Banking and Finance

Location:  Highfield Campus
Closing Date:  Monday 31 January 2022
Reference:  1642121TR

Exciting full PhD scholarships to be awarded by Southampton Business School in Banking and Finance

Southampton Business School has an ambitious quality driven strategy of growth, which will see us strengthen our position as a world-class business school in research, education and enterprise. To enable world-leading research and generate knowledge that is recognised in the global academic community, we are seeking to award full PhD scholarships to outstanding candidates in a number of disciplines as outlined below to play crucial roles in the School achieving its vision of transforming business and society for the better.

As part of a world-renowned Top 100 QS ranked Russell Group University with a global reputation for academic excellence, our interdisciplinary research coalesces around multiple research centres which enables us to develop exciting, innovative and rewarding projects that address global challenges and change the world for the better. As a member of the Faculty Graduate School, the Southampton Business School’s postgraduate research students are a highly valued part of our community and are integral to the continued success of the Business School and of the University as a whole. Our PhD programme has been awarded +3 recognition for full-time students by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and has also received research studentships from ESRC and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) for its doctoral programme. We offer a stimulating, challenging and dynamic research environment for our PhD students. 

We are seeking top-rated PhD applications from candidates who are proficient in quantitative methods, comfortable working with big data, and have the ambition to significantly advance theoretical modelling in Banking & Finance. Our research interests range from Asset Pricing to Financial Technologies and Sustainable Banking Finance. Going forward, our key priority areas are:

• Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Banking & Finance
• Big Data in Banking & Finance
• Decentralised, Digital Banking & Finance
• Diversity and Inclusion in Banking &Finance
• ESG and Sustainable Banking & Finance

These subject areas dominate the research agenda  of Department of Banking and Finance.  For a detailed description of our research interests, please visit our website (https://www.southampton.ac.uk/business-school/about/departments/banking-and-finance.page ).

The last years have witnessed a rapid development in Financial Technologies & Cryptocurrencies, which has stimulated a large and fast-growing body of research in this area. However, a range of research directions in this area remain underdeveloped, such as Decentralised Finance, or Social Impact of Financial Technologies (to name just few). Moreover, while Financial Technologies & Cryptocurrencies have been studied using mainly empirical research methods, theoretical contributions remain scarce. Similarly, Diversity and Financial Inclusion, ESG, and Sustainable Banking & Finance are further examples of promising research fields, which we would like to advance. Importantly, the industry of financial services has the mandate to reallocate resources within and across the economies. Such a resource reallocation can i) provide solutions to climate change, ii) help to attain the Sustainable Development Goals, iii) steer the world economy towards a faster recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, the research agenda of the Department of Banking and Finance is shaped by the development of Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, Machine Learning, as well as Textual Mining, which successfully compete with conventional research and data collection methods. We seek applications from strong and ambitious candidates with research interests in (preferably) the aforementioned research fields.

If you have any subject specific queries, please contact the Head of Department, Prof. Tapas Mishra,  email: T.K.Mishra@soton.ac.uk.

The scholarships consist of full tuition fees and annual stipend of £15,509 (£1292.42 per month) for 3 years, which are open to both UK, EU and international/overseas students. Ideal candidates will possess bachelor’s degree with first class and master’s degree with distinction or equivalent in any of our broad disciplines of business and management. Candidates will also need to meet our standard admission requirements for PhD students in addition to a strong research proposal.

Successful applicants will be expected to start in September 2022. Please submit your application latest by 31^st January 2022 here: https://www.southampton.ac.uk/courses/how-to-apply/postgraduate-applications.page#applying_for_a_postgraduate_research_degree. You should indicate clearly the specific subject area you apply for on the application form.

If you have any general queries, please contact the PhD Director, Dr Pingli Li, e-mail: P.Li@soton.ac.uk and Telephone: +44 (0) 238 059 1389.  For any subject specific queries, please contact the respective Head of Department.