[{"jcr:title":"The art of producing research… and researchers","cq:tags_0":"area-de-conhecimento:economia","cq:tags_1":"area-de-conhecimento:gestão-e-negócios","cq:tags_2":"formato-de-programa:doutorado","cq:tags_3":"programas:pós-graduação"},{"richText":"In just ten years, Insper’s Doctoral Program in Business Economics has stood out for the international reach of its theses and the success of its graduates at leading academic institutions","authorDate":"26/01/2026 10h59","author":"David A. Cohen","madeBy":"Por","tag":"area-de-conhecimento:economia","title":"The art of producing research… and researchers","variant":"imagecolor"},{"jcr:title":"azul marinho / vermelho / turquesa"},{"@stringArray@variations_0":"azul_marinho_rosaturquesa"},{"jcr:title":"azul marinho / rosa / turquesa","name":"azul_marinho_rosaturquesa","jcr:description":"azul marinho / rosa / turquesa"},{"synchronizeWithVersion_0":"themeName:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_1":"titleFontColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_2":"titleBackgroundColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_3":"thinLineFontColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_4":"additionalDataFontColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_5":"linkFontColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_6":"linkHoverFontColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_7":"backgroundColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_8":"gradientColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_9":"buttonFontColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_10":"buttonBackgroundColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_11":"tagFontColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08","synchronizeWithVersion_12":"tagBackgroundColor:e1d1d653-cff0-4cbb-bae9-7676f42d5f08"},{"themeName":"azul marinho / vermelho / turquesa"},{"themeName":"azul marinho / rosa / turquesa"},{"containerType":"containerTwo"},{"jcr:title":"Grid Container Section","layout":"responsiveGrid"},{"text":"Ten years is a very short time to evaluate a graduate program such as Insper’s [Doctoral Program in Business Economics](https://www.insper.edu.br/en/programs/graduate/doctoral-program-in-business-economics1) . Considering that the average duration is between five and six years and that the number of doctoral candidates is limited (around a dozen per year today), it is simply not possible, within a decade, to produce a critical mass of graduates large enough to measure the program’s overall impact. For this reason, the mere fact that Insper’s doctoral program has meaningful results to showcase upon completing a decade of existence in 2025 makes the milestone even more significant. “We have achieved impressive results, especially for such a young program,” says Eduardo Faingold, professor-researcher and Program Director of the doctoral program for the past five years. The results he refers to fall within the two main dimensions used to assess academic graduate programs. The first dimension is research — its volume and quality. Since the program’s launch in 2015, 54 articles have been published in specialized journals, typically top-tier and many of them international, in addition to 10 books and 47 conference presentations. These are remarkable figures for a cohort of roughly fifty graduates. To fully grasp the significance of these achievements, it is necessary to understand how the scientific publishing market operates. “There are three categories of economics journals,” explains Faingold. At the top tier are five general-interest journals of the highest prestige: Econometrica , Journal of Political Economy , Review of Economic Studies , American Economic Review , and Quarterly Journal of Economics . “They are extremely selective,” he notes. “Our students have not yet published in this top five, but our faculty have.” Just below them are the so-called top field journals — more specialized outlets that are also extremely rigorous. Selection is slightly less competitive than in the first tier because, being more specialized, they attract a smaller volume of submissions. “In these journals, several of our students are already publishing,” says the Program Director. Even more impressive is the program’s performance in the field of Business Administration. “In this area, we already have students publishing, in collaboration with professors, in top-tier journals.” In addition, an Insper student, Leandro Nardi, received the William C. Frederick Award from the Academy of Management in 2022, which recognizes outstanding research on social issues and management. An emphasis on international careers The second dimension used to evaluate a graduate program is the training of researchers. “One of the challenges of an academic graduate program is to train researchers who will continue working as researchers; who will become professors and go on to train new researchers,” says Marco Bonomo, Full Professor at Insper and Program Director of the doctoral program from 2015 to 2018. In this respect, Insper has exceeded even the most optimistic expectations. Researchers trained by the program have gone on to institutions such as Harvard, Oxford, HEC (Paris), Wharton, PUC Chile (the most traditional doctoral program in Latin America), and have also been hired as professors by the School of Economics and Business Administration at USP. “When a local competitor like USP hires your graduates, it’s a sign that things are going well,” Bonomo jokes. This pathway has existed since the very first cohort of the academic doctoral program. Ana Carolina Santos is a case in point. During her studies, she was a visiting researcher at Bocconi University, one