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Economics and Econometrics (PhD)

2025-26 (also available for 2024-25)

How to apply Order a prospectusPostgraduate Open Days
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This course is eligible for Doctoral loan funding. Find out more.

Start date

22 September 2025

1 October 2025

12 January 2026

20 April 2026

20 July 2026

Duration

The maximum duration for a PhD is 3 years (36 months) full-time or 6 years (72 months) part-time with an optional submission pending (writing-up) period of 12 months.

Sometimes it may be possible to mix periods of both full-time and part-time study.

If studying on a part-time basis, you must establish close links with the University and spend normally not less than an average of 10 working days per year in the university, excluding participation in activities associated with enrolment, re-registration and progression monitoring. You are also expected to dedicate 17.5 hours per week to the research.

Application deadlines

For September 2025

13 June 2025 for International and Scholarship Students

04 July 2025 for Home Students

For October 2025

13 June 2025 for International and Scholarship Students

04 July 2025 for Home Students

For January 2026

17 October 2025 for International and Scholarship Students

14 November 2025 for Home Students

For April 2026

23 January 2026 for International and Scholarship Students

20 February 2026 for Home Students

About the research degree

A PhD is the highest academic award for which a student can be registered. This programme allows you to explore and pursue a research project built around a substantial piece of work, which has to show evidence of original contribution to knowledge.

A full-time PhD is a three-year programme of research and culminates in the production of a large-scale piece of written work in the form of a research thesis that should not normally exceed 80,000 words.

Completing a PhD can give you a great sense of personal achievement and help you develop a high level of transferable skills which will be useful in your subsequent career, as well as contributing to the development of knowledge in your chosen field.

Individuals working towards the award of PhD are required to successfully complete a programme resulting in a significant contribution to knowledge.

You are expected to work to an approved programme of work including appropriate programmes of postgraduate study (which may be drawn from parts of existing postgraduate courses, final year degree programmes, conferences, seminars, masterclasses, guided reading or a combination of study methods).

You will be appointed a main supervisor who will normally be part of a supervisory team, comprising up to three members. The research supervisor will advise and support you on your project.

Entry requirements

The normal level of attainment required for entry is:

  • a Master's degree from a UK University or equivalent, normally with a classification of merit or distinction, in a discipline appropriate to the proposed programme to be followed, or
  • an upper second class honours degree (2:1 or above) from a UK university in a discipline appropriate to that of the proposed programme to be followed, or
  • appropriate research or professional experience at postgraduate level, which has resulted in published work, written reports or other appropriate evidence of accomplishment.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.5 overall with no element lower than 6.0, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our International Entry Requirements page.

What can I research?

There are several research topics available for this degree. See below examples of research areas including an outline of the topics, the supervisor, funding information and eligibility criteria:

Outline

The United Nations considers financial inclusion to be a key enabler of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s) to promote economic growth and reduce inequality. There is a large body of literature looking at country-level and cross-country data but only one previous study by Sapre, Sharma, and Adkins (2024) that investigates subnational analysis of financial inclusion. This study used India as the focus on their investigation, and therefore, there is currently no literature using this type of analysis of financial inclusion within the United Kingdom.

This research will consider regional variations in access to credit within the United Kingdom. Identifying patterns of inequality between regions and considering how these differences in financial inclusion affects regional economic growth.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page (link provided below), to find out about funding or studentship options available

https://research.hud.ac.uk/research-degrees/researchscholarships/

Deadline

Deadlines for applications can be found at the link below:

http://www.hud.ac.uk/researchdegrees/howtoapply/

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

This research aims to assess the ESG (environmental, social and governance related) performance of financial firms, specifically focusing on how ESG (and its pillars namely particular environmental, social, and governance practices) risks impact key bank performance indicators as well as reputation, and risk management.

The data on ESG metrics and financial data can be obtained using Fitch Connect and Refinitiv. Some possible questions that can be explored relate to the potential impact of ESG practices/risk on key performance indicators for banks, including:

• ESG and impact on performance: Examining any potential relationship between ESG performance/risk and measures like profitability, operational efficiency, and loan delinquency rates. • ESG and reputation: Investigating how stakeholder perception and overall reputation may be affected by a bank's commitment to ESG initiatives. • Use of cutting edge statistical methods including possible use of quantile methods to assess the impacts on the entire distribution of the key variables of interest rather than only or mainly focusing on the mean as is done in conventional regression analysis.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page (link provided below), to find out about funding or studentship options available

https://research.hud.ac.uk/research-degrees/researchscholarships/

Deadline

Deadlines for applications can be found at the link below:

http://www.hud.ac.uk/researchdegrees/howtoapply/

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

The study aims to examine how CEO compensation and CEO Characteristics influence the extent of R&D expenditures. In addition, it also examines the relationship across two situations (1) when CEO retires and/or CEO is replaced (2) when firms face a small decline in earnings or a small loss.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page (link provided below), to find out about funding or studentship options available

https://research.hud.ac.uk/research-degrees/researchscholarships/

Deadline

Deadlines for applications can be found at the link below:

http://www.hud.ac.uk/researchdegrees/howtoapply/

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

The research project aims to investigate firms’ cash flow sensitivity of cash holdings over time. More specifically the research delves into the literature of financial constraints by investigating the interactions between financial decisions of firms with an emphasis on the implications of recent economic phenomena such as financial crisis of 2007 and COVID-19. The findings and insights provided by the research would enhance our understanding of firms over time cash reserves decisions.

