Postgraduate Research Programmes Impacting Business, Public Institutions and Society Through Research

The SMU Experience ‘The experience moves me away from textbook to real-world application.’ PhD students take their research to the next level.

Our Programmes SMU PhD programmes develop world-class researchers. Become future thought leaders in your specialised field.

SMU Admissions SMU invites candidates who possess a good Bachelor’s degree to join our exciting PhD programmes.

Singapore A ‘little red dot’ always bustling with life, Singapore offers an enriching journey for your PhD experience.

At a Glance

Produce high-quality research that generates impactful and real-world relevant outcomes

Learn from eminent faculty members and internationally-renowned visiting academics

Undertake research assistantships in SMU Institutes, Centres, Labs & Initiatives (ICLIs)

Undertake teaching assistantships and internships

SMU PhD students:

Overview

• PhD in Business

Lee Kong Chian School of Business

• PhD in Economics

School of Economics

• PhD in Information Systems

School of Information Systems

• PhD in Psychology

School of Social Sciences

PhD Programmes

(Finance / OBHR / Marketing NEW / Strategic Management & Organisation NEW)

Programme Structure

Coursework [Years 1 to 2]

Qualifying Examination

[By Year 2]

Dissertation • Oral Defence of Proposal [by Term 1 of Year 3] • Oral Defence & Completion of Dissertation [by end of Year 4]

* Students are encouraged to complete their PhDs in 4 years.

Fellowships & Scholarships

Full Scholarships

• Cover tuition and registration fees, and provide monthly stipends.

• Renewable yearly, up to Year 4, based on good academic performance.

Presidential

Doctoral Fellowships

• Exceptionally qualified PhD students. • Renewable yearly, up to Year 4, based on good

academic performance. • Higher monthly stipends.

Primary Specialisation (8 Course Units)

Secondary Specialisation (4 Course Units)

Students will:

• have research advisors from both specialisations.

• undertake research assistantships with the institutes and centres in the university.

• receive the Presidential Doctoral Fellowship.

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme (IDP)

Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme (IDP)

• Analytics for Business, Consumer & Social Insights Primary Specialisation Secondary Specialisation

Information Systems Economics, Marketing or Psychology

Marketing Economics, Information Systems or Psychology

• Financial Markets & Institutions Primary Specialisation Secondary Specialisation

Economics Finance

Research@SMU: ICLIs

SMU has over 20 Institutes, Centres, Labs & Initiatives (ICLIs), most in collaboration with industry partners. These ICLIs:

Conduct world-class research and influence industry practice.

Engage students as research assistants & postdoctoral fellows on impactful projects.

Research@SMU: Research Assistantships

Students are involved in research assistantships at ICLIs and the Schools.

Full-time/Part-time RA appointments

Cover tuition fees and provide monthly stipends, or supplement scholarship stipends.

Allow students to work in teams undertaking targeted and impactful research.

Research@SMU: Internships

Through internships, SMU students steer their research towards practical problems.

With leading labs (such as HPLabs)

Exchanges with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU)

Chee Meng Tey & Payas Gupta Best Paper Award at the Network & Distributed System Security (NDSS) Symposium 2013 I Can Be You: Questioning the use of Keystroke as Biometrics

Qiang Yan & Jin Han Distinguished Paper Award at the NDSS Symposium 2012 On Limitations of Designing Leakage-resilient Password Systems: Attacks, Principles and Usability

Fuwei Jiang Best Paper Award in Investment at The Chinese Finance Association Annual Conference 2010 How Predictable is the Chinese Stock Market

SMU PhD students have received Best / Distinguished Paper Awards for their outstanding research papers.

SMU PhD Students’ Research Achievements/Contributions

Yen Teik Lee Society for Financial Studies Finance Cavalcade Award for the Best Paper in Corporate Finance (May 2013) Political Connections & Firm Value: Evidence from the Disgression Discontinuity Design of Close Gubernatorial Elections

View more examples of targeted &

impactful research

Career Prospects

Enter partnerships with business people looking for Entrepreneurship opportunities.

In companies which need people to be Thought Leaders of their Businesses.

As eminent and distinguished Faculty in Colleges and Universities.

A list of our graduates is found at: http://pgr.smu.edu.sg/phdsmu/graduates1.

Teaching@SMU

The Centre for Teaching Excellence equips teaching assistants with formal teaching experience through professional skills development workshops.

Graduate Instructors Forum for Teaching

(GIFT)

Faculty Online Learning Kits

Lesson Planning Workshops Collaborative Learning Workshops

Teaching Portfolio Workshops (useful for applying for faculty positions)

Brown bag conversations by SMU faculty on teaching & learning

Faculty Teaching Forums

Singapore

Quick Facts

• 136.8 km north of the equator (tropical climate)

• Island of 704 square kilometres • Exotic ‘garden-city’

Geography

• Population: 5.3 million • Residents : 3.8 million (74% Chinese, 13%

Malay, 9% Indian, 4% Eurasians & others) People

• 4th wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita - World Bank, 2011 Wealth

• English • Chinese Languages • Malay

• Tamil

Marina Bay Sands

Sentosa

About SMU

University Profile • Established in January 2000 • First publicly-funded autonomous university

in Singapore • City campus surrounded by museums,

theatres, educational institutions, art galleries, cafés, restaurants and a range of retail outlets

Student Profile • 36 countries represented

• 7,108 full-time undergraduates • 874 postgraduates

As of 7 September 2012

Faculty Profile • Globally diverse faculty pool with

PhDs from leading international universities

• 300 full-time faculty* • 61% international faculty* • 39,273 cumulative citations (as of March 2010)

*As of 31 December 2012

Life@SMU

In Singapore

At the University

As a PhD Student

• Located in the heart of the city, enjoy easy access to real-life data-sets, and internationally-known scholars, practitioners, entrepreneurs & distinguished educators.

• Be part of a vibrant research environment in a highly-focused university.

• Pursue research that targets theoretical advances and/or practical impact.

* Please refer to the individual programmes’ website for more details.

Admission Requirements

Passion For the pursuit and creation of knowledge to benefit society.

At least a good Bachelor’s degree A Master’s degree is useful but not required.

GMAT/GRE SMU, NUS and NTU students are exempted.

TOEFL/IELTS For applicants whose medium of instruction at the undergraduate level was not English.

Intake Opening Date for Application Closing Date for Application

August 1 November (of prior year) 31 January (of intake year)

January 1 April (of prior year) 30 June (of prior year)

Admission Offers

Matriculation & Orientation

Start of PhD Programme

Application Procedure

When to Apply?

Admission Schedule

August Intake

January Intake

Early-March

Early-August

Early-August

End-December

Mid-August

Early-January

The SMU Experience “The experience moves me away from textbook to real-world application.” PhD students take their research to the next level.

Our Programmes SMU PhD programmes develop world-class researchers. Become future thought leaders in your specialised field.

SMU Admissions SMU invites candidates who possess a good Bachelor’s degree to join our exciting PhD programmes.

Singapore A “little red dot” always bustling with life, Singapore offers an enriching journey for your PhD experience.

At a Glance