Economics and Finance

Entry requirements

The general University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree.

Months of entry

January, April, October

Course content

Research students are welcomed to Brunel as valued members of our thriving, research-intensive community. A research degree provides the opportunity to investigate a topic in depth, and contribute new knowledge to your discipline.

A PhD involves demonstrating through original research or other advanced scholarship the creation and interpretation of new knowledge, a systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of knowledge at the forefront of an academic discipline or professional practice, the ability to conceptualise, design and implement a project for the general of new knowledge, applications or understanding at the forefront of the discipline. Both full-time (3 years) and part-time (6 years) study routes are available.

MPhil degree option

An MPhil involves the exploration of a research topic and is typically studied over a shorter period of 1 year for a full-time student and 2 years for a part-time student. MPhil students are required to demonstrate a systematic understanding of knowledge and a critical awareness of current problems and/or new insights informed by the forefront of their discipline, field of study or professional practice.

Research profile

Our research is broadly focused in our five research groups: Economic Development and Institutions, Empirical Finance, Accountancy and Corporate Governance, Macroeconomics and Banking. Within each group we have built a broad base of skills that allow us to respond to the ever-changing research environment. Each group encourages and supports individual researchers, from those just starting out as PhD students to those who have reached the highest levels of achievement. The groups provide support for research activities and funding proposals and provide opportunities for discussion of research ideas and the dissemination of findings.

In addition to the supervisory team, each student is allocated an academic development adviser in thier research area to ensure the quality of supervision at the department. We provide students with opportunities for engaging in teaching as teaching assistants, and teacher training is provided. We emphasise the dissemination of your research output, where students are given opportunities to present their papers in the departmental internal seminar series. We also have the annual doctoral symposium, where all students and staff get together to discuss research outputs in a friendly academic environment. Such event will give you an invaluable inspiration in your research activities.

Potential student research projects:

Macroeconomics

• Economic growth
• Political economy
• Labour economics
• International macroeconomics
• Institutional economics
• Development and transition economics
• Growth theory and empirics
• Macroeconomic theory and policy
• Development economics
• Exchange rate and small macro modelling
• Applied macroeconomics
• Open economy macroeconomics
• Business cycles
• Central banking
• European economic governance
• Exchange Rate Modelling
• Applied macroeconomics

Microeconomics

• Microeconomics theory
• Industrial economics
• Competition policy
• Applied microeconomic theory
• Applied Micro-econometrics
• Labour and family economics

Econometrics

• Financial econometrics
• Econometrics of panel data
• Forecasting
• Non-stationary time series
• Nonlinear time series
• Regulatory econometrics
• Time series econometrics
• Macro Econometrics

Finance

• Behavioural finance especially momentum, disposition
• CDS
• Financial development
• Market microstructure and asset pricing
• The impact of derivatives on underlying markets
• The information content of Director trades
• Executive stock options
• Insider trading (general)
• Determinants and consequences of financial reporting quality
• Applied corporate finance
• Insider trading
• Financial economics
• Emerging financial markets
• Global finance
• Credit risk and company credit rating
• Behavioural finance and neuroeconomics
• Innovation and company performance
• Non- and semi-parametric methods
• Agency Theory
• Contingent capital securities
• Debt Pricing
• Financial Contracting
• Hedge Funds
• Investment Strategies
• IPOs
• Performance Measurement
• International finance
• Empirical finance
• Financial crises and contagion
• Arbitrage in economic and financial markets

Banking

• Early Warning Systems
• Banking Crises
• Bank regulation
• Banking sector in emerging economies
• Bank performance

Accounting

• Financial contracts, auditing and taxation on accounting quality
• Accounting regulations and financial reporting of SMEs
• Earning management anomaly and company valuation
• Behavioural accounting

Information for international students

English language requirements

• IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas)
• Pearson: 59 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT: 63% (min 58% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 90 (min 20 in all)

Fees and funding

We offer a range of PhD studentships, partial scholarships, and academic prizes, to help with your research fees. Explore external funding, particularly the Research Councils, as well as other support.

Brunel offers a number of funding options to research students that help cover the cost of their tuition fees, contribute to living expenses or both. See more information here: https://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/Research- degrees/Research-degree-funding. The UK Government is also offering Doctoral Student Loans for eligible students, and there is some funding available through the Research Councils. Many of our international students benefit from funding provided by their governments or employers. Brunel alumni enjoy tuition fee discounts of 15%.