PhD in Business and Law at the University of Brighton

For some time now, the university’s School of Business and Law’s mission and vision has been to advance, support and shape responsible enterprise for a fairer society through education, research, collaboration and thought leadership, to prepare learners for practice and to promote inclusive practices that respect diversity.

Research is at the heart of this mission, 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 the SDGs, the school evidences thought leadership around action to reduce poverty, improved education, gender equality, responsible consumption, energy, and industry/infrastructure.

Four Research Excellence Groups (REGs) are bringing together faculty and doctoral students working on key research areas:

• The Law, Society and Justice (LawSoJust) REG brings together scholars working in the fields of social justice and accountability.  The group shares a distinctly critical and socio-legal approach, which highlights the role law plays, both, in driving for social justice but also in maintaining certain social injustices. 
• The Digital Innovation and Transformation REG (DIT REG) aims to be at the forefront of understanding, exploring, and harnessing the power of digital technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to drive innovation and sustainable growth aligned with changes in consumer behaviour. 
• The 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. 
• The Tourism, Hospitality and Events REG (THE) works as an interdisciplinary open pool of researchers from across the University and practitioners from a well-established network of international agencies, governments, private businesses and NGOs, destinations communities at local, national and international level.

Key projects of our research within these wider research areas aim to progress knowledge and bring change to a number of global challenges, such as:

• Innovation: Dr Ceylan Onay Sahin is leading Research on Financial Technologies and its impact on financial services business models, firm performance, financial literacy, financial inclusion and technology adoption as part of a wider research interest of the School around digital technologies.
• Justice: Dr Chris Magill has been leading on several live projects around Tackling Violence Against Women and Girls with Sussex Police, British Academy and Nuffield Trust, Home Office, Thames Valley Police, Kent and Surrey County councils. 
• Health and wellbeing: Originating from top journal publication and the non-fiction bestseller ‘Blue Spaces’ (2021), Dr Catherine Kelly’s research on the importance of blue spaces for human wellbeing has been hugely influential on outdoor, recreation and water-based tourism as well as key stakeholders aiming to improve health and wellbeing benefits resulting from better access and inclusion in outdoor swimming.
• Prosperity and social inclusion: Various projects run with the Business and Economic Change REG to understand the impact of education and higher education on earnings, employment and social mobility, the role of work, income, tax and welfare policies as mechanisms to achieve social inclusion and equal participation in prosperity and how a fair distribution of work between men and women, and across families and social groups can be achieved.

How to Apply

You will need to submit a detailed research proposal to your application for a self-funded position. This proposal will need to be appropriate to the level of study (PhD) and suitable for the University of Brighton – Most importantly, we must ensure we have the right supervisors/experts for your project and we have all the resources in place so you receive the support you need.

To develop your research idea, we therefore recommend you approach one of our researchers who may become your lead supervisor. For the five steps leading to a PhD application at the University of Brighton, information on tuition fees and funding, entry requirements and deadlines, visit our PhD application website.

Alternatively, your application may outline your suitability for an advertised funded research project as detailed on our PhD funding and opportunities page.

For more information

FAQ: Brighton as a city and the University of Brighton as a place to study

FAQ: PhD funding UK for overseas students, visas and language requirements

FAQ: Support and facilities during your PhD studies