STOR-i Leadership Team

The Leadership Team (LT) holds key responsibility for the overall management of the STOR-i CDT. This includes all strategic and operational matters including recruitment, student selection, provision of training, supervision and monitoring, pastoral care of students, financial management, interfacing with industry and charity partners, and dissemination and outreach related to STOR-i’s research and training activities.

The Leadership Team consists of:

Professor Idris Eckley as Director is responsible for the Centre’s overall leadership and delivery. He works with Anna-Lena on the partnerships with industry which is core to STOR-i’s mission. This role builds on his substantial experience of successfully leading large, complex research investments.

Professor Jonathan Tawn as co-Director is responsible for oversight of entry cohorts up to 2023 and provides ongoing strategic guidance drawing on his wealth of experience in doctoral training and research leadership.

Dr Anna-Lena Sachs as Deputy Director is STOR-i’s PhD tutor and jointly leads STOR-i’s core industrial partnership programme, drawing on her experience of industrially-engaged OR across a range of sectors, including retail, automotive, healthcare and manufacturing.

Professor Rachel McCrea as Deputy Director directs STOR-i’s MRes programme and coordinates the comprehensive recruitment programme. She also leads the Centre’s new charity-facing activities, building on her considerable track record of research inspired by challenges faced by charities/NGOs.

To ensure the smooth-running operation of the Centre the LT meets on a regular basis to monitor progress, discuss items of shared responsibility (e.g., student support and wellbeing, EDI) and identify new opportunities. The current LT is also supported by former Chair, Professor Kevin Glazebrook who was part of the core Leadership Team of STOR-i until 2022.

The team is further supported by an internal Executive Committee and guided by an External Advisory Board and a large group of External Advisors, which collectively include world leading academics in Statistics and Operational Research and technical leaders from a range of the UK’s leading organisations and industries.

Executive Committee

An Executive Committee (EC) provides a wider leadership community committed to driving the progress of STOR-i towards fulfilment of its vision. It provides a forum for idea generation, discussion of key issues and undertakes a range of activities in support of quality assurance.

The EC’s membership comprises the LT, STOR-i’s Facilitator, Research Software Engineer, Industrial Liaison Manager and representatives from both Statistics (Professor Paul Fearnhead, Dr Gabriel Wallin) and Operational Research (Dr Burak Boyaci, Professor Adam Letchford).

The Executive Committee also benefits from a strong student voice, with student-nominated MRes, PhD and DiverSTOR-i group representatives also participating in all non-confidential business.

External Advisory Board

Overall governance of the STOR-i CDT is assured by an External Advisory Board, which reviews and evaluates STOR-i's progress. In addition, there are several international leaders in Statistics and Operational Research as advisors we draw on for advice as required.

The External Advisory Board’s membership consists of a number of leading academics in Statistics and Operational Research:

Professor Paul Harper, Chair of External Advisory Board (Cardiff University)

Jacob Bien (University of Southern California)

Richard Davis (Columbia University)

Marc Goerigk (University of Passau)

Sarah Henry (ONS)

Robert Leese (The Smith Institute)

Claire Miller (University of Glasgow)

Maria Grazia Speranza (University of Brescia)

Dootika Vats (IIT Kanpur).

It will also include representatives from our network of partners, EPSRC, our alumni, and Lancaster University’s Pro-VC for Research and Enterprise.