Department of Management Science, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK
An EPSRC three year PhD scholarship with an enhanced stipend is available.
PhD Scholarship in Mathematical OR available in one of the two following areas:

Human reliability modelling: Humans play an important role in most technological and business systems, and it is becoming clear that they often pose the biggest modelling challenge when trying to assess reliability of a socio-technical organisation. Case studies in areas such as transport, energy and banking show that many incidents have their origins in the failure of human operators and managers. This project aims to develop new stochastic dynamic models based on point processes to capture the dynamic interactions of humans with technological and business systems. Existing models range from fairly simple decision tree based models to very complex simulation models. Work in this area requires a good background in stochastic modelling, but also an appreciation of the limitations of building models for human behaviour.

Statistical analysis of Search And Rescue data: This project is an extension of research done on performance measurement and evaluation relating to Search And Rescue (SAR) operations coordinated by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency (MCA). The first stage of that research involved logistic regression analysis as well as stochastic frontier analysis of a comparatively large set of panel data (in the form of annual coastguard statistics) and identified the key role of a specific set of aggregate variables. In the second stage, individual incident analysis and expert judgement were combined in the form of a Bayesian Belief Net (N). This N showed that each of the aggregate variables identified earlier represents a somewhat crudely-measured ‘proxy’ for a set of underlying factors. The main objectives of the present research project are: (1) to calibrate further the conditional probabilities underlying the N, based on appropriate statistical analysis of the latest available incident data and further interviews with expert staff from the MCA; and (2) to investigate how the N can be further developed into a practical framework for risk analysis as well as a system to support decision making at the strategic level. Work in this area requires a good background in stochastic modelling, but also an appreciation of how the resulting models can be used to support managerial decision making in practice.

The department of Management Science is an energetic research active department with interests that cover a wide spectrum of interdisciplinary applied operational research. Information on the department can be found at www.managementscience.org

Applicants should be UK residents with a 1st or upper 2nd class degree in a quantitative subject area. A masters degree in Operational Research / Management Science/Statistics would be an advantage, but is not essential.

If you would like to discuss any aspect of this, please contact either:

Prof Tim Bedford (tim.bedford@strath.ac.uk) or Dr John Quigley (j.quigley@strath.ac.uk)

To apply for the position, please send your CV and a covering letter explaining why you are interested this opportunity, by Friday 22nd August 2008 to:

Dr John Quigley
Department of Management Science
University of Strathclyde
40 George Street
Glasgow UK
G1 1QE
(tel) +44 141 548 3152
(fax) +44 141 552 6686