phd doctor in research

What is a PhD?

• Types of Doctorates
• A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) is the highest globally recognized postgraduate degree that higher education institutions can award.
• PhDs are awarded to candidates who undertake original and extensive research in a particular field of study.
• Full time PhD programmes typically last three to four years, whilst part time PhD programmes typically last six to seven years.
• A PhD can lead to an academia teaching role or a career in research. A PhD can also equip you with skills suitable for a wide range of jobs unrelated to your research topic or academia.

Definition of a PhD – A Doctor of Philosophy (commonly abbreviated to PhD , Ph.D or a DPhil ) is a university research degree awarded from across a broad range of academic disciplines; in most countries, it is a terminal degree, i.e. the highest academic degree possible.

PhDs differ from undergraduate and master’s degrees in that PhDs are entirely research-based rather than involving taught modules (although doctoral training centres (DTCs) offer programmes that start with a year of lecture-based teaching to help develop your research skills prior to starting your project).

In most English-speaking countries, those that complete a PhD use the title “Doctor” (typically abbreviated to Dr) in front of their names and are referred to as such within academic and/or research settings. Those that work in fields outside of academia may decide not to use the formal doctor title but use post-nominal letters (e.g. John Smith PhD); it’s unusual though for someone to use both the Doctor title and post-nominal letters in their name.

PhD vs Doctorate

A PhD and a professional doctorate are both research-based terminal degrees.

However, where a PhD focuses on original research mostly around theoretical concepts, a professional doctorate focuses on examining existing knowledge to solve real-life, practical problems.

While there is much crossover between the two, a PhD is generally better suited for an individual to wants to advance the knowledge and understanding in their field, and a professional doctorate degree is better suited to a working professional who wants to better be able to apply knowledge and understanding to their field.

What Are the Entry Requirements for a PhD?

To be accepted on to a PhD programme, students usually need to hold at least a high ( 2:1 and above ) undergraduate degree that is related to the field of research that they want to pursue. A PhD candidate may also be expected to hold a Master’s degree , however, this does not mean you must have one, as it is still possible to enrol into a PhD without a Master’s .

Self-funded courses may sometimes be more relaxed in relation to entry requirements. It may be possible to be accepted onto a self-funded PhD programme with lower grades, though these students typically demonstrate their suitability for the role through professional work experience.

Whilst a distance learning project is possible , most PhD candidates will carry out their research over at least three years based at their university, with regular contact with two academic supervisors (primary and secondary). This is particularly the case for lab-based projects, however, some PhD projects require spending time on-site away from university (e.g. at a specialist research lab or at a collaborating institution abroad).

How Long Does a PhD Take?

Typically, full-time PhDs last 3-4 years and part-time PhDs last 6-7 years. However, at the discretion of the university, the thesis writing-up period can be extended by up to four years.

Although most doctoral programmes start in September or October, they are generally much more flexible than taught-courses and can start at any time of the year.

How Much Does a PhD Cost?

Tuition fees for UK and EU students vary between £3,000 and £6,000 per year, with the average tuition fee of £4,712 per year for 2023/24 programmes.

Tuition fees increase considerably for international students, varying between £16,000 to £25,000 per year, with an average tuition fee of £19,600 per year .

Nonetheless, most students will secure PhD funding in the form of studentships, scholarships and bursaries to help pay for these fees. These funding opportunities can either be partial, which cover tuition fees only, or full, which cover both tuition fees and living expenses.

UK national students can also apply for Doctoral Loans from Student Finance England if they are unable to secure funding.

Finding a PhD has never been this easy – search for a PhD by keyword, location or academic area of interest.

What Does a PhD Involve?

To be awarded a PhD, a doctoral student is required to produce a substantial body of work that adds new knowledge to their chosen field.

A PhD programme will typically involve four key stages:

Stage 1: Literature Review

The first year of a PhD involves attending regular meetings with your supervisors and carrying out a search on previously published work in your subject area. This search will be used to produce a literature review which should set the context of the project by explaining the foundation of what is currently known within the field of research, what recent developments have occurred, and where the gaps in knowledge are. In most cases, this will be an extension of your research proposal should you have produced one as part of your application. The literature review should conclude by outlining the overarching aims and objectives of the research project. This stage of setting achievable goals which are original and contribute to the field of research is an essential first step in a successful PhD.

The supervisor is the main point of contact through the duration of a PhD – but remember: they are there to mentor, not to teach, or do it for you . It will be your responsibility to plan, execute and monitor your own work as well as to identify gaps in your own knowledge and address them.

Stage 2: Research

The second year (and prehapse some of your third year) is when you work on your research. Having identified novel research questions from your review of the literature, this is where you collect your data to help answer these questions. How you do this will depend on the nature of your doctoral research: for example, you may design and run experiments in a lab alongside other PhD students or visit excavation sites in remote regions of the world. You should check in regularly with your supervisors to update them and run any ideas or issues past them.

Have the structure and chapters of your thesis in mind as you develop and tackle your research questions. Working with a view of publishing your work will be very valuable later on.

Stage 3: Write up of Thesis

The next key stage of a PhD is writing a doctoral thesis , which typically takes from anywhere between three months to one year. A thesis is a substantial body of work that describes the work and outcomes of the research over the previous two to three years. It should tell a detailed story of the PhD project – focusing on:

• The motivations for the research questions identified from the literature review.
• The methodologies used, results obtained, and a comprehensive analysis and discussion of the findings.
• A detailed discussion of the key findings with an emphasis on the original contributions made to your field of research and how this has been impactful.

There is no universal rule for the length of a PhD thesis, but general guidelines set the word count between 80,000 to 100,000 words.

For your thesis to be successful, it needs to adequately defend your argument and provide a unique or increased insight into your field that was not previously available.

Stage 4: Attending the Viva

A viva voce , most commonly referred to as just a ‘ viva ‘, is an interview-style examination where the PhD student is required to engage in a critical appraisal of their work and defend their thesis against at least two examiners. The examiners will ask questions to check the PhD student has an in-depth understanding of the ideas and theories proposed in their thesis, and whether they have developed the research skills that would be expected of them.

The viva is one of the final steps in achieving a PhD, and typically lasts at least two hours, but this duration can vary depending on the examiners, the university and the PhD project itself.

Once you have done the viva – you’re on the home stretch. You will typically be asked to make some amendments to your thesis based on the examiner’s feedback. You are then ready to submit your final thesis for either:

• PhD – If you pass the requirements you will be awarded a PhD degree (most common outcome),
• MPhil – If you failed to meet requirements for a PhD, you may be downgraded to an MPhil degree (uncommon outcome),
• Fail – No award is given, typically for cases of plagiarism (extremely uncommon outcome).

What Is It Like to Undertake a PhD?

We’re often asked what it is like to undertake a PhD study. Unfortunately, this isn’t a simple answer to this question as every research project is different.

To help give insight into the life of a PhD student, we’ve interviewed PhD students at various stages of their programmes and put together a series of PhD Student Interviews . Check out the link to find out what a PhD is like and what advice they have to offer you.

What Are the Benefits of A PhD?

A PhD is the highest globally recognised postgraduate degree that higher education institutions can award. The degree, which is awarded to candidates who demonstrate original and independent research in a particular field of study, is not only invaluable in itself, but sets you up with invaluable skills and traits.

Career Opportunities

First, a PhD prepares you for a career in academia if you wish to continue in this area. This takes form as a career in the Higher Education sector, typically as a lecturer working their way to becoming a professor leading research on the subject you’ve studied and trained in.

Second, a PhD also enables the opportunity for landing a job in a research & development role outside of the academic environment. Examples of this include laboratory work for a private or third sector company, a governmental role and research for commercial and industrial applications.

Transferable Skills

Finally, in possessing a PhD degree, you can show to employers that you have vital skills that make you an asset to any company. Three examples of the transferable skills that you gain through a PhD are effective communication, time management, and report writing.

• Communication – presenting your work in written and oral forms using journal papers and podium presentations, shows your ability to share complex ideas effectively and to those with less background knowledge than you. Communication is key in the professional environment, regardless of the job.
• Time management – The ability to prioritise and organise tasks is a tremendous asset in the professional industry. A PhD holder can use their qualification to demonstrate that they are able to manage their time, arrange and follow a plan, and stick to deadlines.
• Report writing – Condensing three years of work into a thesis demonstrates your ability to filter through massive amounts of information, identify the key points, and get these points across to the reader. The ability to ‘cut out the waffle’ or ‘get to the point’ is a huge asset in the professional industry.

Aside from the above, you also get to refer to yourself as a Doctor and add fancy initials after your name!

What Can I Do After a PhD?

One of the most desirable postdoctoral fields is working within independent Research and Development (R&D) labs and new emerging companies. Both industries, especially R&D labs, have dedicated groups of PhD graduates who lead research activities, design new products and take part in crucial strategic meetings. Not only is this a stimulating line of work, but the average salaries in R&D labs and emerging start-ups are lucrative. In comparison, an undergraduate with five years of experience within their given field will, on average, likely earn less than a new PhD graduate taking on a R&D position.

