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PhD/ MPhil/ MSc Marketing (Research)

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The PhD/MPhil/MSc (research) in Marketing programme offers a short taught component followed by a longer research phase. Taught modules allow you to broaden, as well as deepen, your knowledge of research methods whilst undertaking your own research and developing a set of transferable professional skills.

Doctoral researchers will be capable of analysing a range of data using a range of qualitative and quantitative techniques. They will be able to explain theories underlying different approaches to social science research. Doctoral researchers are expected to participate to the fullest possible extent in the life of the Department of Marketing and the Business School. This means attending seminars organised by the Department of Marketing and more widely in the Business School thereby helping expose doctoral researchers to new ideas emanating from outside their own area of specialisation. It also requires actively participating in PhD workshops and conferences organised by the Department of Marketing, the Business School and Graduate School as well as institutions outside the University of Birmingham.

Ultimately all doctoral researchers will have the ability to characterise and solve business and marketing problems using advanced research tools. They should be able to derive policy implications from their research and communicate these to policy makers, practitioners and other academics in a manner which is comprehensible. They will also be able to peer review others’ research and offer constructive criticism; and to extend the frontiers of the discipline through their own innovative research.

Doctoral researchers may choose to become academics, work in Government, businesses, supranational organisations or in the research arms of major financial institutions. They are expected to achieve a substantial understanding of contemporaneous marketing and business issues enabling them to take a lead in ongoing debates within society. They will be aware of and understand the function of related institutions at both a national and international level.

Fees 2025 - 2026

• Code 8164 - £4,921 (UK) MPhil Full time
• Code 8164 - £24,340 (International) MPhil Full time
• Code 8170 - £4,921 (UK) PhD Marketing  Full time
• Code 8180 - £2,461 (UK) PhD Marketing  Part time
• Code 8170 - £24,340(International) PhD Full time
• Code 8175 - £4,921 (UK) MSc (Research) Full time
• Code 8178 - £2,461 (UK) MSc (Research) Part time
• Code 8175 - £24,340 (International) MSc (Research) Full time

Learn more about fees and funding

Scholarships and studentships

A limited number of scholarships may be available to outstanding applicants. International students  can often gain funding through overseas research scholarships, Commonwealth scholarships or their home Government.

For further information contact the School directly or visit our helpdesk .

How To Apply

Our supervisory expertise includes a wide range of theoretical interests and methodological approaches. Applicants are urged to study the profiles of individual staff via their university profile pages and contact appropriate supervisors directly before they apply. When considering potential supervisors avoid generic emails to everyone in the department as such approaches seldom attract interest. It is better to email potential supervisors where you see a direct link to your proposed area of study and/or methods. Try to read some of the work written by potential supervisors and when you contact them, explain how your ideas fit with their existing research and/or stated areas of interest. When you submit your proposal, you should also consider how it relates to the broader research undertaken by the department and you might specifically discuss this in your application letter. You should also focus on the following questions in your proposal:

• What are you trying to find out?
• Why does this matter and to who?
• How will your work further or challenge existing thinking?
• What makes your proposed methods suitable to achieve all this?

If you have any questions about applying, please contact the department PhD lead, Dr Mike Molesworth ( [email protected] ). If you cannot find a suitable supervisor, you may still apply and the PGR lead will try to match you with a suitable supervisory team.

• How to apply

To apply for a postgraduate research programme, you will need to submit your application and supporting documents online. We have put together some helpful information on the research programme application process and supporting documents on our how to apply page . Please read this information carefully before completing your application.

Our Standard Requirements

The Business School's entry requirement is a good honours degree (first or upper second class honours) awarded by a recognised University in an appropriate subject, and a merit in a relevant Master’s degree. We usually ask students for an average of 65 in the taught component of their Masters. All international students also need to show that they have adequate knowledge of written and spoken English.

Learn more about our entry requirements.

Writing your research proposal

Along with your academic record, your references and your curriculum vitae your research proposal plays a critical role in the evaluation of your application.

Your research proposal should illustrate your ability to plan an independent research study and the relevance of your topic to the research interests and expertise of Birmingham Business School.You need to demonstrate that you understand the field that you plan to research, identify an interesting and original research question, and develop a tentative plan of study. It is highly desirable that your research proposal is written to the guidelines specified below.

Guidelines for the Research Proposal

When clicking on the Apply Now button you will be directed to an application specifically designed for the programme you wish to apply for where you will create an account with the University application system and submit your application and supporting documents online. Further information regarding how to apply online can be found on the  how to apply  pages.

International Requirements

For entry to a PhD programme, any of the following Masters equivalent programmes with a minimum grade of 8/10 will be considered: - Kandidat i Shkencave (Candidate of Sciences) - Certifikate Specializimi (Specialisation Certificate) - Diplomë e Nivelit të Dytë (Second Level (University) Diploma) - Master i Arteve të Bukura (Master of Fine Arts) - Master i Nivelit të Dytë (Second Level Master's degree ) - Master i Nivelit të Parë (First level Master's degree) - Master Shkencave (Master of Science)

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 14/20 from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Argentina

Holders of the Licenciado or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Argentinian university, with a promedio of at least 7.5, may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Applicants for PhD degrees will normally have a Maestria or equivalent

Applicants who hold a Masters degree will be considered for admission to PhD study.

Holders of a good four-year Diplomstudium/Magister or a Masters degree from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 2.5 will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Azerbaijan

Students with a good 5-year Specialist Diploma or 4-year Bachelor degree from a recognised higher education institution in Azerbaijan, with a minimum GPA of 4/5 or 80% will be considered for entry to postgraduate taught programmes at the University of Birmingham.

