Finance and Economics MRes/PhD

Find out more about our Finance and Economics MRes/PhD degree at Warwick

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P-N3P5

MRes/PhD*

2 + 4 years full-time

6 October 2025

Warwick Business School

University of Warwick

Make your mark on the financial world through impactful research with our Finance and Economics MRes/PhD at the University of Warwick. Study at the internationally renowned Warwick Business School, where you will have the opportunity to research key financial factors affecting businesses.

*Please note that, for Visa purposes, this is considered a Taught course which means that students requiring Student Visa sponsorship will not be able to bring dependants to the UK unless they are government sponsored.

Our fully-funded MRes/PhD Finance and Economics programme combines highly relevant and structured training with close mentorship from a team of supervisors to embed you in our culture of curiosity and help you in developing and deepening your chosen area of research. We value our doctoral researchers and aim to attract students from across the globe who are independent thinkers, restless to learn more and challenge themselves. We particularly welcome applicants whose ambition is a career in academia.

Jointly run with the Department of Economics, we aim to establish our MRes programme as one of the leading programmes in Europe, supporting you to pursue a future career in top academic positions, international organisations and central banks. This programme will provide you with a thorough understanding of state-of-the-art research techniques and in-depth appreciation of principal areas of interest for researchers in finance and economics.

Teaching and learning

You will study four compulsory modules in Year One, and five compulsory modules plus a dissertation in Year Two. You will then continue on to our PhD Finance programme, and complete your doctoral thesis. The overall course structure is 2+4 years (MRes/PhD).

Our excellent library and superb teaching and learning facilities provide the perfect place for you to commit to your studies, and enable you to expand and deepen your knowledge in your chosen area of research.

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.

Our vision is to develop cutting-edge research that leads debate and deepens our understanding on the practice of finance and economics. Research is undertaken in partnership with policy and practice, to ensure both relevance and practical application. Our desire to respond and contribute to varied societal issues, provides a vibrant and creative environment for research to flourish.

Our research strengths include:

• Asset Pricing
• Behavioural Finance
• Corporate Finance
• Corporate Governance
• Financial Econometrics
• Investments
• Mergers and Acquisitions
• Risk Management.

During the second year of the MRes, you will be allocated a supervisor. A second supervisor will be allocated if you are admitted into the PhD, at the end of the MRes. The two supervisors will have appropriate research expertise and interests.

Please do not contact potential supervisors when completing your application, as we do not recruit PhD students in this way.

Competition to join our Doctoral programme is very strong; you will need to demonstrate you have the intellectual capabilities, stamina, drive and commitment to complete a ground-breaking piece of work through independent study.

Academic requirements for our MRes/PhD Finance and Economics programme

• An honours degree from a UK university or equivalent from an overseas university; plus a Masters degree, in economics or Finance (with a significant quantitative finance component). Accounting or Financial Mathematics may be considered with a significant finance component. A first-class degree and a distinction at Masters level is recommended but serves as a guideline only
• A GMAT or GRE score is required and should be provided as part of your application. However, we have no defined threshold and the score provided will be indicative to merely supplement and strengthen applications
• You should have strong academic references and excellent potential for research.

If English is not your first language, you must meet a minimum overall standard in a recognised test of English. You must show a good balance across all sections of the test and it must have been taken within two years of starting the course. We will require your certificates as evidence.

• Band B
• IELTS - overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above
• PTE academic - 70 with 51+ in every section
• CPE – grade C (CEFR level C2) or above
• CAE - Grade C scoring 60+, no worse than 3 component results at borderline and 1 at weak.

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.