PhD Programme

INSEAD PhD On-campus information session in Fontainebleau, France.

If you are keen to find out more about the programme, join us for the afternoon. 

INSEAD hosts the first PhD Award Ceremony in Singapore

Have you ever wondered what life is like as a PhD student? One of our PhD Candidates, Christiane Bode, together with her peers, shares with us her experience in the PhD Programme through one of our videos.

About our PhD student in the spotlight:

Christiane Bode is a PhD candidate at INSEAD. She is exploring how the process of social entrepreneurship unfolds inside large corporations. Her research focuses on the strategic actions individuals take to gain and sustain support for ‘social business’ initiatives.

During her undergraduate studies at New York University, Christiane became interested in the economics of emerging markets which combined with her interest in learning new languages led her to spend time studying the subject and gaining work experience in various South American countries. After receiving her Masters’ degree in International Relations from LSE, Christiane had a short stint at the United Nations in New York before joining the Brattle Group, an economic consulting and litigation firm in Boston. Later she relocated to London and joined Economic Consulting Associates where her work focused on access to energy studies with the World Bank mostly in Central Europe and South East Asia before moving to Singapore and joining INSEAD.

Bastian Von Beschwitz (Germany) PhD Candidate in Finance BSc Business Administration, WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management, Germany; MSc Accounting and Finance, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK

"The faculty support and mentorship that I receive as a PhD student at INSEAD is truly incredible. Professors are extremely supportive and put much effort into teaching PhD courses, as well as mentoring students. Any professor at INSEAD, whose expertise is relevant to my research, will take time to discuss it. Getting feedback from so many different top researchers has really helped me to move my research forward.

Moreover, the research support I receive as a PhD student is very good – from the finances to buy data or visit conferences to unique opportunities that allow us to pursue our research hands-on at the best research and academic institutions worldwide, including the strategic INSEAD-Wharton Alliance. Having the opportunity to visit Wharton, which has one of the best Finance departments in the U.S., is amazing and has been very important in my academic development.

5th INSEAD PhD Finance Workshop INSEAD Finance Area recently organized the traditional yearly mini two-day conference in the Europe campus that gathers PhD students from European schools with the purpose of presenting their work to each other and INSEAD faculty. This year, the INSEAD Finance faculty and students hosted PhD students from HEC, LBS, LSE, Toulouse School of Economics and University of Amsterdam. The conference has always been a great opportunity for INSEAD PhD students to meet new colleagues, discuss researches and exchange fresh ideas. This is the fifth time that the conference is taking place and it has become a valuable part of the programme and the institution. (Thank you to Marija Djordjevic, PhD Candidate in Finance, for the photo and write up about the conference) 

Are you keen on pursuing research that seeks to identify and understand the market and institutional forces that affect the production and use of information by organisations? Or simply put – research topics that fall on either one of the categories – financial accounting and managerial accounting? Don’t be overwhelmed if you do not have a background in accounting or business but you are keen on pursuing the Accounting area. The Accounting specialisation is similar to a PhD in applied economics of information and contracts. Programme participants will receive comprehensive training in economics and behavioral science so that they have the fundamental tools needed to conduct rigorous research.  In addition to receiving classroom instruction, participants will work with faculty members who do cutting-edge research in a wide variety of areas.  Consequently, participants will develop a creative perspective that will help them identify interesting and promising research questions.

Ideal candidates for the Accounting specialisation have strong academic backgrounds in economics, mathematics, statistics, or related fields.  Prior work experience in accounting, consulting, banking, or related areas is helpful but not required.  Although a good understanding of accounting rules is expected by the end of the programme, prior exposure is not required for a successful application.

(Last installment of a series of 3)

Watch Kriti in this PhD Programme video as she talks about what research is like. For more PhD videos, visit our playlist on YouTube.

Over last five years, the professors I worked with not only became my co-authors but also my mentors with whom I discussed everything ranging from statistical analyses, how to make teaching fun, to more philosophical stuff such as the purpose and meaning of life. I know I will continue to collaborate with them and will give them a call when I need any help.

I came in to the programme with many ideas. I received fantastic training. I experimented with new ideas I had never imagined before. I failed as well. I found people who I enjoyed working with and who treated me like an important colleague. Together, we celebrated successes. Each day felt the same, but as I look back, my life has completely changed. That was INSEAD for me.

(Part II)

As many people would say from their experiences, third year is perhaps the fun year of a PhD life. Students take vacations after finishing the grueling comps. This did not happen for me. The summer of 2010 was when the Soccer World Cup was to happen. Along with the same professor (one who had emailed me a year ago), we had decided to collect soccer fans’ predictions. This eventually turned out to be a huge project. We began recruiting participants from all possible sources – we ran Facebook and Google ads, posted discussions in soccer forums, gave interviews to print media. Research became so much fun. We ran web pages where participants could track their prediction performance as matches happened. We ultimately paid out around $3500 as prize money. In return, we got a lot of interesting data and interesting results!

Here are some useful tips when preparing your PhD application to ensure you are putting your best foot forward:

1) Get started early and finish your statement of purpose well ahead of the deadline.  

Go through the list of minimum requirements for admission and start to complete these as early as possible. If you do not have original or certified true copies of your degree transcripts, make a request as early as possible. Give your university some time to complete and send these over to you.

Build relationship with your identified referees, especially if they are faculty members that you have not been in touch with for a while.  Do ask for letters of recommendation about 3 months in advance (no less than 30 days in advance).

Do also note that our recommendation letters are triggered by the online application form, which will only be made available in early Fall. It is during this period that some of your faculty members will be on holiday. Thus, it is best that you let them know that they will receive the online form during the period so that they will be able to keep an eye for it. 

2) Make sure you submit everything needed (supporting documents, transcripts and letters of recommendation) by the deadline - completed and timely applications are viewed more favorably by the admissions committee.

Our application process is online. Thus, you do not need to send us hard copies of your original documents. All you have to do is scan these and save as PDF or JPEG. Ensure that the size is 1MB or even smaller.  You can use this online free service http://www.smallpdf.com to compress your PDF attachments.

INSEAD PhD Alumnus / Student Spotlight will feature some of our alumni and students who have taken this challenging and fulfilling career in business research and academia, realizing it through the INSEAD PhD Programme. This will come in the form of a testimonial or an account of their academic journey in the programme. For our first feature, we have our recent graduate, Kriti Jain from India. Kriti has recently earned her PhD in Management degree, specializing in Decision Sciences and is now with IE Business School in Spain, as an Assistant Professor.

Each day feels the same, but when you look back, everything is different.

by: Kriti Jain (India) Assistant Professor, IE Business School, Spain Background: BA (Hons) in Economics, Delhi University, India; Masters in Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India; PhD in Management, Decision Sciences, INSEAD (2013) 

Research interests: Behavioral Decision Making, Judgmental Forecasting, Traits and Emotions at the Workplace, Behavioral Economics, Crowdsourcing, Negotiation

(Part 1)

Every top B-school PhD programme boasts of the same things: high-quality faculty, intensive training in research methods, and cutting-edge research. While describing the life of a PhD student, esoteric words – ‘being entrepreneurial’; ‘experimentation’; ‘apprenticeship’ – are often used. This can leave potential applicants with vague imaginations about what really happens in a PhD. So, let me share with you my story.