Business Analytics, Circular Economy & Entrepreneurship (BACE)

Professor Tillal Eldabi holds PhD and MSc in Simulation Modelling and BSc in Econometrics and Social Statistics. He has published over 100 articles in highly accredited journals and conferences and successfully supervising and graduating 18 doctoral students. Over a period of 20 years, his main research area was focussing on the use of Simulation Modelling to solve healthcare problems. He developed tailormade modelling packages to support health economists and clinicians to decide on the best treatment programmes. Other works include modelling approaches to enable stakeholders’ engagement and modelling A&E departments. More recently his works focused on developing frameworks for Hybrid Simulation for modelling complex systems with special emphasis on healthcare systems. Professor Eldabi has led and co-investigated several research projects worth more than a £2 million where he gained funding from national and international research councils such as EPSRC (UK), Qatar National Foundations, British Council, and UNDP – all related to modelling healthcare and Higher Education enhancement. He is the cofounder of the Simulation Workshop UK and the Hybrid Simulation Track at Winter Simulation Conference. Professor Eldabi led the development and management of the PhD without Residence Programme at Ahlia University – Bahrain. It graduated more than 60 doctoral students, where 45% of them are female, the highest rate of gender parity the Gulf region as evidence of capacity building in diversity and inclusivity. Professor Eldabi also developed two innovative programmes: MBA in healthcare and BSc in Business Analytics.

Dr. Craig Johnson has almost 20 years of experience of working in both the public and private sectors. He started his career as a software engineer, working on training simulators for the fire service and the Institute of Chemical Engineers. He went on to become operations manager for the national fire service computer, the Fire Information National Data Service (FINDS). He then returned to programming, acting as software consultant to implement the command and control systems for Dublin Fire and Ambulance Service and a second system for the Munster region of Ireland.

After taking over the finance and administration function for the University of Bradford technology transfer company, he developed a marketing and business development role before becoming its consultancy manager. Craig became an Associate Member of Staff in 2000, and joined the School of Management full-time in 2002. He has a higher national diploma in computing technology, a postgraduate certificate in higher education practice, a diploma in management studies, a diploma in research methods, an MA in management by action learning and a PhD in organisational behaviour. His PhD was entitled “Standing on the Toes of Giants: Social Movement Theory and the Case of the Learning Organisation”. This involved an assessment of how management theory is developed in general (social movements), the phenomenon known as management gurus (the giants) and how this related to theories of the learning organisation. A structural equation model was derived from survey responses by Chief Executives and Human Resource Director of FTSE- and AIM-Listed companies. The model demonstrated a high level of convergent validity of what constitutes successful management in a large, commercial organisation.

Dr Kamran Mahroof is an Associate Professor of Supply Chain Analytics and Programme Leader for the MSc in the Applied Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics programme, at the University of Bradford, School of Management. He has extensive industry experience having worked in various role for leading organisations, most recently for Morrisons Plc, where he led various productivity initiatives in Logistics. Kamran continues to hold a strong connection in several industries through his ongoing research. His industrial experience has helped shape his research interests, whereby he is actively researching in the areas of Supply Chain Management, Circular Economy, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the Societal Impact of Emerging Technologies. He regularly publishes in high quality, high impact peer-reviewed journals, such as International Journal of Production Economics, Journal of Business Research and Information Systems Frontiers. Kamran makes regular appearances on national television, radio and in other media and has written several articles for the Press, along with other internationally renowned publications, such as for the World Economic Forum. He is also a Fellow of the Higher Education (FHEA).  

Dr Jiachen Hou joined the Operations and Information Management Group in January 2016. Prior to this, she was a teaching fellow at the Department of Management Science, University of Strathclyde. She involved in two European Commission found projects during her PhD study from Nottingham Trent University, EU-Asia Link project and EU-IT&C project. The aims of the projects are to improve co-operation between Asia and Europe by increasing the mutual understanding of the complexity of transferring European information and communications technology to China, thus improving technology cross-flow and the quality of Europe-China partnerships. Her PhD project was focused on investigating the issues that have influenced SMEs in the processes of product life cycle and supplier selection.

