Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Doctoral students will attain the knowledge, values and attributes to make significant contributions to their professional communities and societies through further high-quality research, and developments.

You put together a proposal that critically reviews work done in your area of research. This requires a suitable research methodology and a timeframe for completion of the degree.

You are expected to publish one or more papers for a reputed international conference in your chosen area of research.

Once you have completed your research proposal, you refine your design, collect data and conduct your research as appropriate.

Data is collected and analysed and the results are published at international conferences. A journal publication is also encouraged at this point.

The first step in the final stage of the PhD is finalising the data collection and analysis. You then write your PhD thesis and submit it to the supervisor for feedback. It could take two or three drafts before the thesis is ready for submission and examination.

The outcomes for graduates of the Doctor of Philosophy are outlined in the Graduate Profile below.

Graduate Profile

1. Apply online and submit all required documents at least three months prior to the intended start date
2. The Graduate Research School will assess your eligibility and forward to the relevant faculty to confirm possible research areas and supervisors
3. Where the faculty confirms the availability of resources, including supervision, they will request for you to complete the formal research proposal (PGR2). Your PGR2 Research Proposal, including supervisory signatures, must be submitted to your Faculty Postgraduate Office a minimum of four weeks prior to your intended start date. If you are planning to start on 1 February, submit your signed PGR2 by 15 December.
4. Once the research proposal is confirmed by the faculty, it will be sent to the Graduate Research School for approval and to issue an Offer of Place

For general enquiries for the Doctor of Philosophy programme please contact doctoral.and.mphil.admissions@aut.ac.nz.

Prospective PhD applicants are required to prepare a formal research proposal, specifying the field of research and a general research question you wish to investigate.

Admission to a doctoral programme

Guidelines for the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law

Guidelines for the Faculty of Culture and Society

We require the following information:

• Faculty and/or field you wish to conduct your study in
• Academic transcripts
• Grading scale for postgraduate qualification
• Degree certificates (undergraduate and postgraduate)
• Title of the thesis/dissertation/research project
• 1-2 page document (maximum) outlining your proposed research project
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• If English is not your first language you need to provide evidence of English language proficiency - IELTS (Academic) test results or recognised equivalent. If your postgraduate study was completed in English within three years, this may be waived

Once the required information is received, we will forward your enquiry to the relevant faculty who will communicate to you about the outcome of your application, possible research areas and supervisors.

We require a portfolio (between 10-15 annotated images as a pdf or PowerPoint file or a URL for a website)

Provide evidence of completing the courses Microeconomics, Macroeconomics and Econometrics at postgraduate level. Course syllabus or similar is required for assessment of comparability of those courses to those taken in New Zealand