PhD in Economics or Finance

IF49 Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Economics and Finance

The PhD offers the opportunity to demonstrate erudition in a broad field of learning and to make an original and substantial contribution to knowledge in some specific area within that field. The School provides strong training in theoretical and applied economic analysis, theoretical and applied econometrics, corporate finance and other specialised areas of the disciplines through both coursework and research supervision.

The School of Economics and Finance welcomes inquiries from prospective research students, and is committed to providing you with the information you need to make an informed decision concerning your application.

As a first point-of-reference, students are encouraged to contact the Faculty's Research Support Office and review the details below.

PhD Co-ordinator:

Professor Janice How

Phone: +61 7 3138 4321
Fax: +61 7 3138 1500
Email: janice.how@qut.edu.au

Faculty Research Support Office:

Phone: +61 7 3138 1407
Fax: +61 7 3138 5250
Email: bus.research@qut.edu.au

Faculty of Business Research Students Handbook:

Detailed information (PDF, 214Kb) for students undertaking research programs.

Other relevant information:

Application Process (including Scholarships)

To apply for a PhD, applicants will need to complete either a Postgraduate Research (PR) form for domestic students or an (FR) form for international students.  

For many research applicants, the application process will also mean choosing a topic and selecting a prospective supervisor. Please refer to our School's Postgraduate Research Supervisors list for current research being undertaken. If you cannot find a research interest that corresponds with our School, Faculty staff can assist in finding appropriate QUT researchers to discuss topic interests that may be outside the School of Economics and Finance.

PhD Scholarships

The application for scholarships is competitive and limited opportunities are available for exceptional candidates.

The Research Students Centre administers the postgraduate research scholarships for both domestic and international candidates. It also maintains a database of external scholarship opportunities. Further information is available from the Research Students Centre.

PhD Timeline

Stage 2

Once the Faculty has approved the application, the candidate is offered conditional admission into the PhD program. 

Within three months full-time or six months part-time, PhD candidates are required to submit a Stage 2 Proposal application. This will include a full research proposal including the design of the proposed research, methodology and research plan, a preliminary literature review and timeline for completion. For Stage 2 Guidelines, please refer to the Research Support Office Handbook (page 25) as well as the Research Student Centre's Guidelines for Submission.

Confirmation of Candidature

Within 12 months full-time or 24 months part-time, PhD candidates will be required to present (in consultation with their supervisors) a plan of the research program for the remainder of the candidature and a report on the work done to this point. 

The Confirmation of Candidature Seminar is a 40-minute presentation from the candidate with an additional 20 minutes being allocated for questions from the Panel and audience. The seminar will be advertised throughout the University and is open to the public.

At the conclusion of the seminar the Panel will meet to deliberate on approving the candidate into the PhD program in the Faculty of Business. The Panel will advise the candidate of the decision at the conclusion of the meeting and in turn will make a recommendation to the University’s Research Degrees Committee. For further information concerning the Confirmation of Candidature process, please refer to the Research Support Office's Confirmation Guidelines.

Progress Reports

Regular reviews of progress in research higher degree courses help to detect difficulties, which, if ignored, may result in late completion of studies or even non-completion. With this in mind, each candidate is required to submit an annual report on 30 September each year until completion. Candidates are required to complete the progress report with their supervisors and to submit the completed report to the University's Research Degree Committee, through the Research Support Office.

Annual PhD Seminar

In conjunction with the progress reports, the School asks of each candidate to prepare an oral presentation of their work in progress. The Annual PhD Seminar is intended to inform School staff and research peers of their work completed to date and also provide the candidate an opportunity for further ideas to be discussed and feedback to be received prior to the final seminar.

Final Seminar

In order to determine whether the thesis is acceptable for examination, the candidate shall be required to present a Final Seminar based on the work described in the thesis.

The Final Seminar is a presentation which will be advertised throughout the University and is open to the public. The Panel Chair will invite audience questions at the end of the presentation.

At the end of the seminar, Panel members will discuss aspects of the work and may require changes to the thesis, or ask that further work be done prior to submission of the thesis. The candidate will be provided with a report so they can address any required recommendations. 

The University accepts the thesis only when the Panel signifies its satisfaction that the degree requirements have been met.

Please refer to the Research Support Office Handbook (page 31) for further information.

