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Completed PhD theses

Identifying abilities needed for industrial sustainability, dr lloyd fernando , supervisor – professor steve evans, university of cambridge.

Dr. Lloyd Fernando is Group Director of SHORE TO SHORE PVT LTD (S2S). 

S2S manufactures merchandise identification products and services to Global Fashion, Performance wear, E-commerce Digital Brands, Footwear, Retail & FMCG Industries. Lloyd drives the Company Engineering Manufacturing Innovations Centre and S2S Global Manufacturing Print Service Bureau. Co-creation & strategic partnerships have been instrumental and a catalyst in Lloyd’s drive and pursuit to finding intelligent value creation growth opportunities. 

The purpose of Lloyd's research was to provide better understanding of the abilities that companies need to improve their industrial sustainability. The research was based on data collected in 26 organisations, representing 12 sectors and companies from 8 countries and 162 participants in total. The four abilities of efficiency, internalisation, collaboration and whole system design are identified and defined in this research. Bringing the 4 abilities (themes) that include 9 sub-themes together the researcher proposed the industrial sustainability ability framework. The research has found 4 abilities:

- Efficiency: ability to see environmental and social waste and creatively and systematically reduce them.

- Internalisation: ability to see failed value exchanges and deliberately bring them into the business model.

- Collaboration: ability to look for new types of collaborators up and down and outside current value chain.

- Whole system design: ability to find advantageous connections across the system.

This research has addressed a literature gap and met an industrial need in the field of industrial sustainability. The research provides an understanding of abilities that might be needed to transform companies from today's position towards a more sustainable industrial system. Lloyd describes his PhD journey at CIS, IfM University Of Cambridge as inspiring, and since returning to industry he has a passion to foster learning and create opportunities to integrate leading-edge research with industry.

A copy of Lloyds' thesis can be found  here .

Design support for eco-efficiency improvements in manufacturing

Dr lampros litos (dip eng, mba, miet, iema) , supervisor: professor steve evans, university of cambridge.

Dr Lampros Litos' research sought to investigate the impact of manufacturing practices  (technical, managerial, policy) on energy and resource efficiency in factories. His work applied Design Research Methodology (DRM) with practitioners from a range of industries and introduced a novel maturity model for eco-efficiency . The model was  validated through workshops and collaborative projects with companies such as Airbus, Toyota and Asics.

Lampros’ professional and academic interests are focused on industrial management, circular economy applications and start-up scaling up. Following up from his research, Lampros supports manufacturing companies to innovate by linking them to emerging technologies through InnovateUK’s Knowledge Transfer Network ( www.ktn-uk.org/people/lampros-litos ). 

A copy of Lampros' thesis can be found here .    

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Diffusion of environmental and social sustainability practices across the supplier base

Dr handson pimenta, supervisor: professor peter ball and dr konstantinos salonitis, cranfield university.

Education, Science and Technology (IFRN/Brazil), involved with lecturing aspects of industrial sustainability. He is the director of the professional master programme in environmental science (sustainable use of natural resource) at IFRN. He is also a co-founder of the nucleus of applied studies on corporate sustainability (NESE), which has the aim to develop and disseminate knowledge on environmental and social sustainability practices across industrial systems, including processes, operations, products and service, and supply chain.

The purpose of Handson's PhD research was to establish the conditions for enhancing the diffusion of environmental and social sustainability practices across the supplier base from the buying firms’ perspective. The research design was based on a theory building strategy, including a triangulation of different sources of data (e.g. 30 interviews with directors or managers of four sustainability leading manufacturing firms from the beverage, cosmetic and textile sector, and an extensive array of documents) and cross-case analysis and application of diffusion of innovation theory (DoI). The research provided a more comprehensive view on how sustainability practices were diffused through the supplier selection, performance assessment and development. This work is the first instance of considering intra- and inter- organisational factors in the same model for enhancing the diffusion of sustainability practices. Overall, this depicts patterns of the factors and points out the most critical variables influencing the implementation of sustainability practices across the supplier base. This research has the potential to serve as an analysis tool to uncover gaps in activity that could lead to greater adoption of sustainability practices by suppliers, as well as gathering good practice in a structured way.

A copy of Handson's thesis can be found here .