It’s a common misunderstanding that PhDs only opens the door for an academic career such as university lecturers and training providers. Although obtaining a PhD opens these doors, the opportunities extend far beyond educational roles. In fact, recent data from the UK’s Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) indicates only 23% of PhD graduates take a position in educational roles . This low percentage is primarily because PhD graduates have a wide range of skills that make them suitable for a broad spectrum of roles. This is being seen first hand by the increasing number of PhD graduates who are entering alternative roles such as research, writing, law and investment banking.

How Do I Find a PhD?

We appreciate that finding a PhD programme to undertake can be a relatively daunting process. According to Higher Education Student Statistics , over 22,000 PhDs were awarded in 2016/17 within the United Kingdom alone. Clearly there are a huge number of PhD programmes available. This can sometimes be confusing for prospective doctorates, particularly when different programmes are advertised in different places. Often, it is difficult to know where to look or where to even start. We’ve put together a list of useful sources to find the latest PhD programmes:

• A great place to start is with our comprehensive and up-to-date database of available PhD positions .
• Assuming you are still at university, speak to an existing PhD supervisor within your department.
• Attend as many postgraduate open days as you can. Whilst there, speak to current PhD students and career advisors to get an awareness of what PhDs are on offer.
• Visit the postgraduate section of university websites and the PhD Research Council section of the UKRI website.

Browse PhDs Now

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Doctor of Philosophy in Education

Additional Information

• Download the Doctoral Viewbook
• Admissions & Aid

The Harvard Ph.D. in Education trains cutting-edge researchers who work across disciplines to generate knowledge and translate discoveries into transformative policy and practice.

Offered jointly by the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Ph.D. in Education provides you with full access to the extraordinary resources of Harvard University and prepares you to assume meaningful roles as university faculty, researchers, senior-level education leaders, and policymakers.

As a Ph.D. candidate, you will collaborate with scholars across all Harvard graduate schools on original interdisciplinary research. In the process, you will help forge new fields of inquiry that will impact the way we teach and learn. The program’s required coursework will develop your knowledge of education and your expertise in a range of quantitative and qualitative methods needed to conduct high-quality research. Guided by the goal of making a transformative impact on education research, policy, and practice, you will focus on independent research in various domains, including human development, learning and teaching, policy analysis and evaluation, institutions and society, and instructional practice.   

Curriculum Information

The Ph.D. in Education requires five years of full-time study to complete. You will choose your individual coursework and design your original research in close consultation with your HGSE faculty adviser and dissertation committee. The requirements listed below include the three Ph.D. concentrations: Culture, Institutions, and Society; Education Policy and Program Evaluation; and Human Development, Learning and Teaching . 

We invite you to review an example course list, which is provided in two formats — one as the full list by course number and one by broad course category . These lists are subject to modification. 

Ph.D. Concentrations and Examples

Summary of Ph.D. Program

Doctoral Colloquia  In year one and two you are required to attend. The colloquia convenes weekly and features presentations of work-in-progress and completed work by Harvard faculty, faculty and researchers from outside Harvard, and Harvard doctoral students. Ph.D. students present once in the colloquia over the course of their career.

Research Apprenticeship The Research Apprenticeship is designed to provide ongoing training and mentoring to develop your research skills throughout the entire program.

Teaching Fellowships The Teaching Fellowship is an opportunity to enhance students' teaching skills, promote learning consolidation, and provide opportunities to collaborate with faculty on pedagogical development.

Comprehensive Exams  The Written Exam (year 2, spring) tests you on both general and concentration-specific knowledge. The Oral Exam (year 3, fall/winter) tests your command of your chosen field of study and your ability to design, develop, and implement an original research project.

Dissertation  Based on your original research, the dissertation process consists of three parts: the Dissertation Proposal, the writing, and an oral defense before the members of your dissertation committee.

Culture, Institutions, and Society (CIS) Concentration

In CIS, you will examine the broader cultural, institutional, organizational, and social contexts relevant to education across the lifespan. What is the value and purpose of education? How do cultural, institutional, and social factors shape educational processes and outcomes? How effective are social movements and community action in education reform? How do we measure stratification and institutional inequality? In CIS, your work will be informed by theories and methods from sociology, history, political science, organizational behavior and management, philosophy, and anthropology. You can examine contexts as diverse as classrooms, families, neighborhoods, schools, colleges and universities, religious institutions, nonprofits, government agencies, and more.

Education Policy and Program Evaluation (EPPE) Concentration

In EPPE, you will research the design, implementation, and evaluation of education policy affecting early childhood, K–12, and postsecondary education in the U.S. and internationally. You will evaluate and assess individual programs and policies related to critical issues like access to education, teacher effectiveness, school finance, testing and accountability systems, school choice, financial aid, college enrollment and persistence, and more. Your work will be informed by theories and methods from economics, political science, public policy, and sociology, history, philosophy, and statistics. This concentration shares some themes with CIS, but your work with EPPE will focus on public policy and large-scale reforms.

Human Development, Learning and Teaching (HDLT) Concentration

In HDLT, you will work to advance the role of scientific research in education policy, reform, and practice. New discoveries in the science of learning and development — the integration of biological, cognitive, and social processes; the relationships between technology and learning; or the factors that influence individual variations in learning — are transforming the practice of teaching and learning in both formal and informal settings. Whether studying behavioral, cognitive, or social-emotional development in children or the design of learning technologies to maximize understanding, you will gain a strong background in human development, the science of learning, and sociocultural factors that explain variation in learning and developmental pathways. Your research will be informed by theories and methods from psychology, cognitive science, sociology and linguistics, philosophy, the biological sciences and mathematics, and organizational behavior.

Program Faculty

The most remarkable thing about the Ph.D. in Education is open access to faculty from all Harvard graduate and professional schools, including the Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Kennedy School, the Harvard Law School, Harvard Medical School, and the Harvard School of Public Health. Learn about the full Ph.D. Faculty.

Jarvis R. Givens

Jarvis Givens studies the history of American education, African American history, and the relationship between race and power in schools.

Paul L. Harris

Paul Harris is interested in the early development of cognition, emotion, and imagination in children.

Meira Levinson

Meira Levinson is a normative political philosopher who works at the intersection of civic education, youth empowerment, racial justice, and educational ethics. 

Luke W. Miratrix

Luke Miratrix is a statistician who explores how to best use modern statistical methods in applied social science contexts.

Eric Taylor

Eric Taylor studies the economics of education, with a particular interest in employer-employee interactions between schools and teachers — hiring and firing decisions, job design, training, and performance evaluation.

Paola Uccelli

Paola Ucelli studies socio-cultural and individual differences in the language development of multilingual and monolingual students.

View Ph.D. Faculty

Dissertations.

The following is a complete listing of successful Ph.D. in Education dissertations to-date. Dissertations from November 2014 onward are publicly available in the Digital Access to Scholarship at Harvard (DASH) , the online repository for Harvard scholarship.

• 2022 Graduate Dissertations (265 KB pdf)
• 2021 Graduate Dissertations (177 KB pdf)
• 2020 Graduate Dissertations (121 KB pdf)
• 2019 Graduate Dissertations (68.3 KB pdf)

Student Directory

An opt-in listing of current Ph.D. students with information about their interests, research, personal web pages, and contact information:

Doctor of Philosophy in Education Student Directory

Introduce Yourself

Tell us about yourself so that we can tailor our communication to best fit your interests and provide you with relevant information about our programs, events, and other opportunities to connect with us.

Program Highlights

Explore examples of the Doctor of Philosophy in Education experience and the impact its community is making on the field:

The Human Element of Data and AI

Gahyun Callie Sung's journey to HGSE and the LIT Lab is reflected in her research into data and using AI to improve student outcomes

Improving the Teacher Workforce

With her research work, doctoral marshal Mary Laski, Ph.D.'24, is trying to make teaching in K–12 schools more sustainable and attractive

Smart. Open. Grounded. Inventive. Read our Ideas Made to Matter.

Which program is right for you?

Through intellectual rigor and experiential learning, this full-time, two-year MBA program develops leaders who make a difference in the world.

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Earn your MBA and SM in engineering with this transformative two-year program.

Combine an international MBA with a deep dive into management science. A special opportunity for partner and affiliate schools only.

A doctoral program that produces outstanding scholars who are leading in their fields of research.

Bring a business perspective to your technical and quantitative expertise with a bachelor’s degree in management, business analytics, or finance.

A joint program for mid-career professionals that integrates engineering and systems thinking. Earn your master’s degree in engineering and management.

An interdisciplinary program that combines engineering, management, and design, leading to a master’s degree in engineering and management.

Executive Programs

A full-time MBA program for mid-career leaders eager to dedicate one year of discovery for a lifetime of impact.

This 20-month MBA program equips experienced executives to enhance their impact on their organizations and the world.

Non-degree programs for senior executives and high-potential managers.

A non-degree, customizable program for mid-career professionals.

PhD Program

Program overview.

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Rigorous, discipline-based research is the hallmark of the MIT Sloan PhD Program. The program is committed to educating scholars who will lead in their fields of research—those with outstanding intellectual skills who will carry forward productive research on the complex organizational, financial, and technological issues that characterize an increasingly competitive and challenging business world.

Start here.

