ESRC CASE PhD Studentship: Aston Business School in collaboration with SigmaPro.

Aston Business School

Aston University

The Operations and Information Management Group at Aston Business School, Aston University is offering a fully funded ESRC CASE studentship for a suitably qualified individual to undertake a PhD research project in collaboration with SigmaPro. The project will focus on the development of a unified methodology and deployment model to increase the impact of lean thinking and six-sigma practice.

The Research Topic
The overall aim of this research is to give unique insights into Lean Six Sigma methodologies and deployment models and maximise their impact by using a systematic and systemic approach. The outcomes of the research will be a unified systematic and systemic Lean Six Sigma model and a body of knowledge that will maximise its deployment impact. The outcomes will have been developed using cases drawn from the health and energy sectors - which SigmaPro have past experience in. The outcomes will also be compared and contrasted to other cases drawn from other sectors.

The student will be supervised by Dr. Ben Clegg at Aston University, in close collaboration with Mike Titchen (Master Black Belt) at SigmaPro. The student will join Aston Business School which is one of Europe’s leading Business Schools, with the majority of its research rated world-class or internationally excellent in the RAE2008 and accredited by AASCB, AMBA and EQUIS. The successful applicant may spend extended periods of time working closely with SigmaPro on site and helping to deliver clients’ projects.

The Non Academic Partner
SigmaPro is a leading global provider of lean six sigma training, lean six sigma consulting and business improvement programmes designed to help organizations achieve breakthrough performance improvement. They employ state of the art proprietary teaching, research and consulting methods and are proud of their proven track record of success with some of the worlds biggest and best companies. SigmaPro is committed to the development of their organisation and people. For further details please see www.sigmapro.co.uk.

Applications

Candidates should have a minimum 2:1 class undergraduate degree and a relevant Masters degree or equivalent experience – which may be in a relevant engineering or business degree. This is an interdisciplinary research topic and applicants should have strong analytical skills (quantitative and qualitative) and an open enquiring mind. Background knowledge or experience of business improvement, quality management, lean thinking, and change or project management would be desirable. Applicants should also be confident and outgoing, have strong presentation, communication and writing skills. This CASE award presents a fantastic opportunity for someone wishing to pursue an applied PhD in business improvement that may lead to a career in business consultancy, training and research.

This is an ESRC +3 CASE Award and there are strict academic and UK established residential status eligibility criteria required by the funding organisation. (see www.esrc.ac.uk or contact us for clarification if necessary) The student will receive tuition fees and a stipend of £17,290 per annum (tax free) for the 3-year duration of the project. In addition, there will be an allowance to support research studies covering, for example, travel and subsistence for meetings and conference attendance, books and computing facilities.

Further details can be found at http://www1.aston.ac.uk/staff/hr/job-vacancies/current-vacancies/academicresearc.... Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr. Ben Clegg (b.t.clegg@aston.ac.uk).