Research themes

The Centre focuses on five thematic research and impact pillars:

Transport and Logistics

Transport and Logistics

Modelling and optimisation of problems in the design, planning and operation of transportation networks for the distribution of freight; container shipping, empty container/vehicle positioning and ship loading; intermodal terminal and seaport terminal management; vehicle routing problems in road transportation; multi-commodity network design, service network design and facility location; last-mile solutions; capacity analyses of rail networks and railway timetabling.

Agri-Food Supply Chains

Agri-Food Supply Chains

Food waste reduction; food security and sustainability; integrating local and global food production systems; circular economies and food supply chains; inventory and pricing strategies for perishable food supply chains.

Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Sustainable Supply Chain Management

Green supply chain management; carbon foot-printing of logistics systems; environmental policies and operations and supply chain design; integrating sustainable practices with operations and supply chain performance; sustainable procurement; modern slavery and supply chain ethics.

Agile Operations

Agile Operations

Organizational agility; agile and resilient operations; management practices and the performance and productivity of small firms; sustainable growth of SMEs.

Supply Chain Technologies, Analytics and Risk

Supply Chain Technologies, Analytics and Risk

Digital strategies and ICT adoption in operations and supply chain management; uncertainty and risk mitigation; mathematical programming, stochastic dynamic programming and meta-heuristic optimisation of supply chains; development of models and algorithms to support supply chain network design; artificial intelligence, blockchain applications; machine learning and big data analytics in operations and supply chain management.

Research ULMS Research Impact

Research Impact

Discover research by the Centre featured in the Management School's Impact cases.