Edinburgh
Our programme offers you the opportunity to explore your research topic with first-rate supervision, extensive additional training together with full financial support.
Our PhD programme enables you to pursue your academic interests, and learn the latest methods in research, while providing you with thorough training in modern economics.
We have an impressive history of high rankings for our postgraduate research. In the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 25% of our research was judged world-leading in its originality, significance and rigour, while a further 45% was judged internationally excellent.
Research Strengths
We offer supervision on a range of topics in economics from social and behaviour economics to game theory and contract theory, from sports economics and neuroeconomics to health economics and family economics, from search and matching and international economics to political conflict and occupational mobility. Our strengths, in particular, are in:
- Economic Theory (contract theory, game theory, micro and macro)
- Labour Economics (micro and macro)
- Applied Econometrics (micro, macro, health and education)
- Behavioural and Experimental Economics
Entry Requirements
It is essential that you have thorough grounding in the concepts and approaches necessary for research at this level. It is also important that your research interests are similar to our own, as we can only accept students on our PhD programme where we can provide the very best supervision and support.
To enter our PhD you need to have the equivalent of a Distinction (roughly similar to an A) in an MSc Economics degree similar to the SGPE MSc, and your research interest should be similar to our own.
If you do not have an MSc in economics, or you have a MSc in another subject such as business or finance, you will not normally be admitted directly to our PhD programme. In this case we recommend that you consider applying to the SGPE MSc.
Funding Available
We provide full financial support to all our PhD students for up to four years, through a range of scholarships and studentships. The precise terms vary depending on the scholarship, but usually you will be expected to work as a tutor and provide some teaching assistance. You can find out more information on the range of scholarships available on our website.
Further Information & Application Procedure
We recommend potential applicants contact econpgr@ed.ac.uk in the first instance to confirm their eligibility for the programme. When you enquire, you should include transcripts of your relevant academic qualifications, a short research summary outlining your interests, the names of academic faculty in our School that you would be interested in working with, and if available a copy of your MSc dissertation.
Our applications are open relatively late, usually closing in July or August. You can find further details on our website.