Doctoral Fellowships available with Dr Joern Meissner at Lancaster University Management School

Dr Joern Meissner is looking to recruit excellent doctoral students with a strong background in mathematics, statistics or computer science. Entry requirement for the program is a university degree with a substantial quantitative component, ideally a degree in a mathematical or statistical subject. A preparedness to develop computer-programming skills is essential and training will be given as necessary. Due to strong demand for joint research projects from our industrial partners, we are currently accepting applications for a September 2008 intake (a different start date might be agreed upon on an individual basis).

Potential Research Topics with Dr Meissner

Dr Joern Meissner’s research group is primarily interested in optimal policies, coordination and equilibria in the area of Revenue Management and Supply Chain Management (SCM). A potential topic in Revenue Management could be to evaluate the impact of the Fare Structure on Revenue Management problems. A potential research in the area of Supply Chain Management could, for example, focus on mathematical models to determine the benefit of collaboration between producer and distributor to improve Supply Chain performance. Please keep in mind that these are just examples, we are regularly asked by our industrial collaboration partners to help them solve operational problems, which has proven to be a good source for interesting research of high impact. While most dissertation topics are inspired by joint projects with our industrial partners, please feel free to suggest any other topic of your interest within the realm of Supply Chain and Revenue Management (see how to proceed below).

Compensation

Accepted candidates will receive a tuition waiver and a scholarship of around £12,000 per annum (tax free!).

Advantages

Compared to equivalent positions in other countries, the administrative workload for doctoral candidates is relatively less demanding in the UK. Students are required to work only 200 hours per year on jobs not directly related to researching and writing their thesis (that’s not a typo – it’s only around 4 hours per week!). The intention is that doctoral students should really focus on their research rather than spending time in administration and teaching. Further, the academic system in the UK gives strong incentives to academic institutions to graduate PhD students within 3 years of studying. There are financial penalties for the department for every student who stays longer! This means everybody is very committed to providing you with the resources needed and to helping you need to finish within that time frame.

About the department

The Department of Management Science at Lancaster University Management School is one of the largest Operational Research and Systems groups in Europe. It has a worldwide reputation as an international center of excellence, with students from many countries undertaking research on the Doctoral Program. Further details can be found on the departmental website.

About the school

Lancaster University Management School is one of only two Management Schools in the United Kingdom whose research output is rated 6 star by the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), the only government-sponsored ranking of research quality in UK universities (the other one is London Business School). The PhD program is ranked 2nd jointly in the UK and 9th in the world for PhD programs by the Financial Times in 2006. In addition, the school’s full-time MBA program is ranked amongst the world’s top 30 by the FT. Lancaster University Management School is accredited by AMBA (UK) and EQUIS (Europe) and in the process of obtaining the AACSB (USA) accreditation, making it one of only a handful of triple accredited schools worldwide.

Location

Lancaster University is set in 250 acres of parkland and lies approximately 3.5 miles south of the City of Lancaster. The campus is easily accessible by road and rail and is within 70 miles of Manchester's International Airport. The historic city of Lancaster is just ten minutes by bus from the University. It is a friendly, bustling city, which has all the amenities of a large city without having lost its charm and character.
Most of the city center is pedestrianized and in addition to the usual high street retailers, there are shopping arcades and a large indoor market that contains a fish market selling fresh local catches from Morecambe Bay. Stroll around the city on a Saturday morning and you will be amazed at the numerous cafes and curiosity shops just waiting to be discovered.
One of the most striking features of the area are the spectacular mountains of the Lake District which form an impressive backdrop looking north over Lancaster. To the west of Lancaster lies the cheerful seaside resort of Morecambe. On the northern shores of the Morecambe Bay coastline are the attractive towns of Arnside and Silverdale.

How to proceed

The best way to start the process is to send an informal email with an attached Curriculum Vitae (CV) to Dr Meissner at <jobs08@meiss.com>. If you have taken the GMAT or the GRE, please also forward us your score. We will get back to you with feedback and how to continue the application process if we see a good fit.

Please note: Please contact us as early as possible to increase your chances of obtaining a fellowship, also if you are interested to start a PhD-Program in 2009.