PhD in Business Management - PhD programme for postgraduate business and management, UK

Our AACSB Accredited School of Business and Law is among an elite set of international schools proven to provide the best in business education worldwide.

Join us for your journey to the top of the business educational ladder with a PhD in Business Management.

The PhD in business management at University of Brighton offers an unparalleled opportunity for scholars to contribute to the forefront of business and management research. Our business school doctoral programme is designed to nurture critical thinkers and future leaders who will shape the landscape of global business in an era of rapid change and increasing complexity, making an original contribution to knowledge in the field.

Contact an expert in this field

Successful applicants have invariably had support with their application from one of our academics. We suggest you approach a suitable academic staff member with relevant research interests before progressing with your application.

Overview of our PhD programme in Business Management

Cultivating tomorrow's business leaders and innovators

Situated within a vibrant research community, our doctoral students benefit from world-class expertise across a spectrum of business and management disciplines. From sustainable business practices and digital transformation to the intricacies of international tourism and event management, our programme encourages innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to addressing the most pressing challenges in contemporary business and society.

We seek motivated individuals with solid analytical skills and a passion to undertake impactful research. Whether you come to us from abroad as an international student or you are already based in the UK, as a University of Brighton doctoral candidate in business management, you will have the opportunity to engage with cutting-edge theories, employ advanced methodologies, and collaborate with leading scholars and industry partners.

Our aim is to equip you with the skills and knowledge necessary to produce original research during your PhD study that not only advances academic understanding but also informs policy and practice in the real world.

Academic environment

Our dynamic academic environment fosters interdisciplinary research across key areas of business and management:

Sustainable business models and organisational resilience
Digital innovation and business transformation
Strategic management and leadership
Use of marketing technology and AI to promote responsible consumption
Global tourism, hospitality, and events management

Elm House, home to our School of Business and Law

Elm House, home to the University of Brighton's AACSB Accredited School of Business and Law.

Why choose our doctoral programme?

Interdisciplinary approach: Integrate traditional business disciplines with emerging fields for a comprehensive understanding of the business world.
Cutting-edge research: Utilise state-of-the-art facilities and collaborate with leading scholars.
Industry connections: Leverage our strong ties with local and international businesses, as well as global organisations such as the UN World Tourism Organization, UNESCO, and The World Bank.
Real-world impact: Contribute to research that informs policy and practice in business, tourism, and related sectors at local, national, and international levels.
Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation: ensures you receive a return on the investment you've made in your education. AACSB-accredited schools must pass stringent quality standards. They have been proven to provide the best in business education worldwide.

Join us at the University of Brighton's School of Business and Law

Join us in shaping the future of business management through rigorous research, innovative thinking, and a commitment to positive change. Your degree programme will take you on a journey towards becoming a thought leader in business management, supported by our extensive network of international agencies, governments, private businesses, and NGOs.

Graduation ceremony, two figures in red and blue robes on stage at the University of Brighton

Doctoral graduation from the University of Brighton.

Details of our doctoral research degree in business management

As a PhD business and management doctoral programme researcher at the University of Brighton, your postgraduate study will benefit from professional and supportive academic supervision.

You can also take advantage of a thriving research environment. You will be able to participate in research workshops and PhD research work-in-progress seminars, where you can receive constructive feedback on your research project and benefit from the full range of expertise at your disposal.

Research supervision for your PhD programme

You will benefit from research supervision comprising two or maximum three members of academic staff. Depending on your research specialism one of those supervisors may be from another school, another research institution, or an external partner from government or the law profession.

You will identify your potential supervisor from the early stages of application and they will usually then support you throughout your programme of study, helping you carry out your research interests, guiding your learning of rigorous research methods and preparing you for the next stage of your career.

You should consider the staff listed below and create a short draft research proposal identifying your suitability for supervision from that person's research specialism.

Research skills and research training

The independent research programme is balanced and enhanced with a range of support from our academic community. You and your fellow postgraduate researchers will have the opportunity to attend and present at regular seminar sessions with guests from across the world of business management research. The PhD programme will give you the opportunity to build research skills as well as developing transferable skills essential for modern business environments.

As a member of the Brighton Doctoral College, you will benefit from regular opportunities on a training programme designed to support postgraduate researchers at all stages of the PhD and help them achieve their career goals. Attendance at appropriate workshops within this programme is encouraged, as is contribution to the various seminar series hosted by the school. Academic and technical staff also provide more subject-specific training.

Postgraduate degree resources for business and management

You will benefit from access to international research resources, including a contemporary range of electronic resources via the university’s Online Library, as well as the physical book and journal collections housed within campus libraries. The library services are connected to national and international collections and students also have the option of inter-library loans.