Sustainable Value Analysis For Product-Service Systems

Dr miying yang, supervisor:  professor steve evans, university of cambridge.

Dr Miying Yang is currently a lecturer in engineering management at the

Reducing the environmental impact of wind turbine blades

Dr pu (jacky) liu , supervisor: dr claire barlow, university of cambridge.

Jacky's research included investigating the wind turbine blade waste inventory, understanding the environmental impact of wind turbine blades during its whole life cycle and quantitatively assessing the end-of-life options for wind turbine blades.

Sustainable life-cycle management

Dr ioannis mastoris  .

Sustainability is often considered as an add-on dimension of decision-making in organisations. This project increases our understanding of how sustainability aspects can be integrated into decision making across the organisation. This helps manufacturers to identify opportunities for improving and ease the processes of integration of sustainability aspects in decision making.

CO2 Emissions from the cement industry

Dr daniel summerbell.

This research examined the main sources of CO2 emissions from the cement industry and identified opportunities to reduce them. We collaborated closely with a local cement manufacturer to perform an in-depth analysis of their factory.

Policy support mechanisms for Industrial Symbiosis: a comparative study between UK and China

Dr yuan tao, supervisor: prof steve evans, university of cambridge.

This project sought to understand how policies act as driving mechanisms in promoting industrial symbiosis. Through comparing different policy supportiveness to develop industrial symbiosis between UK and China, this research aimed to find out what policy works well under what conditions and what policy does not.

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Planning your PhD research: A 3-year PhD timeline example

Planning out a PhD trajectory can be overwhelming. Example PhD timelines can make the task easier and inspire. The following PhD timeline example describes the process and milestones of completing a PhD within 3 years.

Elements to include in a 3-year PhD timeline

The example scenario: completing a phd in 3 years, example: planning year 1 of a 3-year phd, example: planning year 2 of a 3-year phd, example: planning year 3 of a 3-year phd, example of a 3 year phd gantt chart timeline, final reflection.

Every successful PhD project begins with a proper plan. Even if there is a high chance that not everything will work out as planned. Having a well-established timeline will keep your work on track.

What to include in a 3-year PhD timeline depends on the unique characteristics of a PhD project, specific university requirements, agreements with the supervisor/s and the PhD student’s career ambitions.

For instance, some PhD students write a monograph while others complete a PhD based on several journal publications. Both monographs and cumulative dissertations have advantages and disadvantages , and not all universities allow both formats. The thesis type influences the PhD timeline.

Furthermore, PhD students ideally engage in several different activities throughout a PhD trajectory, which link to their career objectives. Regardless of whether they want to pursue a career within or outside of academia. PhD students should create an all-round profile to increase their future chances in the labour market. Think, for example, of activities such as organising a seminar, engaging in public outreach or showcasing leadership in a small grant application.

The most common elements included in a 3-year PhD timeline are the following:

• Data collection (fieldwork, experiments, etc.)
• Data analysis
• Writing of different chapters, or a plan for journal publication
• Conferences
• Additional activities

The whole process is described in more detail in my post on how to develop an awesome PhD timeline step-by-step .

Many (starting) PhD students look for examples of how to plan a PhD in 3 years. Therefore, let’s look at an example scenario of a fictional PhD student. Let’s call her Maria.

Maria is doing a PhD in Social Sciences at a university where it is customary to write a cumulative dissertation, meaning a PhD thesis based on journal publications. Maria’s university regulations require her to write four articles as part of her PhD. In order to graduate, one article has to be published in an international peer-reviewed journal. The other three have to be submitted.

Furthermore, Maria’s cumulative dissertation needs an introduction and conclusion chapter which frame the four individual journal articles, which form the thesis chapters.

In order to complete her PhD programme, Maria also needs to complete coursework and earn 15 credits, or ECTS in her case.

Maria likes the idea of doing a postdoc after her graduation. However, she is aware that the academic job market is tough and therefore wants to keep her options open. She could, for instance, imagine to work for a community or non-profit organisation. Therefore, she wants to place emphasis on collaborating with a community organisation during her PhD.

