The Challenge Shrinking budgets, rising costs and increasing competition has led to many companies making the shift to selling services. Companies in industries as diverse as aerospace and social care are now offering "payment by results" type services, rewarded only when they meet or exceed agreed performance criteria. This has led to the new field of service science, or service systems, research.
Service contracts are long term- sometimes in excess of 20 years- and dependant on complex networks of suppliers and partners. This leaves companies at risk from new factors and complexities, often beyond their direct control. Companies will be held accountable for any disruptions to safety or business outcomes, and need new approaches to ensure individuals and organisations are aware of their responsibilities and have the skills, resources and authorities to manage them.
The Project The successful applicant will work with BAE Systems and other leading companies to investigate current practice and develop new approaches to managing accountability for long-lived products and complex, results based services. Supported by the EPSRC, BAE Systems and Intelligent Energy, this project is part of the Cambridge Service Alliance at the University of Cambridge, which works with industry to develop the tools and techniques needed to design and deliver the complex services of tomorrow.
The Studentship
The successful applicant will have at least a 1st or 2.1 class degree or equivalent in an engineering or management discipline. The student must be prepared to travel within the UK to visit industrial collaborators to collect data and undertake trials, through interviews and workshops. Therefore the student must have good communication skills, including proficiency in both written and spoken English.
The studentship is dependent on confirmation of funding by the sponsors. Due to the nature of the funding, it is available only to UK and other EU citizens. For UK applicants, the studentship will cover full universities fees, the EPSRC student stipend (currently £13,726 tax free) with an additional payment provided by the industrial sponsors, in line with the conditions of a CASE award.
Candidates from Overseas are not eligible for this studentship and should not apply.
Informal enquiries may be made to Professor Andy Neely (adn1000@cam.ac.uk). The studentship must begin by 1 October 2014 and applications must be submitted by 30 June 2014 at the latest. However we seek to offer the studentship as soon as possible and early applications are strongly encouraged.
All applications to be made through the Graduate Admissions Office http://www.admin.cam.ac.uk/students/gradadmissions/prospec/
In section A(12) of the application form please include the supervisor name: Professor A Neely.
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