16 PhD programmes offered by the university

The Communication Sciences and Disorders program at Northwestern University brings together researchers studying mechanisms and disorders of communication in an interdisciplinary setting. 

The PhD program in Managerial Economics and Strategy (MECS), a program offered jointly by the Departments of Managerial Economics and Decision Sciences (MEDS) and Strategy at Northwestern University, emphasizes the use of rigorous theoretical and empirical models to solve problems in both theoretical and applied economics.  

The Psychology program at Northwestern University prepares students to be future leaders in scientific psychology through programs in five areas: clinical psychology; personality, development & health psychology; cognitive psychology; social psychology; and brain, behavior, & cognition.

The Economics program at Northwestern University prepares students for careers in college teaching and research, government and international agencies, or private business. 

Graduates form the Sociology program at Northwestern University are pioneers of sociological research, analysis, writing and teaching, and future leaders across diverse sectors of professional life.

The Human Development and Social Policy program at Northwestern University studies how public policy affects human development and well-being, how research on human development across the life span informs policy, and how people affect policy.

The Black Studies program at Northwestern University provides students with the historical background in the experiences of people of African descent, the analytic preparation to carry out rigorous empirical and theoretical research, and the professional development to pursue careers in academia or beyond.

The Technology and Social Behavior program at Northwestern University provides training in social science methods to study human behavior and computer technology.

The Anthropology program at Northwestern University fosters the historic diversity of the discipline by building an intellectual dialogue between different humanistic and scientific approaches. 

Students in this joint Management and Organizations and Sociology program offered by Northwestern University are interested in topics that bridge management strategy and economic sociology, such as social movements, the production of culture, entrepreneurship, social networks, gender and race inequality in organizations, and globalization.   

The Medical Anthropology program at Northwestern University prepares graduates for leadership in academic and government institutions requiring expertise in biocultural approaches to the study of human health and disease. 

The French and Francophone Studies program at Northwestern University focuses on literary and cultural production from the Francophone world. 

The Political Science program at Northwestern University is designed for students whose primary concern is a mastery of theories, methods of research, and substantive literature of the discipline of political science.

The Spanish and Portuguese program at Northwestern University focuses on the diverse Latin American, Iberian, and U.S. Latino literary and cultural traditions.

Graduates of Comparative Literary Studies program at Northwestern University leave with the historical knowledge, linguistic skills, and interpretive methodologies necessary to undertake scholarly research on and to teach literature in at least two languages.

The Financial Economics program at Northwestern University is offered jointly by the Department of Economics in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Finance in the Kellogg School of Management.