You may also like: Creating awesome Gantt charts for your PhD timeline

Most PhD students start their first year with a rough idea, but not a well-worked out plan and timeline. Therefore, they usually begin with working on a more elaborate research proposal in the first months of their PhD. This is also the case for our example PhD student Maria.

• Months 1-4: Maria works on a detailed research proposal, defines her research methodology and breaks down her thesis into concrete tasks.
• Month 5 : Maria follows a short intensive course in academic writing to improve her writing skills.
• Months 5-10: Maria works on her first journal paper, which is based on an extensive literature review of her research topic. At the end of Month 10, she submits the manuscript. At the same time, she follows a course connected to her research topic.
• Months 11-12: Maria does her data collection.

Maria completed her first round of data collection according to plan, and starts the second year of her PhD with a lot of material. In her second year, she will focus on turning this data into two journal articles.

• Months 1-2: Maria works on her data analysis.
• Months 3-7: Maria works on her second journal paper.
• Month 7: Maria attends her first conference, and presents the results of her literature-review paper.
• Month 8: Maria received ‘major revisions’ on her first manuscript submission, and implements the changes in Month 8 before resubmitting her first journal paper for publication.
• Month 9: Maria follows a course on research valorisation to learn strategies to increase the societal impact of her thesis.
• Months 9-12: Maria works on her third journal paper. She uses the same data that she collected for the previous paper, which is why she is able to complete the third manuscript a bit faster than the previous one.

Time flies, and Maria finds herself in the last year of her PhD. There is still a lot of work to be done, but she sticks to the plan and does her best to complete her PhD.

• Month 1: Maria starts a second round of data collection, this time in collaboration with a community organisation. Together, they develop and host several focus groups with Maria’s target audience.
• Month 2: Maria starts to analyse the material of the focus group and develops the argumentation for her fourth journal paper.
• Month 3: Maria presents the results of her second journal paper at an international conference. Furthermore, she helps out her supervisor with a grant application. They apply for funding to run a small project that is thematically connected to her PhD.
• Months 4-9: Maria writes her fourth and final journal article that is required for her PhD.
• Month 10: Maria writes her thesis introduction .
• Month 11: Maria works on her thesis conclusion.
• Month 12 : Maria works on the final edits and proof-reading of her thesis before submitting it.

Combining the 3-year planning for our example PhD student Maria, it results in the following PhD timeline:

Creating these PhD timelines, also called Gantt charts, is easy. You can find instructions and templates here.

Completing a PhD in 3 years is not an easy task. The example of our fictional PhD student Maria shows how packed her timeline is, and how little time there is for things to go wrong.

In fact, in real life, many PhD students spend four years full-time to complete a PhD based on four papers, instead of three. Some extend their studies even longer.

Furthermore, plan in some time for thesis editing, which is a legitimate practice and can bring your writing to the next level. Finding a reputable thesis editor can be challenging, so make sure you make an informed choice.

Finishing a PhD in 3 years is not impossible, but it surely is not easy. So be kind to yourself if things don’t work out entirely as planned, and make use of all the help you can get.

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Research Proposal Example/Sample

Detailed Walkthrough + Free Proposal Template

If you’re getting started crafting your research proposal and are looking for a few examples of research proposals , you’ve come to the right place.

In this video, we walk you through two successful (approved) research proposals , one for a Master’s-level project, and one for a PhD-level dissertation. We also start off by unpacking our free research proposal template and discussing the four core sections of a research proposal, so that you have a clear understanding of the basics before diving into the actual proposals.

• Research proposal example/sample – Master’s-level (PDF/Word)
• Research proposal example/sample – PhD-level (PDF/Word)
• Proposal template (Fully editable) 

If you’re working on a research proposal for a dissertation or thesis, you may also find the following useful:

• Research Proposal Bootcamp : Learn how to write a research proposal as efficiently and effectively as possible
• 1:1 Proposal Coaching : Get hands-on help with your research proposal

PS – If you’re working on a dissertation, be sure to also check out our collection of dissertation and thesis examples here .

FAQ: Research Proposal Example

Research proposal example: frequently asked questions, are the sample proposals real.

Yes. The proposals are real and were approved by the respective universities.

Can I copy one of these proposals for my own research?

As we discuss in the video, every research proposal will be slightly different, depending on the university’s unique requirements, as well as the nature of the research itself. Therefore, you’ll need to tailor your research proposal to suit your specific context.