Learn more about the program, how to apply, and find answers to common questions.

Admissions Events

Check out our event schedule, and learn when you can chat with us in person or online.

Start Your Application

Visit this section to find important admissions deadlines, along with a link to our application.

Click here for answers to many of the most frequently asked questions.

PhD studies at MIT Sloan are intense and individual in nature, demanding a great deal of time, initiative, and discipline from every candidate. But the rewards of such rigor are tremendous:  MIT Sloan PhD graduates go on to teach and conduct research at the world's most prestigious universities.

PhD Program curriculum at MIT Sloan is organized under the following three academic areas: Behavior & Policy Sciences; Economics, Finance & Accounting; and Management Science. Our nine research groups correspond with one of the academic areas, as noted below.

MIT Sloan PhD Research Groups

Behavioral & policy sciences.

Economic Sociology

Institute for Work & Employment Research

Organization Studies

Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Strategic Management

Economics, Finance & Accounting

Accounting  

Management Science

Information Technology

System Dynamics  

Those interested in a PhD in Operations Research should visit the Operations Research Center .  

PhD Program Structure

Additional information including coursework and thesis requirements.

MIT Sloan Predoctoral Opportunities

MIT Sloan is eager to provide a diverse group of talented students with early-career exposure to research techniques as well as support in considering research career paths.

Rising Scholars Conference

The fourth annual Rising Scholars Conference on October 25 and 26 gathers diverse PhD students from across the country to present their research.

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The goal of the MIT Sloan PhD Program's admissions process is to select a small number of people who are most likely to successfully complete our rigorous and demanding program and then thrive in academic research careers. The admission selection process is highly competitive; we aim for a class size of nineteen students, admitted from a pool of hundreds of applicants.

What We Seek

• Outstanding intellectual ability
• Excellent academic records
• Previous work in disciplines related to the intended area of concentration
• Strong commitment to a career in research

MIT Sloan PhD Program Admissions Requirements Common Questions

Dates and Deadlines

Admissions for 2024 is closed. The next opportunity to apply will be for 2025 admission. The 2025 application will open in September 2024. 

More information on program requirements and application components

Students in good academic standing in our program receive a funding package that includes tuition, medical insurance, and a fellowship stipend and/or TA/RA salary. We also provide a new laptop computer and a conference travel/research budget.

Funding Information

Throughout the year, we organize events that give you a chance to learn more about the program and determine if a PhD in Management is right for you.

PhD Program Events

June phd program overview.

During this webinar, you will hear from the PhD Program team and have the chance to ask questions about the application and admissions process.

July PhD Program Overview

August phd program overview, september 12 phd program overview.

Complete PhD Admissions Event Calendar

Unlike formulaic approaches to training scholars, the PhD Program at MIT Sloan allows students to choose their own adventure and develop a unique scholarly identity. This can be daunting, but students are given a wide range of support along the way - most notably having access to world class faculty and coursework both at MIT and in the broader academic community around Boston.

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Profiles of our current students

MIT Sloan produces top-notch PhDs in management. Immersed in MIT Sloan's distinctive culture, upcoming graduates are poised to innovate in management research and education.

Academic Job Market

Doctoral candidates on the current academic market

Academic Placements

Graduates of the MIT Sloan PhD Program are researching and teaching at top schools around the world.

view recent placements 

MIT Sloan Experience

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The PhD Program is integral to the research of MIT Sloan's world-class faculty. With a reputation as risk-takers who are unafraid to embrace the unconventional, they are engaged in exciting disciplinary and interdisciplinary research that often includes PhD students as key team members.

Research centers across MIT Sloan and MIT provide a rich setting for collaboration and exploration. In addition to exposure to the faculty, PhD students also learn from one another in a creative, supportive research community.

Throughout MIT Sloan's history, our professors have devised theories and fields of study that have had a profound impact on management theory and practice.

From Douglas McGregor's Theory X/Theory Y distinction to Nobel-recognized breakthroughs in finance by Franco Modigliani and in option pricing by Robert Merton and Myron Scholes, MIT Sloan's faculty have been unmatched innovators.

This legacy of innovative thinking and dedication to research impacts every faculty member and filters down to the students who work beside them.

Faculty Links

• Accounting Faculty
• Economic Sociology Faculty
• Finance Faculty
• Information Technology Faculty
• Institute for Work and Employment Research (IWER) Faculty
• Marketing Faculty
• Organization Studies Faculty
• System Dynamics Faculty
• Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management (TIES) Faculty

Student Research

“MIT Sloan PhD training is a transformative experience. The heart of the process is the student’s transition from being a consumer of knowledge to being a producer of knowledge. This involves learning to ask precise, tractable questions and addressing them with creativity and rigor. Hard work is required, but the reward is the incomparable exhilaration one feels from having solved a puzzle that had bedeviled the sharpest minds in the world!” -Ezra Zuckerman Sivan Alvin J. Siteman (1948) Professor of Entrepreneurship

Sample Dissertation Abstracts - These sample Dissertation Abstracts provide examples of the work that our students have chosen to study while in the MIT Sloan PhD Program.

We believe that our doctoral program is the heart of MIT Sloan's research community and that it develops some of the best management researchers in the world. At our annual Doctoral Research Forum, we celebrate the great research that our doctoral students do, and the research community that supports that development process.

The videos of their presentations below showcase the work of our students and will give you insight into the topics they choose to research in the program.

Attention To Retention: The Informativeness of Insiders’ Decision to Retain Shares

2024 PhD Doctoral Research Forum Winner - Gabriel Voelcker

Watch more MIT Sloan PhD Program  Doctoral Forum Videos

• [email protected]

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Faculty Directory

Meet our faculty.

Doctor of Philosophy

The PhD programs advance scientific discovery by training and supporting students doing in-depth research that solves the world’s biggest public health challenges. At the forefront of efforts to benefit the health of people worldwide, the School offers students the opportunity to join in shaping new ideas in public health and implementing them effectively. PhD students benefit from collaborations across public health disciplines and a broad range of academic fields through connections with other Harvard faculties.

All PhD students conduct research through a dissertation, in addition to other avenues of discovery. All PhD programs at Harvard University are administered by the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS), and applications are processed through the GSAS online application system . Choose from one of four PhD programs offered collaboratively between Harvard Chan School and GSAS.

• Abbreviation : PhD
• Degree format : On campus  
• Time commitment : Full-time  
• Average program length : Varies between 4 to 7 years based on program

When applying to the PhD, applicants must choose one of the following specialized fields of study. Eligibility requirements vary by program and field of study.  

• Biological Sciences in Public Health
• Biostatistics
• Health Policy
• Environmental health
• Epidemiology
• Global health and population
• Social and behavioral sciences

Career outcomes vary based on field of study and research, but in general, PhD graduates will be prepared for a career in academia, health policy, government agencies, consulting, the pharmaceutical or biomedical industry, and generally improving lives through qualitative and quantitative research.

Admission information

Like all PhD (doctor of philosophy) programs at the School—and the University—the PhD in health policy is offered under the aegis of the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS). Applications are processed through the GSAS online application system located at gsas.harvard.edu/admissions/apply .

PhD Admissions

The PhD program in Psychology trains students for careers in research and teaching. In addition to a wide range of courses, the PhD program is characterized by close collaboration between students and their faculty advisors. 

General Information

The Department of Psychology holistically reviews each candidate's complete application to assess the promise of a career in teaching and research. Consideration is based on various factors, including courses taken, grade point average, letters of recommendation, and the statement of purpose. Additionally, the Department of Psychology places considerable emphasis on research training, and admitted students have often been involved in independent research as undergraduate students or post-baccalaureate settings. Although there are no course requirements for admission, all applicants should have sufficient foundational knowledge and research experience to engage in graduate-level coursework and research.

We accept students with undergraduate degrees and those with both undergraduate and master's degrees. An undergraduate psychology major is not required; the Department welcomes applicants from other academic backgrounds.

Our application portal is now closed for the AY24-25 admissions cycle.  Please consider applying during next year's AY25-26 admissions cycle, which opens on September 15, 2024.

How to Apply

Application and deadline.

Our 2025-26 Admissions application will open on September 15, 2024.

Applications will be due on November 30, 2024

The deadline for letters of recommendation will be  November 30, 2024 . 

Once an applicant submits the recommenders' information, the recommenders will receive an automated email with instructions for submitting the letter. Late letters should be sent directly to psych-admissions [at] stanford.edu (psych-admissions[at]stanford[dot]edu) . Staff will add them to the application file if the review process is still underway. Still, the faculty reviewers are not obligated to re-review files for materials submitted after the deadline.

The status of submitted applications can be viewed by logging in to the   application portal . 

The deadline to apply for the Stanford Psychology Ph.D. program is  November 30, 2024 . 

Applicants who are admitted to the program will matriculate in autumn 2025. 

In addition to the information below, please review the  Graduate Admissions  website prior to starting your application. The Department of Psychology does not have rolling admissions. We admit for the Autumn term only.