Jiachen has been engaged with a range of professional activities. She has reviewed articles for journals such as International Journal of Information Technology & Decision Making, International Journal of Design Engineering, IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, Public Money and Management 92018), for Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation (2018), etc. Jiachen was a member of the Member of the program committee for BLESS U Workshop (2018), member of the program committee for The 19th Annual International Conference on Digital Government Research (2018), and programme committee of the International Conference on Advanced Desing and Manufacture (2006, 2009, 2010, 2011). She is a member of SAP Global University Alliances Program Community.

Jiachen is currently working on British Council Sponsored project: "Bandar Lampung Enhanced Smart-health Services with Smart Ubiquity".

Dr Takao Maruyama is Programme Leader for MSc in Logistics, Data Analytics and Supply Chain Management.

Dr Takao Maruyama joined the School of Management in 2019 and is currently Assistant Professor in Business Analytics.  He is also Programme Leader for MSc in Logistics, Data Analytics and Supply Chain Management (https://www.bradford.ac.uk/courses/pg/logistics-data-analytics-supply-chain-management/). 

Prior to joining the School of Management, Takao had gained more than 10 years of industry experience in data analytics in the higher education sector, analysing various types of quantitative data and communicating effectively key findings with senior management teams.  

Takao's research interest focuses on the application of data analytics in a wide range of areas including information systems, healthcare, logistics and supply chain management, and other relevant areas.  Takao has published papers in journals such as the Journal of Business Research, Information Technology and People, and New Technology Work and Employment. 

Dr Ebru Surucu Balci joined the Business Analytics, Circular Economy and Supply Chain in September 2019. Dr Ebru holds a PhD degree in Maritime Business Administration. Prior to taking the lecturer position, she worked as a research assistant for over 5 years (2013-2019). Her research interests are the circular food supply chains, digitalization of transport and logistic services, and social media engagement. She has publications in Computers in Industry, Journal of Cleaner Production, Service Industries Journal and Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management. 

Dr Zahid Hussain joined the school full time in 2002 and has taught at all levels since including executive education, MBA, DL etc. He possess tremendous amount of academic and management experience and possess many other suitable qualifications. He teaches with passion, rigour and meticulousness. He can undertake wider multidisciplinary research within the university that has better impact, hence meeting the university’s pledge to making knowledge work. He is a member of HEA and several other professional bodies (Member of HEA, BCS, BAM, UKAIS). He has won several awards in distinguished teaching and is helping to deliver the faculty vision of enhancing levels of student satisfaction. This will help to achieve the faculty objective of excelling teaching. He is external examiner to University of West London and Imperial College London and in the past was external to Aston, Open University and University of East London. His research is usually applied and industry based. Several of his recent articles have been ‘best read’ and/or ‘nominated as best papers’ by academics.  However, Zahid has and continues to supervise world class research of highest merit involving many well-known organisations, such as NATO, SAP, Mercedes, Emirates Airline, British Telecom, Mauritius Government, Asda, PACE, BBC, Airbus UK, NHS and many more including many SMEs. He is a permanent speaker/presenter on learning and improvement topics at the local community radio – MACS.

Dr Syeda Hina is a Lecturer in Business Analytics at the University of Bradford, School of Management. Prior to joining the School of Management, Dr Syeda had gained more than 12 years of teaching and research experience.

Syeda's primary areas of research activity are supply chain management and technology, logistics, transportation planning, sustainable agricultural and energy logistics, data analytics and other relevant areas which come under the broad research area of quantitative social sciences.

Shahid joined the University from the Department of Technical Education in Brunei, Darussalam, in 2003. His commercial experience includes more than 10 years of direct involvement in small and family business, from start-up to sell-out, and various retail and admin roles with organisations including BT and Sock Shop.

Dr Smit hails from South Africa where she has been teaching both undergraduate and postgraduate modules on Sustainable Development and Green Economy at Stellenbosch University. She has also worked as a senior research manager, policy advisor and project co-ordinator on a number of projects across Africa. She holds a Doctorate in Public Management and Development Planning, a Master's and Post Graduate Diploma in Sustainable Development, a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management and Administration and a National Diploma in Public Relations Management. Her interests and expertise relate to sustainable development, systems thinking, renewable energy, resource use, green/circular economy, gendered aspects of growth and development, stakeholder engagement, and sustainable and ‘just’ cities.