For postgraduate research programmes applicants should have a good 5-year Specialist Diploma (completed after 1991), with a minimum grade point average of 4/5 or 80%, from a recognised higher education institution or a Masters or “Magistr Diplomu” or “Kandidat Nauk” from a recognised higher education institution in Azerbaijan.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 75% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a CGPA of 3.0-3.3/4.0 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Botswana

Students who hold a Masters degree from the University of Botswana with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 (70%/B/'very good') will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Please note 4-year bachelor degrees from the University of Botswana are considered equivalent to a Diploma of Higher Education. 5-year bachelor degrees from the University of Botswana are considered equivalent to a British Bachelor (Ordinary) degree.

Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Brazil

A Licenciatura or Bacharelado degree from a recognised Brazilian university:

• A grade of 7.5/10 for entry to programmes with a 2:1 requirement
• A grade of 6.5/10for entry to programmes with a 2:2 requirement

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Brunei

Holders of a good Bachelors degree with honours (4 to 6 years) from a recognised university with a upper second class grade or higher will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.  Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good post-2001 Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Cameroon

Students with a minimum average of 14 out of 20 (or 70%) on a 4-year Licence, Bachelor degree or Diplôme d'Etudes Superieures de Commerce (DESC) or Diplôme d'Ingénieur or a Maîtrise will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Canada

Holders of a bachelor degree with honours from a recognised Canadian university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. A GPA of 3.0/4, 7.0/9 or 75% is usually equivalent to a UK 2.1.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Chile

Holders of the Licenciado or equivalent Professional Title from a recognised Chilean university will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Applicants for PhD study will preferably hold a Magister degree or equivalent.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from China

Students with a bachelor’s degree (4 years minimum) may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. However please note that we will only consider students who meet the entry guidance below. 

Please note: for the subject areas below we use the Shanghai Ranking 2023 (full table) , Shanghai Ranking 2024 (full table) and Shanghai Ranking of Chinese Art Universities 2024

需要具备学士学位（4年制）的申请人可申请研究生课程。请根据所申请的课程查看相应的入学要求。 请注意，中国院校名单参考 软科中国大学排名2023（总榜） ，  软科中国大学排名2024（总榜） ，以及 软科中国艺术类高校名单2024 。  

Business School (excluding MBA)   and School of Computer Science programmes 商学院 （ MBA除外） 及计算机学院硕士 课程入学要求

* Applicants from Group 4 institutions are only considered for the following 7 programmes

来自第四类院校的申请人仅限于申请以下7个课程：

• MSc Financial Management
• MSc Investments
• MSc Financial Technology
• MSc Economics
• MSc Financial Economics
• MSc Money, Banking and Finance
• MSc Computer Science

All other programmes (including MBA)   所有其他 硕士课程（包括 MBA）入学要求

Please contact the China Recruitment Team for any questions on the above entry requirements.

如果您对录取要求有疑问，请联系伯明翰大学中国办公室   [email protected]  

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Colombia

Holders of the Licenciado/Professional Title from a recognised Colombian university will be considered for our Postgraduate Diploma and Masters degrees. Applicants for PhD degrees will normally have a Maestria or equivalent.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Costa Rica

Holders of a good bachelor degree with honours (4 to 6 years) from a recognised university with a upper second class grade or higher will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.  Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Bacclaureus (Bachelors) from a recognised Croatian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 4.0 out of 5.0, vrlo dobar ‘very good’, or a Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from Cuba

Holders of a Bachelors degree(from the University of the West Indies or the University of Technology) may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. A Class II Upper Division degree is usually equivalent to a UK 2.1. For further details on particular institutions please refer to the list below.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Masters degree or Mphil from the University of the West Indies.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum overall grade of 6.5 out of 10, or a GPA of 3 out of 4, and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bakalár from a recognised Czech Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 1.5, B, velmi dobre ‘very good’ (post-2004) or 2, velmi dobre ‘good’ (pre-2004), or a good post-2002 Magistr (Masters), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum overall grade of 7-10 out of 12 (or 8 out of 13) or higher for 2:1 equivalence and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters/ Magisterkonfereus/Magister Artium degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the Licenciado or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Ecuadorian university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Grades of 70% or higher can be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Magister/Masterado or equivalent qualification, but holders of the Licenciado with excellent grades can be considered.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 75% from a recognised institution. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bakalaurusekraad from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 4/5 or B, or a good one- or two-year Magistrikraad from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree with very good grades (grade B, 3.5/4 GPA or 85%) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. 

Holders of a good Kandidaatti / Kandidat (old system), a professional title such as Ekonomi, Diplomi-insinööri, Arkkitehti, Lisensiaatti (in Medicine, Dentistry and Vetinary Medicine), or a Maisteri / Magister (new system), Lisensiaatti / Licenciat, Oikeustieteen Kandidaatti / Juris Kandidat (new system) or Proviisori / Provisor from a recognised Finnish Higher Education institution, with a minimum overall grade of 2/3 or 4/5, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters/Maîtrise with a minimum overall grade of 13 out of 20, or a Magistère / Diplôme d'Etudes Approfondies / Diplôme d'Etudes Supérieures Specialisées / Mastère Specialis, from a recognised French university or Grande École to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

The following qualifications may be considered for entry to a Masters programme: Bachelor degree - Transliteration: Bakalavris Khariskhi Diploma in Dentistry / Medicine / Veterinary Medicine) Certified Specialist - Transliteration: Diplomirebuli Spezialisti (when studied for 4 years) (awarded between 2005 and 2010) Specialist Diploma - Transliteration: Umaghlesi Ganatlebis Diplomi (last awarded in 2005) For qualifications awarded 2005 onwards, a B or 81-90/100 can be considered equivalent to a 2.1, and a C or 71-80/100 can be considered equivalent to a 2.1. 

