This PhD will give you the opportunity to engage with debates surrounding entrepreneurship, such as knowledge production, organisational development, and innovation in the new economy. Our PhD candidates explore issues such as:

entrepreneurial disengagement
co-creation in social entrepreneurship
cognitive entrepreneurship and over-optimism

Our Strategy, Operations and Entrepreneurship Group, based at our Southend Campus, are a group of international researchers with an entrepreneurial focus. The group organises regular research seminars, giving you the chance to hear cutting-edge research and network with scholars from the school and the wider academic community.
Their research is multi-disciplinary and falls within two broad and interrelated streams – management science and entrepreneurship and SME management. Current research projects include exploring “Autism and the world of work” – looking at the challenges faced by individuals with autism spectrum disorder in the workplace and how they can be offered better support and understanding; and “Accelerating women’s enterprise” – research in partnership with the Accelerating-women’s Enterprise (AWE) project exploring the challenges and barriers faced by disadvantaged women entrepreneurs.
You study at Essex Business School (EBS), the largest department at the University of Essex, at our Southend Campus. We are a business school with an international outlook. Our doctoral students join us from all over the world and we are committed to the UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME).
We encourage you to develop connections with practitioners and policy makers and draw on these insights to develop new approaches to the study of entrepreneurship and innovation. We also offer you opportunities to work alongside social enterprises to inform your doctoral research.
Your future
Our PhD programmes are designed to foster the business leaders and researchers of the future. Our graduates use creativity, innovation, and ethical awareness to meet the many challenges facing the international business world.
Our doctoral graduates have secured roles in academia at some of the best international universities, as well as organisations in the public and private sectors. Recent examples include careers with Leeds University Business School, Cambridge Education, EY (Ernst and Young) and the public sector around the world.
Our University Student Development Careers Services are on hand to provide careers advice and help you make the most of your Essex experience. You will also have access to CV workshops, one-to-one advice, and career resources.