You can learn more about the basics of writing a research proposal here .

How do I get the research proposal template?

You can access our free proposal template here .

Is the proposal template really free?

Yes. There is no cost for the proposal template and you are free to use it as a foundation for your research proposal.

Where can I learn more about proposal writing?

For self-directed learners, our Research Proposal Bootcamp is a great starting point.

For students that want hands-on guidance, our private coaching service is recommended.

Psst… there’s more!

This post is an extract from our bestselling short course, Research Proposal Bootcamp . If you want to work smart, you don't want to miss this .

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A Step-by-Step Tutorial to Write PhD Personal Statement

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Are you applying for a PhD program but have no idea what to include in your application statement? Well, then, this guide is for you. When applying for postgraduate study, candidates are often required to write a PhD personal statement that shows they have the right attitude, skills, and knowledge for that course.

The application statement goes directly to the university and needs to be crafted per the requirements of the department in consideration. Candidates have to submit both the cover letter/statements and research proposals to the institute.  Both of these documents shed light on the motivation behind choosing that specific institute for your doctoral study.

We all know that writing your PhD personal statement in the UK can sometimes be stressful. To help you with your mission, the expert admission essay writers of The Academic Papers UK have prepared a step-by-step guide to craft a statement. Let’s explore the tips; we shall go with a basic definition first.

What Is PhD Personal Statement?

As per Postgraduate Studentships, the PhD personal statement serves as a way to promote yourself as a student for the institute you want to enrol in. In that application, you explain to the admission committee why you are perfect for being a PhD student in their institute. You can take this as a perfect opportunity to impress the admissions committee.

How to Write a PhD Personal Statement?

A personal statement for PhD application provides extra information about the background of the applicant, his motivation for undertaking the postgrad research and the relevant experience. Basically, you have to make sure that you appear as a unique individual to the admissions officers.

The Admissions Tutor usually reads your statements for postgrad courses or the Project Supervisors for the research programs. They decide on your suitability for that line of research and study. We have made the writing process of personal statements easier for you. Here are some guidelines to follow when crafting your PhD personal statement:

1. Show Your Curiosity

Your PhD personal statement is ‘personal’- feel free to showcase your unique accomplishments and strengths. Explain what particular factor influenced your decision to pursue the program so that when the admissions committee reads your statement, they will be aware of your passion for joining their university. If it is an institute abroad, you should start planning for the application process 18 months before the program actually starts.

Give the readers an idea about your interests and tell them how they are related to your PhD. Explain why you are attracted to the particular department and what your motivation is for studying your chosen degree subject. It will make the committee see that you are genuinely interested in getting admission to their university.

2. Talk About Your Experience

During the PhD personal statement writing process, you should also include your research experiences, work experiences, and any volunteer jobs that you might have taken already. Highlight any experiences that you might have and briefly describe the responsibilities for any academic projects you have undertaken previously. This will make your personal statement look more convincing and professional to the readers.

Also, if you have any achievements that demonstrate your abilities to work effectively, you should mention them as well in your papers. This will make the admissions tutors realise that you are perfect for a wide range of experiences and environments.

3. Display Your Skillset

As a PhD is a long journey, you must have a lot of essential skills to survive. Some of these skills include critical thinking, problem-solving, research, and collaboration. You must mention these in your PhD personal statement to leave a positive impact on the minds of your readers. It will convince them that you are skilled enough to work on the PhD projects and contribute to the research field.

If these skills have benefitted you in one way or another in academia previously, you should make it known to the admissions committee. However, avoid making it sound too boastful because it will ruin your impression.

4. Discuss Your Goals

Writing about your previously developed skill set and achievements in a personal statement is never enough. The cherry on top is when you share a glimpse of your future research aims with the readers. Tell them about how a PhD degree can help you achieve your goals. A PhD application personal statement should be full of how YOU want to make changes in your academic field.

Although some universities expect the candidates to enlist the research goals in the motivation letter, sharing a bit about your career aspirations will not harm anyone. You can also talk here about the individual research groups that you have led and link them with the course you want to study.

