Doctoral Program in Finance

You have been seriously and with growing interest studying Finance, Economics and Econometrics, and you are wondering whether you are able to make a genuine academic contribution of your own? You are interested in pursuing a PhD in Finance at a research-oriented university? You would like to become part of a research-active team with an exciting and innovative scientific agenda? Then you should consider joining our Doctoral Program in Finance (DPF).
The DPF offers a strictly research-oriented education with a coursework component and a structured supervision process. The coursework component will teach you skills that will enable you to comprehend the most recent research in the areas of your interest. There is a commitment of an interactive and well-developed supervision process, supporting the development of your own research agenda and helping you to become an independent thinker in your field. It is part of our mission to make you visible as an independent researcher at the end of your studies, enabling you to apply successfully for academic positions all over the world. To help you get there, the DPF expects you to present your work once every academic year in a research seminar, and to actively participate in at least one international conference/workshop during your doctoral studies.

Interested? Here is what you need: for a start, the DPF relies on a well-defined level of competence in core fields of modern finance, economics, and econometrics as, for example, defined in the core courses of our Msc. Program in Economics and Finance. However, the DPF is also open to applicants with backgrounds in other fields than economics. In this case, you may be asked to take the core courses (or a subset of them) in your first year here, in order to ensure your sound knowledge in those fields.

The coursework component of the DPF requires each student to take field courses worth 27 ECTS. The selection of these courses is part of the supervision agreement, so you are not left alone when you will decide on your course selection. Here are examples of the classes that are/ have been offered:

• Financial Economics
• Continuous Time Finance
• Empirical Asset Pricing
• Numerical Methods in Finance
• Statistics of Financial Markets
• Empirical Banking
• Current Topics in International Business Taxation
•  Financial Market Microstructure

Details and course descriptions can be found in the module handbook (see download section). Please note that this program may change from year to year, also in response to the qualification objectives of our program.

If you have successfully completed a Master program and have taken classes on PhD level during your studies, you may transfer credits to the DPF. However, this transfer is restricted to 18 ECTS.

So, what next? Admission to the DPF is coordinated with the admission process as a doctoral student. Your best strategy is to get in touch with a potential supervisor of your thesis. How can you do this? Just browse our websites and explore our diverse research activities. You find a group of (financial) economists and a group of econometricians. Make an appointment and discuss your options. Then ask your potential supervisor to get the ball rolling: enroll as a doctoral student and apply for admission to the DPF.
You may also submit an application without naming a supervisor. In this case the coordinator of the DPF will consider your application and approach potential supervisors for you. However, in order to avoid disapointment, we recommend that you explore our diverse research options first.

If you are enrolled in a Master program at the University of Tübingen, you may want to consider the PhD track. This track also allows you to start the supervision process in the second year of the program. After one year in the program, you may contact a potential supervisor and ask for supervision. This supervision will be based on an arrangement that specifies your (preliminary) research interest and should make acceptance as a doctoral student easier once you have completed your degree (although it does not guarantee that you will be accepted as a doctoral student). The main purpose is to offer academic guidance at an early stage.

Note carefully that the DPF itself does not offer any funding, albeit there are plenty of opportunities to work as research and teaching assistant. Furthermore, we are more than happy to give you advice on funding options. At the same time, the DPF does not charge any tuition fees.

I hope that you will consider joining our program. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us under joachim.grammigspam prevention@uni-tuebingen.de.

Joachim Grammig
Professor of Econometrics and Empirical Economics
Coordinator of the DPF