Key information
About the Executive PhD in Finance
The Executive PhD is a four-year, part-time degree programme, culminating in a dissertation that passes formal examination. It comprises of ten, forty-hour residential weeks, and independent research guided by faculty supervisors.
"The courses are excellent and highly tailored to our specific needs. The flexible design helps us to move quickly toward our individual goals."
Rob Roy – Executive PhD in Finance
Research Areas
Our research covers all the core areas of finance – asset pricing, corporate finance and financial markets.
It also reflects our strengths in:
- Accounting
- Banking and international finance
- Mathematical finance and financial econometrics
- Real estate
- Shipping finance.
As such, our Finance PhD students carry out research in a wide variety of areas but the faculty fosters a collaborative and engaging approach to research and you will meet many inspiring academics and experts.
We encourage you to learn more about the programme’s faculty or previous students’ successes by visiting the links below.
We take pride in producing research of the highest academic standard, and our research is published routinely in the top finance journals.
Programme structure
The Finance PhD is usually a four year programme. You are registered on the MPhil degree for the first two years during which you will follow a programme of taught courses and prepare for the transfer panel, which is a mid-point assessment of your progress.
Year 1 – Theory and Methods
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 – Research Development
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 – Dissertation Research
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 4 – Writing the Dissertation
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.
The Faculty
The faculty has over 50 full-time members conducting state-of-the-art research in all key areas of finance. It is located within the City of London, the world's most prominent financial centre. No other PhD programme in Finance gives you such access to the City of London.
The unique and direct access to leading figures from the real world of finance enables us to blend the latest theory and thinking with the latest real-world experience and developments within the Executive PhD in Finance.
The Bayes Faculty of Finance comprises five different academic group areas of research.
Each group has a wealth of practical experience and impressive research output. Much of our research and work incorporates our strong industry ties, both in the City of London and worldwide.
Academic group areas
Accounting
The Accounting group publish research with an international outlook and topical insight.
- About the Accounting Academic Group
- Find Academics in Accounting.
Finance
Delivering research at the core of finance, from Asset Pricing and Investments to Corporate Finance and Banking.
- About the Finance Academic Group
- Find Academics in Finance.
Quantitative Finance & Data Science
Leaders in the field of quantitative finance and data science, this academic group collaborate with universities and major institutions globally.
Real Estate Finance & Investment
Real Estate research at Bayes is longstanding, with an output that features in the mainstream media and leading publications.
Shipping, Energy, Trade & Commodities
Since 1983, Bayes has been delivering research and teaching in this field with close industry relationships and now a large, outstanding community of alumni.
Facilities and resources
PhD students on the Executive Programme have access to the state of the art research infrastructure, computing equipment, and extensive library resources.
Bayes Business School offers access to a wide range of databases, including:
- Bloomberg
- Thomson Reuters EIKON
- Factset
- WRDS
- DataStream
- Thomson One and many others.
