Search for a supervisor

We warmly welcome enquiries from appropriately qualified applicants who are keen to register for doctoral research (PhD).

Please see the staff list below for a range of research topics that members of the Department of Management Science are interested in supervising. We also have a selection of PhD topics below for you to choose from:

PhD topics

If you are considering applying for a PhD, please choose one (or two) of the following areas and write a brief description of the research you are interested in.

  • Marketing analytics and forecasting
  • Health systems
  • Information systems
  • Supply chain management
  • Optimisation
  • Project management
  • Simulation and stochastic modelling
  • Transport and logistics
Research in Management Science
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I am open to supervising PhD research in the management of projects and the management of project-based supply chains, especially on topics related to procurement, resilience, value creation, and sustainability (Net Zero, resource efficiency, ethical sourcing, social value). The PhD completions achieved to date have been in the built environment and transport.

View Aaron's profile

Available for supervising PhD students willing to conduct research on optimization, on-demand logistics, and sharing economy.

View Alp's profile

Projects on international political economy in the context of operations, global trade, and supply chains welcome.

View Sunil's profile

João is open to supervise Doctoral research students interested in topics related with digital transformation of organisations, digital working and organisational transformation, digital strategy and information systems security in organisations, changing ways of working and modern organising and strategising. He prefers qualitative methods and case based research methodologies but is open to a variety of methods depending on research focus and questions.

View Joao's profile

All empirical topics related to supply chain management and procurement, particularly with an emphasis on sustainability, risk and innovation.

View Constantin's profile

Available for supervising PhD students willing to conduct research on carsharing systems.

View Burak's profile

I am available for supervising PhD students interrested in research on time series prediction, i.e. forecasting, but also time series classification, time series clustering, and anomaly detection in time series (i.e. time series data minig) in business applications. Many PhD projects focus on innovative algorithms from artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), e.g. deep and shallow neural networks, but also k-nearest neighbours, support vector regression, decision trees, and many other algorithms. Relevant topics include automatic data exploration, forecasting model selection and ensembles (i.e. boosting, bagging, etc), and promising approaches such as meta learning, active learning, and transfer learning, which are underrepresented in forecasting research. As field of business applications many focus on industry or retail demand data, but also services, lead times, raw material prices, In the past years I have successfully supervised 7 PhD students, 3 of which are now academics at renowned UK universities. All PhD students in forecasting are actively involved in research development, seminars, ideas exchange and team activities of 5-10 PhD students and 7 academics, all with a strong focus on forecasting, at CMAF, the Research Centre for Forecasting (and Marketing Analytics) and within the department of Management Science. If you are a national or international applicant (m/f/d) with a quantitative background in management studies, operational research/management science, industrial engineering or electrical engineering, information systems, computer science or other disciplines, you are very welcome to INFORMALLY ENQUIRE AT ANY TIME by email to me, s.crone@lancaster.ac.uk (ideally with a short CV and your research interrest). I look forward to hearing from you!

View Sven's profile

I have been supervising PhD and professional doctorate research in the following areas: project management, programme management, project success and failure, agile development and management, benefits and value in projects, information systems, development life cycles and processes. Please get in touch if you would like to discuss a research area or a specific topic.

View Darren's profile

I am willing to supervise PhD students interested in heuristic methods and/or exact algorithms for Combinatorial Optimisation Problems. Experience in programming is highly desirable.

View Thu's profile

I am seeking highly motivated PhD students passionate about creating ethical and inclusive supply chains within the context of circular economy and sustainability. Existing research opportunities include: social inclusion in the circular economy, platform economy for supply chain transparency and accountability, just supply chain, and multi-stakeholder collaborations to tackle sustainability challenges (such as waste reduction, decarbonisation, and forced labor). Students will have opportunities to collaborate with firms, NGOs, and technology providers to make a real-world impact.

View Nhu Quynh's profile

I am available to supervise PhD students on various topics within operations management in the humanitarian and public sector. I am also interested in Global South perspectives on contemporary supply chain issues like child labour, slavery, resilience, and sustainability. I am also interested in co-supervising interdisciplinary research incorporating Operations Management as well as mixed methods approaches.

View Nonhlanhla's profile

I am interested in supervising PhD research projects in Supply Chain Risk/Resilience and Buyer-Supplier Relationships.

View Yiyi's profile

Dr. Fayoumi welcomes postgraduate and research students interested in procuring their research study under one of the research areas within his research interests. The following list specifies some topics that are of direct interest to Dr. Fayoumi: · enterprise modelling and enterprise architecture · applying natural science theories to explore socio-technical complex relations · model driven requirements engineering · design and architect of enterprise information systems (both process and applications) · knowledge engineering, particularly methods of transformation knowledge from informal to formal models · model-based organisation (conceptual modelling, metamodelling, logic formulation, and simulation) · strategic information systems and decision support systems.

View Amjad's profile

I am interested in supervising Ph.D students in the area of Information Systems, in particular digital health innovation. My research is interdisciplinary, human-centered and problem-driven. I am interested in the design, development and evaluation of health information systems, users’ behavioural analysis and technology adoption models. Candidates should have strong background in qualitative and/or quantitative methodologies and be motivated in solving real-world problems in public health systems and processes. Please contact me directly by email if you are passionate about improving the quality of care for patients and assisting healthcare professional in their day-to-day jobs through the use of digital tools.

View Mahsa's profile

Willing to supervise PhD students in supply chain resilience, disruption management, supply chain complexity, and Innovative technologies in SCM areas.

