PhD studies

PhD students discussing research
Phd studies in Management and Organisation

Faculty affiliated with the subject of Management and Organisation (M&O) are active in research and publishing in international academic journals. The volume and range of our research activities is vast, and this is reflected in our doctoral studies supervision. We encourage ambitious aspiring scholars who are interested in doing research to consider applying for doctoral studies in M&O.

Doctoral theses recently defended in our subject include:

  • Socio-technological encounters and new discursive dynamics in social media spaces (Anna Maaranen, 2023)
  • Coping with managerialism and instrumentalism in academic work: Acquiring emotional competence, developing creative ideas, and finding meaning (Anna Dziuba, 2022)
  • Project concepts, project concept design, and other topics affecting the front-end of projects (Pekka Buttler, 2022)
  • Breaking free of the binary: Gender habitus, heteronormative domination, and classificatory struggles (Jagat Bahadur Kunwar, 2021)
  • The art of knowing: An ethnography inside a financial services organization (Lauri Storbacka, 2021)
  • Individual perceptions of value and value creation: The human side of the board of directors of the entrepreneurial growth company (Mirja Kaarlela, 2021)

Please check out the Hanken home pages of our senior faculty members (professors) to see if their research interests match with your ideas for doctoral studies. You are welcome to contact them to discuss your research interests and ideas.

The doctoral degree at Hanken comprises 240 ECTS, of which 60 ECTS consist of PhD courses. The degree takes about four years to complete. Beyond our own courses, Hanken participates in several national doctoral schools and in international networks, which offer a wide selection of courses available for the doctoral students. Courses can be taken via Hanken, KATAJA (the national doctoral school in business economics) and by EDEN Programme (a part of EIASM, the European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management), or in other universities that offer courses suitable to your field of research. The courses acquaint you with research methodologies and methods and offer you knowledge about theories and theorizing on management and organisation.

Most of the work during your doctoral studies consists of a Doctoral dissertation that is either a monograph or a compilation of articles and/or essays you write on your chosen focus area.

As a doctoral student, we encourage you to engage in meaningful research. You get help and support from your supervisors, but we expect you to work independently and ambitiously. If you wish to take read dissertations that have been written by our former doctoral students, you can visit this page.

Hanken's doctoral students belong to Hanken’s PhD Programme and in their web pages you can find information about how to apply for doctoral studies.