Management

Usually, we require a high 2:1 or above for your undergraduate degree and a merit for your master’s. At least one of your previous degrees should be in an area relevant to your proposed research. We will also need to see your degree transcripts, which provide a breakdown of your marks, in addition to your degree certificates. 

In general, we do not admit, directly to the MPhil/PhD, students whose master’s degree is an MBA; we instead recommend our MRes Management as preparation for the MPhil/PhD degree. 

If English is not your first language or you have not previously studied in English, the requirement for this programme is the equivalent of an International English Language Testing System (IELTS Academic Test) score of 7.0, with not less than 6.0 in each of the sub-tests.

If you don't meet the minimum IELTS requirement, we offer pre-sessional English courses, foundation programmes and language support services to help you improve your English language skills and get your place at Birkbeck.

Visit the International section of our website to find out more about our English language entry requirements and relevant requirements by country.

If you are not from the UK and you do not already have residency here, you may need to apply for a visa.

The visa you apply for varies according to the length of your course:

• Courses of more than six months' duration: Student visa
• Courses of less than six months' duration: Standard Visitor visa

International students who require a Student visa should apply for our full-time courses as these qualify for Student visa sponsorship. If you are living in the UK on a Student visa, you will not be eligible to enrol as a student on Birkbeck's part-time courses (with the exception of some modules).

For full information, read our visa information for international students page.

Please also visit the international section of our website to find out more about relevant visa and funding requirements by country.

Please note students receiving US Federal Aid are only able to apply for in-person, on-campus programmes which will have no elements of online study.

Students are charged a tuition fee in each year of their course. Tuition fees for students continuing on their course in following years may be subject to annual inflationary increases. For more information, please see the College Fees Policy.

If you’ve studied at Birkbeck before and successfully completed an award with us, take advantage of our Lifelong Learning Guarantee to gain a discount on the tuition fee of this course.

PhD students resident in England can apply for government loans of over £26,000 to cover the cost of tuition fees, maintenance and other study-related costs.

Flexible finance: pay your fees in monthly instalments at no extra cost. Enrol early to spread your costs and reduce your monthly payments.

We offer a range of studentships and funding options to support your research.

We provide a range of scholarships for eligible international students, including our Global Future Scholarship. Discover if you are eligible for a scholarship.

• The Birkbeck Business School provides high-quality research that is theoretically informed and socially and practically relevant in the fields of business and management. We engage in collaborative research with other academic institutions and have excellent contacts with many public and private sector organisations and professional bodies.

As a research student, you will receive training in theory and research methodology during your first year (full-time) or first two years (part-time). During the first year you are required to take four modules for credit: Research Philosophy, Qualitative Research Methods, Organization Theory and Quantitative Methods for Finance and Business. You will also complete a Research Prospectus with a review of the key literature of the field and the specific research questions you wish to pursue. You will be invited to attend research student seminars and other research workshops. We offer a wide range of student support and study facilities.

Find out more about studying for an MPhil/PhD in Management at Birkbeck.

Read more about our vibrant research culture.

Follow these steps to apply for the MPhil/PhD Management at Birkbeck:

1. Check that you meet the entry requirements, including English language requirements, as described on this page. 

2. Draft a research proposal (approximately 2,000-3,000 words plus references). A PhD proposal is an outline of your proposed project. It includes an introduction, a literature review/theoretical framing, the research aims/questions and the research methodology. Your research proposal must articulate the fundamental issues or questions you plan to investigate in your research project and should specify the broader area in which your research is situated, making reference to the existing body of knowledge and any ongoing debates on the topic. We will be assessing:

• your expertise in your chosen research area
• your knowledge of the literature
• the feasibility of your project
• the quality and originality of your ideas.

Find out more about writing a research proposal.

3. Contact a potential supervisor for your MPhil/PhD research. Whilst you will certainly develop a few drafts of your research proposal before you submit it to us as part of the application, it is important that it is clear and well-written when you make the first contact with your potential supervisor(s). Once you are ready, you can contact them to share your research proposal and Curriculum Vitae (CV). If they are willing and able to supervise your research, they may be able to help you further refine your proposal before you submit your final application.

