Research is central to the activities of the Department of Management at the University of Bristol. The department comprises a group of academic staff with a variety of interests and a focus on research that has practical relevance. The results of the most recent UK-wide research assessment, REF 2014, rated 78 per cent of the research activity in business and management as 'world leading' or 'internationally excellent'.

The department encourages interdisciplinary research, drawing on a range of theories and methodologies. We welcome students from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. We encourage applications from strong candidates from disciplines outside the social sciences, management and business studies who wish to convert, and from candidates with organisational or commercial experience.

Candidates entering the PhD programme are normally required to take 60 credit points of taught units in their first year. Students are also encouraged to undertake further training in agreement with their supervisor for the duration of their studies.

Action Research and Critical Inquiry in Organisation (ARCIO Research Centre)

ARCIO brings together a number of strands of research and teaching in the Department of Management at the University of Bristol and beyond. The centre is committed to research in participative and capacity-building ways in organisations and communities. We are interested in projects that focus on sustainability, social justice, gender and inclusivity. It is also committed to using arts-based, narrative and feminist methods in its research and scholarship, and to working with groups and organisations who are interested in taking a critical stand on research and development projects. The centre’s activities include research, scholarship and practice around the areas mentioned above.

For details of staff working in this research group, please visit the Department of Management website.

Marketing and Strategy

The Marketing and Strategy group is very new in the department with plans for significant growth in coming years. Currently, research is interdisciplinary and focuses on strategy, values and identity, with ideas from psychology and organisation studies. Other work looks at marketing in the context of national politics and service delivery from an operations perspective. The group is committed to research that integrates diverse perspectives, especially from the social sciences.

For details of staff working in this research group, please visit the Department of Management website.

Organisation Studies/HRM

The Organisation Studies and Human Resource Management group is the most established in the department and combines staff interests from a variety of social sciences perspectives (e.g. sociology, labour economics, politics and feminism). Its research seeks to challenge mainstream assumptions and to bring society and globalisation into an understanding of organisations and employment. Thus, interests cover power, identity, materiality and institutional and organisational change, as well as different groups engaging with work organisations such as the professions, unions and other employee groups. The group contributes to the University's ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership and its work engages with local communities and debates about the role of experts and occupational groups.

For details of staff working in this research group, please visit the Department of Management website.

Operations/Management Science

The Operations/Management Science group carries out research into supply chain management, sustainability and resilience, healthcare operations, big data analytics, social media research and low carbon manufacturing. The group is committed to using empirical methods in operations management research and applied operational research methods in tackling real-world problems that have high economic, societal and environmental impacts, attracting funding from NERC, ESRC, the Royal Society, the Newton Fund, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

For details of staff working in this research group, please visit the Department of Management website.

Global Political Economy and International Business Management

The Global Political Economy and International Business Management group brings together staff interested in a wide range of questions that span disciplines and fields, such as economic sociology, economic geography, global studies, migration and political economy of globalisation.

Members are engaged in researching a range of problems, including: changes in labour and employment, global commodity chains and transnational corporations, the rise of global managerialism, the financialisation of management, and the transformation of professions and global professional service firms.

The group aims to address analytically the transformations brought about by the globalisation of economy and management and, through their work, to underscore the need for the current disciplinary and interdisciplinary boundaries in the social sciences to be transcended. The group contributes to the University's ESRC South West Doctoral Training Partnership interdisciplinary pathway in Global Political Economy.

For details of staff working in this research group, please visit the Department of Management website.