For qualifications awarded before 2005 on a grading scheme out of 5, the following equivalencies may be considered: 2.1 = 4.5 - 4.9, and 2.2 = 4.0 – 4.49

Holders of a Magister Artium, a Diplom or an Erstes Staatsexamen from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 2.5, or a good two-year Lizentiat / Aufbaustudium / Zweites Staatsexamen or a Masters degree from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good four-year Ptychio (Bachelor degree) with a minimum overall grade of 6.5 out of 10, from a recognised Greek university (AEI), and will usually be required to have completed a good Metaptychiako Diploma Eidikefsis (Masters degree) from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

4-year Licenciado is deemed equivalent to a UK bachelors degree. A score of 75 or higher from Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala (USAC) can be considered comparable to a UK 2.1, 60 is comparable to a UK 2.2.  Private universities have a higher pass mark, so 80 or higher should be considered comparable to a UK 2.1, 70 is comparable to a UK 2.2

The Hong Kong Bachelor degree is considered comparable to British Bachelor degree standard. Students with bachelor degrees awarded by universities in Hong Kong may be considered for entry to one of our postgraduate degree programmes.

Students with Masters degrees may be considered for PhD study.

Holders of a good Alapfokozat / Alapképzés or Egyetemi Oklevel from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 3.5, or a good Mesterfokozat (Masters degree) or Egyetemi Doktor (university doctorate), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a 60% or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of the 4 year Sarjana (S1) from a recognised Indonesian institution will be considered for postgraduate study. Entry requirements vary with a minimum requirement of a GPA of 2.8.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a score of 14/20 or 70% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution, with 100 out of 110 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students who hold the Maitrise, Diplome d'Etude Approfondies, Diplome d'Etude Superieures or Diplome d'Etude Superieures Specialisees will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees (14-15/20 or Bien from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 12-13/20 or Assez Bien is considered comparable to a UK 2.2).

Students with a Bachelor degree from a recognised university in Japan will be considered for entry to a postgraduate Masters degree provided they achieve a sufficiently high overall score in their first (Bachelor) degree. A GPA of 3.0/4.0 or a B average from a good Japanese university is usually considered equivalent to a UK 2:1.

Students with a Masters degree from a recognised university in Japan will be considered for PhD study. A high overall grade will be necessary to be considered.

Students who have completed their Specialist Diploma Мамаң дипломы/Диплом специалиста) or "Magistr" (Магистр дипломы/Диплом магистра) degree (completed after 1991) from a recognised higher education institution, with a minimum GPA of 2.67/4.00 for courses requiring a UK lower second and 3.00/4.00 for courses requiring a UK upper second class degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate Masters degrees and, occasionally, directly for PhD degrees.  Holders of a Bachelor "Bakalavr" degree (Бакалавр дипломы/Диплом бакалавра) from a recognised higher education institution, with a minimum GPA of  2.67/4.00 for courses requiring a UK lower second and 3.00/4.00 for courses requiring a UK upper second class degree, may also be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/50

Holders of a good Postgraduate Diploma (professional programme) from a recognised university or institution of Higher Education, with a minimum overall grade of 7.5 out of 10, or a post-2000 Magistrs, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a score of 16/20 or 80% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised university in Libya will be considered for postgraduate study. Holders of a Bachelors degree will normally be expected to have achieved score of 70% for 2:1 equivalency or 65% for 2:2 equivalency. Alternatively students will require a minimum of 3.0/4.0 or BB to be considered.

Holders of a good pre-2001 Magistras from a recognised university with a minimum overall grade of 8 out of 10, or a good post-2001 Magistras, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes

Holders of a good Bachelors degree from a recognised Luxembourgish Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 16 out of 20, or a Diplôme d'Études Supérieures Spécialisées (comparable to a UK PGDip) or Masters degree from a recognised Luxembourgish Higher Education institution will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees (70-74% or A or Marginal Distinction from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 60-69% or B or Bare Distinction/Credit is considered comparable to a UK 2.2).

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised Malaysian institution (usually achieved with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average minimum of 3.0) will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a good Bachelors degree from the University of Malta with a minimum grade of 2:1 (Hons), and/or a Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree (Honours) from a recognised institution (including the University of Mauritius) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2:1).

Students who hold the Licenciado/Professional Titulo from a recognised Mexican university with a promedio of at least 8 will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.

Students who have completed a Maestria from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree, licence or Maîtrise and a Masters degree, with a score of 14/20 or 70% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Students with a good four year honours degree from a recognised university will be considered for postgraduate study at the University of Birmingham. PhD applications will be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 60-74% or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Doctoraal from a recognised Dutch university with a minimum overall grade of 7 out of 10, and/or a good Masters degree, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree (minimum 4 years and/or level 400) from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) with a minimum GPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised institution with a minimum GPA of B/Very Good or 1.6-2.5 for a 2.1 equivalency, and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters, Mastergrad, Magister. Artium, Sivilingeniør, Candidatus realium or Candidatus philologiae degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with a CGPA of 3.0/4 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised university in the Palestinian Territories will be considered for postgraduate study. Holders of Bachelors degree will normally be expected to have achieved a GPA of 3/4 or 80% for 2:1 equivalency or a GPA of 2.5/4 or 70% for 2:2 equivalency.    

Holders of the Título de Licenciado /Título de (4-6 years) or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Paraguayan university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Grades of 4/5 or higher can be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  The Título Intermedio is a 2-3 year degree and is equivalent to a HNC, it is not suitable for postgraduate entry but holders of this award could be considered for second year undergraduate entry or pre-Masters.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Título de Maestría / Magister or equivalent qualification, but holders of the Título/Grado de Licenciado/a with excellent grades can be considered.

Holders of the Bachiller, Licenciado, or Título Profesional with at least 13/20 may be considered as UK 2.1 equivalent.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Título de Maestría or equivalent qualification.

