Entry requirements

The general University entrance requirement for registration for a research degree is normally a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree (1st or 2:1).

An interview will be required as part of the admissions process and will be conducted by at least two academic staff members remotely via MS Teams, Zoom, or face to face.

Applicants will be required to submit a personal statement and a research statement.
Please contact your proposed supervisor, where possible, to receive feedback and guidance on your research statement before submitting it. Learn how to prepare a research statement here.

Months of entry

January, October

Course content

Our research is broadly focused in our five research groups: Economic Development and Institutions, Empirical Finance, Accountancy and Corporate Governance, Macroeconomics and Banking. Academic staff involved within these programmes investigate unemployment, debt and financial instability, focus on how a country’s economic performance is affected by its institutions, use state-of-the-art econometrics to analyse issues with crucial business or policy implications, and address economic issues related to European integrations.

Find out about the exciting research we do in Economics and Finance. Browse profiles of our experts, discover the research groups and their inspirational research activities you too could be part of. We’ve also made available extensive reading materials published by our academics and PhD students.

Learn more about research in this area.

You will benefit from this integrated PhD programme immensely if you want to:

receive a more much guided and hands-on supervision of your learning and research process, especially if you come from more traditional teaching cultures
increase your chances for timely completion of your PhD programme in comparison to students taking traditional route PhD, cutting down the expenses associated with prolonged study
access to tailored, highly specialist research training not available as part of the support provided to traditional route PhD students
maximise your chances for a successful research analysis by applying practical assignments and training which are part of the integrated PhD directly to the research you do for your thesis
receive an official Postgraduate Diploma in Research in addition to your PhD award to certify the completion of skills training which may be required by employers in some countries if you wish to pursue an academic career

Information for international students

If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test centre approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list. This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.

English language requirements

IELTS: 6.5 (min 6 in all areas)
Pearson: 59 (59 in all subscores)
BrunELT: 63% (min 58% in all areas)
TOEFL: 90 (min 20 in all)

Fees and funding

Brunel offers a number of funding options to research students that help cover the cost of their tuition fees, contribute to living expenses or both. Recently the UK Government made available the Doctoral Student Loans of up to £25,000 for UK and EU students and there is some funding available through the Research Councils. Many of our international students benefit from funding provided by their governments or employers. Brunel alumni enjoy tuition fee discounts of 15%.