Research Interests of Postgraduate Research Supervisors

Supervisor	Research Interests
Professor Michael Drew (on one year's leave)	Funds management Superannuation and aging
Associate Professor Uwe Dulleck	Economics of information Applied game theory
Associate Professor Adam Clements	Asset pricing Financial econometrics
Professor Paul Frijters	Economics of happiness Labour economics
Professor Janice How	Corporate Finance
Professor Stan Hurn	Applied econometrics Time series econometrics
Dr Radhika Lahiri	Macroeconomics Business cycles and economic growth
Dr Mark McGovern	Economic impact analysis Regional economic analysis
Professor Adrian Pagan	Macroeconometric modelling Business cycles
Professor Tim Robinson	Public sector economics Environmental economics
Professor Benno Torgler	Political economy and public policy Sportometrics
Associate Professor Peter Verhoeven	Corporate finance Analyst forecasts Trading strategies
Dr Clevo Wilson	Environmental economics Ecological economics
Professor Rodney Wolff	Time-series econometrics Non-parametric methods

Current Students and Past Student Theses 

Current

Name	PhD Thesis	Supervisor
Ali Arshad	TBA	Dr Radhika Lahiri
Wasantha Athukorala	Economic Cost of Unsustainable Irrigation Management: A Comparative study between Australia and Sri Lanka	Dr Clevo Wilson
Tony Beatton	Trust Within Teams: The Relative Importance of Ability, Benevolence and Integrity.	Professor Paul Frijters
Nedda Cecchinato	High Frequency Finance.	Professor Rodney Wolff
Chris Coleman-Fenn	Unifying Option Pricing and Term Structure of Implied Volatility Forecasts	Associate Professor Adam Clements
Bin Dong	Four-moment CAPM: A potential resolution of equity premium puzzle.	Professor Benno Torgler
Mark Doolan	Statistical and Economic Evaluation of Multivariate Volatility Models.	Associate Professor Adam Clements
Alison MacIntyre	National Pride	Professor Benno Torgler
Luis Martinez	Project Evaluation for Open-Pit Mining Ventures Using Real Options and Allied Econometric Techniques.	Professor Rodney Wolff
Kularatne Mohottala-Gedara	Property Rights and Externalities of Culture-Based Fisheries in Sri Lanka	Dr Clevo Wilson
Redzo Mujcic	Mobile Production Factors in a Changing World: the Theoretical and Empirical Determinants of Migration Streams.	Professor Paul Frijters
Shyama Ratnasiri	Factors Underlying the Economic Performance of Transitional Economies.	Dr Radhika Lahiri
Evan Reedman	Modelling Tactical Asset Allocation for Long-Term Investors.	Professor Michael Drew
Mark Phoon	Inflation, Persistent Inequality and Inflationary Finance	Dr Radhika Lahiri
Markus Schaffner	Beyond winning or losing : Empirical approaches to the Principal-Agent Problem and Institutional Economics	Professor Benno Torgler
Charles Wong	Applications of Nonparametric Smoothing Methods in Computing Financial Risk.	Professor Rodney Wolff

Past PhD Students

2008
Anup Basu	Evaluation of Asset Allocation Strategies for DC Plan Default Investment Options *Anup is a Lecturer in the School of Economics and Finance, QUT	Professor Michael Drew
Tommy Tang	A Study of Learning in Economics *Tommy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Economics and Finance, QUT	Professor Tim Robinson

2007
Robert Bianchi	Hedge Funds in Superannuation: Are the Returns Worth the Risk? *Robert is a Lecturer in the School of Economics and Finance, QUT	Professor Michael Drew
Terry Boulter	The Relative Efficiency of Currency Markets *Terry is Senior Lecturer at Deakin University	Professor A S Hurn
Kohei Marumo	A Study on Risk Aggregation *Kohei is employed by the Bank of Japan	Professor Rodney Wolff
2006
Lyle Turner	Production Structure Models and Applications within a Statistical Activity Cost Theory (SACT) Framework *Lyle is a Post-doctoral Fellow in the School of Accountancy, QUT	Professor Rodney Wolff
Helen Higgs	Price and volatility relationships in the Australian electricity market *Helen is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Accounting, Finance and Economics at Griffith University	Professor Tim Robinson
Joseph Jeisman	Maximum Likelihood Estimation of the Parameters of Stochastic Differential Equations. *Joseph is a Quantitative Analyst in the Global Markets and Treasury Section at the Commonwealth Bank in Sydney	Professor A S Hurn
Scott White	Stochastic Volatility Models: Estimation and Inference. *Scott joined Deutsche Bank in Sydney where he prices exotic derivatives	Professor A S Hurn
2005
Michael Falta	Statistical and Computational Methods to Assess Uncertainty and Risk in Accounting *Michael is a Post-doctoral Fellow in the School of Accountancy, QUT	Professor Rodney Wolff
2004
Zoë McHugh	A Small Macroeconometric Model of Australia. *Zoë joined the fund management specialists Tactical Global Management as an Investment Analyst. She is now based in the TGM London Office	Professor A S Hurn
William Wild	Syndicated Lending *Will is a Syndication and Project Finance specialist for KBC Bank in London	Professor A S Hurn
2003
Adam Clements	The impact and measurement of the intensity of noise in stock returns. *Adam is an Associate Professor in the School of Economics and Finance at QUT	Professor A S Hurn
2002
Ralf Becker	Testing for nonlinearity in time-series data. *Ralf is a Senior Lecturer in Economics at the University of Manchester	Professor A S Hurn

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