Teaching and Research

Post Funding Teaching

PhD students are normally provided with financial support for a period of five years. The objective is that students will have completed enough of their program to be able to take a job. Many students do not finish in that time; some obtain outside funding such as research fellowships, but others may teach as sessional instructors in the School of Business. Departments are usually able to provide such sessional instructor positions, dependent on students' teaching capabilities. See also Funding.


Teaching Development

Students are strongly encouraged to complete the Graduate Teaching and Learning Program offered by the Faculty of Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies.


Teaching Requirements

Teaching may be an important component of a PhD graduate's future career. For this reason we require that each student have university teaching experience before completing the Business PhD program.

Students who receive financial assistance throughout their programs are expected to teach a total of two courses in their third and fourth years, without remuneration beyond normal funding. The scheduling of the courses is the responsibility of the respective departments.


Research Centres

The Alberta School of Business has established various centres of research. For additional information concerning these centres, visit Research Centres.


Research Involvement

The program includes significant research involvement besides the student's main project, the dissertation. For example, the Business Research Conference is held annually to give students an opportunity to present their ideas and research results to faculty and other students.

Research Requirements

Students receiving financial assistance are expected to work for two consecutive terms in their specialization as research assistants under faculty supervision. Assignment of students is done by the respective departments, in consultation with the Doctoral Program Director.

Research Seminars

Participation in research workshops and seminars is an integral component of doctoral education. Students are urged to participate fully in departmental seminars; this includes attendance at the departments' seminars, in which scholarly papers are presented by University of Alberta faculty, visiting scholars, and doctoral students. Students are also expected to present/poster their research results at the Business Research Conference.

The Summer Period

The academic calendar at the University of Alberta consists of two terms of instruction between September and April, followed by two, six-week spring and summer sessions. The May to August period should be used for the following activities.

  1. Further research training through work on joint projects with faculty members. Results of this research will be presented in such public outlets as scholarly journals, professional conferences, department seminars and the PhD Research Conference. When a presentation requires travel to a conference, support may be available from the PhD office. This research activity is very important to students' academic progress.
  2. Taking courses that are prerequisite to, or supportive of, the specialization's required courses.
  3. Preparing for comprehensive or candidacy examinations.
  4. Writing research papers oriented towards developing a thesis proposal or for scholarly publication.
  5. Satisfying the teaching requirement of the specialization.