of Italy’s most prestigious institutions, and at Panthéon-Assas, considered the successor of the University of Paris Faculty of Law, the second-oldest university in the world, founded in the 12th century. After completing her doctorate, she spent time at the University of Sussex, Cambridge, worked as an associate researcher at Manchester Metropolitan University, and eventually became an Assistant Professor of Financial Economics at the Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow. More significant than holding positions at top international institutions, Bonomo notes, is the fact that several Insper graduates are in tenure-track positions — that is, on the path to becoming tenured professor-researchers with career stability (as opposed to lecturers, who are primarily hired to teach and are not required to conduct research). Consider the case of Thomaz Teodorovicz, another graduate from the first doctoral cohort. “I was the first doctoral student to graduate from Insper in this program,” he recalls. “The only one to graduate before the COVID-19 pandemic, with an in-person defence committee.” Teodorovicz was a researcher at Harvard Business School in the strategy department, spent time as a researcher at Bocconi University, served as a visiting professor at INSEAD in France, and is currently Chair Professor of Leadership at Copenhagen Business School. Last year, he also became a visiting professor at HEC Paris, together with Leandro Nardi. There are many examples of Insper alumni with careers validated at major international centers, Teodorovicz notes: Nardi, Assistant Professor at HEC; Fernando Deodato Domingos, former visiting researcher at HEC and postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford (now Professor of Strategic Management at FGV); Octavio Augusto Darcie de Barros, visiting researcher at the University of Illinois and postdoctoral researcher and associate researcher at HEC and Insper Metricis; Daphne Coelho, visiting researcher at Wharton, University of Pennsylvania’s business school; among others. A program that was born different There are several explanations for the program’s rapid success in placing new Ph.D. graduates in prominent positions, ranging from the quality of student selection to the rigor of the curriculum adopted by Insper. First and foremost, however, there is a market-related explanation. “These results,” Teodorovicz argues, “can only indicate that there was a gap in Brazil for a program like this — and that the institution has been able to fill it with excellence.” According to him, this is particularly true in the field of Business Administration. “In economics, our program is among the best in Brazil, and reaching that level in ten years is extraordinary,” he says. In Business Administration, however, the leap was much greater: “What existed in the country was far below international standards.” In short, Brazil was training very good professionals, but not producing researchers for the international market. “And Insper’s program managed to differentiate itself by doing exactly that,” he concludes. This distinction did not arise by chance. It is the result of the program’s very design. “The first thing to note,” says Faingold about the DAEN, “is that it is the only stricto sensu graduate program at Insper that is academic.” The other four programs offered by the institution are professional: the Professional Master’s in Economics, the Professional Master’s in Public Policy, the Professional Master’s in Business Administration, and the Professional Doctorate in Business Administration. “This is something that exists only in Brazil: professional stricto sensu master’s programs,” he notes. Internationally, MBA-style programs are far more common — programs that do not train students for research or require a thesis, but rather provide an academic environment aimed at adding value to professional careers. The DAEN also stands out, Faingold recalls, for being “the only program at Insper that does not generate revenue.” By definition, it operates at a financial deficit. “But it generates reputation for the school.” Designed to be international The decision to create the program stemmed directly from Insper’s mission to educate and generate knowledge. “And generating knowledge requires high-quality graduate education,” says Claudio Haddad, founder and President of the Board of Trustees at Insper. “We need research, and professor-researchers who publish relevant articles.” One of the strongest advocates for a research-driven program within the school was Sérgio Lazzarini, Full Professor of Business Administration at Insper and, at the time, Dean of Research and Graduate Education. His main argument was that becoming a truly top-tier school in Brazil required — in addition to outstanding teaching quality — the production of groundbreaking research. “At the time, there was some debate,” Lazzarini recalls. “If we already had strong master’s students, why not send them to a good doctoral program abroad?” But Insper’s leadership soon realized that there were positive synergies to be gained from having its own doctoral program. To begin with, Brazil already had (and still has) a sufficient number of master’s programs. “And we wanted to be innovative, not do more of the same,” says Lazzarini. “We came later, so we could do something more modern,” Faingold adds. That difference lay precisely in choosing to create a doctoral program instead of yet another academic master’s program. Different, that is, in the Brazilian context. “Abroad, there are not many academic master’s programs,” Faingold explains. “The master’s degree often exists as an intermediate step for students who begin a doctorate and leave