Requirements

• U.S. Bachelor's degree or its  foreign equivalent
• Statement of Purpose (submitted electronically as part of the graduate application). You will be able to specify three  Psychology Department faculty members , in order of preference, with whom you would like to work. 
• Three  Letters of Recommendation  (submitted electronically). A maximum of six letters will be accepted.
• Unofficial transcripts from all universities and colleges you have attended for at least one year must be uploaded to the graduate application. Applicants who reach the interview stage will be asked to provide official transcripts as well; Department staff will reach out to these applicants with instructions for submitting official transcripts. Please do  not  submit official transcripts with your initial application.
• Required for non-native English speakers: TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) scores, submitted by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) electronically to Stanford. 

Application Fee

The fee to apply for graduate study at Stanford is $125. Fee waivers are available for some applicants. Please visit Graduate Admissions for information on applying for an  Application Fee Waiver .

Application Review & Status Check

The Department of Psychology welcomes graduate applications from individuals with a broad range of life experiences, perspectives, and backgrounds who would contribute to our community of scholars. The review of applications is holistic and individualized, considering each applicant’s academic record and accomplishments, letters of recommendation, and admissions essays to understand how an applicant’s life experiences have shaped their past and potential contributions to their field.

To check the status or activity of your application, please log into your  application account . You can also send reminders to recommenders who have not yet submitted their letter of recommendation.

Due to limited bandwidth, the Department of Psychology staff will not answer any phone or email queries about application status, including requests to confirm the receipt of official transcripts.

Our faculty will interview prospective students before making final admission decisions. Candidates who progress to the interview round will be informed in January. Interviews are generally conducted in February.

The Department of Psychology recognizes that the Supreme Court issued a ruling in June 2023 about the consideration of certain types of demographic information as part of an admission review. All applications submitted during upcoming application cycles will be reviewed in conformance with that decision.

• Diversity and Engagement in Psychology PhD Programs 
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PhD Programs

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Students in our PhD programs are encouraged from day one to think of this experience as their first job in business academia—a training ground for a challenging and rewarding career generating rigorous, relevant research that influences practice.

Our doctoral students work with faculty and access resources throughout HBS and Harvard University. The PhD program curriculum requires coursework at HBS and other Harvard discipline departments, and with HBS and Harvard faculty on advisory committees. Faculty throughout Harvard guide the programs through their participation on advisory committees.

How do I know which program is right for me?

There are many paths, but we are one HBS. Our PhD students draw on diverse personal and professional backgrounds to pursue an ever-expanding range of research topics. Explore more here about each program’s requirements & curriculum, read student profiles for each discipline as well as student research , and placement information.

The PhD in Business Administration grounds students in the disciplinary theories and research methods that form the foundation of an academic career. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program has five areas of study: Accounting and Management , Management , Marketing , Strategy , and Technology and Operations Management . All areas of study involve roughly two years of coursework culminating in a field exam. The remaining years of the program are spent conducting independent research, working on co-authored publications, and writing the dissertation. Students join these programs from a wide range of backgrounds, from consulting to engineering. Many applicants possess liberal arts degrees, as there is not a requirement to possess a business degree before joining the program

The PhD in Business Economics provides students the opportunity to study in both Harvard’s world-class Economics Department and Harvard Business School. Throughout the program, coursework includes exploration of microeconomic theory, macroeconomic theory, probability and statistics, and econometrics. While some students join the Business Economics program directly from undergraduate or masters programs, others have worked in economic consulting firms or as research assistants at universities or intergovernmental organizations.

The PhD program in Health Policy (Management) is rooted in data-driven research on the managerial, operational, and strategic issues facing a wide range of organizations. Coursework includes the study of microeconomic theory, management, research methods, and statistics. The backgrounds of students in this program are quite varied, with some coming from public health or the healthcare industry, while others arrive at the program with a background in disciplinary research

The PhD program in Organizational Behavior offers two tracks: either a micro or macro approach. In the micro track, students focus on the study of interpersonal relationships within organizations and the effects that groups have on individuals. Students in the macro track use sociological methods to examine organizations, groups, and markets as a whole, including topics such as the influence of individuals on organizational change, or the relationship between social missions and financial objectives. Jointly administered by HBS and GSAS, the program includes core disciplinary training in sociology or psychology, as well as additional coursework in organizational behavior.

Accounting & Management  

Business economics  , health policy (management)  , management  , marketing  , organizational behavior  , strategy  , technology & operations management  .

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Doctoral programs.

The goal of the GSE PhD in Education is to prepare the next generation of leading education researchers. The cornerstone of the doctoral experience at the Stanford Graduate School of Education is the research apprenticeship that all students undertake, typically under the guidance of their academic advisor, but often with other Stanford faculty as well.

In this apprenticeship model, doctoral students are provided with a multi-year funding package that consists of opportunities each quarter to serve as teaching and research assistants for faculty members' courses and research projects. By this means, and in combination with the courses they take as part of their program, students are prepared over an approximately five-year period to excel as university teachers and education researchers.

The doctoral degree in Education at the GSE includes doctoral program requirements as well as a specialization, as listed below, overseen by a faculty committee from one of the GSE's three academic areas.

Doctoral programs by academic area

Curriculum studies and teacher education (cte).

• ‌ Elementary Education
• ‌ History/Social Science Education
• ‌ Learning Sciences and Technology Design
• ‌ Literacy, Language, and English Education
• ‌ Mathematics Education
• ‌ Science, Engineering and Technology Education
• ‌ Race, Inequality, and Language in Education
• ‌ Teacher Education

Developmental and Psychological Sciences (DAPS)

• ‌ Developmental and Psychological Sciences

Social Sciences, Humanities, and Interdisciplinary Policy Studies in Education (SHIPS)

• ‌ Anthropology of Education
• ‌ Economics of Education
• ‌ Education Data Science
• ‌ ‌Educational Linguistics
• ‌ Educational Policy
• ‌ Higher Education
• ‌ History of Education
• ‌ International Comparative Education
• ‌ Organizational Studies
• ‌ Philosophy of Education
• ‌ Sociology of Education

Cross-area specializations

Learning sciences and technology design (lstd).

LSTD allows doctoral students to study learning sciences and technology design within the context of their primary program of study (DAPS, CTE, or SHIPS).

Race, Inequality, and Language in Education (RILE)

RILE trains students to become national leaders in conducting research on how race, inequality, and language intersect to make both ineffective and effective educational opportunities. RILE allows students to specialize within their program of study (DAPS, CTE, or SHIPS).

Other academic opportunities

• ‌ Concentration in Education and Jewish Studies
• ‌ PhD Minor in Education
• ‌ Stanford Doctoral Training Program in Leadership for System-wide Inclusive Education (LSIE)
• ‌ Certificate Program in Partnership Research in Education
• ‌ Public Scholarship Collaborative

“I came to Stanford to work with faculty who value learning in informal settings and who are working to understand and design for it.”

Doctoral graduates were employed within four months of graduation

of those employed worked in organizations or roles related to education

For more information about GSE admissions and to see upcoming events and appointments:

To learn more about the Academic Services team:

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PhD in Research Methodology

Use numbers and data to drive systematic change in education.

A number is not simply a number in our research methodology program. Here, unlike in math or statistics, numbers are not the final answer. With a PhD in Research Methodology, you can work in educational and institutional research, using numbers to tell the story of the human experience and create meaningful change.

Our commitment to you

Upon graduation with a PhD in research methodology from Loyola, you will possess the following knowledge, skills, and professional values necessary to commence a career as an institutional researcher, evaluator, college professor, or researcher at large professional organizations, testing companies, or consulting agencies that provide educational evaluation services.

You will develop expertise in evaluation, statistics, and measurement, and recognize when research findings are being misrepresented or data misused. Our expert faculty will train you in both qualitative and quantitative methodology, including applied statistics and psychometrics. You'll also learn how numbers relate to action, policy, and advocacy.

You will be able to critically evaluate bodies of knowledge from a variety of methodological traditions, use a variety of software programs to implement analyses, and conduct all stages of a research study in applied settings. Plus, you'll participate in a required consulting experience, where you'll conduct a research study and then provide consulting advice to a researcher or organization.

Professional Values

We strive to ensure that our graduates never lose sight of the humanity that number reflect, and become responsible researchers whose conclusions align with their findings. You will engage in ethical, just, and culturally competent research practices.

Program Faculty

Our dedicated Research Methodology Faculty are experts in their fields who will support students throughout each stage of the program.

Program Length

Students typically take up to two or three courses each term and up to two courses during the summer, and completion times for this degree vary with the topic of each student's dissertation. The typical length for this program is five years.

Continuous Enrollment Doctoral students in research methodology are required to maintain continuous enrollment during their program of studies. This means that during each semester of each academic year (excluding Summer Sessions), each student must enroll in at least one course. A formal  leave of absence  may be granted upon request and the approval of the School of Education’s Associate Dean of Student Academic Services.

Admission Requirements

Interested in applying? Check out the  PhD Research Methodology application requirements .

• For  application  related questions,  contact Graduate Enrollment Management . 
• For  program structure and academics  related questions, contact:  Ken Fujimoto , Program Chair

Tuition, Financial Aid and Scholarships

The School of Education and Loyola's Financial Aid Office are committed to helping students secure the necessary financial resources to make their education at Loyola affordable. You can learn more on the  Financial Assistance  page.

