Cranfield School of Management

Doctoral Opportunities

We are interested in recruiting students to undertake the following research projects. Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and candidates may propose their own research projects. However, when you are drafting your proposal you should ensure your research topic is positioned within the School’s core areas of expertise (please go to our description of Research Strengths).

Six bursaries are awarded on a competitive basis each year to full time candidates with outstanding academic records.  Bursaries cover fees at overseas, EU or UK rate and provide a maintenance grant of £13,590 per annum.  The allocation of bursaries will be decided in mid-July.

If you apply for one of the projects below, please indicate this clearly in your application. You should enclose a document which sets out your background and previous experience of research; how these relate to the advertised topic; what reading you have done around the topic, and any further information that supports your application to carry out this particular project.

If you wish to contact faculty direct regarding your research interests, please note that you must provide a research proposal which identifies:

• your proposed area of interest
• the potential contribution to theory (PhD) or practice (Executive Doctorate)
• evidence of some background reading that supports this contribution
• the programme you are interested in

Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurial Performance and Economics

• Entrepreneurial Performance and Economics

Centre for Business Performance

• The Power of Performance Management Reviews on Organisational Learning
• The Measurement of Organizational Performance and its Linkages to Reward Mechanisms
• The roles of Performance Measurement in the Public Sector
• Designing Performance Measurement and Management Systems
• Managing Through Measurement
• Refreshing Performance Measurement and Management Systems
• Managing service performance: the impact of moving towards a new value proposition
• Strategies for transforming manufacturing organisations into product service provider: moving towards a servitized world
  
• Integrating industrial design into new product development

Centre for Innovative Products and Services

• "Hidden Needs" and "Empathic Design"
• Innovation Management: The Leadership Role of the CEO
• Management of innovation
• Prioritizing the Innovation Project Portfolio
• Project-to-Project Learning and Innovation Networking in R&D
• The successful management of process innovation, supplier relationship management by European manufacturing companies, transfer of manufacturing best practice across multi-site, multi-national companies
• Integrating industrial design into new product development

Centre for Research in Economics and Finance

• Finance & Accounting
• Investment and finance projects

Centre for Strategic Marketing and Sales

• Branding and Brand Management 
• Business-to-Business Selling and Key Account Management
• Customer Experience Management
• Customer Interaction and Co-Creation
• Collaborative Business-to-Business Relationships
• Creating Customer Value in Use
• Customer Relationship Management  
• Integrated Marketing Communication 
• Marketing Measurement and Accountability
• Multi-Channel Marketing 
• Retail Marketing/Consumer Behaviour
• Risk and Return in Marketing   
• Strategic Marketing, Lobbying and Political Marketing 
• The Practice of Market Segmentation
• Valuing Market Assets - Brand and Customer 

Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility

• Corporate Responsibility
• Responsible management education - a holistic evaluation
• Responsible change agents
• Non-financial reporting, investment decisions and the financial markets
• Exploring Strategic Directives for Responsible Innovation
• Collaborative capability in business led coalitions
• Embedding corporate responsibility and sustainability
• Governance structures for corporate sustainability
• Non-financial reporting, investment decisions and the financial markets
• Responsible change agents
• Responsible management education and learning

General Management Development Programmes

• The comparative contribution of leadership to organisational success - luck, legacy or leadership?

Information Systems Research Centre

• Enterprise-Wide Business Intelligence and Corporate Performance Management
• Innovating through Information Technology
• Micro Stategy and Strategizing for Information Systems
• Other Areas of Interest
• The co-evolution of business and information technology strategies
• The Future IS Organisation

International Centre for Programme Management 

• Work: worker fit in project intestive organisations
• Making PPM capability an essential element of organisational strategy
• Adoption and non-adoption of promising practices in PPM
• Developing intelligent clients in the procurement of complex services 
• Programme reliability: Management of the unexpected

International Centre for Women Leaders

• Developing women business leaders

Organisation Studies

• Age discrimination at work/Attracting and retaining an age-diverse workforce
• Comparative human resource management
• Career Development and Management
• Employee Engagement
• Employment Relations
• Evolution of Innovation Networks
• Flexible work practices
• Management Technology and Human Resource Examining the implementation and impact of technology in HRM
• Networks in the Not-For-Profit Sector
• Strategic Human Resource Management
• Talent management strategies in emerging market firms
• Technology and Human Resource Management
• The use of the Internet for recruitment and selection
• The management and organisation of resilience and high reliability

Strategy

• A Team Based View of The Strategy Process
• Firm Performance and corporate political activities
• Firm Performance in Regional Clusters

Supply Chain Research Centre

• Approaches to Mass Customisation
• Collaboration in the Supply Chain
• Collaborative Business-to-Business Relationships
• Competitive Supply Chain Resilience
• Developing a Customer Responsive Supply Chain Strategy
• Developing Supply Chain Strategy
• Manufacturer-Retailer Relationship for Sustainability
• Procurement and Supply Management