We are based in the recently-built Elm House, a five-storey building at the university's modern campus in the bustling and progressive tourist city of Brighton and Hove. Our students have desk space and access to research facilities online and within the building.

Our research centres

Research is at the heart of our mission as a university business school, demonstrated by an extensive record of highly-recognised intellectual contributions, broadly associated with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and the UN Principles of Responsible Management Education (PRME). Within these, the school evidences thought leadership around action to reduce poverty, improved education, gender equality, responsible consumption, energy, and industry/infrastructure.

As a PhD candidate in Business Management, you will be based in the university AACSB Accredited School of Business and Law and will have the opportunity to be a member of our Research Excellence Groups (REGs). Among the most relevant to our business management PhD students are:

Business and Economic Change REG aims to understand how individual behaviour, activities from organisations, allocation and distribution from market process, and social and economic policy intervention can support responsible enterprise and a prosperous, fair and sustainable economy and society.
Digital Innovation and Transformation REG aims to pioneer insightful research on digital technologies, and their transformative impacts on business and society,
Tourism, Inclusion, Events and Society REG aims to produce world-leading, innovative and impactful research through interdisciplinary and transformative approaches that rethink knowledge and practices in ways that are socially just and environmentally sustainable.

Whatever your area of research, there are opportunities to connect across the university's wide range of research in premium departments, with regular invitations to the PhD community from related disciplinary interests fostered in our university-wide research centres (COREs) and research groups (REGs).

Supervisors and academic contacts

We strongly recommend that you apply with the support of one of our academics. By establishing your supervisor from the early stages of application, you will be supported through the application process and can make the best start to your programme of study.

You should consider the staff listed below and create a short draft research proposal identifying your suitability for supervision from that person's research specialism and your place in the wider context of the department's research ambitions. Their contact details are available on their full profile.

Our primary staff supervising in the discipline are listed. For further information on university supervisory staff, including cross-disciplinary options, please visit research staff on our research website.

Dr Gokhan Aydin

Online consumer behavior, digital marketing, technology adoption, quantitative studies.

Dr Murat Aymelek

Murat is interested in the supervision of both Master's and Doctorate level students willing to do research in the fields of maritime transport, logistics, supply chain management, business analytics, and business information systems.

Dr Jose Christian

Digital Innovation
Frugal Innovation
Informal Innovation Communities

Dr Anne Daguerre

An experienced PhD supervisor, Anne welcomes PhD applications in the field of Human Resource Management, welfare reform and active labour market policies, social security, social rights, decent work and economic growth (Sustainable Development Goal 8). She is particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches that combine public policy analysis with a socio-legal perspective. She is also keen to supervise PhDs that analyse policy reforms in the Global South (especially Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa).

Dr Francisca Farache Aureliano Da Silva

Francisca will be delighted to supervise students in Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Social Responsibility Communication, Sustainability, Marketing Responsibility, Green Marketing, Inclusive Marketing and Diversity.

Francisca is currently supervising 5 Phd research projects.

Dr Nkululeko Fuyane

I am open to taking up the supervisory role for Masters and Doctoral students in the following marketing fields

Marketing management, including [digital] strategy,
Digital consumer behaviour,
Services marketing,
Branding,
Agribusiness,
Influencer marketing,
Social and sustainable marketing,
Integrated marketing communications, and
AI in marketing/business.

Dr Aaron Gain

I am interested in supporting post-grdaute students in the fields of public sector management, the impact of the Future of Work on employees, employee relations and engagement, employee-ownership/cooperatives and alternative organisational forms.

Dr Hasan Gilani

I am interested in supervising PhD students on the broad subject area of, but not limited to, retail brands, brand management, corporate identity, corporate communication and employee branding. Other related areas of interest would be on service branding'marketing, halal branding, and corporate strategy.

Although I am happy to supervise any methodological approach, I prefer mixed methods as research design. I am more inclined towards structural equation modelling as well as exploratory qualitative research.

Dr Adam Jones

Sustainablity in Hospitality, Tourism and Events
Marketing Hospitality, Tourism and Events
Service quality and development in Hospitality, Tourism and Events

I am interested in supervising PhD students interested in sustainability related to tourism, marketing, and corporate social responsibility. I am also interested in those wanting to research behaviour change, especially related to the environmental crisis. Recently completed research and publications include those concerning behaviour change and travel demand management, destination planning and management and information overload on the internet. I specifically welcome projects that adopt innovative qualitative methodological approaches to creating new knowledge.

I am supervising students researching tourism and the circular economy, monitoring and evaluation of tourism development, art and the tourism economy and behaviour change as a result of environmental exposure

Dr Sohail Kamran

I am interested to supervsie doctoral students in the following areas.

