The SAS Forum (previously known as SAS Professionals Convention) brings together programmers, analysts and data scientists from across industry, the public sector and academia for three days of learning, networking and career development.

WBS will host this event on its London campus in The Shard on 10-11 June 2015.

Warwick Business School in Collaboration with Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust

Applications are invited for two collaborative PhD studentships, involving Warwick Business School and Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust (SaTH), starting in October 2015.

The studentships include tuition fees at UK/EU rate and a stipend of £14,000 per annum for 4 years.

About the project
The clinical condition of ‘frailty’ is one of the most challenging consequences of population ageing. The health care needs for people with frailty are determined by a complex set of interacting factors, which together can be thought of as a ‘care pathway’. The care for people with frailty is a major challenge for policy makers planning the future provision of hospital services. This research project is an empirical study around which to seek analysis and prescription to understand the factors that affect the demand for health care for people with frailty.

There are two PhD studentships available, one looking at the care of the frail elderly from an Operational Research modelling perspective and the other from a ‘service delivery and process improvement’ perspective, each will complement the other.

1. From an Operational Research modelling perspective you will combine several different modelling methodologies in order to develop an integrated suite of models that capture the interactions amongst the major components of the older patient care pathway. Applicants should have a good working knowledge of operational research methodologies

    

2. From a service delivery and process improvement perspective, your research will explore new and innovative ways of delivering care across care pathways. Applicants should have a good working knowledge of operations management principles, particularly with regard to process improvement

This is an exciting opportunity for a researcher interested in applied and methodological research to improve health service delivery. The research collaboration provides a unique opportunity for a researcher to collaborate with healthcare professionals, social scientists, statisticians and health economists. Applicants must have an interest and willingness to extend knowledge of new methods and techniques related to health service delivery.

How to Apply
Applicants should have a minimum 2.1 class undergraduate degree in a relevant discipline and a relevant Master’s degree (or equivalent research experience in a work setting).

Candidates must apply through the online process – details of which can be found on the WBS website (http://www.wbs.ac.uk/courses/doctoral/phd/apply/) – and provide:

• CV and cover letter;

• 2 reference letters;

• A 2 page proposal indicating how you would approach the research topic, either from an OR modelling or ‘service delivery and process improvement’ perspective.

For informal enquiries about the project please contact: Professor Leroy White (Leroy.white@wbs.ac.uk) if you are interested in the OR modelling study; or Dr Nicola Burgess if you are interested in the ‘service delivery and process improvement’ study (Nicola.burgess@wbs.ac.uk).

For general enquiries and details on how to apply please contact: phdadmissions@wbs.ac.uk.
Please apply by 15^th June 2015 at the latest and quote WBS/SaTH on your application

Shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview to take place soon after the closing date for applications.

The Shard, Warwick Business School London Campus
06 -07 July, 2015

Confirmed Speakers:
Shmuel Gal (Haifa, Israel)
Robbert Fokkink (TU Delft, Netherlands)
Thomas Lidbetter (LSE, UK)
Noemi Zoroa (Murcia, Spain)

Talks on all topics related to search and patrolling, including predator-prey games, are welcome.
Rendezvous problems will also be covered.
This is an ‘informal’ workshop with no fees, but prior registration through the organiser is required.
 
Directions: From London Bridge tube station, take the Shard exit. Please report to reception on the ground floor.

For further information contact the organisers:
Steve Alpern, ORMS Group, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick. steve.alpern@wbs.ac.uk
Thomas Lidbetter, Department of Management, LSE

Preliminary Schedule

6th July: 10.30 - 13.00
Coffee, follwed by Shmuel Gal (Haifa), Repeated hide-seek and pursuit-evasion games;
Mª José Fernández Sáez (Murcia), The weighted concealment game

6th July: 15.00 - 17.00
Noemi Zoroa (Murcia), Multistage search on predator-prey interactions;
Leszek Gasieniec (Liverpool), Blind rendezvous in graphs

7th July: 11.00 - 13.00
Giuseppe De Nittis (Milan), Adversarial patrolling with spatially uncertain alarm signals;
Tom Lidbetter (LSE) TBA

7th July: 15.00 - 17.00 (if required)

Potential Participants

If you wish to attend and are not listed below, please contact the organisers Alpern and Lidbetter.
The receptionist at WBS Shard is Lortoria McDonald, Lortoria.McDonald@wbs.ac.uk telephone 024 7852 8624 .

Steve Alpern steve.alpern@wbs.ac.uk (+44 07971854148)
Thomas Lidbetter t.r.lidbetter@lse.ac.uk
Shmuel Gal
Leszek Gasieniec
Vic Baston
Spyros Angelopoulos
Katerina Papadaki Marc Renault
Alec Morton Tomasz Radzik
John Howard
Richard Weber
Noemi Zoroa
Mª José Fernández Sáez
Nicola Gatti
Nicola Basilico
Giuseppe De Nittis
Peter Sozou
Judy Wang
Nikos Argyris

The Geoff Coyle Medal was awarded to Dr. Martin Kunc at the International System Dynamics Society UK Chapter Conference on March 26, 2015. The Geoff Coyle Medal is a new prize, awarded for innovative System Dynamics work in the UK. Since Geoff Coyle had encouraged early career developments in System Dynamics, this forms the scope of the prize for either research or practice. The award recognizes Martin’s major contributions in terms of introducing System Dynamics to a wide number of people and a new area of management research within his first 10 years of using SD.

Only five universities have been considered worthy of establishing the prestigious £42m Alan Turing Institute for Data Science. Thanks to our hard-earned reputation for world-class research, Warwick is one of those five.

Find out more about it here.