Holders of a good pre-2001 Magister from a recognised Polish university with a minimum overall grade of 4 out of 5, dobry ‘good’, and/or a good Swiadectwo Ukonczenia Studiów Podyplomowych (Certificate of Postgraduate Study) or post-2001 Magister from a recognised Polish university with a minimum overall grade of 4.5/4+ out of 5, dobry plus 'better than good', will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Licenciado from a recognised university, or a Diploma de Estudos Superiores Especializados (DESE) from a recognised Polytechnic Institution, with a minimum overall grade of 16 out of 20, and/or a good Mestrado / Mestre (Masters) from a recognised university, will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree from a recognised Romanian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 8 out of 10, and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree/Diploma de Master/Diploma de Studii Academice Postuniversitare (Postgraduate Diploma - Academic Studies) or Diploma de Studii Postuniversitare de Specializare (Postgraduate Diploma - Specialised Studies) to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Диплом Специалиста (Specialist Diploma) or Диплом Магистра (Magistr) degree from recognised universities in Russia (minimum GPA of 4.0) will be considered for entry to taught postgraduate programmes/PhD study.

Students who hold a 4-year Bachelor degree with at least 16/20 or 70% will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.   

Students who hold a Maitrise, Diplome d'Etude Approfondies,Diplome d'Etude Superieures or Diplome d'Etude Superieures Specialisees will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. A score of 14-15/20 or Bien from a well ranked institution is considered comparable to a UK 2.1, while a score of 12-13/20 or Assez Bien is considered comparable to a UK 2.2

Students who hold a Bachelor (Honours) degree from a recognised institution with a minimum GPA of 3.0/4.0 or 3.5/5.0 (or a score of 60-69% or B+) from a well ranked institution will be considered for most our Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees with a 2:1 requirement.

Students holding a good Bachelors Honours degree will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a good three-year Bakalár or pre-2002 Magister from a recognised Slovakian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 1.5, B, Vel’mi dobrý ‘very good’, and/or a good Inžinier or a post-2002 Magister from a recognised Slovakian Higher Education institution will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Diploma o pridobljeni univerzitetni izobrazbi (Bachelors degree), Diplomant (Professionally oriented first degree), Univerzitetni diplomant (Academically oriented first degree) or Visoko Obrazovanja (until 1999) from a recognised Slovenian Higher Education institution with a minimum overall grade of 8.0 out of 10, and/or a good Diploma specializacija (Postgraduate Diploma) or Magister (Masters) will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students who hold a Bachelor Honours degree (also known as Baccalaureus Honores / Baccalaureus Cum Honoribus) from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most Masters programmes will require a second class upper (70%) or a distinction (75%).

Holders of a Masters degree will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Entry requirements for applicants with qualifications from South Korea

Holders of a Bachelor degree from a recognised South Korean institution (usually with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average 3.0/4.0 or 3.2/4.5) will be considered for Masters programmes.

Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 7 out of 10 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and will usually be required to have completed a Masters degree, with 60-74% or a CGPA 3.30/4.0 or higher for 2:1 equivalency from a recognised institution to be considered for entry. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Kandidatexamen (Bachelors degree) or Yrkesexamen (Professional Bachelors degree) from a recognised Swedish Higher Education institution with the majority of subjects with a grade of VG (Val godkänd), and/or a good Magisterexamen (Masters degree), International Masters degree or Licentiatexamen (comparable to a UK Mphil), will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good "PostGraduate Certificate" or "PostGraduate Diploma" or a Masters degree from a recognised Swiss higher education institution (with a minimum GPA of 5/6 or 8/10 or 2/5 (gut-bien-bene/good) for a 2.1 equivalence) may be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a Bachelors degree and a Masters degree, with a GPA of 3.0/4.0, 3.5/5 or 75% from a recognised institution to be considered. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

Holders of a good Bachelor degree (from 75% to 85% depending upon the university in Taiwan) from a recognised institution will be considered for postgraduate Masters study. Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.  Most taught Masters programmes require a minimum of an upper second class degree (2.1) Students who have completed a Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.

Holders of a good Masters degree from a recognised institution will be considered for entry to our postgraduate research programmes.

Holders of a good Masters degree or Mphil from a recognised university will be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes.

Students with a Bachelors degree from the following universities may be considered for entry to postgraduate programmes:

• Ateneo de Manila University - Quezon City
• De La Salle University - Manila
• University of Santo Tomas
• University of the Philippines - Diliman

Students from all other institutions with a Bachelors and a Masters degree or relevant work experience may be considered for postgraduate programmes.

Grading Schemes

1-5 where 1 is the highest 2.1 = 1.75 2.2 = 2.25 

Out of 4.0 where 4 is the highest 2.1 = 3.0 2.2 = 2.5

Letter grades and percentages 2.1 = B / 3.00 / 83% 2.2 = C+ / 2.5 / 77%

Holders of a postdoctoral qualification from a recognised institution will be considered for PhD study.  Students may be considered for PhD study if they have a Masters from one of the above listed universities.

Holders of a Lisans Diplomasi with a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.0/4.0 from a recognised university will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.

Holders of a Yuksek Diplomasi from a recognised university will be considered for PhD study.

Students who hold a Bachelor degree from a recognised institution will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. Most Masters programmes will require a second class upper (2.1) or GPA of 3.5/5.0

Applicants for postgraduate research programmes should hold a good Bachelors degree / Диплом бакалавра (Dyplom Bakalavra), Диплом спеціаліста (Specialist Diploma) or a Dyplom Magistra from a recognised Ukrainian higher education institution with a minimum GPA of 4.0/5.0, 3.5/4, 8/12 or 80% or higher for 2:1 equivalence and will usually be required to have completed a good Masters degree to be considered for entry to postgraduate research programmes. Applicants with lower grades than this may be considered on an individual basis.

The University will consider students who hold an Honours degree from a recognised institution in the USA with a GPA of:

• 2.8 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for entry to programmes with a 2:2 requirement 
• 3.2 GPA (on a 4.0 scale) for entry to programmes with a 2:1 requirement 

Please note that some subjects which are studied at postgraduate level in the USA, eg. Medicine and Law, are traditionally studied at undergraduate level in the UK.

