PhD Supervision

I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students interested in any of my research areas. My approach to supervision is hands-on and flexible — I meet students as often as needed rather than on a fixed schedule, and I care as much about their development as researchers as about the thesis itself. I expect students to work hard and engage seriously with their research, and in return I invest genuinely in their progress, their training needs, and their publication record. I actively encourage students to publish during their PhD, and many of my graduates have done so.

My recent graduates have gone on to academic positions in Scotland, England, China, and Korea — a reflection of the international reach of the research we do here.

Funding

Funding may be available through the University of Stirling’s scholarship schemes and, depending on the topic, through my own research projects. I would encourage prospective students to check the University of Stirling scholarships page and to get in touch with me directly to discuss their research ideas — knowing your area helps me identify whether relevant funding exists.

Research Areas I Supervise

I am happy to talk to anyone interested in pursuing a PhD in economics, particularly in the following areas:

  • Consumer choice behaviour and food
  • Risk perception and communication
  • Nudges, information, and behaviour change
  • Economic evaluation in healthcare
  • Financial decision-making
  • Discrete choice experiments and choice modelling
  • Survey design and methodologies

I am also happy to discuss other ideas at an early stage — if you are unsure whether your idea fits, just get in touch.

Current Students

Areej Riaz — Financial decision-making and mental health
Isaac Atanga — Geopolitical Risk: Examining the Incidence and Impact of Geopolitical Risk Uncertainty in Africa

Recent Graduates

Kavya Parthasarathy, 2025 — Time-critical decision-making
Jeon Chulhyun, 2025 — Valuing non-market ecosystem services of natural resources in Korea
Madalina Radu, 2024 — Food risk perceptions, communication and consumer behaviour
Hanjin Li, 2021 — Financial decision-making and choice modelling
Elizabeth Lemmon, 2019 — Social healthcare
Marta Odendal, 2015 — Education choice

Get in Touch

Send me a brief note outlining your research idea and your background at seda.erdem@stir.ac.uk. I am always happy to have an initial conversation.