PhD in Actuarial Science

Program Overview

PhD in Actuarial Science

Key Information

• Start Date: October 2025
• Duration: 4 years
• Application Deadline: 9 February 2025

About the PhD in Actuarial Science Programme

The Faculty of Actuarial Science and Insurance is one of the leading academic actuarial departments in the world, with highly respected degree courses and research. It comprises 29 staff, including eight qualified actuaries.

Benefits

• The Faculty makes use of its position close to the heart of the City of London to enhance its research, teaching, and external profile.
• As such, the Faculty is proud of its PhD in Actuarial Science programme. On this programme, you will have the full support of the faculty as well as access to the research and insights from one of the world’s leading actuarial departments.

Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021

The Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021 rated Bayes 5th in the UK for Business and Management research. In total, 92% of our research was rated as world-leading (4) or internationally excellent (3) – up from 84% in REF 2014.

Research Areas

The Faculty's research considers a range of theoretical and applied issues in:

• General and life insurance
• Health and social care
• Machine learning and analytics
• Mortality and longevity modelling
• Pensions and investment
• Risk management
• Statistics
• Stochastic modelling of risk in insurance and finance

Programme Structure

The Actuarial Science PhD is usually a four-year programme. You are registered on the MPhil degree for the first two years during which you will follow a programme of taught courses and prepare your first research paper.

Year 1 - Theory and Methods

• In the first year, you will attend a number of taught courses aiming to provide training in your research field and exposure to wider research areas.
• You will be able to take PhD-level courses in Finance, as well as, if appropriate, drawn from Bayes MSc programmes.
• These courses are academically rigorous, and you will need to be examined in them.
• In parallel, you will commence your academic research, under the supervision of Bayes academics.
• At the end of the first academic year, you will submit a research dissertation, demonstrating a clear formulation of a suitable research topic and substantial progress towards your first academic paper.

Year 2 - Research and Teaching Skills

• Your research training continues in the second year with workshops and seminars focused on further developing your research skills further and courses introducing you to the practice of learning, teaching, and assessment.
• Alongside this, you will continue your academic research in your chosen topics.
• The year culminates with the defence of your first research paper before a transfer panel committee, towards the end of term 2.

Year 3 - Year 4

• You complete your remaining research papers in years three and four and defend your work at the viva voce examination soon after completion of your thesis.
• The focus of training in the final two years shifts towards preparing you for an academic career.
• You will be supported by Bayes academics to prepare for the viva voce and the academic job market, with the aim of you successfully defending your thesis and taking up an academic position at a leading academic institution or a research-oriented job at a financial institution.

Fees and Funding

UK (Home) Students

• Full-time: £4,880 per year

Non-UK (Overseas) / EU Students

• Full-time: £12,250 per year

Facilities and Research

• PhD students on the PhD Actuarial Science programme have access to the state-of-the-art research infrastructure, computing equipment, and extensive library resources.
• Bayes Business School offers access to a wide range of databases, including:
  • Bloomberg
  • Thomson Reuters EIKON
  • Factset
  • WRDS
  • DataStream
  • Thomson One and many others.