Holders of the Magistr Diplomi (Master's degree) or Diplomi (Specialist Diploma), awarded by prestigious universities, who have attained high grades in their studies will be considered for postgraduate study.  Holders of the Fanlari Nomzodi (Candidate of Science), where appropriate, will be considered for PhD study.

Holders of the Licenciatura/Título or an equivalent professional title from a recognised Venezuelan university may be considered for entry to a postgraduate degree programme. Scales of 1-5, 1-10 and 1-20 are used, an overall score of 70% or equivalent can be considered equivalent to a UK 2.1.  Applicants for PhD level study will preferably hold a Maestria or equivalent qualification

Holders of a Bachelors degree from a recognised Vietnamese institution (usually achieved with the equivalent of a second class upper or a grade point average minimum GPA of 7.0 and above) will be considered for postgraduate study at Diploma or Masters level.  Holders of a Masters degree (thac si) will be considered for entry to PhD programmes.

Students who hold a Masters degree with a minimum GPA of 3.5/5.0 or a mark of 2.0/2.5 (A) will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees.   

Students who hold a good Bachelor Honours degree will be considered for Postgraduate Diplomas and Masters degrees. 

International Students

English requirements are IELTS 7.0 with no less than 6.5 in any band or equivalent.

The marketing department encourages PhD applications that align with one of the three research groups below.

Culture Research Group

Marketing innovations and consumer science research group, responsible and critical marketing research group.

Members of the Culture Research Group are interested in a range of topics drawing from the diverse field of the arts. Specific research areas include heritage, issues of culture and authenticity, art and artists as brands, the production and consumption of art, film production and reception, film distribution and exhibition, social responsibility in arts marketing, television, dark tourism, embodiment, visual arts and the market, the production and consumption of place, space and time, myth and marketplace, festivals, the intersection of arts and technology, how emerging artists use new technology, and sub-cultural and non-mainstream consumption.

• Alessandro Gerosa is happy to consider projects about taste, sociology of consumption, consumer cultures, and digital cultures, using qualitative or digital methods.
• Christina Goulding is interested in supervising qualitative project in cultural consumption, place, space and consumption, non-conformist or transgressive consumption, the arts meets technology, consumer identity projects, consumption and loss, the dark side of consumption, and consumption and resilience. 
• Chelsea Harfield’s research is into consumer behaviour, tourism, heritage, authenticity and narrative transportation. Her focus is qualitative methodologies.
• Scott Jones does research into marketplace cultures and consumer collectives, celebrity studies, fandom, responsible and ethical marketing, and alternative methods in qualitative research.
• Finola Kerrigan’s work is on the entertainment industries, cultural branding, and digital identity, and uses qualitative and visual approaches [not taking students for 2024 entry].
• Rohan Venkatraman is looking to support projects related to the intersection of marketplace hierarchies, especially gender and sexuality, and consumer culture, using qualitative and ethnographic methodologies.
• Julie Whiteman’s interests are in representation and consumption of gender, race, sexuality and class, using qualitative, intersectional research methods.

The marketing innovations and consumer science research group brings together researchers across the marketing field who are interested in innovative marketing practice, innovation itself, digital and technological innovations, as well as methodological innovations in marketing research. The group also has a focus on psychological theories as a means to understand consumers and their behaviour. Researchers in the group use a range of research methods but with some concentration on quantitative approaches to research problems.

• Raphaël Akamavi researches new product development processes, service innovation, consumption experiences, and social capital & organisational /industry performance using positivist approaches.
• Achilleas Boukis works on technology integration in physical interactions with customers, digital assets including NFTs, demanding consumers, branding cryptocurrencies and technology products, and brand equity using quantitative approaches.
• Fahad Ibrahim considers big data and technology in marketing, social networks and relationship marketing, using quantitative methods (specialised in structural equation modelling).
• Doga Istanbulluoglu’s areas of interest include online consumer behaviour, especially complaining, service recovery, and anti-consumption. She uses qualitative methods.  
• Grigorios Lamprinakos researches consumer psychology, cognitive and metacognitive processes, persuasion, sustainable consumption and socially responsible behaviour using experimental designs.
• Miriam McGowen’s research draws on consumer psychology perspectives to understand how social and situation factors impact consumer behaviour. She uses quantitative methods. 
• Amin Nazifi’s  research focuses on service failure and recovery, customer complaint management, customer satisfaction and loyalty, gamification, artificial intelligence, and consumer well-being using quantitative research methods and in particular experiments.
•   Eric Shiu  works on innovation in all aspects, as well as trust, agri-food and retailing, using experimental design, survey, interview, focus group, or a mix of these.
• Weiyue Wang is interested in employee – organisation relationships, employee cognition, ethics and ethical behaviour, services marketing and service performance using quantitative methods.

The Responsible and Critical Marketing Research Group aims to lead the academic development of knowledge of the subject, to contribute to the learning curriculum and reach out to those interested in improving marketing practices and standards. Research by members of the team covers areas of employee attitudes to responsibility, managerial and B2B ethics, responsible marketing and technology, consumer responsibility, marketing sustainability, base of the pyramid (BoP) marketing, market access and diversity, corporate social responsibility (CSR), marketing’s contribution to social and environmental elements of the ‘triple bottom line’ and responsible marketing education. The group are also interested in explicitly critical perspectives in marketing and consumer research.