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page (link provided below), to find out about funding or studentship options available

https://research.hud.ac.uk/research-degrees/researchscholarships/

Deadline

Deadlines for applications can be found at the link below:

http://www.hud.ac.uk/researchdegrees/howtoapply/

Supervisors

How to apply

Outline

Outline of research proposed: Accounting and accountability practices have already well explored in private organisations and NGOs in developed countries (UK, US, Italy, Germany, etc.). In the past decade, academics have investigated accountability practices in developing countries (China, India, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.) and carried out comparative studies between developed and developing countries. However, it remains unclear the development of accountability in the African context. With the necessity and promotion of sustainability and carbon emission reduction nowadays, transparency and accountability play a key role in engaging all stakeholders to contribute to the organisational transformation in various aspects. It is worth exploring the change in the African context.

Likely methodology and data to be used/ empirical approach suggested: A mixed research method is preferred to collect the first-hand data in less-explored countries/regions/areas. For example, participant observation (1-3 months) with daily recorded journals, semi-structured interviews with different stakeholders and questionnaires.

Any other relevant details: The target area is accounting and accountability. The potentially targeted journals are accounting journals, such as AOS (ABS 4), AAAJ (ABS 3) and Accounting Forum (ABS 3).

Funding

Please see our Scholarships page (link provided below), to find out about funding or studentship options available

https://research.hud.ac.uk/research-degrees/researchscholarships/

Deadline

Deadlines for applications can be found at the link below:

http://www.hud.ac.uk/researchdegrees/howtoapply/

Supervisors

How to apply

Huddersfield Business School has staff, research groups and centres that conduct cutting-edge research across a number of subjects, including economics, accounting and finance, logistics, operations and hospitality management, people, management and organisations, and strategic, marketing and behavioural science. The Economics and Econometrics (PhD) is located in the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics with cognate research in other departments.

In this subject area there is a vast array of topics that can be researched, including but not limited to: * Managerial economics * Environmental economics * Finance and accounting * Cultural economics

There are different ways to find the right research topic for you:

  1. Find a supervisor and design your own research project – explore the Huddersfield Research Portal to find research and researcher expertise to find the area you’re interested in.

  2. Browse our listed funded opportunities.

  3. To find out more about the research we conduct, take a look at our Research, Innovation and Skills webpages, where you will find information on each research area.

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

Researcher Environment

Our postgraduate researchers contribute to our thriving research [culture] community at Huddersfield, in return, we provide an experience that enhances your potential and inspires you to think big and become a globally competitive researcher.

Join our community of like-minded people who are passionate about research and gain access to world-leading facilities, advanced research skills training, and expert career advice.

Reduced inequalities

  • We recently ranked 6 out of 796 global institutions for reduced inequalities in the Times Higher Impact ratings – this recognises our research on social inequalities, policies on discrimination and commitment to recruitment staff and students from underrepresented groups.**

World-leading

  • We are in the top 50 UK universities for research power, and nearly two-thirds of our research environment is classified as world-leading and internationally excellent.***

As a researcher, you’ll gain access to our Researcher Skills Development Programme through The Graduate School, to help broaden your knowledge and access tools and skills to improve your employability. The programme is mapped against Vitae’s Researcher Development Framework (RDF), you’ll benefit from Vitae’s career support as well as our own programme. We also have a team dedicated to improving the academic English needed for research by our international PGRs.

Our training is delivered in a variety of ways to take advantage of online platforms as well as face-to-face workshops and courses. You can access a range of bespoke training opportunities and in-person events that are tailored to each stage of your journey;

  • Sessions on PhD thesis writing, publications and journals, post-doctoral opportunities, poster and conference presentations, networking, and international travel opportunities

  • opportunity to work and study abroad via the Turing Scheme through The Graduate School

  • Externally accredited training programme with Advance HE (HEA) and CMI

  • Online research training support accessed through a dedicated researcher module in Brightspace, the University’s Virtual Learning Environment

  • We also hold a series of PGR focussed events such as 3 Minute Thesis PGR led research conference informal events throughout the year.

**THE Impact Rankings 2022

*** REF2021

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

When you are offered a place on a research degree, your offer will include confirmation of your supervisory team, and the topic you will be researching and will be governed by our terms & Conditions, student handbook and relevant policies. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan.

Whilst the University will use reasonable efforts to ensure your supervisory team remains the same, sometimes it may be necessary to make changes to your team for reasons outside the University’s control, for example if your supervisor leaves the University, or suffers from long term illness. Where this is the case, we will discuss these difficulties with you and seek to either put in place a new supervisory team, or help you to transfer to another research facility, in accordance with our Student Protection Plan.

Changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, for example the University being unable to access it’s buildings due to fire, flood or pandemic, or the University no longer being able to provide specialist equipment. Where this is the case, we will discuss these issues with you and agree any necessary changes.

Your research project is likely to evolve as you work on it and these minor changes are a natural and expected part of your study. However, we may need to make more significant changes to your topic of research during the course of your studies, either because your area of interest has changed, or because we can no longer support your research for reasons outside the University’s control. If this is the case, we will discuss any changes in topic with you and agree these in writing. If you are an international student, changing topics may affect your visa or ATAS clearance and if this is the case we will discuss this with you before any changes are made.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.