Vulnerable cosnumer groups

Consumer vulnerability

Marketplace inclusion/ exclusion

Transformative Service Research

Consumer wellbeing

Consumer coping strategies to tackle marketplace issues

Marketing ethics

Paul Levy

Paul has supervised at post-graduate level for over a decade and currently is supervising at doctoral level, with international students focusing on the successful implementation of automation and aritifical intelligence in the financial sector. He is also involved insupervision of work examining public and private partnerships and how these relate to innovative behaviour in larger organisations.

Dr Nadia Lonsdale

I am interested in supervising PhD candidates who are drawn to topics of corporate environmental sustainability practices in developing countries, inclusive marketing, and corporate social responsibility. I am also interested in those wanting to explore institutional paradoxes of sustainability, especially in the cultural and environmental contexts.

I welcome projects that would like to explore innovative qualitative and mixed methodological approaches.

Dr Charlotte Meierdirk

My main research interests are management and leadership in both public and private organisations. At present, I'm supervising students completing PhDs in the areas of social learning in Nigerian public service and the promotion of women in Jordanian businesses.

Dr Rodrigo Lucena De Mello

I welcome students' research projects in the following areas: Consumer psychology and behaviour; Customer relationship marketing; Marketing for families; Gender and sexuality in marketing

Dr Irina Popova

Irina is interested in supervising PhD students in the following areas: social enterpise, start-ups, incubation, digitalisation. Any interdisciplinary topics as well as interests across the listed areas are particularly intersting and welcome. Irina is an experienced organisational ethnographer and has a passion for participatory research. She has been an external PhD examiner for a social enterpise focused thesis in November 2019.

Dr Surbhi Sehgal

I welcome doctoral research projects related to emotions in organisational and social settings, organisational change, well-being and happiness, resilient organisations, and cross-cultural management.

I have supervised three PhDs to completion and am currrently supervising two doctoral students.

Chowdhury, Md Rifad. A Phenomenographic Examination of Motivation to Work at the Municipal Corporation of Bangladesh. Awarded, 2023.

Gawarir, Azhar. Lived experiences of women in leadership positions in the public sector in Saudi Arabia post promulgation of vision 2030. Awarded, 2022.

Hasnat, Quasirat. An exploration of employee engagement and employee commitment in the London hotel sector: the perspectives of migrant housekeeping workers and their managers. Awarded, 2021

Martins, Olubukola. An Examination of The Moderating Effect of Organisational Culture and Organisational Support on the Relationship Between Telecommuting (WFH) and Employees Subjective Career Success. Ongoing.

Albayyouk, Alaa. Exploring the Influence of LMX Leadership Style on Building Team Resilience in the Workplace: The Case of UK’s Essential Workers During COVID-19 Lock-down. Ongoing.

Dr Kamila Walters

I’m interested in research supervision in: Supply Chain, Logistics and Operations Management - with emphasis on use of data analytics and quantitative methods in the supply chain to improve decision-making for all activities across the supply chain.

Making an application

Once you have prepared a first-rate application you can apply to the University of Brighton through our online application portal. When you do, you will require a research proposal, references, a personal statement and a record of your education.

You will be asked whether you have discussed your research proposal and your suitability for doctoral study with a member of the University of Brighton staff. We strongly recommend that all applications are made with the collaboration of at least one potential supervisor. Approaches to potential supervisors can be made directly through the details available online. If you are unsure, please do contact the Doctoral College for advice.

Please visit our How to apply for a PhD page for detailed information.

Fees and funding

Funding

Undertaking research study will require university fees as well as support for your research activities and plans for subsistence during full or part-time study.

Funding sources include self-funding, funding by an employer or industrial partners; there are competitive funding opportunities available in most disciplines through, for example, our own university studentships or national (UK) research councils. International students may have options from either their home-based research funding organisations or may be eligible for some UK funds.

Learn more about the funding opportunities available to you.

Tuition fees academic year 2024–25

Standard fees are listed below, but may vary depending on subject area. Some subject areas may charge bench fees/consumables; this will be decided as part of any offer made. Fees for UK and international/EU students on full-time and part-time courses are likely to incur a small inflation rise each year of a research programme.

MPhil/PhD
	Full-time	Part-time
UK	£4,786	£2,393
International (including EU)	£15,900	N/A
International students registered in the School of Humanities and Social Science or in the School of Business and Law	£14,500	N/A

PhD by Publication
Full-time	Part-time
N/A	£2,393

Contact Brighton Doctoral College

To contact the Doctoral College at the University of Brighton we request an email in the first instance. Please visit our contact the Brighton Doctoral College page.

For supervisory contact, please see individual profile pages.