You can look at the Find a Supervisor area on this page for an overview, search our Experts’ Database or browse our staff pages for more in-depth information.

4. Get an agreement in principle with a supervisor before submitting an online application. If you apply without first getting the support of a potential supervisor, your application will be rejected. (Please note: finding a potential supervisor does not guarantee admission to the research degree, as this decision is made using your whole application.) Find out more about the supervisory relationship and how your supervisor will support your research.

5. Apply directly to Birkbeck, using the online application link on this page. You will need to provide the names and contact details of two referees who can speak to your academic/research abilities.

6. Our course team will be able to offer you advice and support, and guide you through your studies from application to graduation.

• PhD Programme Director: Dr Konstantinos Chalkias

All research students are initially registered on an MPhil and then upgrade to a PhD after making sufficient progress. 

Find out more about the application process, writing a research proposal and the timeframe. 

Application deadlines and interviews

We admit students to begin only at the start of autumn term (end of September) as the first-year programme is structured around autumn entry.

You should have met with your prospective supervisor and submitted your application online by 15 July. We will try to process later applications, but we need to allow time both for interviews and, where necessary, visa-related paperwork.

If you wish to apply for funding, you will need to apply by certain deadlines. Consult the websites of relevant bodies for details.

Apply for your course using the apply now button in the key information section.

When applying for a PhD, aligning your intellectual and research interests with those of potential supervisors is crucial.

Explore the research expertise of our academic staff and identify those who may be available to supervise your PhD project below:

Corporate governance/Corporate social responsibility/Social capital

• Luca Andriani: informal institutions; pro-social behaviour; social capital; social trust and trust in public institutions; corruption; tax morale.
• Ioanna Boulouta: corporate responsibility and competitiveness; gender diversity and stereotypes on corporate boards; quantitative methods; social marketing campaigns.
• Professor Sue Konzelmann: structuring the role of economic theory and policy; the interface between the financial and real sectors of the economy; industrial organisation and policy; corporate governance, restructuring and policy; the political economics of austerity.
• Arron Phillips: whistleblowing, corporate governance, law and governance, business ethics, the interplay between business and social actors, ESG, industrial relations, work conflict, political economy of CSR.
• Richard Tacon: social capital, social interaction, social networks; sociology of sport; sport policy and development; corporate governance, especially in non-profit and sport organisations; organisational ethnography.

Employment relations/Human resources/Labour markets/Education

• Sara Chaudry: international human resource management (HRM); diversity and equality management; HRM in the Middle East; HRM in multinational corporations; changing nature of the employment relationship.
• Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick: international and European employment relations; international trade unionism and globalisation; equal opportunities and diversity management; employee participation and economic and industrial democracy.
• Ashok Kumar: economic geography and international political economy; globalisation and global value chains; identity formation and social movements; industrial relations and Labour's bargaining power; land economics and urban subjectivity.
• Giambattista Rossi: labour and transfer markets in professional sport; role of sport agents, third party ownership in football; sport finance; sport corporate governance.
• Horen Voskeritsian: European and comparative industrial relations; collective bargaining and social dialogue; undeclared work and unlawful activities at work; industrial conflict; political economy of work and employment; history and theory of industrial relations.
• Ellen Pei-yi Yu: ESG topics (environmental, social responsibility and governance); ethical investment and asset management; financial institutions management such as hybrid bank capital securities and the design of executive compensation pay.
• Arron Phillips: whistleblowing; corporate governance; law and governance; business ethics; the interplay between business and social actors; ESG; industrial relations; work conflict; political economy of CSR.

