Programme Structure

Learning Goals

The PhD programme is informed by a number of key objectives:

• Education focused on careers and business performance
• A set of values – “put in more than you take out"
• The personal development and well-being of our students
• A real-business educational environment. 
• Rigorous research that serves and critically evaluates business

And aims to achieve five key learning objectives:

• Identifying and developing the critical knowledge, skill, and expertise required to thrive in an international research and teaching environment that is intensive, collaborative, enjoyable, and results-oriented
• Appreciating and critiquing the philosophical foundations, theories, and practices of social science research
• Identifying, critiquing, and justifying the key elements of an integrated programme of research leading to the award of a higher degree by research;
• Effectively planning, conducting, and communicating rigorous, valid, and ethical research;
• Critically examining and evaluating ongoing or completed research projects.

Academic Supervision

Each student is assigned a principal supervisor with whom they will work closely with and are expected to maintain regular contact.  If it is deemed academically useful a co-supervisor may also be appointed. All principal supervisors are appointed from within Trinity Business School while co-supervisors may be appointed from other Schools throughout the University. In certain circumstances, co-supervisors may be appointed from other Universities or industry partners depending on the nature of the research being undertaken.

Each candidate is also assigned a Thesis Committee which contains a domain expert and one other person. This committee will oversee the annual confirmation and transfer process and to act as an additional resource. 

Structured Elements of the PhD programme

Students take the structured elements in the first 2 years of their degree. Every student must take a minimum of 30 ECTS credits before the end of their 2nd year and before their Confirmation on the PhD register. All must be passed at a level of 60% or above. Each module below accounts for 5 ECTS credits.

*CA7000 is delivered online. This module is a requirement for every new Research Student in Trinity College but does not count towards your Business Structured elements (30 ECTS).

Students can take additional “overload” modules if they desire, for which no credit but a certificate of completion will be given. 

Below please see a broad outline of the modules. Full syllabi, learning objectives etc. are available on the module Blackboard page:

Introduction to Management Research BU8005: PhD expectations and the journey, supervisor management, assessment of novelty and contribution, global v local in research, impact, dissemination channels.

Publishing and Professional Practice in Management Research BU8007: types of scholarly output (journals, books etc); journal ecosystems; good paper design; effective communication of research findings; reviewing ; conferences and workshops.

Introduction to Qualitative Method BU8022: introduction to qualitative research paradigms and the choices of data collection and analysis methods in the delivery of successful business research projects. Topics include research design, sampling, interviewing, data preparation and analysis. 

Advanced Qualitative Methods BU8013: phenomenology and case research; archival text analysis, observations, triangulation with multiple sources, exploring mixed methods.

Quantitative Methods 1/ Quantitative Methods 2 BU8014/BU8015: Introduction to statistical methods and reasoning in management research; measuring and the nature of data; exploratory data analysis; measuring relationships between variables; multivariate statistics; nonparametric statistics; Bayesian reasoning; effective graphical communication.

Theorising Management BU8019: Theorising management, limits to present management theories across selected domains, testing management theories in practice.

Advanced Statistical Modelling Techniques for Applied Organisational Research BU8023: field experiments; discontinuity designs; directed and undirected graphs; mediation, moderation; Structured equation models; linear and nonlinear causality models.

To be confirmed on the PhD register, students must:

• Have satisfactorily completed the Structured Elements (30 ECTS) in the structured PhD programme; 
• Have designed and delivered a Research Seminar; 
• Have completed REAMS ethics training;
• Have regularly attend the School Seminar Series;
• Have prepared and submitted a formal Confirmation Report, made a formal Confirmation Presentation, participated in a formal Confirmation Interview, and satisfactorily met any other requirements associated with the Confirmation Process.

In years 3 and 4 of the programme students are expected to participate in the intellectual life of the School, to attend and present at conferences, and to engage with the scholarly aspects of their discipline, such as reviewing papers and mentoring junior students. 

Additional programme Requirements

By agreement with the Director of Doctoral Studies and the Academic Supervisor, a PhD student may be encouraged to participate in one or more additional modules to compensate for deficiencies in their knowledge deemed essential to the proposed programme of research. Such modules may be drawn from, but not limited to, the options outlined below:

• Modules offered as part of the suite of taught postgraduate programmes within Trinity Business School.
• Modules offered by Business Schools in partner institutions as part of the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (TCD, UCD, DCU, NUIM, TUD).
• Modules offered in the areas of research philosophy, methodology and methods offered by other Schools within the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. 

Enrolment in research modules offered by other Schools is subject to both the availability of places and permission to enrol.