• Robert Cluley researches contemporary marketing practice, how marketers work and think, and the role of technology in marketing. His methods include ethnography, action research, psychoanalytic interviews, content analysis and semiotics, and psychometrics.  
• Louise Hassan is interested in sustainability and health issues, including consumer decision-making or information processing from a consumer/social psychology perspective. Her methods focus on experimental approaches, but a wide range of methods acceptable.
• Sheena Leek is interested in information technology within business relationships, social capital and branding, consumer confusion in high tech areas, and convenience and healthy eating. She uses a range of qualitative approaches.
• Solon Magrizos  is interested in consumer happiness and wellbeing, responsible marketing, sustainable tourism, corporate social responsibility, ethical consumer behaviour, and responsible and irresponsible employees/employers. His research employs a wide range of qualitative/quantitative methods.
• Scott McCabe works on responsible and ethical tourism, including negative and positive emotions associated with responsible behaviour, social tourism, tourism as an experience, and new methods of assessing ethical, green sustainable tourist consumption.
• Mike Molesworth ’s research takes a critical approach to consumption and marketing, especially aspects of new technologies. He uses interpretivist techniques, including netnography.
• Fatos Ozkan Erciyas is interested in marketplace accessibility, inclusion and exclusion in marketing, and spaces and places of consumption, experiences of vulnerable/marginalized consumer groups.
• Mike Saren is interested in supervising projects in heritage and identity, consumer culture and relationships and marketing technology using qualitative approaches. 
• Emma Surman ‘s research is in the areas of ethics and sustainability of consumption, sociology of consumption, and decolonisation using qualitative and creative methodologies.
• Rohit Varman uses interpretive methodologies. His current inter-disciplinary research focuses on corporate violence, exploitation, modern slavery, and resistance to corporatization and marketization.

Doctoral researchers in Marketing are registered for a full time 3-year PhD or a part-time 6-year PhD. In the first year of the programme (first two years for those registered part-time) students are required to take 60 credits of core Research Methods modules from the MA Social Research programme. They are also recommended to take Advanced Training Modules from the MA Social Research Programme as appropriate to their research and training needs. Depending on their needs and accredited prior learning and subject to supervisory approval doctoral researchers can substitute 20 credits of the introductory MA Social research modules for Advanced Training Modules. By the end of their first year doctoral students will have completed an 8,000 word research proposal that they will present at the first annual review.  This forms the basis for supervised research over the remaining two years of the programme and the production of an 80,000 word thesis.

Applicants are urged to study the up-to-date profiles of individual staff members' research via their personal web pages. Each student will have two academic supervisors who will work with the students in their areas of expertise.  It is essential that students applying to the department recognise the expertise of their potential supervisor. It is possible to contact a potential supervisor to discuss the possibility of working with them and this communication would involve identifying the proposed research area and methods and identifying the link with the proposed supervisor’s work.  Current priority areas include:

Support and training

Birmingham Business School provides dedicated facilities, resources and support to postgraduate students and early career researchers which includes The Midlands Graduate School and Doctoral Training Centres and Programmes.  Find out more .

• Research at the Department of Marketing

Career prospects

The University of Birmingham has recently been ranked 9th in the UK and 55th in the world for post-qualification employability in a global survey of universities commissioned by the International Herald Tribune .

Recent PhD graduates from Birmingham Business School are working in central banks, Government departments, a variety of financial institutions, accountancy firms, supranational organisations and multinational corporations. Many of our PhD graduates also go on to forge successful academic careers in other top Universities.

Doctoral Research career assistance

The University of Birmingham has invested heavily in careers and employability support. The Careers Team have been praised for enhanced developments within their team and for adopting a model of integrated employability and internship support; something that has been rolled out and implemented across all Schools and Colleges at the University.

Doctoral researchers at Birmingham Business School benefit from its own well qualified dedicated Careers Team to support students with employment opportunities, work placements, internships and how to succeed at interview. In addition, a range of career management, personal development and employer events are run each year by the Careers in Business Team to help you make the most of the opportunities available.

The University also has dedicated careers advisors for international students  who run workshops and networking opportunities with potential employers. These are especially popular with international postgraduate researchers.

• Online chat events

About / Departments

Marketing Department | PhD Program

Ph.D. Program in Marketing

The Marketing Department at New York University's Stern School of Business offers a doctoral program that is widely recognized for the great success of its graduates. It has a large and distinguished faculty working in a diverse set of research areas from both behavioral and quantitative perspectives. Stern's Marketing Ph.D. program is extremely selective and, once accepted, students benefit from the faculty's dedication to ensuring a positive and productive doctoral experience. The department fosters a nurturing environment with close collaboration between doctoral students and faculty members. By the time students graduate, most have published in leading journals such as the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Marketing Research or Marketing Science. For example, 25% of our faculty publications in the last three years have been with doctoral students, past and present. Although the primary focus of the program is the development of top researchers, Stern doctoral students also receive extensive training for teaching and begin their first academic appointments well prepared for the classroom. The fact that we have one of the top-rated Ph.D. programs in the country is also evidenced by our placements of our doctoral students as faculty at top business schools (e.g., Harvard, Berkeley, Chicago, Columbia, Cornell, Florida, Michigan). The tenure, publication, and teaching records of our doctoral students are outstanding. All of these activities give Stern Marketing an important role in mentoring the future leaders of our field.

Program Overview

The Doctoral Program in Marketing selects an average of two students each year from an impressive pool of applicants. The GMAT scores of students admitted in the last ten years average over 700. Despite the relatively small size of our program, our students have won competitive Stern School awards in seven of the last nine years: the Herman E. Kroos Award for the best dissertation, and the Taggert, Nichols, and Nadler Fellowships. They have also received national honors, such as the Richard D. Irwin Doctoral Fellowship and invitations to the Albert Haring Symposium and the Doctoral Internationalization Consortium. Our students complete their studies expeditiously. Those who entered in the last 10 years defended their dissertations an average of 4.5 years later. Most of our students complete their PhD in 5 years.  

When they enter the program, students choose faculty advisors who remain in close contact with them throughout their time in the Program. These advisors often change as students' research interests become more clearly defined. The Marketing Department has a Doctoral Committee that meets regularly to evaluate student progress, advise the Coordinator on admissions decisions, consider policy changes, etc. Each year students prepare a Progress Report and Plan which is the basis of an annual evaluation and feedback process involving advisors, faculty for whom students work by doing Research Practica, and the Marketing Doctoral Committee. We have found this process a valuable way to provide our students with guidance when it is most useful.  

