PhD in Finance

The Finance PhD program at HEC Paris provides students with rigorous training in financial economics delivered in a vibrant research department.

Our stimulating research environment allows PhD students to grow as researchers and to obtain jobs in top academic institutions at the end of the thesis.

Why are HEC Paris PhD graduates so successful in the academic job market?

The first ingredient is rigorous training. The HEC Paris finance department partners with the economics department at IP Paris to provide students with solid training in finance + economics + econometrics.

The second ingredient is the excellence of the faculty. Finance professors at HEC Paris publish in top academic finance and economics journals and hold editorial positions in journals such as the Journal of Finance and the Review of Financial Studies.

The third ingredient is the collegiality of the HEC Paris finance group. Ph.D. students have numerous opportunities to interact with faculty and discuss research. Some of these opportunities happen in organized events: courses, weekly research seminars, pre-seminar workshops, weekly internal seminars, annual Ph.D. workshops, mock job market interviews in the final year of the thesis, and so on (see below for more information on these events).

Research interactions also and perhaps mostly happen informally. If you come to the HEC Paris Finance department, you will find that doors are open and you will probably find professors and students chatting about research at the coffee machine. Students can present their research in the internal research seminar. When faculty or students want to learn about a research field, they set up a reading group inviting interested faculty and students to read papers together and discuss research ideas.

The HEC Paris Finance PhD program is relatively small compared to the size of the faculty. We usually hire two or three PhD students per year and the department has about twenty research faculty. This high faculty-to-student ratio fosters the quality of interactions between students and faculty.

Our connections in top universities around the world allow PhD students to spend a semester or a year visiting another university.