Why choose our MRes/PhD?

Finance is a well-established subject area within Warwick Business School; at the forefront of academic research and practice. Our faculty consistently publishes in top academic journals in Finance (The Journal of Finance, Review of Financial Studies, Journal of Financial Economics, among others), and in other related topics in Economics and Management.

We value our doctoral researchers and aim to attract students from across the globe who are independent thinkers. We particularly welcome applicants whose ambition is a career in academia. Our MRes in Finance and Economics is the pathway to the PhD in Finance. It is an integrated two year Masters in Finance and Economics, from which students progress to the PhD in Finance. It includes:

• Two years of courses covering the tools, techniques and literature necessary for you to write a PhD dissertation at the forefront of the finance discipline;
• Four years (maximum) of research under the guidance of world-renowned faculty. We have staff expertise in each of the main areas of finance;
• Support and resources to enable you to participate in the scientific community, including a weekly seminar series.
• Tailored support to help you achieve a top job market placement, including academic writing skills, presentation skills and interview practice with experts in the economics job market;

Our PhD Programme combines highly relevant and structured training in the first year with close mentorship from a team of supervisors to help you develop and deepen your chosen area of research.

Close collaboration between members of the group, faculty from WBS and other departments. and PhD students is common. Our PhD students also have the opportunity to obtain funding to attend conferences based on merit. They are also active members of the Group, and have the opportunity to gain both teaching and research experience as members of our community.

Essential Information about our programme:

Duration: 2 year MRes and 4 years PhD.

Entry Requirements: Bachelor’s degree: 1st class (recommended) in Economics or Finance. Master’s degree: Distinction (recommended) in Economics or Finance. Accounting or Financial Mathematics may be considered with a significant finance component.

The GRE or GMAT is a formal requirement for admission. No predefined threshold established, score merely to support application

English Language Requirements: See information in the following link.

Course Fees: All fees are fully funded by Warwick Business School. Students will also receive a generous annual stipend for the life of their study, subject to satisfactory progress.

When to Apply: Our programme is competitive, and, therefore, applying early is strongly recommended. For an application to be considered complete, all the supporting documentation must be provided. The final deadline for any consideration is 31 January 2025. An earlier application than this date is strongly recommended. Apply online.

Please do NOT contact potential supervisors when completing your application. We do not recruit PhD students in this way. 

All of our PhD students must either complete the MRes Finance and Economics at Warwick or demonstrate they have completed a two year MRes at another institution (with a syllabus closely matching that taught at Warwick) and achieved excellent results. If you are interested in direct entry to the PhD, please apply for the MRes/PhD in the first instance. If you are selected for interview, you should at this stage make clear to the admissions committee that you are seeking direct entry to the PhD.

Course Content:

Compulsory modules - Year 1:

ECA9A1 Advanced Microeconomics Theory (35 CATS)

ECA9A2 Advanced Macroeconomic Analysis (35 CATS)

ECA9A3 Advanced Econometric Theory (35 CATS)

Practice of Financial Research (15 CATS)

Compulsory modules - Year 2:

Asset Pricing I (12 CATS)

Asset Pricing II (12 CATS)

Corporate Finance I (12 CATS)

Corporate Finance II (12 CATS)

Financial markets (12 CATS)

Dissertation (60 CATS)

Progression

The first two years of taught coursework lead to the award of the MRes degree for candidates satisfying all of the requirements. Those who pass the MRes at a sufficiently high level of performance: achieve a 65% average (over all taught modules in year 1 and 2) and demonstrate a strong performance in the core modules (i.e. an average of not less than 60% across the core modules) and achieve a mark of at least 65% for the dissertation; will then be eligible to proceed to the four-year PhD programme (all calculated averages are weighted according to the module CAT weighting). The structure and progression rules will provide the Department, as well as the students themselves, with a greater degree of evidence of candidates’ suitability to progress on to a doctoral programme.