PhD Program in Management Call for PhD students

NEOMA Business School is looking for PhD students to enter our PhD Programme starting in Fall 2022. Eight fully funded, 4-year positions in NEOMA’s Areas of Excellence are available. Additional qualified students might be admitted as well. 

Our focus

It is a great time to join the PhD Programme at NEOMA Business School. We just re-booted the Programme, to tightly weave it with the four multi-disciplinary Areas of Excellence we launched in 2021: The World We Want, The Future of Work, The Complexity Advantage, and AI, Data Science, & Business (for more information on the Areas, see the Areas of Excellence web page). Each new PhD student will be affiliated with one of these Areas and closely cooperate with faculty members who work on research projects focusing on topics in the selected Area. Eight of these positions will be fully funded for the duration of the Programme (four years).

What we are looking for

We are looking for high-potential PhD students who are passionate about research topics related to our Areas of Excellence. Eight positions are fully funded for the duration of the Programme (four years). PhD students admitted to these positions will receive a very competitive monthly salary, health care benefits, and support for research/study-related costs (e.g., courses, visit, and conferences abroad). As an additional strength of our Programme, admitted students will be affiliated, from the start, to one of the Areas of Excellence, and to the research community, activities, and projects of such Area. Benefits of affiliation with one of the Areas include supervision by and collaboration with top scholars in the Area, resources the Area makes available to its affiliates, and membership in a thriving community of researchers who are passionate about the Areas’ topics.

What we offer

As a funded PhD student of NEOMA you will receive:

• Financial support for the full length of the Programme (four years) in the form of a very competitive monthly salary, healthcare benefits, waiver of tuition fees, and support for research/study-related costs. All support is conditional upon regular progress in the Programme
• Intensive training and coaching to develop your research skills
• Top academic supervisors to individually coach you on how to conduct and publish your research
• A focused set of core Programme courses (providing basic researcher skills), complemented with more focused learning modules at NEOMA as well as partner/network institutions (providing specialized skills needed in your own research)
• Affiliation to and collaboration with other researchers (faculty, post-docs, other PhD students) in one of NEOMA’s Areas of Excellence
• All work and supervision in English (knowledge of French is not required)
• A research environment supporting the ambition to publish in top-quality international journals. In recent years, NEOMA’s faculty have published their research in top academic journals such as Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Organization Science, Management Science, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Financial Economics, MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, European Journal of Operational Research, and The Accounting Review (for more information, see the highlights on our PhD web page)
• Prospects to get a job in top business schools after graduation, in France and abroad. Recent NEOMA PhD graduates have obtained jobs at top institutions worldwide, such as University of Minnesota, National Economics University (Vietnam), University of Balamand (Lebanon), Skema
• Business School (France), Grenoble Ecole de Management (France), IESEG School of Management (France), and EM Normandie (France) • Opportunity to work in a truly global environment, allowing you to network with the international scientific community
  • 66% of NEOMA faculty are international (i.e., not French nationals) and have an extensive international network of researchers whom you might access through them
  • More than 90% of NEOMA PhD students are international (i.e., not French nationals)

Your studies

Please provide copies of your diplomas and study transcripts of your previous degrees

An advanced degree is required: e.g., Master’s degree, MSc or MBA – in business administration, management, economics, or any other relevant field for your selected research topic.
Evidence of a degree that will be completed by the start of the program (September) will also be accepted.
Admission with an undergraduate degree can be considered for exceptional candidates.

Your language skills

Please provide a copy of a language test certificate, with one of the following minimum scores : TOEFL : 83, IELTS : 6.0 in each band, PTE : 62 or Cambridge : 175

– or evidence that your previous degree’s official study language was English. 

Sample of academic writing

Please provide an example of academic writing, e.g., a Master’s thesis, research report, working paper, or a published article.

GMAT/GRE

You can apply even without a GMAT/GRE test score, but it is highly recommended to take the test. If you do not have access to the test for reason or another, please provide evidence of high GPAs of your previous degrees.

What others say about you

Please submit two recommendation letters.

Which Area of Excellence (AE) are you applying to?

NEOMA PhD students are recruited directly to one of the four Areas of Excellence. The goal is to have each PhD student affiliated with one of the Areas, in order to closely integrate to and cooperate with research projects and faculty members working on those particular themes.

Please select the Area you feel would match best your research project amongst: 

• The World We Want
• The Future of Work
• The Complexity Advantage
• Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science, & Business

Which research theme of the AE are you applying to?

Each Area of Excellence is organised in several sub-research tracks. Each student will be affiliated to one of the sub-research track. Please select your preferred track within the selected Area of Excellence.

• The World We Want
  • Inclusion, Equality and Diversity
  • Finance for Good
  • Developing Sustainable Practices
  • Good health, Well-being and Happiness 

• The Future of Work
  • The Future or Leadership
  • The Future of Jobs and Working Conditions
  • The Future of Organising
  • The Future of Knowledge 

• The Complexity Advantage
  • Social and Organisational Complexity
  • Markets, Information and Complexity
  • Value Chain and Operational Complexity
  • The Complexity of Crowds
  • The Complexity of Problems, Solutions and Decisions 

• Artificial Intelligence (AI), Data Science & Business
  • Data Science for Insights & Value Creation
  • AI-based Competitive Advantage & Growth
  • The Unintended Consequences of AI & Data Science
  • Users Experience of AI.

Which of the following disciplines of management and business research your preliminary research question mostly relates to?

Please list the disciplines, which relate most to your research project amongst the following:

Accounting, economics, strategy, entrepreneurship, finance, organization studies, organisational behaviour, information systems, international business, marketing/consumer research, operations research, supply chain management. 

Short research proposal

Please submit a short research proposal of maximum 2 pages, references excluded, outlining:

• A specific research question you would like to study (within the selected research theme)
• How you would study this question (i.e., with what kind of data and research approach/method). If you already have access to data about the research topic (e.g., company database, commercially available database, or public register data)
• Which of the following disciplines of management and business research your preliminary research question mostly relates to: accounting, economics, strategy, entrepreneurship, finance, organisation studies, organizational behaviour, information systems, international business, marketing/consumer research, operations research, or supply chain management. 

Optional long research proposal

If you wish to add further details to your short research proposal, you can submit a longer research proposal. This is not compulsory.

Note. 30 pages limitation, references included. 

You will be also required to answer to a series of questions aimed at demonstrating passion for research, interest, and knowledge about the research topic you applied for, intention to study full-time for four years, and strong motivation to pursue an academic career.

Documents required + optional:

The following documents are required:

• Copies of diplomas (Master’s degree, MSc or MBA – in business administration, management, economics, or any other relevant field for your selected research topic.

Evidence of a degree that will be completed by the start of the program (September) will also be accepted. Admission with an undergraduate degree can be considered for exceptional candidates.)

• Study transcripts of your previous degrees
• Copy of language test certificate, with a minimum score (TOEFL : 83, IELTS : 6.0 in each band, PTE : 62 or Cambridge : 175) – or evidence that your previous degree’s official study language was English.
• Sample of academic writing – e.g., a Master’s thesis, research report, working paper, or a published article
• Short research proposal related to the selected research theme (under the Areas of Excellence) – a .pdf attachment, max 2 pages – references excluded
• Selection of one Area of Excellence and one sub-research theme
• Two recommendation letters

The following documents are optional:

• GMAT/GRE –  highly recommended to take the test and supply test score
• Evidence of high GPAs in previous degrees
• Optional long research proposal – a .pdf attachment, 30 pages limitation