Collaborations
Collaboration is a key part of the University’s research activities and at the School of Management working together is integral to many of our research projects. As well as our interdisciplinary research within the University, we have a global network of partners who are working with us to address today’s business challenges.
Government agencies, local authorities, industry and research organisations are always interested in the output from our findings. We can undertake contract research, and we are always keen to hear from new commercial and stakeholder contacts. Recent collaborative projects include:
Improving railway efficiency
The School of Management is taking part in a £400,000 University of Southampton research project to improve the operational efficiency of the UK’s passenger railways. Junctions and stations on the UK’s national rail network will be used as case studies, together with best practice from railways around the world, including those of the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Professor John Preston from the School of Civil Engineering and the Environment is leading the project, along with Management’s Dr Tolga Bektas and Professor Chris Potts from the School of Mathematics. Funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB), work will begin in October 2010. Industrial partners include Arup and Balfour Beatty Rail.
Expertise in Management and Engineering Sciences supports the RNLI
Management scientists and engineers at the University of Southampton have joined forces with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) to reduce the operational costs of its fleet. The RNLI is wholly dependent on charitable giving; saving money on operational working means the donations can be used more effectively to save more lives.
A Knowledge Transfer Partnership has been signed between the two organisations. Two talented graduates will be appointed to work as Associates at RNLI headquarters in Poole for two years, supervised by Professor Douglas Macbeth of the School of Management and Professor Ajit Shenoi of the School of Engineering Sciences. Dr James Blake from the School of Engineering Sciences are also involved in the initiative.
Probing the value of Solent maritime industries
The School of Management is contributing its expertise in supply chains to Solent Maritime, a new group formed by Business Southampton to highlight the importance of maritime companies to the area and promote the sector.
Research shows the marine sector contributes more than 25 per cent of Southampton’s annual gross domestic product (GDP), approximately £1.4bn.
The School of Management, working with experienced consultants SCMG, has been commissioned to produce a database and supply chain map that will identify the activities and linked relationships of the Solent’s maritime businesses and organisations.
University of Southampton to conduct research to help shape the UK’s future health and social care
The University of Southampton has embarked on a unique piece of research into future supply and demand of health and social care for the UK’s ageing population.
Researchers from four of the University’s leading international research centres (Centre for Research on Ageing; ESRC Centre for Population Change; Centre for Operational Research, Management Science and Information Systems; and Institute for Complex Systems Simulation) are working together for the first time to collate and analyse data on a range of factors influencing health and social care, including population, ageing, disability, disease, new technologies, income and wealth. Their findings will be used to inform policymakers and help make decisions about future social care provision.
