Doctoral Studies in Economics and Finance

The aim of the economics and finance specialisation is to provide competences corresponding to the highest level of higher education for academic research, development and creative activity, as well as for working as a top professional in the corporate/public sector and also provide social competences and ability to adapt to the rapidly changing world.

After completing this module the student:

• conducts research independently and creatively uses relevant methods of research for that;
• has obtained a systematic understanding of theories and empirical research in economics and finance;
• processes information and conducts applied research;
• applies a range of empirical methods in economics and finance;
• analyses and critically evaluates subject-specific research articles;
• communicates one's views in a well-reasoned way and discusses in disputable issues;
• communicates her/his research results to different target groups.

The doctoral programme comprises extensive research, university-wide general courses to support the research done by PhD students and field-specific courses that can be chosen according to their research interests.

The courses are taught in English. PhD students are required to complete at least 30 ECTS points of course work. The compulsory course of the economics and finance speciality are Financial Economics, Advanced Topics in Economics, and Econometrics. In addition, a variety of courses can be selected from the transferable skills module. Research module contains all activates related to individual R&D or creative activities which contribute to the PhD thesis of the student. The volume of the research module is 210 ECTS.

Special workshops of doctoral students provide an opportunity for the students to present their research and receive feedback from Estonian researchers and also from researchers of partner universities (Aalto, Helsinki and Tel Aviv University). The workshops take place once a month, attendance is compulsory during semesters of active study.

A standard doctoral thesis consists of three research publications which have to be peer-reviewed and published in journals indexed in the Web of Science and/or Scopus databases, preferably with at least one of the three articles being a single-author paper.

PhD students have the opportunity to participate in the lectures of the Finnish Doctoral School in Economics/Finance. Research centered individual studies enable to earn credit for short courses taken in Estonia or abroad.

PhD students can also participate in doctoral training courses and „writing retreats“ organized by the Doctoral School in Economics and Innovation, and also apply for financing to visit conferences and training courses abroad.

PhD studies are finalized by a doctoral thesis that presents a new solution to the research problem. The doctoral theses are supervised by researchers from the department of Economics and Finance.