How long will it take to finish the program?

Five years is about the average length of time, especially if the student is not full-time. However a full-time student who transfers the maximum 30 credit hours from another university could complete the PhD in as few as three years. Please note that a maximum of six years is allowed to complete your coursework and dissertation.

Much will depend upon how many courses a student is able to take during any given term. Since the minimum is 20 courses, one should count on two or three years of coursework, another year for taking and passing comprehensive exams and developing a proposal, and at least one more year for the dissertation research. 

What can I do with a degree in research methodology?

This degree offers many professional opportunities. Recent graduates work at research firms, testing companies, professional associations or accrediting agencies, nonprofits, and in higher education, including institutional research.

How is the consulting experience structured?

The consulting experience is fulfilled by providing research or statistical consulting. Students, in consultation with their advisor, will determine the form of the consulting. For example, some students have provided statistical analysis assistance to faculty members or other doctoral students at the university, working on a research team with a faculty member in the School of Education. Others have completed a project associated with the student's full-time employment.

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About the PhD in Clinical Investigation Program

The program is targeted toward internal physician postdoctoral fellows in clinical departments of the School of Medicine. It involves one year of full-time academic classroom work, followed by at least two years of mentored training in clinical research. The combination of a year of instruction and a year of clinicals allows students the scientific grounding for subsequent original research. This research effort is jointly mentored by faculty from the program and a mentor from the student’s SOM department. After fulfilling all requirements, a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Clinical Investigation is awarded by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Curriculum for the PhD in Clinical Investigation

Browse an overview of this program's requirements in the JHU  Academic Catalogue  and explore all course offerings in the Bloomberg School  Course Directory .

Prerequisites for the PhD Degree

• Satisfactory completion of 90 credit hours of course work, including one year of full-time in-residency course work
• Five additional courses to be taken in the second or third years
• Continuous registration for the Research Forum and registration for Thesis Research each term
• Completion of a Comprehensive Exam at the end of the didactic year
• Satisfaction of all university requirements for the PhD, including completion of a Preliminary Oral Examination, Thesis Preparation, and Thesis Defense

Admissions Requirements

For general admissions requirements, please visit the How to Apply page. For our PhD specific application requirements, please see our How to Apply page.

This specific program also requires:

Prior Graduate Degree

Advanced medical degree: e.g., MD, MBBS, PhD

Prior Work Experience

Work with human subjects in clinical investigation

Standardized Test Scores

Standardized test scores  are required  for this program. This program accepts the following standardized test scores: USMLE and GRE or MCAT.  Applications will be reviewed holistically based on all application components.

GTPCI is one of 60 national recipients of an NIH-sponsored CTSA KL2 Award to support institutional career development programs for physicians and dentists, encouraging them to become independent, patient-oriented clinical investigators. This Multi- disciplinary Clinical Research Career Development Program funds clinical research training for a broad group of physicians, dentists, and other scientists who have a doctorate in a health-related field, including pharmacy, nursing, epidemiology, and behavioral sciences. The Johns Hopkins KL2 program will provide career development support for junior faculty physicians or dentists from within Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.

Information regarding the cost of tuition and fees can be found on the Bloomberg School's Tuition and Fees page.

Need-Based Relocation Grants Students who  are admitted to PhD programs at JHU  starting in Fall 2023 or beyond can apply to receive a $1500 need-based grant to offset the costs of relocating to be able to attend JHU.   These grants provide funding to a portion of incoming students who, without this money, may otherwise not be able to afford to relocate to JHU for their PhD program. This is not a merit-based grant. Applications will be evaluated solely based on financial need.  View more information about the need-based relocation grants for PhD students .

Questions about the program? We're happy to help.

Director Khalil Ghanem, MD, PhD

Academic Program Manager Cristina A. DeNardo, MEd 410-502-9734 [email protected]

Shihuan Kuang, PhD, Joins Duke Ortho as the Director of Orthopaedic Stem Cell Research

Shihuan Kuang, PhD , has joined the Duke Orthopaedic Surgery research division as an instructor of orthopaedic surgery. Dr. Kuang earned his PhD at the University of Alberta and completed his post-doc studies at Washington University in St Louis.

His research interests include skeletal muscles – the muscles attached to bones by tendons – form the basis of all animal mobility. One of our lab's primary interests is developing and regenerating the skeletal muscles. Specifically, his lab investigates the molecular signaling that regulates the stem cells responsible for forming muscles during development and repairing muscles after injury. In addition, we are interested in other cells that interact with these muscle stem cells to improve their function. For example, the muscle's fat cells (adipocytes) have two key roles. Firstly, from a biological perspective, adipocytes regulate muscle stem cell function and contribute to overall muscle health. Secondly, from an agricultural perspective, adipocytes are instrumental to the quality traits of skeletal muscle-derived meat. As a result of the applications of our research to both human health and the animal production industry, his research has been funded by the NIH, USDA, and industry sponsors.

  Welcome, Dr. Kuang!

___________________

Q&A with Dr. Kuang

Q: What brings you joy? A: Hiking or skiing with family and friends

Q: Why did you choose the field? A: Scientific curiosity 

Q: What excites you about this role at Duke? A: I am excited to bring my muscle and adipose stem cell expertise to the musculoskeletal research and exercise physiology divisions in the orthopaedic surgery department. 

Q: Where did you grow up? A: I grew up in a mountain village in southern China. I completed most of my education, up to the master’s degree level, in China. I moved to Canada to complete a PhD in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Alberta and consider Edmonton my second hometown. 

Q: Where do you see your specialty in the next five years? A: Looking forward, I'd like to focus my next 5-10 years on investigating how cellular metabolism influences the function and pathogenesis of stem cells in the musculoskeletal system. We have some exciting ongoing work demonstrating how lipid droplets and mitochondria play a key role in skeletal muscle and adipose stem cells, including sarcoma stem cells. 

Charan Ranganath

Position Title Professor

• 530-757-8750
• [email protected]
• http://dml.ucdavis.edu/
• Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, Northwestern University
• M.S., Clinical Psychology, Northwestern University
• B.A., Psychology, University of California, Berkeley

In addition to his academic appointment in Psychology, Charan Ranganath is an affiliated faculty with the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience, which seeks to understand the function of the human brain in health and in illness. He is also director of the Dynamic Memory Lab at UC Davis and is an affiliated faculty with the Center for Mind and Brain. His research involves the use of functional neuroimaging, electrophysiology and behavioral methods to study the neural basis of human memory and executive control. He previously served as editor for the Cognitive Neuroscience Section of the journal NeuroImage , and currently serves as an editor for the Journal of Neuroscience , which is the most influential academically edited journal in the field of neuroscience. Professor Ranganath has consulted for government and private funding agencies from several countries and has served on review panels for the National Institutes of Health and National Science Foundation.

Research Focus

Professor Ranganath's research concerns the neurocognitive structure of human memory and executive control. One set of studies currently underway concerns the relationship between short-term, or working memory, and long-term memory. Results from event-related fMRI studies conducted by Professor Ranganath suggest that overlapping regions of the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobes are active during both working memory and long-term memory tasks. This research suggests that a common neural system supports both of these types of memory. Currently, Professor Ranganath is investigating how different regions within the prefrontal cortex and medial temporal lobes contribute to working and long-term memory through additional fMRI studies of healthy young adults and behavioral testing of patients with focal brain damage. A second, related area of interest is the role of prefrontal cortex in the control and evaluation of information in memory. Finally, in collaboration with Andy Yonelinas, Professor Ranganath is investigating the roles of different medial temporal lobe regions in recognition memory processes. To address this issue, he is conducting parallel studies using event-related fMRI and event-related brain potentials in healthy young and older adults and amnesic patients with medial temporal lobe damage. In collaboration with another research group, he is also conducting studies to examine field potentials recorded directly from the human hippocampal formation in patients performing recognition memory tasks.

Publications

• Hsieh, L. T., Gruber, M. J., Jenkins, L. J. , & Ranganath, C. (2014). Hippocampal activity patterns carry information about objects in temporal context. Neuron. 81(5):1165-78. PMID: 24607234
• Gruber, M. J., Gelman, B. , & Ranganath, C. (2014). States of curiosity modulate hippocampus-dependent learning via the mesolimbic dopaminergic circuit. Neuron. 84(2): 486-496. PMID: 25284006
• Ranganath, C., & Ritchey, M. (2012). Two cortical systems for memory guided behaviour. Nature Reviews Neuroscience , 13: 713-726. PMID: 22992647
• Addante, R. J., Watrous, A. C. , Yonelinas, A. P. , Ekstrom, A. D. , & Ranganath, C. (2011). Pre-stimulus theta oscillations predict source memory retrieval. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , 108(26):10702-7.
• Axmacher, N., Cohen, M. S. , Fell, J. , Haupt, S. , Elger, C. E., Schlaepfer, T. E., Lenartz, D. , Sturm, V. , & Ranganath, C. (2010). Intracranial EEG correlates of expectancy and memory formation in the human hippocampus and nucleus accumbens. Neuron , 65, 541‚Äì549.

