Shivani Mishra, Management PhD student within the Operations and Supply Chain Management (OSCM) PhD group, and Erfan Motebaheri, Accounting and Finance PhD student, are this year’s joint winners of the Andrew Douglas Prize, the School’s top award for postgraduate research (PGR) students.
Hosted on Wednesday 8 July, the prestigious Andrew Douglas Prize is awarded annually to one or two PhD students, as it recognises their exceptional progress and achievements within their first year of study. Sponsored through the generosity of University of Liverpool alumnus the late Dr Andrew Douglas, each prize winner is awarded £1000.
Shivani was nominated for her outstanding academic progress, having completed a substantial first-year research output exploring AI adoption across supply chain operations and developing an original conceptual framework for the field.
Alongside preparing her work for journal submission, she presented her research at national conferences, secured an accepted conference abstract and received awards for both her conference presentation and contribution to the OSCM PhD Summer School.
Beyond her research, Shivani also made a significant contribution to the wider postgraduate research community through leadership roles, including serving as the first-year PhD Student Representative and supporting university-wide researcher development activities. Her commitment to teaching development, professional engagement and public service further demonstrated the wide range of her contributions during her first year.
Commenting on the award, Shivani said: "I am deeply honoured to receive the Andrew Douglas Prize and sincerely grateful to the donors and their family for this recognition. My first year of doctoral study has been a journey of learning, growth, and many new opportunities, and this award is a particularly meaningful encouragement as I continue my research journey. I would also like to thank my supervisors, colleagues, and the wider PGR community for their support and encouragement throughout the year. I am truly grateful to be part of such a supportive academic community."
Erfan received the Andrew Douglas Prize in recognition of the exceptional progress he has made during just six months of doctoral study. Alongside achieving outstanding results in his first-year coursework, he successfully replicated two influential accounting and finance research papers using complex, multi-level datasets, which is work that typically forms part of a much later stage of a PhD programme.
His replication studies have already developed into an original research project with strong publication potential, reflecting both advanced methodological expertise and a sophisticated understanding of the academic literature. Erfan was also recognised for his active engagement with the School's research community through his regular participation in seminars and thoughtful contributions to academic discussion.
Celebrating receiving the award, Erfan said: "I'm deeply honoured to receive the Andrew Douglas Prize. Starting a PhD can feel like a steep climb, and this recognition means a great deal to me at such an early stage of the journey. I'd like to thank my supervisors, Dr Anastasios Kagkadis and Dr Rodrigo Hizmeri Canales, for their guidance and support, and the Management School for fostering such a stimulating research environment. I'm especially grateful to the Douglas family for their generosity in establishing this award, it is a wonderful way to encourage and support doctoral researchers, and I'll carry this encouragement with me as I continue my work."
Alongside awarding the Andrew Douglas Prize, the awards ceremony saw ten postgraduate researchers receive the University of Liverpool Management School PGR Awards in recognition of their achievements during the 2025–26 academic year. The award winners were:
- Dennis Otieno (Work, Organisation and Management PhD student)
- Ragnhild Nordset (Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship PhD student)
- Viacheslav Baranovskiy (Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship PhD student)
- Ekin Ozgurbuz (Operations and Supply Chain Management PhD student)
- Meiting Lin (Operations and Supply Chain Management PhD student)
- Naeema Neefa Neerattiparambil (Marketing PhD student)
- Debbie Grey (Executive DBA student)
- Shoumeli Das (Economics PhD student)
- Sohail Ahmed (Accounting and Finance PhD student)
- Yujia Wang (Accounting and Finance PhD student).
The awards ceremony is part of the half-day conference, which explored the theme AI in Academia: Opportunities, Applications and Ethics, bringing together doctoral researchers and academic colleagues to examine how artificial intelligence is transforming contemporary research.
Throughout the day, attendees considered the opportunities, challenges and ethical implications of AI, with sessions focusing on its use across the research process, from literature reviews and research design to data analysis, writing and dissemination.