Our students are actively involved in research from the time they enter the Program and have usually submitted a paper to a refereed publication by the end of their second year. Significant interaction and collaboration with the faculty is a key to this productivity. Through Research Practica, classes, departmental seminars, summer Independent Research Projects, dissertation work, and informal interactions with faculty, research projects are born and transformed into publications. Students are expected to use their initiative and make substantial contributions through both their independent and co-authored work.  

Our students are helped to become excellent teachers. They take teaching seminars, sit in on undergraduate and MBA classes, and participate in the departmental Partners in Pedagogy program in which they team up with members of the faculty to work on course materials and audit each other's classes. Our students typically serve as Teaching Assistants and then teach an undergraduate marketing course in their fourth year. Since 1994, a high percentage of Marketing Department Ph.D. students who taught won a Stern Outstanding Teaching Award.  

The two factors that are most important to the success of our Doctoral Program are the quality of the students we admit and the commitment of our faculty to their development. We are very proud of our program, the students we produce, and the stature our program has attained in the academic marketing community.  

88% of our tenure track faculty members have had close involvement with Ph.D. students in the last five years through one or more of the following: co-authorship of an article, advising, teaching a Ph.D. seminar, or serving on a dissertation or comprehensive exam committee. In the last five years, collaboration between our doctoral students and faculty while they were in the Program has produced more than 10 articles in refereed publications, including such journals as the Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, and Journal of Consumer Psychology. Despite the relatively small size of our program, currently more than 25 other projects that were initiated by faculty/student co-authors (some of whom have since graduated) are either in progress or in review at leading journals.

Faculty Contact

Masakazu ishihara.

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The Marketing P…

The Marketing PhD pathway

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Marketing is the study of how organisations interact with customers (and vice versa). As such, it focuses on how organisations create value for customers and capture value from customers in return.

The academic discipline of Marketing is divided into 3 broad areas or sub-fields:

• marketing strategy
• marketing modelling
• consumer behaviour

In the Marketing group you’ll find scholars from each of these sub-fields.

Professor Jaideep Prabhu talks about the Marketing pathway.

Hi, I’m Jaideep Prabhu, and I’m a professor of marketing, here at Cambridge Judge Business School. I also head the Marketing group here in the School. I’m here to tell you a few things about what you need to know if you’re interested in doing a PhD and pursuing a career as a marketing academic.

So what is marketing all about? Marketing is really about the relationship between organisations and external stakeholders, particularly customers. More formally, marketing is the process of creating and maintaining relationships with customers and their response to these efforts.

At Cambridge Judge, we focus on three areas, the three areas of marketing that most people around the world focus on. First is the area of consumer behaviour, which is the study really of customers in their lives or in their organisations and how they respond to marketing efforts. Typically, people who study customer behaviour tend to use psychology as a theory and experimental lab studies as a way to test these theories.

The second area that we focus on is the area of mathematical modelling, of how firms compete with each other in trying to attract the custom of buyers. This approach is typically influenced by economics. It uses techniques, such as game theory, and often has an empirical component, as well, which uses either experimental data, or naturally occurring data, such as data that’s acquired through stores, through loyalty cards, on how customers respond to price discounts, or positioning of products on the shelf spaces of stores, or advertising inserts in newspapers.

So that’s the second area of focus. A third area is called marketing strategy, and tends to focus more on the decision making of managers within firms vis-a-vis markets and customers. This approach tends to be influenced both by behavioural fields such as psychology, as well as economics and some more organisational series. This area tends to use data that’s generated through surveys or naturally occurring data on panels of firms and their performance over time.

We are fortunate at Cambridge Judge to have people in our group who study each of these areas. So for instance, Eric Levy is very much focused on consumer behaviour and tends to use psychology and lab studies to look at issues, such as prosocial behaviour amongst consumers. For instance, why do some consumers give time versus money in their more charitable activities?

A couple of my colleagues tend to do more of the analytical work that I mentioned. Dominique Lauga and Vincent Mak tend to use mathematical techniques borrowed from economics and game theory to look at how firms compete with each other, for instance, in their advertising or innovation activities, or even how consumers make decisions– for instance, their search behaviour.

So Vincent is very interested in customer search behaviour and has mathematical models of that, which he tests using data from labs. Dominique tends to look at firm competition using game theory. Finally, Eden Yin and myself focus more on marketing strategy and the behaviour of firms in their marketing activities, particularly their innovation activities. So both Eden and I are very interested in how firms around the world make innovation decisions, how they develop new products, and how this affects their performance.

If you were to come to Cambridge Judge to do an MPhil and a PhD, you would decide which of these areas to focus on, and who you would want to work on. And that, of course, would set the pattern for the rest of your academic career. Something that really differentiates our approach within Cambridge is to work quite closely, as far as possible, with organisations.

In marketing, particularly those of us who study marketing strategy and firms behaviour, this is a very fruitful approach. So for instance, in my own research, I tend to work with organisations that use marketing strategies to reach customers, whether in the for-profit or not-for-profit sector. And through this deep engagement with organisations, we hope not only to do more interesting research, but also to be able to influence the world of practise and improve our teaching.

So with those words, I would encourage you, if you are interested in any of these areas, to apply and to get in touch with us. And we’d be happy to speak to you and potentially work with you down the road. Thank you.

View video with transcript

The pathway

To start on the Marketing pathway you must take one of the following 9-month masters programmes:

Essential reading

Download detailed information about the 9-month + 4-year programme structure and content.

• Research areas What we expect from you What you can expect from us PhD supervisors
• What we expect from you Research areas What you can expect from us PhD supervisors
• What you can expect from us Research areas What we expect from you PhD supervisors
• PhD supervisors Research areas What we expect from you What you can expect from us

Research areas

You will find that the context for study within the Marketing pathway at Cambridge Judge Business School is broad and can be divided into three main sub-fields: marketing strategy, marketing modelling, and consumer behaviour.  

