PhD Studentship – Finding solutions to the most pressing managerial challenges impacting the music sector

We welcome original proposals that address important business and management aspects, particularly where these intersect with wider questions relevant to the UK creative economy.

This studentship sits within the wider context of MusicFutures’ mission to strengthen the Liverpool City Region (LCR) music economy through sustainable and inclusive innovation, research, skills development and business support.

For this reason, we’re especially interested in projects that can speak to the opportunities, needs and future development of the LCR music economy, while also generating insights of wider national and international relevance.

If your proposal engages explicitly with the structures, dynamics, growth opportunities and challenges within the LCR music economy, we strongly encourage you to apply for this opportunity.

The PhD topic is not fixed in advance. Possible research areas include, but are not limited to:

• Disruptive technologies and their implications for music businesses
• Changing business models in the music industries
• Digital transformation in music sector organisations
• Innovation, entrepreneurship and new venture development in music
• Platformisation, intermediation and value creation in music ecosystems
• Organisational responses to technological disruption in the music sector
• Sustainable growth, resilience and adaptation in music-related SMEsSkills, capabilities and new forms of work in music and adjacent creative sectors
• Data, automation and decision-making in music businesses
• Emerging models of collaboration, production, distribution or monetisation in music
• The structure, performance and development needs of the LCR music economy
• Place-based innovation, clustering and ecosystem development in music and the creative industries
• Barriers to growth, scale-up and investment for music businesses and freelancers in the LCR.

These examples are intended as a guide only. You can submit a proposal on other vital music business-related challenges if it aligns with the expertise and supervisory capacity at the School, and the broader aims of MusicFutures.

Your project should be theoretically informed, methodologically robust and capable of a meaningful contribution to both scholarship and practice.

It should also be clearly grounded in management and organisation scholarship, even if it relates to interdisciplinary or sector-specific questions.

Please, be aware that even if your research proposal is accepted, the final scope and focus of the PhD may be refined in discussion with the supervisory team.

The MusicFutures GTF also helps kickstart your academic career, as you’ll gain experience as a university lecturer to become a rounded scholar.

Alongside pursuing your PhD research, you’ll complete a short teacher training programme and be involved in a fixed number of teaching hours.

As well as gaining a formal higher education teaching qualification, you’ll learn key pedagogical skills for the academic job market, primarily through a shadowing mentored classroom involvement.

To be successful in your application you must demonstrate capability to develop an original and rigorous PhD project, and also show strong potential to contribute to the teaching and intellectual life of the Management School.

To apply for this studentship, you’ll need a UK master’s degree – or international equivalent – preferably at distinction or merit, in a relevant field such as:

• Management
• Business and management
• Innovation
• Digital business
• Entrepreneurship
• Organisation studies
• Cultural and creative industries.

If you have any questions about requirements for this funding opportunity, please contact the Management School’s Postgraduate Research Team.

1. Contact supervisors

You do not have to contact supervisors to apply for this studentship, but if you’d like to ask any academic questions, please get in touch with Dr Jennifer Davies (Jennifer.Davies@liverpool.ac.uk).

2. Prepare your application documents

You may need the following documents to complete your online application:

• • A research proposal (this should cover the research you’d like to undertake)
  • University transcripts and degree certificates to date
  • Passport details
  • English language certificates (only for applicants are UK citizens but whose first language is not English)
  • A personal statement (include ‘ULMS-MUSICFUTURES-2026 studentship’ in your title)
  • A curriculum vitae (CV)
  • Names and contact details of two referees

3. Apply

Finally, register and apply online.  You’ll receive an email acknowledgment once you’ve submitted your application. We’ll be in touch with further details about what happens next.

Submit your application before Friday 5 June at 5pm UK time, following the steps below:

• Select the ‘Management Studies – Doctor in Philosophy (PhD)’ option as your programme of study
• In the ‘Finance’ section, select funding source ‘Sponsor’ and insert ‘ULMS-MUSICFUTURES-2026’ in the box below
• Also include ‘ULMS-MUSICFUTURES-2026’ as the first line of your personal statement.

When we evaluate your application, we’ll consider:

• The originality, quality and feasibility of your proposed research
• The fit between the project and the School’s research expertise
• Your preparedness for doctoral study
• Your potential to develop as a teacher and scholar through the GTF route.

We’ll then let you know whether we’d like you to progress on to the next stage of the application process, in which case we’ll invite you for an interview.

Data shows women, black, Asian and ethnic minority students are currently under-represented in the music industry.

If you belong to any of these groups, we strongly encourage you to apply, as we’ll use the Positive Action provision (Equality Act 2010) to select candidates of equal merit.