5. Mention Your Transferable Skills

When writing your PhD personal statement, ensure that you have highlighted your transferable skills enough. These are the skills that you develop during your academic journey. Some of the relevant skills that you might want to enlist in your papers are the following:

• Networking and communication skills
• Project management
• Presentation skills
• Analytical thinking
• Time management

Keep in mind that you will have to mention these skills along with the evidence of how you acquired them. Such skills are desirable because a candidate can use them anywhere, irrespective of their field or designation. When you appropriately mention these skills, you let the admission officers know that you will be better able to make positive contributions in your career.

6. Focus on the Grammar and Vocabulary

Keep in mind that it is important for you to present a well-crafted statement that has no grammatical mistakes. You must avoid using slang in your work and use the standard academic vocabulary to leave your readers impressed. Write concise and concrete sentences that flow well with the theme of your work. You can also get admission essay writing help from professional writers online in the UK for this purpose.

In a nutshell, you will have to demonstrate why are you going for that specific institute and if there are any special research facilities they provide. The point is to narrate all this information with a good vocabulary and perfect grammar plus punctuation!

7. Proofread Just One More Time

Before the submission of your PhD personal statement, just make sure to check for your spelling mistakes. Ask an advisor, professor, or friend to review your final draft one time before submitting it. Sometimes, many mistakes go undetected during the first revision session, and they are more likely to be caught in the second or third review.

Check if you have discussed your interests really well and see if the program you are choosing fits in with your intended career path. Your application must make the admission teams see your passion for the programs they offer.

PhD Personal Statement Structure

It is worth noting that your statement must be logically ordered and interesting for the readers. A good and well-defined structure makes the spine of your personal statement for PhD program. Your paper should have the following three well-written sections:

1. Introduction

You should start with a quick introduction, explaining your academic background and describing yourself. Try your level best to naturally build interest in your research aims, the university you have chosen, and the subjects you want to study. It is a no-brainer that the personal statement introduction is a wonderful way to grab the attention of readers.

2. Main Body

In the main body paragraphs, you move towards discussing your experience and skills in further detail. Answer the basic questions about why you are a good fit for the PhD program in question. If you have to comment on several areas of your CV, you can do it appropriately in this part of your paper.

3. Conclusion

Finally, in the concluding paragraphs of your personal statement, you can wrap the entire discussion up by stating your aspirations and long-term goals. You must include your future research plans in this section and make them relevant to the course you are studying. Take the ending as a chance to finish your academic document in a way that makes your admission tutors remember you.

PhD Personal Statement Examples

The requirements for personal application content differ with every university – one size does not fit all. However, a good paper has all of the elements an admission officer wants to see in it. Apart from following the guidelines written above, you should also go through the admission statements of other successful candidates. Here is a PhD personal statement template on the topic of leadership; you can read and review it, and if you like the writing style of that student, feel free to adopt it for your work.

You can also ask your friends who are already in academia or other project supervisors for help with your custom PhD personal statement ideas. Studying for a PhD is not easy; you should be determined to overcome all the obstacles along the way.

What Should Be in a PhD Personal Statement?

You have to make your personal statement PhD interesting for the admission officers and convince them that you are the perfect person to study in their institute. According to the guidelines of the Columbia University Center for Career Education, the following elements must be present in it:

• State the reasons for your application to that particular university.
• Describe your strengths.
• Highlight your transferable skills and demonstrate them with examples.
• Tell them about how you want to contribute to the research field of that domain.
• Discuss how that PhD program aligns with your core interests and career goals.

Apart from these three sections, you can also choose to add these sections to your paper in a sequence:

• Current Degrees
• Why the PhD Course?
• Past Work Experience
• Extra-curricular Activities and Interests
• Why this University?

You should avoid writing clichéd content; try to be unique instead. Strive for depth in your work, find one or two key themes, and give details about those to the readers. It will take a lot of time to craft and finalise this statement, so you must start your research and writing process early.

How Long Should a Personal Statement Be for a PhD Program?

Per the guidelines by Masters Portal, PhD personal statements should be around 700 words (around 1-2 pages). At graduate and post-graduate levels, the statements of purpose are usually shorter in length. So, you should take your time to craft a well-written and strong statement. It will take you quite some time to develop a final draft for the submission of your personal statement. Also, you must check the PhD Personal Statement Length guidelines provided by the university you are applying to.