View Anas's profile

I always welcome students with strong quantitative (mathematics, computing, statistics, etc.) background interested in solving problems in the design and management of complex systems. In particular, you will be looking for carrying out research in areas such as operational research, performance evaluation, stochastic modelling, approximate dynamic programming, queueing theory, applied probability, and/or machine learning, motivated by real-world problems in business decision-making, public health proccesses or communications networks. Currently I am specifically looking for students interested in research on the optimal design and conduct of sequential experiments and modern adaptive clinical trials (such as platform, umbrella and basket trials), which can be modelled as multi-armed bandit problems. I have co-supervised around 10 PhD students, some of which have received awards for their research. PhD funding is available through the Department of Management Science and through the STOR-i Doctoral Training Centre. If you are a self-funded PhD applicant (or a master/PhD student elsewhere interested in visiting me for a short period), please contact me directly by e-mail.

View Peter's profile

He is looking for students interested in applying operations research techniques to tackle urban transportation and logistics challenges and promote sustainable development. Priorities are given: 1) User-centric Public Transport Service Optimisation. 2) Public Transport Electrification and Automation. 3) Integrated Movement of Passengers and Goods via Public Transport System. 4) Collaborative Passenger and Freight Transportation. 5) Network Resilience. 6) AI-driven Metaherusic

View Yu's profile

I welcome applications from prospective PhD students whose research interests fall broadly within "decision making under uncertainty", including methods such as stochastic dynamic programming, (stochastic/robust) optimisation, simulation and approximate dynamic programming/reinforcement learning. Projects concerning practical Operational Research problems in which these methods can be applied are of particular interest.

View Christopher's profile

Most of my PhD students work on exact solution algorithms for NP-hard optimisation problems. Candidates need to be comfortable with mathematics. Experience in programming (in, e.g., C, Julia, MatLab or Python) is highly desirable, as is basic knowledge of linear algebra and graph theory.

View Adam's profile

I am always looking for aspirational PhD students who are interested in pursuing research in the following areas: dynamic programming and control, reinforcement learning, revenue management and dynamic pricing, and resource allocation under unceretainty. I also welcome PhD students elsewhere who work in these or similar areas for a short period of visit at Lancaster. PhD funding is available through the Department of Management Science and through the STOR-i Doctoral Training Centre. More information can be found in the Lancaster University Management School webpage. For informal discussions please feel free to contact me by email.

View Dong's profile

I am looking to supervise 1-2 students every year who are interested in the intersections between some of the following areas: Supply chain sustainability, particularly in developing or transitioning economies; Resilience and sustainability in urban food systems; Sustainability and Digital Economy; The environmental and social impacts of China's Belt and Road Initiative; ESG performance and supply chain sustainability/risks. Pre-proposal inquiries are welcome. Before reaching out, please review the following details carefully: When contacting me, please explicitly state whether you require funding. If you seek funding from LUMS, ensure your application reaches us before January 202X (each year) to potentially receive an offer for October 202X entry. This includes CSC funding. If you are currently studying a master degree and will not receive all your transcripts and your degree before August 202X, it is not likely that I can help you get LUMS funding for October 202X entry. Additionally, I accept PhD students interested in pursuing a degree at Lancaster Environment Centre or other LU related departments. If you follow this path, it’s essential to secure your own funding sources. I am sorry but I do not make the rules.

View Lingxuan's profile

I am looking for PhD students to work in the broad area of optimisation. Experience in computer programming is highly desirable.

View Guglielmo's profile

Digital Leadership; Online collaborations, Digital Health; Digital Workplace Transformation; Qualitative Research Methods

View Niki's profile

I am currently looking for a potential PhD student who is interested in theoretical forecasting, especially in model estimation, multivariate and univariate statistical forecasting models, and hierarchical forecasting.

View Kandrika's profile

I am interested in supervising students in the area of simulation, particularly focussing on simulation optimisation or other methodological issues associated with the analysis of simulation models. I am also interested in applying simulation optimisation to real problems, sometimes in combination with other modelling approaches.

View Luke's profile

I’m always looking for motivated students who are interested in pursuing a PhD. Candidates should have a strong quantitative background (mathematics, Operations Research, Management Science, statistics, computing) and be interested in solving problems of high practical and academic relevance.

View Anna-Lena's profile

I am interested in supervising PhD projects in the following areas: supply chain management; buyer-supplier relationships; innovation-oriented procurement; social value procurement; sustainable sourcing; pharmaceutical supply chains; healthcare supply chains; defence supply chains

View Kostas's profile

I am interested in supervising PhD students whose research topics are related to one or more of the following areas: queueing theory, Markov decision processes, approximate dynamic programming, simulation optimisation, reinforcement learning.

View Robert's profile

I am interested in supervising PhD students in the Behavioural Operations area. In particular, topics connected with human behaviour towards algorithms, its adoption, trust issues, decision support systems and their designs.

View Anna's profile

Supply Chain Flexibility; Supply Chain Risk and Resilience; Socially Sustainable Supply Chain Management; Modern Slavery; High-Variety Production Planning and Control.

View Mark's profile

I am looking for PhD students eager to work in the areas of Statistical Methods of Forecasting, Marketing Analytics and Time Series Analysis. The perfect candidate should not be scared of mathematics (are you comfortable with linear algebra, probability theory, mathematical statistics and information theory?) and should know or be ready to learn how to program (preferably in R or Python). NOTE: If you want to apply for PhD under my supervision, you need to answer the following question in the first email you send me: When, by whom and in what paper was the Single Source of Error state space model first proposed?

View Ivan's profile

I'm interested in supervising students in the areas of Information Systems, particularly in topics related to the future of work, digital skills in occupations, and the coevolution of work and technology.

View Shiyan's profile

I am interested in supervising Ph.D students in the area of Information Systems, in particular digital innovation, FinTech, and InsurTech.

View Ruilin's profile