Our activities are organised around the department’s research centres which cover the main research areas in economics and multidisciplinary research that is conducted together with the departments of Computer Science and Psychology.

We organise weekly seminars with external speakers and advanced PhD students are encouraged to meet with our visitors. During the academic year we hold a PhD seminar and every spring we organise our Annual PhD conference where PhD students from other universities are invited to present and keynotes are given by prominent academics.

You will begin on the MPhil degree for the first two years and will need to meet certain requirements to progress – to upgrade - to PhD student status.

In your first year, you will have to take advanced economics training that provides skills and knowledge necessary to proceed to the independent research work (see PhD Training Programme for details). The PhD courses are taught by our own faculty, as well as by external experts. Additional training opportunities (such as external summer schools or workshops) can be funded by the Department according to individual students’ specific research needs. Finally, generic research skills training is provided at the College level. The remaining years of the programme are fully devoted to research.

Part of the training throughout the programme is attending internal and external seminar series. In addition, we run a PhD seminar series where students present their on-going research and receive feedback from their peers and the faculty.

The community is relatively small with about 30 students enrolled, thereby ensuring a consistently high level of interaction between the students and academics.

Candidates for a place on the MPhil/PhD programme should have completed an undergraduate degree and a taught Masters in Economics, with a distinction or a high pass, in a relevant subject.

Before applying we recommend securing a supervisor in order to apply for your research project.

We advise getting in touch with the Director of Postgraduate Education making an informal enquiry for your chosen research degree to inquire whether there is any other additional material they require you to submit in your application.

The department actively supports the placement of PhD graduates in positions at universities, research institutes, government agencies, and private corporations. Examples of recent placements include:

• Bristol University
• London School of Economics
• University of Stirling
• Cardiff Metropolitan University
• Max Planck Institute, Germany
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
• Institute for Employment Studies.

For more information about placements see the PhD Job Market.

Home (UK) students tuition fee per year*: £4,786

EU and international students tuition fee per year**: £21,500

Other essential costs***: There are no additonal costs greater than £50 per item.

…How do I pay for it? Find out more about funding options, including loans, grants, scholarships and bursaries. 

* and ** These tuition fees apply to students enrolled on a full-time basis in the academic year 2025/26.

* Please note that for research courses, we adopt the minimum fee level recommended by the UK Research Councils for the Home tuition fee. Each year, the fee level is adjusted in line with inflation (currently, the measure used is the Treasury GDP deflator). Fees displayed here are therefore subject to change and are usually confirmed in the spring of the year of entry. For more information on the Research Council Indicative Fee please see the UKRI website.

** This figure is the fee for EU and international students starting a degree in the academic year 2025/26.  

Royal Holloway reserves the right to increase fees for overseas fee-paying students annually. Be aware that tuition fees can rise during your degree (if longer than one year’s duration), and that this also means that the overall cost of studying the course part-time will be slightly higher than studying it full-time in one year. The annual increase for continuing students who start their degree in 2025/26 will be 5%.  For further information see fees and funding and the  terms and conditions.

*** These estimated costs relate to studying this particular degree at Royal Holloway during the 2025/26 academic year and are included as a guide. Costs, such as accommodation, food, books and other learning materials and printing, have not been included.