Economics continues to be one of the most important of the social science disciplines. The pathway brings together the distinctive expertise and track record of research excellence in three institutions – Cardiff, Bangor and Swansea. As well as breadth across the whole discipline, macroeconomics (theoretical and applied) is an area in which Cardiff enjoys a particularly high national and international reputation, further enhanced by the Cardiff-based Julian Hodge Institute of Applied Macroeconomics. Bangor is an international research leader in Financial Economics, consistently ranked amongst the top 20 institutions in the world for Banking research, and is the host institution of the Institute of European Finance (IEF). Swansea has a particularly strong research record in labour and regional economics, is home to the Welsh Economy Labour Market Evaluation Research Centre (WELMERC) as well as being a key partner in several pan-institutional research centres.

The pathway offers a rich research environment for its students across the locations, including: presentations at weekly PhD seminars; attendance of/presentations at regular faculty research workshops; frequent external speaker seminars; access to research events; Wales-wide research colloquia held at the University of Wales conference centre in mid-Wales; major international conferences. Bangor sponsors the International Accounting and Finance Doctoral Symposium (together with the Universities of Leeds, Bradford, Strathclyde, Queensland, Salamanca, and Bologna) providing research students and early career researchers the opportunity to present their work to leading international academics in a supportive yet demanding environment.

The pathway involves a common two-year taught part comprising: (i) a common MSc Economics degree in year one, and (ii) a common MRes in Advanced Econ degree in year two. Both are delivered at Cardiff Business School. During the first two years in Cardiff, Bangor and Swansea staff will keep in contact with students with visits every 3 months to discuss research plans, and all students will be encouraged to attend seminars and other research activities at their home institutions. After successful completion of the two-year (or equivalent part-time) programme, students are based at their respective home institutions (Bangor, Cardiff and Swansea) for their supervised research study. We will encourage and facilitate joint supervision across institutions where appropriate. Cohort-building is supported via an annual student-led doctoral conference. This includes the full cohort of Economics DTP students plus those funded by other internal and external means.