Entrepreneurship Specialisation PhD Programme
The Entrepreneurship Specialisation aims to dramatically bridge the gap between academic and business activities, increase the relevance of research in real world settings as well as provide students with a practical „beyond research“ tool-box for implementing their ideas in practice.
The academic and business journeys of candidates under this track are highly individualised and tailored to the research subjects and professional backgrounds of individual applicants.
There are two different study paths within this track:
There are two different routes within the track. Upon admission to the programme, candidates may either apply for a Junior Research Fellow position or study as an individual doctoral student. EBS also accepts visiting PhD students from similar focus areas.
Capacity
4 years (240 ECTS)
Prerequisites
Master's degree or equivalent
Language
English
Diploma
PhD in Management
Method
Session based
Price
€600/month (€7200/year)
At the beginning of the doctoral studies, an individual study plan, in cooperation with the supervisor, is established based on the individual goals of the doctoral student.
Target Audience
- Graduates seeking academic or research-intensive careers in entrepreneurship
- Experienced professionals and entrepreneurs aiming to investigate entrepreneurial phenomena through doctoral research
- Candidates working on company-funded or venture-based projects that can serve as sites of scholarly inquiry
Admission Requirements
Applicants must hold a relevant Master’s degree and demonstrate:
- a strong interest in entrepreneurship research
- an initial research problem or entrepreneurial phenomenon suitable for doctoral inquiry
- capacity for critical reflection, theoretical engagement, and academic writing
Applicants submit
- Academic transcripts (Master’s and Bachelor’s level)
- Master’s thesis
- Motivation letter
- Preliminary research or problem statement
Tuition Fee:
Doctoral students enrolling as individual doctoral students have to pay a tuition fee. The tuition fee is €600/month (€7200/year), which provides PhD candidates with full and unlimited access to all EBS resources.
The tuition fee is payable either directly or through in-kind means (such as participation in teaching, involvement in external projects, involvement in spin-off companies etc.).
In addition, for the applied track, a separate pricing applies to the validation/acceleration module depending on the direction chosen by individual students.
The programme on applied and experimental research track, focuses on seeking to create a two-way interaction between business and academia within a comprehensive support ecosystem.
Programme Structure and Duration
The programme duration is 4 years full-time (240 ECTS) and consists of two phases.
Phase 1: General Coursework (60 ECTS)
Shared with the Management specialisation, ensuring equivalent doctoral standards:
Specialisation module
Entrepreneurial Inquiry and Venture-Based Research Specialisation module (12 ECTS)
Outcome
Defence of a doctoral research or venture-based research proposal grounded in theory
Phase 2: Doctoral Project (180 ECTS)
Doctoral research may involve:
- empirical study of entrepreneurial processes
- design, piloting, or evaluation of entrepreneurial artefacts or ventures
- action research or intervention-based inquiry
The venture, MVP, or organisational intervention is treated as a research object, not as the doctoral output itself.
Intended learning outcomes (ILOs)
At specialisation level
Graduates of the PhD Programme with specialisation in Entrepreneurship will be able to:
- critically evaluate and synthesise entrepreneurship theories and paradigms
- identify and justify original academic contributions in entrepreneurship research
- design and conduct rigorous qualitative, quantitative, or intervention-based academic research
- articulate the philosophical and ethical foundations of their research
- produce publishable academic work meeting international academic standards
- communicate research findings to academic and professional audiences
- contribute to entrepreneurship education through teaching and supervision
Admissions process and checklist:
Ready to get started?
If you have any questions, please contact us: doctoral@ebs.ee
Submit your application via the DreamApply platform.
