Your PhD at Maastricht University School of Business and Economics
As a PhD candidate at the Maastricht University School of Business and Economics (SBE), you will gain the skills to conduct both fundamental and applied research. With strong institutional support and opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration, you can work with societal partners to address global challenges and real-world issues. SBE provides the resources, mentorship, and academic network to support your journey.
The SBE Graduate School offers four specialised PhD programmes that are designed to accommodate different career paths. Whether you choose a full-time, part-time, or external PhD, a scholarship-funded track, or an executive PhD, you’ll find a programme that fits your ambitions.
PhD in Innovation, Economics, Governance and Sustainable Development
The PhD programme on Innovation, Economics, Governance and Sustainable Development (IEGSD) at UNU-MERIT offers a world-class education, training, and supervision to PhD candidates studying the transformative effects of:
- innovative technologies,
- public policies,
- governance on global development outcomes.
Being part of Maastricht University (UM) and the United Nations University (UNU), the programme combines academic rigour with real-world policy challenges and benefits from extensive networks and resources. The programme offers two tracks: a Full-Time track for resident fellows and a Dual Career track for professionals combining their careers with PhD research.
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PhD in Sustainability Science
The Maastricht Sustainability Institute’s (MSI) research spans
- sustainable development concepts,
- governance systems,
- evaluations of sustainability initiatives,
- analysis of innovation and transitions.
PhD candidates, guided by academic supervisors, explore these issues using an inter- and transdisciplinary approach that blends theories, methods, and data from multiple fields. Methods include assessment, modelling, scenarios, discourse and cultural analysis, action research, case studies, and multilevel analysis, which are integrated to enrich research projects.
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PhD in Economics and Business
The PhD programme in Economics and Business offers excellent and comprehensive training and expert supervision to PhD candidates who want to do high-quality research on a topic in Economics or Business.
The Economics and Business PhD programme offers opportunities for a broad range of PhD candidates:
- 4-year and 6-year employment contracts,
- scholarship PhDs,
- externally funded PhDs.
Due to the strong international links of the departments, the Economics and Business PhD programme also offers opportunities for double-degree and joint-degree PhD programmes with renowned universities worldwide.
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Executive PhD in Private Sector Development
The part-time Maastricht School of Management (MSM) Executive PhD in Private Sector Development allows working professionals and researchers with full-time or part-time jobs to combine their careers with obtaining a PhD.
The programme provides advanced training in the theory and skills crucial to private sector development, design, and research.
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