before completing their dissertation.” Beyond creating a doctoral program, the goal was to make it innovative. “The first decision was to ensure an international focus,” says Lazzarini. It was not enough to have a few international faculty members or students with international experience: the program was fully designed as an international program — including offering all classes in English. “One of the goals was to become a talent hub not only for Brazil, but for the world,” he says. “We were ambitious — and I think it worked.” This is a defining characteristic of an academic doctoral program. Professional programs, by nature, have a more local focus, as their main objective is to leverage careers in the markets where students already operate. Academic research, by contrast, is inherently international. “Even if you use Brazilian data, the article must always be framed in terms of intellectual relevance,” Faingold explains — that is, it must be relevant worldwide. To reach this level, in addition to classes, seminars, and dissertations being conducted entirely in English, the institution fosters constant exchange with leading economics centers around the world. Most faculty members were trained at major international institutions, and many have worked abroad. “Students also spend a period overseas during the doctorate,” says Faingold, referring to what is commonly known as a sandwich fellowship. These fellowships are typically funded by research agencies, mainly CAPES, CNPq, and FAPESP. Insper’s strong reputation and academic quality significantly increase the likelihood of securing such funding. Economics or Business? Both together The second decision that made the program innovative was integrating Economics and Business Administration. In Brazil, these fields are usually kept separate. This inclination was reinforced by Lazzarini’s own academic experience. “I completed my Ph.D. in Business Administration at Olin (John M. Olin School of Business, Washington University), and the first year was shared with economics students,” he explains. “That’s common abroad: in a business school doctorate, you often take courses in the economics department, or even in psychology.” This, he argues, allows schools to draw on each other’s strengths. The most positive effect of this integration was in Business Administration, which benefited from the traditional rigor of economic research. The reverse effect was also significant: economics research became more practically oriented and closely connected to real-world issues. “The key difference,” Lazzarini explains, “is that in both cases there is greater professional rigor.” In an academic doctorate, he says, “we require students to be at the frontier of knowledge — to address new problems and new questions.” Even so, Insper’s program is structured so that research maintains strong alignment with current, real-world challenges. This is further reinforced by Insper’s close ties to the business community, which facilitate pragmatic research. “One chapter of Thomaz’s dissertation, for example, was conducted in partnership with a cosmetics company,” Lazzarini recalls. “The company not only granted access to training data to improve productivity, but also allowed small interventions in its communication strategies to test hypotheses.” The results were ultimately published in a top-tier Business Administration journal, the Strategic Management Journal . A love for research A decade after its creation, now operating at full capacity, the DAEN is expected to produce around ten Ph.D. graduates per year. Nearly fifty have already graduated. “The program officially lasts five years, but most students graduate in six,” Faingold notes. Not all graduates pursue research careers. “Since we have students writing dissertations in macroeconomics, some go into the private sector as well, especially finance,” he explains. This path, however, is not one-way. Carolina Melo, for example, was working at a fintech company when she began considering a doctorate to gain greater confidence and authority in the research work conducted by the firm. “I didn’t want to be just a manager,” she says. She had already earned a degree in international business in the United States — where she moved at age 17 thanks to her talent as a tennis player — worked in industry, and completed a master’s degree in public administration at Columbia University. She did not want to leave Brazil again, and Insper seemed the natural choice. The original goal of advancing professionally, however, gave way when she fell in love with research. “I never imagined I would have a job as fun and fascinating as tennis was for me as a child,” she says. Today, she is a Professor of Public Policy and Economics at Insper itself. “It was like fulfilling a dream I didn’t even know I had.” This love of research may be the DAEN’s most defining characteristic. According to Teodorovicz, the first graduate of Insper’s academic doctoral program, the program has achieved three remarkable accomplishments in just ten years. The first is providing students and faculty with access to relevant organizations — from multinational corporations to institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank. The second is ensuring a level of knowledge “on par with the best American and European schools.” The third, resulting from the first two, is the creation of a “network of friends and collaborators who continue to support one another after the doctorate.” According to him, there is now recognition, particularly in the field of strategy, of “the group of Brazilians — people who are friends, who talk, laugh, but also work hard and deliver; much of what defines the Insper environment.”"}]