Financing
All HEC PhD students receive a cost-of-living scholarship and full tuition waiver
We are committed to providing the conditions that enable our students to pursue research at the highest academic level. This includes a five-year cost-of-living scholarship, full tuition waiver, and additional financial support for conference presentations, research visits, job market activities, and ad hoc research needs.
Every PhD student benefits from the below funding opportunities for up to 5 years.
Cost of living Scholarships
Each PhD Student benefits from the HEC Foundation cost of living Scholarships without any selection criteria of origin or academic background.The cost of living Scholarship is not tied to a research assistantship. Therefore, TA/RA and teaching...
Tuition fees
HEC provides a full tuition waiver to all its PhD students without condition of academic background or origin.
Research Visits and Conferences
An integral part of the HEC Paris PhD experience is the emphasis on a visiting research period and academic conference presentations. The PhD Office funds these activities in accordance with the program regulations.
Research and teaching assistantships RA/TA
At HEC Paris we do not require from our PhD students to work as TA/RA as part of the scholarship although this can be a very valuable experience and provides an additional source of income.
Special Fellowships
HEC Paris invites applications for special PhD fellowships in selected research areas:
- Purposeful Leadership Fellowship: Offered within the Strategy and Business Policy specialization, this fellowship supports ground-breaking academic research on organizational purpose. Fellows will collaborate with the Sustainability and Organizations Institute, alongside with the team of researchers of the Joly Family Chair in Purposeful Leadership, held by Professor Rodolphe Durand. More details here.
- Economics of Mentorship Fellowship: Offered within the Economics and Decision specialization, this fellowship supports innovative research on the impact of mentorship on startups, firms, universities, and NGOs. You will collaborate with the research team of the ION Management Science Lab at HEC Paris, led by Professors Thomas Åstebro and Carlos Serrano.
HEC Paris invites applications for a Special PhD Fellowship in the Strategy and Business Policy Department. The Special Fellowship is aimed at stimulating ground-breaking academic research investigating organizational purpose.
"Purposeful Leadership"
The Project
You will be working in the Society & Organizations (S&O) center with the team of researchers of the Joly Family Chair in Purposeful Leadership, held by Professor Rodolphe Durand.
The Research Group
The S&O center is an internationally acclaimed center for its research on inclusive economy, ecological transition, and purposeful leadership. The center’s research impact is well acknowledged with international awards and regular economic and business press coverage. The center also innovates in the classroom (flipped classroom, online courses, on-site experiences, etc.).
Your Contribution
We seek to find candidates with a strong appetite for research about the notions of purpose and performance, which a recent trend in field of management research associates together. Purposeful leadership is the discursive elaboration and practical implementation of sense-giving by leaders throughout multiple organizational layers. CEOs and executive teams worldwide find that purposeful leadership provides the organization with a series of advantages such as trust, resilience, and operational efficiency. However, research has approached the phenomenon as an example of moral leadership without paying enough attention to the conditions leading to its supposed advantages. Multiple questions emerge around this relationship between purpose and performance, and we’re looking for candidates willing to elucidate them with us.
Career
The PhD typically takes 5 years to complete. After a successful doctorate, you will have excellent chances for a scientific career at top Universities. Professor Durand has placed his PhD students at Aalto University, Bocconi, Cambridge Judge Business School, IESE Business School, University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, University of Lugano and University of Western Ontario Ivey Business School.
The Fellowship
This Special Fellowship awards 20.000€ spread over the 5 years of study, subject to a satisfactory academic contribution to the Hubert Joly Purposeful Leadership chair. The Fellowship is offered in addition to the HEC Foundation PhD Research Fellow scholarship of 26.000€/year for a period of up to five years.
How to apply
The starting date for the PhD position is September each year. To apply, you need to follow the regular PhD application process at HEC Paris and add an additional personal statement for this specific Fellowship. Learn more here. Please note that French language skills are not required.
A question?
For general information, contact the PhD office, doctorat@hec.fr
For project-related questions, please contact Professor Rodolphe Durand
Strategy and Business Policy and founder of the S&O center, durand@hec.fr
HEC Paris invites applications for a Special PhD Fellowship in the Economics and Decision Sciences Department. The Special Fellowship is focused on "The Economics of Mentorship". It provides an additional €10,000 per year (on top of the €26,000 HEC Foundation PhD Research Fellowship) for up to five years. Work on cutting-edge research with Professors Thomas Åstebro & Carlos Serrano, exploring mentorship's impact across startups, firms, universities, and NGOs. Your research could shape innovation, leadership, and even AI-driven mentorship tools.
The fellowship supports a ground-breaking research program on the economics of mentorship in collaboration with the ION Management Science Lab at HEC Paris. This Lab studies mentorship across startups, mid-sized firms, large enterprises, universities, and NGOs, with a focus on selection, matching, interaction methods, and incentives. By collecting and analyzing data, it aims to understand mentorship's impact on performance and innovation, bridging academia, industry, and non-profits while disseminating actionable insights. A stated objective is to scientifically explore the use of AI tools across these domains.
As a PhD student, you will join a research team led by Professors Thomas Åstebro (Executive Director) and Carlos Serrano (Scientific Director) of the Lab. Your research tasks may include: Expanding data collection efforts; Developing theoretical models; Developing AI-driven tools; Designing and executing experiments; Data analysis; and publishing your work. You may address topics such as: selecting and nurturing startups and entrepreneurs, supporting employee onboarding and leadership development, making investments in startups, and helping individuals reskill with AI-driven tools.
The starting date for the PhD position is September 2025. To apply, you need to follow the regular PhD application process at HEC Paris. Please see here. For project-related questions, please contact astebro@hec.fr and serrano@hec.fr. French language skills are not required.
The PhD typically takes 5 years to complete. In addition to taking courses, you should expect to spend extended time interacting with individuals, program managers in Universities, our collaborators: HEC Incubateur, CDL Paris, University of Utah, Bocconi University, ION Group, as well as startups, firms, and non-profits. Good social skills are useful for such work.
After a successful doctorate, you will have excellent chances for a scientific career at top Universities. Professors Åstebro and Serrano have previously placed their PhD students at the University of Oxford, NYU, IE Business School, NBER/MIT, Bocconi, and Northeastern University.