Department of Business Humanities and Law

The Department of Business Humanities and Law (BHL) has about 120 academic staff members including 30 active PhD students. They work across a broad range of fields, including law, history, philosophy and ethics, politics, sociology, design and aesthetics, cultural studies, leadership studies, gender studies and entrepreneurship.  It is a Department in which insights from the humanities and social sciences are brought to bear on questions prevailing in the practices of business and management, and on law, governance and society. Our research interests are varied, and include: ethnographic studies of algorithmic trading in financial markets; conceptual studies of sovereignty and leadership; studies of public-sector education and welfare reform; and case studies of organisational creativity in entrepreneurial firms. Methodologically, we tend toward more qualitative and interpretive approaches, to the experimental, and to the development and creation of new research paradigms. At BHL, we value journal articles, but we also value a wide range of other publications, including monographs and books.

BHL teaches core courses in organization, innovation and entrepreneurship, in business and philosophy, political communication, in international management, and in service management. It also contributes to teaching in design (including a joint master programme with the Danish Design School, KADK), strategy and leadership, ethics, entrepreneurship, tourism, sustainability, and public sector management.

We are also very active in pedagogic research, thinking about how we teach and might teach differently, and then reflecting on and writing about our experiences with this.

CBS LAW is a constituent part of the Department. It aims to provide excellence in legal scholarship and is one of the most dynamic scholarly environments within law in Northern Europe. CBS LAW’s research and teaching focuse on business law from a societal and commercial perspective.

The typical BHL PhD recruit is on a 3-year scheme, funded either by the Department/CBS, external collaborative research grants, industrial PhD funding, or in partnership with other academic institutions.

We require that PhD students have finished a relevant master’s degree (or equivalent) within the humanities, the social sciences, or law. We also require that PhD students have high grades, in particular in their master thesis. We concentrate very hard on the research rhythm and fit, so to make sure there is compatibility and sympathy between the student and supervisory team.

In the case of CBS LAW, we normally recruit PhD students holding a master degree in law or master of science in business administration and commercial law (cand.merc.(jur.)), based on a research proposal within disciplines in Business Law, Tax Law or Law and Economics.

BHL has two PhD lines to which all PhD projects conform. 

Line 1: In this line, which applies to all PhD students except those enrolled in CBS LAW, there is an emphasis on three aspects: the social, cultural and economic resonance of the problems being addressed in the research; the theoretical ambition of the framing coupled with a capacity to form a strong argument and narrative; and methodological skill and integrity, including a commitment to research ethics.

PhD students are required to choose courses from those offered by the MOST interdisciplinary cluster (Management, Organization and Society) that includes BHL with kindred Departments of EGB, IOA, MSC and DIGI.

In this way, we equip our PhD students with the skills relevant to a career in academia, or to a research-intensive career in industry, government or civil society organisations.

Line 2: CBS LAW has a separate PhD line, which is closely connected to JurForsk – The Danish Legal Research Education programme, which is run together with University of Copenhagen, Roskilde University Centre, University of Southern Denmark, University of Aarhus and University of Aalborg. Through this collaboration, our PhD students are provided with doctoral courses on a high international level within the fields of Law and Law and Economics.

Employment

Our PhD graduates find employment across a range of universities, both Nordic and beyond, as well as in private and public-sector organisations, such as ministries, law firms, municipalities, and civil society organisations. The diverse post-PhD careers paths of our students reflect the highly pluralistic and interdisciplinary nature of the department. Some BHL PhD graduates of high potential at an international level attain post-docs or assistant professorships in the Department where there are educational needs or strategic priorities.

Information

Further information about the CBS PhD programme, admission, funding, current PhD projects and PhD courses can be found at the CBS PhD school's own website.

BHL PhD Coordinator
Justine Grønbæk Pors
E-mail: jgp.bhl@cbs.dk, tel +45 3815 2857

Head of CBS PhD School
Anette Boom
E-mail: abo.eco@cbs.dk; tel. +45 3815 3662

PhD School Administration
Anja Knudsen
E-mail: ak.research@cbs.dk, tel. +45 3815 2625