Professor Ranganath has taught courses in Human Learning, Fundamentals of Cognitive Neuroimaging and Current Research in Psychology.

Professor Ranganath’s work has been recognized with several awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship at the University of Cambridge, the Laird Cermak Award from the Memory Disorders Research Society, the Samuel Sutton Award for Distinguished Scientific Contribution to Human ERPs and Cognition, the Chancellor’s Fellow award from UC Davis, and the Young Investigator Award from the Cognitive Neuroscience Society. In 2015, he was one of 11 researchers in the United States to receive a National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellowship. His research has been funded by grants from the Department of Defense, the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and several private foundations.

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Judy Appleton, Ph.D. Early Career Excellence in Research Award supports inaugural recipient’s work in cancer biology

Anushka Dongre. Photo: Carol Jennings/CVM

Dr. Anushka Dongre, assistant professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM), is the inaugural recipient of the Judy Appleton, Ph.D. Early Career Excellence in Research Award.

The award was established last year thanks to a generous gift from Geoff Letchworth, D.V.M. ’72, Ph.D. ’80 and provides significant resources for an assistant professor early in their career to add staff or necessary materials to their lab. It is named in honor of Dr. Judy Appleton, Emeritus Alfred H. Caspary Professor of Immunology, who conducted groundbreaking research on helminth infections and served as vice provost.

“I extend a very warm congratulations to Dr. Dongre,” said Lorin Warnick, D.V.M., Ph.D.’94, Austin O. Hooey Dean of Veterinary Medicine. “Her promising work continues the legacy of excellence in research that is embodied by Dr. Appleton and supported thanks to the vision of Dr. Geoff Letchworth.”

Letchworth himself benefited from an early career scholarship for his work in virology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and later went on to conduct research at the USDA laboratory in Wyoming. “The objective of this grant is to give Dr. Dongre the freedom to explore unexpected opportunities in her research independent of the delays inherent in the public grant system,” he said.

Working at the interface of cancer biology and immunology, Dongre uses mouse models to better understand how epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition — a process cancer cells undergo to metastasize — contributes to mesenchymal cells’ resistance to a form of immunotherapy called checkpoint inhibition.

Dongre brings a diverse scientific background to her research. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in microbiology from the University of Mumbai in India, she completed her Ph.D. in the lab of renowned immunologist Dr. Barbara Osborne at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Wanting to explore a new field while applying her expertise in adaptive immunology, she spent her postdoc years in the lab of Dr. Robert Weinberg, a leading expert in cancer biology at the Whitehead Institute at MIT. Here Dongre began to connect the plasticity of cancer cells with immunotherapy and the tumor microenvironment — research she brought with her to Cornell in early 2022.

For Dongre, the Judy Appleton award “couldn’t come at a better time, I’m very grateful,” she said. “We have many ideas of branching out and exploring different mechanisms by which mesenchymal cells are killed. This requires us to use some cutting-edge techniques, which are expensive. We can use some of these funds to leverage the best technology out there and combine it with our mouse models to address these difficult questions.” She also plans to recruit more personnel to her lab and mentor students, whose stipends she will now be able to pay.

In the long run, Dongre hopes to translate her findings from the mouse models to other species, including canine and feline carcinomas. “That’s the advantage of being here in the veterinary college,” she said. “Eventually we’ll get to human patient samples as well. The award is helping us with the next steps along this path.”

Dr. Paula Cohen, associate dean for research and graduate education, for one, is looking forward to seeing the direction Dongre’s work will take. “Dr. Letchworth's generous gift supports young scientists at a pivotal moment in their careers,” she said. “For Dr. Dongre, who has already proven herself using innovative approaches to studying the importance of the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in the genesis of breast carcinoma, this award could be transformative.”

Written by Olivia Hall

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Celebrating CCR Careers: David D. Roberts, Ph.D.

David D. Roberts, Ph.D.

For more than forty years at NIH,  David D. Roberts, Ph.D. , has explored cellular processes regulated by the protein thrombospondin-1 in vascular and immune cells and developed new therapeutic approaches to treat cancers by shutting off the function of one of its receptors. After 36 years at the NCI, he is announcing his retirement.

Roberts began his scientific career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1976. He conducted graduate studies in biological chemistry at the University of Michigan from 1979 to 1983, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). There, he developed his interest in thrombospondin-1, a secreted protein that modulates interactions between cells and their surrounding extracellular matrix. He earned tenure in NIDDK in 1987, where he discovered roles for thrombospondin-1 in the adhesion and migration of cancer cells and in the adherence of  red blood cells infected with the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

In 1988, Roberts became Chief of the Biochemical Pathology Section of the Laboratory of Pathology , where his laboratory continued exploring how thrombospondin-1 controls the formation of blood vessels in tumors (a process called angiogenesis) and regulates the function of tumor-infiltrating immune cells. These studies led to the discovery that thrombospondin-1, through its receptor CD47, can limit the nitric oxide signaling that controls  angiogenesis , blood pressure and  platelet aggregation . Translational studies revealed the therapeutic potential of inhibiting the expression and function of CD47, to enhance antitumor T cell immunity when combined with  radiotherapy , chemotherapy, or CTLA4  immune checkpoint blockade .

What has been the most surprising thing about your scientific career, and what scientific achievements are you most proud of?

Every four years, NIH scientists present our future research plans to the Board of Scientific Counselors along with our accomplishments from the past four years. Looking back over decades of those reports, I found that our most interesting discoveries were generally not foreseen in those plans. I have learned that the most important discoveries arise from focusing our attention on experimental results that do not fit our current hypothesis.

Early in my career, we focused on identifying molecules that interact with thrombospondin-1 and mediate its effects on cell behavior. In addition to identifying three new cellular thrombospondin-1 receptors, our data led us to question the function of other known receptors: CD36 and CD47.

The ability of thrombospondin-1 to inhibit angiogenesis was widely attributed to its interaction with a cell receptor known as CD36. However, we found that thrombospondin-1 inhibited angiogenesis in tissues from mice lacking CD36, whereas angiogenesis was insensitive to thrombospondin-1 in tissues from mice lacking another receptor, CD47. Similarly, the resistance of mice lacking thrombospondin-1 to ischemic injuries and to the death of tissues exposed to ionizing radiation were replicated in mice lacking CD47 but not in mice lacking CD36.

We then found that CD47 was limiting the ability of T cells to kill cancer cells when they are damaged by radiation therapy. We developed therapeutics to inhibit CD47 that enhanced the sensitivity of mouse tumors to ionizing radiation (increasing their long-term survival), the direct killing of target tumor cells by cytotoxic T cells in vivo and the effectiveness of adoptive T cell immunotherapy and CTLA4 checkpoint inhibitor therapy for treating cancers in mice. Our more recent work has extended the role of thrombospondin-1 signaling mediated by CD47 to limiting the antitumor function of natural killer cells in the tumor microenvironment.

How did the intramural environment of CCR and NIH help your research?

The highly collaborative intramural environment connected me with clinical investigators who were interested in biomedical problems that could be addressed using the skills I acquired in my training as a biochemist.

It goes both ways — my clinical colleagues provided me with different perspectives to understand the translational potential of basic research findings. I’ve also had collaborations working with clinical investigators, where I was able to provide them with a basic research approach to advance their clinical studies.

A major translational advance in our research arose when I took a chance hiring a microvascular surgeon, Dr. Jeffrey Isenberg. He wanted to learn research skills to answer his fundamental question, “Why do tissue grafts that initially have healthy blood flow (are well-perfused) survive in some of my patients but ultimately fail in others?” Combining lab studies using cells and tissue explants with instrumentation in the Mouse Imaging Facility, we found that thrombospondin-1 signals through its receptor CD47 limits nitric oxide signaling in poorly perfused tissues. With these findings, we were able to develop therapeutic strategies to block CD47 function that enhances the survival of poorly-perfused tissues in animal models, and we licensed these inventions to a biotech startup in St. Louis.

Another translational application emerged when Dr. Justin Maxhimer, a reconstructive surgeon from Johns Hopkins, joined my lab. He discovered that our CD47 therapeutics protect nonmalignant tissues from losing viability when exposed to ionizing radiation but enhance the ability of ionizing radiation to impede the growth of tumors in those mice. This in turn led to collaborations with CCR immunologists that enabled us to identify CD47 as an immune checkpoint that limits the ability of cytotoxic T cells to kill tumor cells. In developing our translational studies, access to the clinical staff and residents in the Laboratory of Pathology provided opportunities to benefit from their expertise for the evaluation of tissues from our various animal studies.

Do you have any advice for those starting their career here in CCR? What advice do you have for future generations of cancer researchers/physicians?

Think about how your research skills can be applied across medical disciplines. Basic researchers should attend clinical seminars and contemplate what unanswered questions could be addressed using their knowledge and skills. I encourage young investigators to explore the diverse core facilities within CCR and NIH and learn about the available support for patenting and technology transfer that can facilitate the commercial development of your lab discoveries.

What are you looking forward to most in your retirement?

I am looking forward to spending more time outdoors doing photography and having time to catch up on reading that is not related to biomedicine. I am also looking forward to spending more time with family – I have a one-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter and another one on the way.

