This is an exciting opportunity to undertake research into the field of information management and benefits realisation in small and medium sized businesses (SME) The Centre for Information Management in The School of Business and Economics at Loughborough University invites excellent applications for the above PhD Studentship, which is co-funded by Guidance Navigation Ltd starting April 2014.

The Studentship is open to home/EU and international/overseas students. It will run for 3 years and it includes:

• A fee waiver equivalent to the home/EU rate*
• A stipend of £13,590 p.a. for three years

* Please note that due to funding restrictions international/overseas students will be required to find funding to cover the difference between home/EU fees.

About the project:

Guidance Navigation Ltd specialises in  providing accurate positioning information for specialist applications – particularly offshore for the oil and gas market and factory autonomous guided vehicles for industrial and medical applications. Guidance aims to triple its turnover to £45m in the next five years. In order to achieve this, the company needs to develop and exploit its own technologies and involve itself in other collaborative ventures/licensing arrangements. Before this can happen the complex information landscape and business processes need to be fully understood and mapped to provide an interactive information architecture that can realise their current and future assets.

The innovative aspect of this study is to develop a new business process modelling technique to map and propose changes to existing business processes to increase standardisation and ensure the delivery of business benefits. To ensure this approach is of high value to the business the study will also develop a strategic benefits modelling framework that can guide changes to business processes for new company acquisitions. This new framework will ensure the planned business benefits from core business activities will be maintained within new subsidiary companies thereby providing a tool to manage the longer term exploitation of information based benefits.

The successful applicant will be primarily located at Guidance Navigation Ltd in Leicester and will have regular supervisory meetings at Loughborough University.

Supervisory team:

Dr Crispin Coombs

Professor Thomas Jackson

How to apply

Candidates with information management, business management/operations or engineering management experience are encouraged and are requested to submit:

• An application form
• A curriculum vitae
• A 500 word personal statement explaining your interest in, and aptitude for, the topic of this research project. In particular we would like to learn about:

1. Why are you attracted to this particular research opportunity?
2. What qualities do you feel you can bring to the project?
3. How does the studentship fit with your career aspirations?

• 2-3 samples of writing such as MSc dissertation, journal or conference article, essays from your MSc degree
• Two academic references.

Applications are made online by clicking the Apply link below. Please remember to upload all the supporting documents listed above.

Please quote SBE/SMEIM on your application

Studentship application deadline: 17^th January 2014

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview, foreseen to take place soon after the closing date for applications. For further details please contact: Dr Crispin Coombs (c.r.coombs@lboro.ac.uk)

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