Business Research Degrees – PhD

Birmingham City Business School have a long and successful history in the field of business research. The wide range of experiences, skills and specialisms within the faculty allow us to have one of the most diverse business research degree portfolios in the country.

There are three entry dates to the programme each academic year, in September, February and May.

What’s covered in the course?

There are a number of key themes underpinning research in Birmingham City Business School:

• Change management and organisational development/transformation
• Leadership and multi-unit management
• Complexity, behavioural & neuroscience approaches to leadership
• Exploration of contemporary issues in international and comparative human resource management
• Financial management
• Marketing Strategy & E-Marketing
• Strategic Change & Strategy  Formulation
• Strategic leadership and effective decision-making

We work closely with all kinds of companies to produce collaborative and bespoke research projects and engage in knowledge transfer partnerships (KTPs) throughout the UK and beyond. All of our research feeds back into our innovative undergraduate and postgraduate programmes,

Course Structure

PhD degrees extend Master’s level study by making a significant contribution to academic understanding of a particular issue. The thesis explores current theories and frameworks and demonstrates how insights from empirical study or reasoning warrant a fundamental reconceptualisation. By the end of the programme students will have written a thesis of around 80,000 words. Students will be orally examined on their work by two or more examiners.

The Business School believes it is valuable for research students to undertake research which aligns very closely with the research strengths of the research groups within the school.

While personal research proposals will be considered, the School would welcome applications from students who wish to undertake specific research on proposals from one of our research centres.

Why Choose Us?

Research is a core component of what we do at Birmingham City Business School. Our researchers are committed to discovering new knowledge and delivering real benefit to culture, industry, society and the environment.

Our dynamic research community works across disciplines and with external companies to address local, national and global challenges.