Online Doctoral Study for Working Professionals
Advanced research. Individual supervision. The freedom to remain professionally active, wherever you are.
- Fully OnlineResearch without borders
- Working ProfessionalsStudy alongside your career
- No Campus RequirementNo relocation required
- Online DefenceComplete remotely
Doctoral Study Without Borders
Experienced professionals increasingly seek doctoral study without stepping away from their careers, relocating internationally, or attending a traditional university campus on a regular basis.
Monarch Switzerland has been providing online and distance-based education to international professionals for close to two decades. This long-standing experience has shaped a doctoral model designed around the realities of experienced professionals: advanced research, individual supervision and academic rigor combined with the flexibility to remain professionally active and geographically independent.
Monarch Switzerland offers fully online doctoral pathways for experienced professionals who wish to undertake advanced research while continuing their careers. Doctoral study can be completed remotely from the candidate’s home country, including supervision, research development and the doctoral defence, without mandatory campus attendance or relocation.
Whether described as online, distance, remote, digital or flexible doctoral study, the underlying objective is the same: providing academically rigorous doctoral education that can be integrated with an established professional life.
A Doctoral Model Designed Around Professional Life
Part-time doctoral study makes room for an established career while asking candidates to make a sustained commitment to independent research, scholarly engagement and their own development.
At Monarch, “fully online” means that research development, individual supervision and the doctoral defence can take place remotely. Candidates can study from their home country without relocating to Switzerland or attending a campus. Distance learning and digital supervision support a non-campus model; they do not remove the intellectual work of a doctorate.
Study From Your Home Country
Remain connected to your country, family and professional environment. No mandatory campus attendance or relocation is required to complete the program.
Remain Professionally Active
Continue your career while developing research through part-time study. Plan regular time for reading, analysis and writing alongside professional commitments.
Individual Research Supervision
Develop your inquiry with individual academic guidance. Independent research is supported by critical dialogue, feedback and engagement with scholarly work.
Defend Online
The doctoral defence may be completed online. Candidates may select an in-person defence when offered by Monarch, but physical attendance is not required for program completion.
Optional workshops, not a campus requirement. Academic workshops may complement the research experience. Workshop attendance is not a prerequisite for online defence.
From Experienced Professional to Professional Researcher
Management and leadership experience, industry knowledge, professional networks and access to meaningful research contexts can help reveal problems worth investigating.
That experience provides a foundation for research; it does not replace doctoral research capability. The transition is from knowing a professional context to investigating it critically, systematically and with an original scholarly purpose.
- Professional ExperienceRecognise the challenges and assumptions within your field.
- Research ProblemConceptualize a focused, significant problem for inquiry.
- Theory & LiteratureEngage critically with scholarly knowledge and competing explanations.
- MethodologySelect and defend an appropriate research approach.
- EvidenceCollect and analyze evidence, developing well-supported scholarly arguments.
- Original ContributionProduce research that advances understanding within your field.
Professional experience and previous publications can strengthen preparation, but they do not automatically replace research development, supervision, thesis requirements or examination requirements. Extensive experience does not, by itself, automatically shorten a doctorate.
Choosing Your Doctoral Pathway
Monarch Switzerland brings together doctoral pathways through Monarch Global Research Institute (MGRI) and Monarch Business School (MBS). Your choice should reflect the research problem you want to investigate and the contribution you hope to make.
PhD or Professional Doctorate?
PhD
A research-oriented doctorate involving an original research problem, critical engagement with scholarly literature, appropriate methodology, original research and a doctoral thesis.
Professional Doctorate
Advanced doctoral research with a stronger orientation toward professional, managerial, leadership or organizational problems.
Neither pathway is presented as academically superior. Both require rigorous inquiry; their emphasis and intended contribution differ.
What kind of research contribution do you want to make?
| If your primary interest is… | A relevant pathway may be… |
|---|---|
| Original research in business and management | PhD in Business Research |
| Applied management and organizational research | Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) |
| Leadership research and professional practice | Doctor of Leadership (DOL) |
| Social, institutional and organizational problems | Doctor of Social Science (DSS) |
| Leadership as an academic research field | PhD in Leadership |
| Economic research | PhD in Economics |
| Financial research | PhD in Finance |
| International relations research | PhD in International Relations Theory |
| Sustainability and responsible business | PhD in CSR & Sustainability |
| Organizational and cognitive neuroscience | PhD in Organizational & Cognitive Neuroscience |
| Applied neuroscience within management | Doctor of Applied Neuroscience in Management |
How Online Doctoral Research Works
Research development begins with refining a problem and understanding its place within scholarly literature. Methodological preparation helps candidates identify an approach that can produce credible evidence and a defensible contribution.
The researcher-supervisor relationship supports this development through individual guidance and critical feedback. Candidates take responsibility for scholarly reading, research execution, analysis and thesis development, progressively strengthening their ability to work independently.
Independent research does not mean academic isolation. Candidates remain connected to supervisors, academics, scholarly literature and the wider research environment. Dialogue helps test ideas and strengthen arguments without replacing the candidate’s responsibility for the research.
Optional academic workshops can complement the online experience, but are not mandatory for completing the program or defending online.
PhD in Business Research
36 monthsStandard duration.
Doctor of Business Administration
24 monthsStandard pathway.
Flexibility in location does not reduce academic requirements. Online delivery supports geographic and professional flexibility. Completion depends on research progress and fulfilment of the program’s academic and examination requirements, not elapsed time alone.
Doctoral Study at Monarch Switzerland
Qualified international professionals can undertake doctoral research while remaining connected to their professional and geographic environments.
For professionals based in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere, remote study allows scholarly development without a move to Switzerland. Remaining connected to a country, industry, organization or professional community may itself be valuable when that environment is central to the research problem.
- Fully online doctoral study with individual research supervision.
- Part-time study designed around professional commitments.
- No mandatory campus attendance and no relocation requirement.
- Online doctoral defence, with an optional in-person alternative when offered.
- Research grounded in academic rigor and professional relevance.
You bring the experience.
We develop the researcher.
Explore Doctoral Programs
PhD Programs
Explore research-oriented doctoral study.
Explore Programs →Doctor of Business Administration
Advanced professional research in management and organizations.
Explore Program →Doctor of Leadership
Doctoral research focused on leadership and professional practice.
Explore Program →Doctor of Social Science
Interdisciplinary research into social, institutional and organizational problems.
Explore Program →