Entrepreneurship and innovation

• Daniele Archibugi: innovation and technological change; global governance and its economic and political management; public policy for services, global commons and science and technology; international organisations and global democracy.
• Muthu De Silva: entrepreneurship; co-creation and collaboration; university-business interactions; intermediation and intermediaries; knowledge-based interactions.
• Marion Frenz: innovation, globalisation and economic recovery; the role of internationalisation in innovation; conceptualisation and measurement of absorptive capacity.
• Odile Janne: multinational enterprises, innovation and economic development; corporate technological and innovation strategies; international patenting strategies; subsidiaries strategy; multinationals, location decisions, geography; regional innovation and growth; multinational networks.
• Chunjia Han: open innovation; user innovation; digital innovation; social media and digital marketing; big data analytics & AI; business model innovation and digital entrepreneurial finance; digitalisation-enabled business transformation.
• Helen Lawton Smith: innovation; entrepreneurship; scientific labour markets; geographies of innovation; university-industry linkages; scientific labour markets; regional, national and international innovation policy frameworks.
• Grace (Bo) Peng: entrepreneurial finance, entrepreneurial exit and international entrepreneurship.
• Mu Yang: artificial intelligence (AI); big data analytics; social media marketing; digital innovation (blockchain, metaverse); privacy, security and data governance.

International business

• Daniele Archibugi: innovation and technological change; global governance and its economic and political management; public policy for services, global commons and science and technology; international organisations and global democracy.
• Sara Chaudry: international human resource management (HRM); diversity and equality management; HRM in the Middle East; HRM in multinational corporations; changing nature of the employment relationship.
• Marion Frenz: innovation, globalisation and economic recovery; the role of internationalisation in innovation; conceptualisation and measurement of absorptive capacity.
• Kevin Ibeh: small firm internationalisation and international entrepreneurship; international expansion of developing country/emerging market firms; export behaviour and performance.
• Odile Janne: multinational enterprises, innovation and economic development; corporate technological and innovation strategies; international patenting strategies; subsidiaries strategy; multinationals, location decisions, geography; regional innovation and growth; multinational networks.
• Ashok Kumar: economic geography and international political economy; globalisation and global value chains; identity formation and social movements; industrial relations and Labour's bargaining power; land economics and urban subjectivity.
• Xiaming Liu: foreign direct investment; multinational corporations; technology transfer and spill-over; internationalisation and economic growth.

Marketing

• Benedetta Crisafulli: digital marketing, particularly influencer marketing and the effects on consumers; customer experience management; consumer psychology in response to brands’ crises, events of corporate social irresponsibility, negative brand experiences and/or incivility; brand alliances (co-branding); sustainability and circular economy; international marketing.
• Rungpaka Amy Hackley: paratextual advertising and promotions; integrated marketing communications (IMC); advertising; product placement; branded content; non-traditional promotions; experiential consumption; brand symbolism; consumer identity; social media; digital communication; media convergence; promotional regulation and ethics; critical marketing; consumer culture research; and death rituals and death consumption.
• Wendy Hein: consumer behaviour; consumer culture theory (CCT) and interpretive consumer research; gender, identities and consumption practices; ethnography and interdisciplinary research.
• Ammar Sammour: artificial intelligence; financial technology; corporate heritage branding; heritage brand identity; corporate brand experience; brand management, innovation and communication.  
• Peter Trim: marketing; strategic marketing; corporate intelligence and national security; international marketing.
• Mu Yang: artificial intelligence (AI); big data analytics; social media marketing; digital innovation (blockchain, metaverse); privacy, security and data governance.

Organisation theory, organisational behaviour and strategy

• Abdulrahman Al-Surmi: business analytics; decision making; strategic management; strategic alignment; business value of IT and marketing.
• Konstantinos Chalkias: strategy as practice (SaP); practice theory; paradox theory; grand challenges; organisation studies and strategizing on disaster risk and disasters resilience.
• Sorin Piperca: project management; strategic change; unexpected/disruptive events; complexity; interorganisational collaborations; innovation projects; knowledge production.
• Pamela Yeow: change management; attitude-behaviour gap; leadership and trust; ethics.

Sport management

• Sean Hamil: governance and regulation of professional sports organisations; economic and sporting design and regulation of sport competitions; business strategy in the professional sports’ industries; co-operative ownership models of professional football clubs.

• Giambattista Rossi: labour and transfer markets in professional sport; role of sport agents, third party ownership in football; sport finance; sport corporate governance.
• Richard Tacon: social capital, social interaction, social networks; sociology of sport; sport policy and development; corporate governance, especially in non-profit and sport organisations; organisational ethnography.