Dr. David D. Roberts will retire from CCR on May 31, 2024. 

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Thinking of Pursuing a PhD in Economics? Info on Graduate School and Beyond

Kasey Chatterji-Len and Anna Kovner

Becoming a PhD economist can provide a fulfilling and financially secure career path. However, getting started in the field can be daunting if you don’t know much about the preparation you’ll need and the available job opportunities. If you’re wondering what it means to be an economics researcher or how to become one, please read on. We’ll review how to prepare for a career in economics research, what an economics PhD program entails, and what types of opportunities it might bring. Economic education is a core component of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s mission to serve the community. To empower would-be economists, this post provides information for students who seek a career in economics research. We hope this information will be helpful to students interested in economics, regardless of their background and economic situation.  This information is most applicable to students applying to programs in the United States.  

The Breadth of Economics Research  

Academic disciplines conduct research in different ways, so it’s important to have a basic understanding of the types of questions economists ask and how they approach answering them. There are many definitions of economics, but a broadly useful one is the study of how people, organizations, and governments make decisions under different constraints, and how those decisions may affect their outcomes. 

When answering these questions, economists seek to ground their analyses in models and to be quantitatively precise about the effects they assign to any given cause. The range of topics economists can study is wide, but the accepted approaches to answering questions are stricter. Some examples of what economists might ask: 

• How do different public housing programs affect the children who live there? 
• Does a certain type of law encourage businesses to innovate? 
• How will a change in the interest rate affect inflation and unemployment rates? 
• How much does affordable health insurance improve people’s health? 
• How can poor countries eradicate poverty? 

There are many different subfields within economics, including, but not limited to behavioral, econometrics, energy/environmental, development, financial, international, monetary, public, and urban economics. You can familiarize yourself with the latest work in economics by subscribing to working paper series, such as NBER’s New This Week or the New York Fed’s Staff Reports . To get an idea of the breadth of questions economists can answer, you could listen to Stephen Dubner’s “ Freakonomics Radio ” podcast. You may also want to explore the Journal of Economic Perspectives , the New York Fed’s Liberty Street Economics blog, VoxDev , or VoxEU .  

What Is a PhD Program Like?    

Economics PhD programs typically last five to seven years. Unlike masters programs, they are often fully funded with a stipend, though most require students to complete teaching assistant and/or research assistant (RA) work as part of their funding package. In the first two years, students take classes, many of which are mathematically demanding. The rest of the program can include additional classes but is primarily devoted to original research with the aim of producing publishable papers that will constitute the dissertation.  

Faculty advisors are a central part of PhD programs, as students look to them for guidance during the research process. Economics PhD programs are offered within university economics departments, but there are similar programs in public policy and business schools. You can look at their websites to understand any differences in coursework and subsequent job placements. 

What Can You Do with an Economics PhD?  

Upon graduation, students can obtain jobs in a variety of industries. Many PhD students hope to become university professors. Governments and public policy-related institutions such as the Federal Reserve System, the U.S. federal government, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also hire economists to work on policy, lead programs, and conduct research. Finally, economics PhD graduates can also find employment at a variety of private sector companies, including banks, economic consulting firms, and big tech companies. The pay for these different positions can vary. According to the American Economics Association (AEA), the average starting salary for economics assistant professors in 2022-23 was approximately $140,000 at PhD granting institutions and $98,000 at BA granting institutions. 

Programs often publish the placements of their PhD graduates, so you can look online to see specific employment outcomes. See, for example, the University of Maryland’s placements . Ultimately, economists are highly regarded as authorities on a variety of topics. Governments, nonprofits, philanthropic foundations, financial institutions, and non-financial businesses all look to economists to answer important questions about how to best achieve their goals. Thus, earning an economics Ph.D. can potentially help you to influence issues that are important to you. 

Preparing for an Economics PhD Program  

There are several components to an economics PhD program application: college transcripts, GRE scores, letters of recommendation, and personal statements. Please download the Appendix linked below to learn more about transcripts and letters of recommendation. The Appendix details ways in which you can select coursework, obtain research experience, and develop relationships to position yourself for success as a PhD applicant.  

If you feel that you are too far along in your academic career to take enough of the classes described in the Appendix, this does not necessarily preclude you from pursuing an economics PhD. For example, it’s possible to take some of these classes through a master’s program, or through a pre-doctoral RA job. Some pre-doctoral RA jobs, such as the one here at the New York Fed , may enable you to take classes in preparation for graduate school. If you are concerned about your transcript, reach out to an economist at your university for advice; program standards for coursework and grades vary, and it’s a good idea to get more personalized advice. 

Research Experience   

If you’re interested in becoming an economics researcher and applying to PhD programs, it’s best to get research experience as soon as possible. Working as an RA is a great way to learn how to conduct research and get a better idea of whether it’s the right career path for you. Additionally, it can help you obtain a letter of recommendation for graduate school applications and improve your qualifications.  

All types of academic research can be enriching, but it’s beneficial to gain experience working directly with an economist. To find a position, you can reach out to professors whose work you find interesting or find an RA program at your school. Typical RA tasks may involve data collection and cleaning, as well as running analyses and creating charts to represent results. This is where coding skills become crucial; having taken math, statistics, and econometrics courses will also enable you to take on more responsibilities. 

You may also have the opportunity to conduct your own research, possibly under the supervision of a professor at your university. This research could be self-initiated or part of a course such as a thesis workshop. Self-directed research is a great opportunity to learn about all stages of the research process. It’s also an excellent opportunity to create a writing sample for graduate school applications. Ultimately, though, your motivation for conducting your own research project should be that you want to answer a question.  One thing economists have in common is a love of answering questions using data and theory. 

Research experience is also often obtained after completing an undergraduate or master’s degree. Taking on a full-time RA position before applying to PhD programs is very common and can make you a more competitive applicant. You may either get an RA job working for a professor or participate in a pre-doctoral RA program.  

Research assistant programs are more structured than positions with individual professors or projects, which could be helpful. Universities, parts of the government, think tanks, research organizations, and the Federal Reserve System are all good places to look for research assistant programs. To help you decide which opportunities are most desirable, you may want to ask potential employers : Where do people in this program tend to go afterward? Will I be working directly with an economist? How much of my time will be spent on academic research work? Will I be able to take classes as part of this program? Considering whether an economist will be able to evaluate your performance is an important factor for recommendation letters. The ability to take classes, either through tuition reimbursement or waivers, can also be an important benefit. 

The Research Analyst program here at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is one example of these programs and you should check it out here . The Federal Reserve Board of Governors also has a large program, and many other regional Federal Reserve Banks have similar programs. In addition, the PREDOC website and the  NBER post listings of RA opportunities. J-PAL and IPA also tend to recruit RAs for economic development projects. Another source of RA opportunities is the @econ_ra account on X. 

Who Should Get a PhD in Economics?  

A PhD may not be for everyone, but it is for anyone—people of all genders, religions, ethnicities, races, and national origins have PhDs in economics. Many economists majored in economics, but others majored in math, physics, or chemistry. Because economics is such an integral part of policymaking, it is important that economists come from a wide range of backgrounds so policy can be stronger and more effective. The inclusion of differing perspectives helps ensure that the contribution of economists to work in public policy, academia, and beyond effectively serves the broadest range of society. 

• Coursework Appendix

Kasey Chatterji-Len is a research analyst in the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Research and Statistics Group.

Anna Kovner  is the director of Financial Stability Policy Research in the Bank’s Research and Statistics Group.

How to cite this post: Kasey Chatterji-Len and Anna Kovner, “Thinking of Pursuing a PhD in Economics? Info on Graduate School and Beyond,” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Liberty Street Economics , May 31, 2024, https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2024/05/thinking-of-pursuing-a-phd-in-economics-info-on-graduate-school-and-beyond/.

You may also be interested in: AEA: Resources for Students

PREDOC: Guidance for Undergraduates

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Disclaimer The views expressed in this post are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York or the Federal Reserve System. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the author(s).

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Liberty Street Economics features insight and analysis from New York Fed economists working at the intersection of research and policy. Launched in 2011, the blog takes its name from the Bank’s headquarters at 33 Liberty Street in Manhattan’s Financial District.

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Meet EPA Wetland Ecologist Amanda M. Nahlik, Ph.D.

EPA researcher Dr. Amanda Nahlik works on understanding how anthropogenic disturbances, including climate change, affect wetland biogeochemistry across regional and national scales. She is the Office of Research and Development’s Technical Lead for the National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) program , under which annual, field-based condition assessments of the nation’s aquatic resources are conducted in lakes, rivers and streams, coasts and estuaries, and wetlands on a rotating schedule. Over her career, Dr. Nahlik’s research has spanned many different aspects of wetland and aquatic ecology – including water quality improvement, carbon storage, greenhouse gas emissions, ecosystem services, and development of indicators and metrics of aquatic ecosystem condition.

What are you working on right now?