Our group members publish in leading international journals in areas such as marketing and innovation in emerging markets, experimental economics, econometrics, game theory and industrial organisation, innovation, unstructured and big data, and behavioural decision making.

Marketing strategy

• Study of a firm’s interactions with its customers (and other external stakeholders) from the perspective of the firm’s managers.
• Quantitative analysis of empirical data is used to address questions that link a firm’s performance with its actions and those of its managers vis-à-vis external stakeholders.

Scholars in this sub-field:

Ahmed Khwaja

• Jaideep Prabhu

Marketing modelling

• Economic analysis of the interactions between firms and consumers.
• Use of analytical modelling with a game theory approach, the econometric analysis of empirical data and experimental economics methods to address research questions.

Dominique Lauga

Consumer behaviour.

• The psychology of how consumers think, feel and reason as well as choose between different. marketplace alternatives.
• Researchers draw heavily upon the theories and methodologies of experimental psychology and experimental social psychology in particular.

Vincent Mak

Examples of current research.

The context for study within the Marketing pathway is broad. To give you more of a taste, the phenomena and research questions currently being investigated by our faculty and PhD students include:

• the marketing practices of micro-entrepreneurs in low-income economies
• the extent to which consumers are able to wait strategically for future price markdowns and how this is affected by product scarcity
• how moral identity impact preferences for donating time vs money to charity.

What we expect from you

You will need to have a first class bachelors degree or equivalent. In some cases you will need to have a masters degree from a highly regarded university and to have performed within the top 5% of your class. Many applicants have first degrees in economics, mathematics, psychology, engineering or the sciences, however we also consider applicants with a humanities degree.

You will demonstrate a high level of commitment to an academic career in a business school as well as a desire to engage with external organisations. 

You will have to provide evidence of excellent writing skills and strong evidence of quantitative ability, either through results in statistics and calculus courses at university level or through GRE results. Practical management experience is welcome but not essential.

For more details, please see the academic requirements for the:

What you can expect from us

Prepare to start your exciting academic research career at Cambridge Judge. 

• Become part of our team from the outset, you will be treated as a junior colleague rather than a student.  
• Experience an apprenticeship in the best sense as the Marketing subject group works with you and trains you to become an independent researcher with an exciting research programme. 
• Produce a portfolio of academic papers that will help you succeed in the job market and gain a junior faculty position following your PhD. 
• Work with faculty members on joint research projects for publication in leading academic journals. 
• Learn from a series of courses focused on research methodology and the foundations of the discipline. 
• Take more advanced research seminars, where you will learn to critique papers and shape and position your own work as a significant contribution to the academic literature in Marketing.  
• You will develop a coherent and innovative research programme that is relevant for solving real-world problems, with the support of the Marketing subject group.  
• Your research may require you to engage with external organisations directly. This engagement will help you gain access to unique data, which in turn will help you shed new light on ongoing academic debates.  
• Alternatively, you may focus on collecting data in laboratory settings and work with student subjects. 

PhD supervisors

Your principal supervisor will be a senior academic, often a Professor or an Associate Professor, from within the Marketing pathway. You will benefit from their guidance and counsel throughout the programme, and beyond: in helping you to succeed in the job market and in gaining a faculty position at a leading business school. Your principal supervisor will take an active role in your research programme and will assemble a group of faculty (your advisory committee) who will co-author papers with you. 

Take a look at the faculty who may serve as your principal supervisor and view their research interests: 

Professor of Marketing, Business & Public Enterprise

Read more about ahmed.

Research interests

Ahmed Khwaja researches marketing strategy; health care markets, innovation and market entry; customer and employee relationship management in service industries; pharmaceutical R&D and retail chain expansion and growth. Methodological interests include dynamic strategic games; consumer choice dynamics; asymmetric information and incomplete markets; and simulation-based econometric methods.

View Ahmed's profile

Professor of Marketing

Read more about dominique.

Dominique Lauga researches marketing modelling and behavioural economics. Research interests centre on strategic interactions between firms and consumers, with a special focus on product development, pricing, advertising and product reviews.

View Dominique's profile

Associate Professor in Marketing

Not available to take incoming phd students in october 2025, read more about shasha.

Shashu Lu researches marketing modelling and customer analysis using unstructured data (e.g. images, videos). Her research combines machine learning and computer vision techniques with marketing models to improve business practice in the digital age. Research interests include: artificial empathy, digital advertising, visual content and visual product design and optimisation, visual data privacy, visual-based data mining and marketing strategies. The context of her research involves a range of industries such as fashion, online dating, interior design, entertainment, and advertising.

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Professor of Marketing & Decision Sciences

Read more about vincent.

Vincent Mak researches how people and firms make strategic decisions as they interact with each other, and what economic and psychological factors influence those decisions. Research interests cover pricing, search decisions, decisions in networks and queues, decisions in competitive environments, competitive strategies, game theory, and experimental economics. He typically employs the insights and methods of experimental economics, psychology, and game theory to investigate his research questions.

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Professor Jaideep Prabhu

Jawaharlal nehru professor of indian business & enterprise, read more about jaideep.

Jaideep Prabhu researches international business, marketing, strategy and innovation. Specific interests include: cross-national issues concerning the antecedents and consequences of radical innovation in high-technology contexts such as banking, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology; the role of firm culture in driving innovation in firms across nations; how multinational firms organise their innovation activities worldwide; the forces that drive R&D location decisions and the factors that influence the performance implications of these decisions; the internationalisation of firms from emerging markets; and innovation in emerging markets.

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Read more about Eden

Eden Yin researches innovation and new product growth in technology industries, and internationalisation strategies for firms from emerging markets.

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Marketing faculty

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