Department of Analytics, Operations and Systems

Our staff are widely respected experts in their fields, actively engaged in a diverse range of funded projects across logistics, transport, healthcare, and sustainable development. Their work spans high-impact collaborations from partnering with the Port of Dover, High Speed 1 Rail Links, and Priory Direct, to addressing urban flood resilience in Hanoi, enhancing logistics systems in Qatar, and designing hydrogen supply chain networks from South Africa to global markets. They also contribute to strengthening disaster resilience in Turkey and developing cutting-edge healthcare diagnostics. Across all these initiatives, our academics employ advanced problem-solving tools to help organisations boost performance, increase efficiency, and drive sustainable outcomes. 

At Kent Business School, postgraduate and doctoral programmes in Analytics, Operations and Systems are taught by staff who are at the world class experts in mathematical optimisation, big data analytics, simulation modelling, green logistics, supply chain management, artificial intelligence and Soft OR. There is a strong focus on improving employability skills of students. Graduates from our courses have gone on to work for a variety of top UK and international firms – including British Airways, Sainsbury’s, Lidl, Nestle, Amazon, Samsung and Ernst & Young, while our PhD students have gone on to academia (University of Exeter, University of Cardiff, UC Dublin), industry (China Construction Bank) and the public sector (NHS England, Ministry of Justice, the UN). 

Research conducted by the Department of Analytics, Operations and Systems falls broadly into the following categories: 

1. Operational Research 
2. Prescriptive Analytics 
3. Simulation Modelling 
4. Data Analytics 
5. Operations and Supply Chain Management 
6. Logistics and Transportation 
7. Information Systems 
8. Environmental Systems Management 
9. Artificial Intelligence in Operations 
10. Healthcare Management 
11. Innovation in Human and Animal Diagnostics 

The Department of Analytics, Operations and Systems has published work in top operational research, operations management and information systems journals, including Management Science, Journal of Operations Management, European Journal of Operational Research, Transportation Science, International Journal of Operations and Production Management and British Journal of Management. Various staff members serve in the editorial boards of world-renowned journals such as the British Journal of Management, International Journal of Operations and Production Management, Journal of Simulation, Journal of the Operational Research Society, Health Systems. Some of our prominent staff members have been featured in the top 2% researchers in Business Management area in global list of researchers prepared by Stanford University. 

The department has been successful in attracting research funds from prestigious funding bodies, including ESRC, EPSRC, Innovate UK, the British Academy and the European Commission. The department also has an excellent record of securing funding from industry through Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) and industrial CASE studentships. Recent industry collaborations include projects with High Speed 1 ltd (HS1), The North Kent Local Industrial Decarbonisation Project, the Port of Dover, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), Marine Terminal Energy Independence (MaTEI), Green Corridor at Short Straits and the NHS, Green Hydrogen production and distribution from South Africa’s Eastern Cape region to global markets, including the UK, Europe, and Japan.  

The department hosts the Centre for Logistics and Sustainable Analytics (CeLSA) and co-hosts the Centre for Advanced Diagnostic Development and Application (CADDA) — a national programme set to drive innovation in human and animal diagnostics – led by the University of Kent in partnership with The University of Manchester and University College London (UCL).