How Do I Start My Personal Statement?

According to the instructions by UCAS to students, you can stand out from a crowd of candidates if you tackle your personal statement for PhD really well. Before starting the writing process, take your time to ponder over the key points and enlist the things you would want to see in your work. Do not worry about penning down the first perfect draft – you will have enough time to refine it later.

All that you need to do is to show your enthusiasm for the subject and showcase your knowledge. Share your ambitions and what you want to achieve in future with your research. Also, do not forget to read the description of the course as it will give you a good idea about what each university is looking for.

Bottom Line

And that’s a wrap!

When you have written your PhD personal statement, proofread it twice and ask for the unbiased feedback of your friends and family. If they give suggestions for improvement, consider them before tuning in your work. The rule of thumb here is to keep the papers mistake-free and interesting for the readers.

You can also acquire admission essay writing services online to craft tailored personal statements per your choices and academic interests. Tell the writer about your career goals, academic background, and hobbies and they will craft a stellar personal application to impress the examiners.

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Rutgers PhD student delivers dissertation hours after giving birth

In late March, Tamiah Brevard-Rodriguez had a plan leading up to her April 24 due date.

Coined “Operation Dissertation Before Baby,” the plan included Brevard-Rodriguez completing her dissertation and having her baby in time to celebrate graduation and the summer with family. In that order.

Brevard-Rodriguez’s dissertation presentation – for her doctorate at Rutgers Graduate School of Education – focused on the beauty pressures placed on Black college women while enrolled at predominantly White educational institutions.

But while she was in the middle of fine-tuning the dissertation early on March 25, things went decidedly off-plan.

After working for a few hours and lying down to get some rest, Brevard-Rodriguez’s water broke. While this was a happy moment, she was scheduled to deliver her dissertation that very day.

Tamiah’s wife, Alyza Brevard-Rodriguez, tried to calm her.

“I’ve witnessed her work so hard, tirelessly working on the presentation, a six-year program, a two-year study. I’m just like, ‘don’t let today be the day,’” Alyza told CNN. “I walk into the bathroom and I look at her and she is just shaking in tears. As much as I knew that this was a happy moment for the both of us, I can see the sadness on her that you know her day was possibly going to be ruined.”

They were planning to go to a birthing center, but their doula told them to get to the hospital quickly. Alyza helped Tamiah to the car and they sped down the highway in the dark, in what Alyza called a “race to the finish line.”

When Tamiah started to go into labor, Alyza worried they wouldn’t make it to the hospital in time for the baby’s birth. They didn’t. Tamiah had given birth in the car.

“When I looked over, she had the baby in her left hand and the umbilical cord in her right,” Alyza said.

They got to the hospital with baby Enzo. Doctors and nurses checked him out and cut his umbilical cord, joking that Tamiah “did all the hard work for us.” Now was the time to rest, but Tamiah still had a dissertation to present.

Alyza discussed possibly rescheduling the meeting with Tamiah’s mentor. However, Tamiah worried if they rescheduled, it wouldn’t happen in the time frame needed to graduate this year.

“As I was laying there, I was just thinking to myself, ‘I can do it,’” Tamiah recalled. “The baby’s here. Let’s just get this over with.”

And so she did. Alyza brought her clothes, laptop and a makeup bag.

“I took a nap, ate a meal and then I was ready to rock and roll,” Tamiah said.

As she logged onto her laptop from her hospital bed, the only person who knew about her delivery earlier that morning was her mentor. He didn’t want anyone to give her sympathy, so he kept quiet. For about twenty to thirty minutes, she gave a stellar presentation, Tamiah says. With the presentation over, she took down her Rutgers background on Zoom, revealing the hospital.

“Everyone was in complete shock,” Tamiah said.

Tamiah’s graduation ceremony is this Sunday, on Mother’s Day. She says she will celebrate with a dinner with family and friends. Alyza also finished her doctorate recently, and their daughter Aubriel is soon graduating from preschool.

“It’s incredible to uplift women and show how incredibly powerful they are,” Alyza said. “I hope that people really take away from this that women are strong and resilient, tenacious, ambitious grit and they can do anything.”

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