fabbri
Reader in Finance

Sonia Falconieri
Senior Lecturer in Finance, and Course Director for MSc in Finance

Angela Gallo
Lecturer in Finance

Vasso Ioannidou

Professor of Finance

Richard Payne
Professor of Finance, and Associate Dean for the Undergraduate Programme

Kate Phylaktis
Professor of International Finance, and Director of the Emerging Markets Group

Francesc Rodriguez-Tous
Lecturer in Banking

Sotiris K. Staikouras
Senior Lecturer in Banking and Finance, and Course Director for Undergraduate Investment Analysis & Insurance and Real Estate Finance & Investment

Fa Wang
Lecturer in Financial Econometrics