Doctor of Business Administration DBA

Find out more about our Doctor of Business Administration degree at Warwick

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DBA

Minimum 4 years, up to 7 years (average 4-5 years) part-time

October 2025

Warwick Business School

University of Warwick/The Shard, London

Do you have a desire to change the way your business functions, and impact the world of business with new ideas and big picture thinking? Make your mark on the world of business research and practice with a Doctorate in Business Administration.

The Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) is designed to provide business leaders, executives and professionals an opportunity to pursue the next step beyond their MBA or equivalent qualification.

It is equivalent in stature to a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) degree, but distinct in that you will pursue applied research rather than theoretical knowledge. The goal of the DBA is to design organisational interventions which help address real-world challenges in your business, and then to rigorously evaluate, assess and test the effectiveness of those interventions, and to communicate the findings so that both the world of practice and the world of research can benefit from your work. In this way, DBA candidates generate new knowledge – the ultimate criterion for the award of a Doctoral degree.

Benefits

Our DBA is designed to produce scholar-practitioners who can enhance their organisation’s performance through evidence-based practice. The programme addresses three core areas:

• Developing a clear understanding of the nature of the problem(s) or challenges to be addressed
• Understanding the relevant bodies of knowledge across management, innovation and strategy that may inform an intervention
• Designing a research and data strategy to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention.

In pursuing these goals, the DBA brings together our inspirational faculty, a unique degree programme designed to impart critical skills at the highest level, and organisational leaders and entrepreneurs with the desire and ability to make change in their organisations. Does that sound like you?

Teaching and learning

Your research training will include a series of in-person workshops delivered by leading WBS faculty at The Shard and at our University of Warwick campus. Workshops integrate content, theory, design and research methods, through a review of relevant literature. Workshops will be supplemented by readings, and online tools and resources such as short video lectures.

Year 1: four 3-day workshops and supervision, including a programme induction

Year 2: three 3-day workshops and supervision

Year 3: one 3-day workshop and supervision

Year 4: one 3-day workshop and supervision

In addition to workshops, there will be a 2-day DBA Conference each year. This conference usually takes place in January/February each year, immediately following a planned workshop, so 3 days of teaching, plus a 2-day conference). This event will allow you the opportunity to network across DBA cohorts and will provide executive-level perspectives on how to address complex business problems by becoming a scholar-practitioner.

Reading lists

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platform.

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogue.

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department.

Research for the Doctor of Business Administration is based on specific challenges facing individuals within their organisations, for which they will design and create an intervention, with the guidance of an experienced supervisor from the WBS faculty.

You will be assigned a supervisor with the relevant expertise to support you in shaping your research. Typically, they will be a research active academicLink opens in a new window who will provide expert advice and guidance on content and research methods.

In addition you will have access to a board of practitioners, individually known as WBS Professors of PracticeLink opens in a new window (experienced executives who are also scholar practitioners) who can provide support and guidance on process and development of the portfolio.

Browse our specialisms.Link opens in a new window

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent) plus a good MBA or other Master’s degree. A minimum of 7 years’ senior management experience.

Please note these are minimum entry requirements and, as there are a limited number of places available on the programme, we will select the candidates with the best academic and professional credentials and whose research interests are aligned with the available expertise in WBS.

• Band B
• IELTS overall score of 7.0 with maximum of two components at 6.0+.

Find out more about how to apply for the Doctor of Business Administration (DBA).