I have many concurrent projects, all of which utilize data produced through the National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS). The wealth of data produced through NARS since its inception in 2007 provides unparalleled opportunities to answer questions about our aquatic ecosystems at national and regional scales. One of the most exciting questions I’m currently investigating relate to carbon storage in wetlands across the conterminous United States . Wetlands can be incredible carbon sinks, but changes to our landscape, changes in policies, and changing climates can have impacts on stored carbon, resulting in transformation of stored carbon into the atmosphere as potent greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane). Understanding how much carbon we currently have stored in our nation’s wetlands and temporal changes to carbon stores is important for protecting and managing wetlands across the nation, especially in consideration of climate change mitigation.

What is your education/science background?

As an undergraduate, I studied biology and environmental studies at Kenyon College, a small but renowned liberal arts school in Gambier, Ohio.  I conducted several years of independent wetland research during my summers with Dr. M. Siobhan Fennessy , who greatly influenced my life under her mentorship through her contagious enthusiasm for wetlands. After graduating with my B.A. in 2002, there was no question I would continue onto graduate school. I studied wetland ecology and biogeochemistry under Dr. William J. Mitsch at The Ohio State University in Columbus for both my M.S. (2005) and my Ph.D. (2009). During my doctorate research, I spent several years in Costa Rica, studying greenhouse gas emissions (methane in particular) and carbon cycling in tropical wetlands.  Dr. Mitsch made great efforts to introduce me to other influential scientists. One of those influential scientists was Dr. Mary Kentula , a wetland ecologist at EPA’s Pacific Ecological Systems Division (PESD) in Corvallis, Oregon, with whom I worked as an EPA Post Doctoral Fellow from 2009-2013. Under Dr. Kentula’s mentorship at PESD, I helped to plan and analyze the first National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) in 2011. For a few years, I continued to work on NWCA research under a Cooperative Agreement as a Research Associate at Kenyon College until I was hired permanently at PESD in 2016. I assumed the role of the Office of Research and Development’s Technical Lead for the NARS program in 2023.

When did you first know you wanted to work in environmental science?

I was one of those five-year-olds that knew what they really, truly wanted to “be” when they grew up.  The natural world, and later ecology, always interested me. My parents fostered my curiosity as a young child through frequent outings to the many zoos, museums, and botanical gardens that Chicago has to offer. Throughout my early teens, I spent many summers and evenings taking ecology and field biology classes and even traveled to Belize as part of an intensive marine biology course in high school.

What do you like most about your job?

My job is not a job – it is my passion. At EPA, I am encouraged to be curious, to investigate scientific questions that have long gone unanswered, and to reach managers and policymakers to make real-world impacts on our environment and for the public. NARS, is an amazing program to be part of because of the unparalleled quality, quantity, and longevity of the data, but also because of the amazing team of scientists with which I collaborate. They inspire me every day.

How does your science matter?

The NARS program is crucial to meeting Clean Water Act (CWA) goals to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nations’ waters” (CWA§101(a)). NARS is the only program in the United States that produces aquatic ecosystem data using a national-scale survey design and consistent, field-based methods. The NARS program provides critical information about the state of our aquatic resources, but perhaps even more importantly, the cyclic nature of NARS allows us to track trends in ecosystem condition over time to assess whether the nation is meeting objectives of the CWA to maintain or improve the integrity of our water resources. The datasets produced through the NARS program support myriad of research, both within EPA (e.g., in the Office of Research and Development, Office of Science and Technology, Regions) and outside EPA (e.g., in state agencies academia, non-governmental organizations).

Despite the many critical functions wetlands provide on the landscape, such as flood amelioration, climate change mitigation through carbon storage, groundwater recharge, nutrient storage and transformation, and wildlife habitat, wetland loss across the United States is occurring at substantial rates, with net losses increasing over 50% over the two decades ( Lang et al. 2024 ). The National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) is arguably the most comprehensive wetland dataset that exists for the United States, with data collected from approximately 1,000 sites every five years that span from nutrient concentrations in the water column, to plant species lists and abundances, to human-mediated physical alterations, to soil profiles and soil chemistry. Understanding the how wetland condition and wetland functions are affected by stressors, such as anthropogenic disturbance, climate change, and nutrient inputs, is important for protecting and managing wetlands across the nation.

If you weren’t a scientist, what would you be doing?

I can’t imagine not being a scientist – it is so engrained in who I am. But when I’m not actively working on research, I love to read (I’m currently on a science fiction kick), knit, and hike. I spend lots of time outdoors – especially at wetlands – with my two young children, who are just as curious about the world as I was at their age!

What advice would you give a student interested in a career in science?

I have gotten to where I am through a lot of hard work, persistence, and adaptability, but most of all, through connecting with already-established professionals in the field I wanted to pursue. In some cases, that meant a simple email to a lead author on a journal article I read.  In other cases, it meant volunteering for an event or a short internship. Setting yourself apart in your prospective field as early as possible – by introducing yourself and getting your name out to others – will help gain you recognition that makes it easier to find your path. Lastly, it’s important to recognize that the path isn’t always clear; after my undergraduate degree, it took a year of working at bookshops and answering phones at an office before I decided what I specifically wanted to study in graduate school. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have all the answers right away!

If you could have dinner with any scientist, past or present, who would you choose and what would you talk about?

I would love to have dinner (or even better, a field trip) with Dr. Henry Chandler Cowles, a botanist, conservationist, and one of the founders of modern ecology. In a lot of ways, it was specifically his theories that ignited my interest in ecology; in third grade, I took a dunes ecology class at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, where my interest in ecology was ignited by the same ecosystems that inspired his publications on succession. I would ask Dr. Cowles about his strategies for convincing a seemingly intractable public to preserve natural systems.  I imagine we could talk about changes in ecology and succession in response to anthropogenic disturbances and climate change for hours!

You are stranded on a desert island; how do you use science to survive? 

I lived on a tropical island for about six months to conduct coral reef surveys! Granted, I was not stranded and had many modern amenities, but water was always a primary concern as we received less than 20 inches of rainfall per year. Every drop of water that reached the rooftops was captured in a cistern and saved for drinking and cooking. So, the first thing I would do if I was stranded on a desert island would be to set up a system to catch rainwater and/or a simple system to evaporate and desalinate water. Even though much of our U.S. population is fortunate enough to not have to think about clean drinking water on a daily basis, it wasn’t all that long ago that our water quality in some areas of the U.S. was so poor that rivers were catching fire . Clean drinking water is still humanity’s most basic need, and under the Clean Water Act, EPA and states are responsible for ensuring that we have drinkable, fishable, swimmable waters now and into the future.

Editor's Note:  The opinions expressed herein are those of the researcher alone. EPA does not endorse the opinions or positions expressed.  

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PhD Percentage by Country / Number of Doctorate Degrees per Country 2024

1. slovenia.

Slovenia is the highest-ranking country in the number of Ph.D. degrees earned by adults between the ages of 25 and 64. 5% of the entire population in Slovenia has a Ph.D. The distribution between Ph.D. adults in Slovenia finds more female doctorates than males. About 4.5% of adult females have a Ph.D., compared to about 3% of adult males in Slovenia.

2. Switzerland

Switzerland has the second-highest rate of Ph.Ds. globally, with nearly 3% of the adult population holding this advanced degree. In Switzerland, men are more likely to hold a Ph.D., representing 4% of the total doctorate population, compared to about 2.5% for female doctorates.

3. Luxembourg

In Luxembourg, 2% of the total population holds a Ph.D. There are several countries tied for 2% of the population with a Ph.D., and almost all of the highly educated countries are in Europe . In Luxembourg, 2.5% of Ph.D. holders are male, compared to 2% female.

4. United States

The United States is tied with European countries when it comes to being a highly educated population. About 2% of the U.S. population holds a Ph.D. Men are more likely than women to have a Ph.D. in the United States, with 2.5% of the Ph.D. candidates male and about 2% female.

Like other countries on our list, Sweden is tied with 2% of the total population holding a doctorate degree. In this country, males and females are just about equal when it comes to this advanced degree. Around 2.5% of males have a Ph.D., while 2.2% of females hold a Ph.D. in Sweden.

6. The United Kingdom

Rounding out our list of highly educated countries with the most Ph.Ds., the United Kingdom has about 2% of the population holding a Ph.D. In the United Kingdom, males and females are pretty close to equal in higher education. Males account for more Ph.D. degrees, with about 2.5%, while females are close behind with nearly 2.3% Ph.Ds.

Another European country on our list of the most Ph.Ds., Germany, has about 2% of its population with a Ph.D. This country sees a more significant discrepancy between males and females when it comes to higher education. About 1.75% of males account for Ph.Ds. awarded, while only about 1% of females have their Ph.D. in Germany.

8. Australia

Breaking up the stranglehold at the top of our list between Europe and the United States, Australia makes the list with the 8th most Ph.D. citizens per capita. In Australia, 2% of the population holds a doctorate degree. Males and females are almost identical regarding Ph.Ds., with males just slightly earning a Ph.D. more frequently. Males account for 1.1% of Ph.Ds. in the country, while females account for 1.0% of the Ph.Ds. awarded in Australia.

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What country has the highest percentage of PhDs?

Frequently asked questions.

• What are the characteristics and outcomes of doctoral graduates? - OECD
• These countries have the most doctoral graduates - World Economic Forum
• List of countries by number of doctorates awarded - Wiki