MRes Finance

Overview

The Master of Research (MRes) in Finance offered by the School of Economics and Finance (SEF) is a research-oriented postgraduate programme for students who already hold an MSc in finance or a related field and who may wish to progress to doctoral study at Queen Mary (or elsewhere). Students build on their core postgraduate training by completing two advanced modules, one in financial economics and the other in macroeconomics, microeconomics, or econometrics; and can choose from a selection of option modules that cover a range of theoretical and applied topics. Students also conduct original research to fulfil the substantial dissertation component of the degree, which can form the basis of later doctoral work.

The MRes can be pursued as a stand-alone degree or as the first year of a planned PhD, and when appropriate a conditional offer of admission to the doctoral programme will be made. Generous financial assistance is available for candidates with demonstrated potential for a successful research career.

Why join the MRes programme?

The School of Economics and Finance is one of the UK's leading departments, ranked jointly sixth in the UK for overall research quality.

The breadth and depth of our expertise enables us to offer courses and supervision in virtually all major areas of economics and finance. The School has more than 30 research-active staff working in a wide range of research areas, including theoretical and empirical finance, financial econometrics and time series analysis, econometric theory, macro finance, microeconomic theory and game theory, and applied microeconomics. Staff members typically publish in the leading finance and economics journals, with publications over the 2014 Research Excellence Framework period in journals including Econometrica, the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Journal of Econometrics, the Journal of Finance, and many others. Individual members of staff also have active collaborations with various governmental and non-governmental agencies, including the UK Treasury, the Bank of England, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, OECD, and ILO.

The School hosts two weekly seminar series with external speakers from institutions in North America and Europe, as well as two internal workshops.

We have a vibrant community of doctoral students conducting research in economics and finance. Our MRes/PhD programme has held Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) recognition since 2008 and is affiliated with the QMUL-Goldsmiths Doctoral Training Centre (DTC), which awards ESRC-funded 1+3 year studentships and offers social science training beyond the areas covered by the School.

Excellent career opportunities are open to our MRes/PhD graduates. Recent placements of our students include lectureships or postdoctoral research positions at universities and research institutions worldwide such as Cambridge, Warwick, York, Leicester, Aarhus, Vienna and IZA. Our graduates are also typically hired by central banking institutions: recent placements include the Bank of England and the Bank of France.

The School offers generous financial support on a competitive basis to MRes students with demonstrated potential for a successful research career. Both domestic and international candidates are eligible for tuition waivers and stipends (amounting to £16,000 for 2014-15) to cover living expenses. In addition, MRes Finance students who progress to the PhD programme will have the option to increase their level of support (to a total of £22,000 for 2014-15) by undertaking 60 hours of teaching for the School. No additional application is needed to be considered for financial support.

Fellowships are also available through the ESRC Doctoral Training Centre and the College Principal Competition (please note early application deadline for such scholarships).

Facilities

Post-graduate students also have access to extensive computing resources. In addition to personal computers and computer labs with mathematical, statistical and real-time trading software (Eviews, Stata, Matlab, Gauss, Reuters, Bloomberg, TWS, FXCM), and a full range of economic and financial data services (DataStream, Macrobond, Bankscope, CRSP), MRes students also have access to macro computing Unix-based resources.

Structure

The MRes Finance requires one year of full-time study.

In Semester 1, MRes students register for two of the following 30-credit modules:

· ECOM083 Topics in Macroeconomics
· ECOM084 Topics in Microeconomics
· ECOM085 Topics in Econometrics
· ECOM086 Topics in Financial Economics

For MRes Finance students ECOM086 Topics in Financial Economics is a compulsory module.

In Semester 2, MRes students register for two of the following 15-credit option modules (not necessarily all offered each year):

· ECOM025 Financial Econometrics
· ECOM027 Labour and Public Policy
· ECOM044 Advanced Asset Pricing and Modelling
· ECOM054 Public Economics
· ECOM056 Empirical Macroeconomics
· ECOM081 Development Economics
· ECOM088 Advanced Corporate Finance
· ECOM089 Empirical Microeconomics

During Semester 2 and the Summer Recess students complete a 90-credit dissertation (approximately 15,000 words) under the supervision of a member of academic staff. The dissertation is submitted in August of the year following entry to the programme, and can form the basis of later doctoral work.

In total students earn 60+30+90=180 credits over the course of the MRes programme.