Call for Applications: for PhD – Aston Business School, Application deadline- 1st June 2026
At Aston Business School our PhD programme is designed to train Doctoral students who aspire to become future academics or professional industry researchers.
Please note that each year there are two enrolment points and associated application deadlines:
- January enrolment (application deadline 15th September)
- October enrolment (application deadline 1st June)
Research at Aston Business School addresses a wide variety of disciplinary and interdisciplinary themes.
Our research expertise is embedded in our academic departments below, and you are strongly recommended to explore our departmental web pages, before applying, so that you can better position your research proposal to fit with academics’ current research interests.
If you are interested in PhD study in any of the following Departments please contact the Departmental PhD Lead with your Research Proposal:
Accounting & Finance
Dr Lucy Ferdous
l.ferdous@aston.ac.uk
Marketing & Entrepreneurship
Dr Andrew Farrell
a.farrell@aston.ac.uk
Operations & Services Management
Dr Hossein Zarei
h.zarei@aston.ac.uk
Business Analytics & Information Systems
Dr Yang Zhao
y.zhao16@aston.ac.uk
Leadership & Management
Dr Siqi Wang
s.wang10@aston.ac.uk
Economics & International Business
Dr Neha Prashar
n.prashar14@aston.ac.uk
ESRC DTP MBS pathway lead
Dr Dalila Ribaudo
d.ribaudo@aston.ac.uk
Research environment
We have an exciting and vibrant research environment at Aston Business School that enables our PhD students to be engaged in various research events and seminars (Aston Business School-wide and PhD-specific). Our PhDs have a dedicated research society which organises various social and academic related events throughout the year, including the BSS Annual Doctoral Conference. We strongly believe that these activities are an essential part of ensuring our PhD students are engaged and motivated throughout the duration of their PhD journey.
The BSS PhD Hub offers our doctoral researchers the opportunity for further training skills development from experts across the College.
Our academic departments also run research seminar series (and other activities) where PhD students are encouraged to present their research and get feedback from colleagues.
All students can access up to £1,500 for presenting at academic conferences and to help further develop their research knowledge, skills, abilities and professional development.
Qualifications
A First or Upper Second Class Honours undergraduate degree, and a Masters degree with Merit or Distinction, both in relevant subjects.
Qualifications from overseas institutions will be considered, but performance must be equivalent to that described above, and the University reserves the right to ascertain this equivalence according to its own criteria.
Entry may be allowed to exceptional candidates who can demonstrate the required knowledge and capabilities for Doctoral level study, but do not fulfil all of the above criteria. These will be judged on a case-by-case basis.
Entry dates
The PhD programme recruits students to start in October and January and applicants are encouraged to apply as early as possible to avoid delays.
Please note, we cannot review individual eligibility before you apply, and there may be earlier closing dates for your application should you wish to be considered for funding.
How to apply
For full instructions on how to apply, click here.
For more details, refer here
