Dr Nicholas Dacre PhD (Warwick), MSc, SFHEA, FAPM
Associate Professor of Project Management, Director of the Advanced Project Management Research Centre (APROM)

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Nicholas Dacre is Prof of Project Management (associate), a leading ‘ITS Complex’ scholar, DAR’s Director of the Advanced Project Management Research Centre (APROM) at the University of Southampton Business School, and is a Fellow of the Chartered Association for Project Management (FAPM) in recognition of his significant national and international contribution to project management.
As an award-winning researcher, and an award-winning lecturer with over 20 years of executive experience spanning academia and industry, Nicholas Dacre has a significant track record of securing high-value funding and delivering high-impact research by actively collaborating with international colleagues and industry partners on emergent ‘ITS Complex’ research topics, focused on Innovation, Technology, and Sustainability in Complex Projects.
Nicholas Dacre has successfully led and currently collaborates on a number of high-profile research projects of national and international importance funded by the APM, PMI, ESRC, SPRINT, BAM, ATI, and Innovate UK, by developing key links and collaborating with enterprise partners including, the BBC, Network Rail, HM Revenue & Customs, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Transport, the Care Quality Commission, INS International Nuclear Services, Gleeds, Wood, Engie, Atos, Siemens, Greyfly, Arcadis, Plastron, and Turner & Townsend.
More recently, Nicholas Dacre’s research has been fundamental in leading and developing the APM’s Dynamic Conditions for Project Success (DCPS) framework, which has received national and international recognition with a broad range of complex projects. The DCPS framework outlines nine key factors ranging from Interpersonal Skills, Technology & Data, Knowledge Management, Agility, Sustainability, and Diversity to further support and enhance the operational planning, development, and delivery of critical projects.
Prior to joining the University of Southampton Business School, Nicholas Dacre was Prof of Innovation and Project Management (assistant), and the Director of Research for Project and Strategic Innovation Studies at the Science Policy Research Unit (SPRU) within the University of Sussex Business School. This entailed coordinating and collaborating with interdisciplinary academics and securing external funding to develop impactful research.
Nicholas Dacre’s combination of enterprise experience and academic research enabled him to undertake and complete his PhD at the University of Warwick Business School through an ethnographic study with a global technology and communications conglomerate dispersed across 100 countries worldwide, with his research focusing on the Effectiveness of Project-based Innovation through Digital Engagement Mechanics in Enterprise.
As a passionate transformative educator and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), Nicholas Dacre has also received multiple awards for his innovative approach to teaching and learning on undergraduate, postgraduate, and executive education programmes, by delivering highly engaging research informed sessions, in order to provide the skills, knowledge, and expertise required for future professionals.
As well as being an active member of the Centre for Operational Research, Management Science, and Information Systems (CORMSIS), Nicholas Dacre is DAR’s Director of the Advanced Project Management Research Centre (APROM). Please visit the site for further details.
PhD Students:
- Chen Zhang: The Applications of Block Chain in Food Supply Chain Management.
- Da Xu: Assessing the Environmental Sustainability Outcome from Environmental Innovation to Circular Eeconomy.
- Fredrick Kockum (EPSRC): Artificial Intelligence in Complex Project Management: A Systems Dynamic Approach.
- Patcharin Sonjit (Scholarship): The Changing Nature of Project Management Practice in a Covid 19 World: An Institutional Theory Approach.
- Pindy Bhullar: Towards a Sustainability Life Cycle Framework in Technology Intensive Projects.
- Vasilis Gkogkidis: Collaborative Knowledge Creation in Innovation Projects: The Lego Serious Play Practice.
- Yan Jingyang: Sustainable Supply Chain Adoption: Social, Economic, and Environmental factors Under Industry 4.0.
- Yu Kuang: Evaluating Sustainability Orientated Innovation of Chinese Energy Intensive Projects.