Olushola, have a Ph.D. in Operations and Supply Chain Management from University of Bradford, School of Management, United Kingdom. He hold a Masters's degree in Logistics and Supply Chain Management from Herriot Watt University, Scotland, United Kingdom, a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Research methods from University of Bradford, United Kingdom, and a Bachelor degree in Economics.

In September 2021, Olushola, was awarded a Global Talent Endorsement (GTE) by the United Kingdom Government recognizing me as a leader in his field.

Olushola has the following Professional qualifications to his credit;

1. Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (MCIPS-Chartered Status)

2. Nigerian Institute of Management (Chartered) (Proficiency and Graduate)

3. Member, Project Management Institute (PMI) (Member)

His Professional Membership and Research affiliation are as follows; 

1. Member, Council of Supply Chain Management Practitioners (CSCMP)

2. Member, International Association for Public Health Logistician (IAPHL)

3. Production and Operations Management Society (POMS)

Olushola has interest in the following interdisciplinary research theme and can supervise research students based on them.

1. Humanitarians Supply Chain/logistics 

2. Circular Economy/Sustainability

3. Food waste and loss reduction

4. Supply chain management relationship

5. Double-loop learning as a problem-solving technique

6. Lean, and Lean Six Sigma (LSS)

7. Procurement

8. Supply Chain Strategies

9. Application of Artificial Intelligence in supply chain management field

10. Risks and Project Management

He has led different workshops, lectures, and projects on supply chain management field, project management, business management at the following Universities; Buckingham New University, London, and The University of Essex (Online). Visiting lecturer at Royal Hollaway University, London.

He was formally  a lecturer at Teesside University, International Business School before joining University of Bradford. 

Olushola has worked in the industry as the Head of Logistics for the African Union Commission Mission in West African Countries (Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea). He is a seasoned administrator per excellence who has worked as various governmental established in Nigeria before relocating to the UK.

His research has been published in high impacts such as Industrial Marketing Management (IMM), and the International Journal of Social Science And Human Research.

He currently have three books publication on social and cultural issues. He is a regular Guest in one of the Nigerian Business Television show and he is the host of a weekly radio show on AP Radio UK tagged "The OAK Book Review"

I am a lecturer in Circular Economy and Innovation at the University of Bradford, School of Management. I am fascinated by the power of design and the impact of designers' and managers’ choices and decisions to build a more sustainable and circular world. That is why as a designer and researcher, I explore how changes in design can facilitate or hamper take-back and collection, reuse, repair, remanufacturing or recycling processes. And how design changes impact businesses in terms of their business models and value chains. 

In my doctoral studies, at the Delft University of Technology, I specifically studied the role of design in the effective recycling of electronic products and companies’ drivers and barriers for implementing design for recycling. My current research interests include exploring various sectors, including electronics, textiles, plastics, foods and packaging, as empirical data on the composition of different product categories and how they behave through various circular economy strategies are lacking. 

Ultimately, I inspire and educate designers and managers to recognize the power of their choices and decisions through the development of design and managerial guidelines and methods. 

Paul is an Honorary Professor of Innovation and Director of Open Innovation in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Bradford. Paul directs the UK-China Healthtech Open Innovation programme, which has secured over £11m for collaborative research and innovation between UK/EU and Chinese academics, clinicians and companies. Paul is also responsible for the University of Bradford Accelerated Global Entrepreneurship Programme. 

Paul is also a co-founder and CEO of CrystecPharma, a University of Bradford technology spin-out company focused on improving the performance of medicines, working with industry clients world-wide as well as developing its own portfolio of differentiated pharmaceutical products. The company has operations and strategic partnerships spanning the UK, Europe, China and the US.

Paul has broad technical and business experience from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry, where he held engineering, research, product development and commercial roles to executive level. He also has experience of establishing and running NGOs and spent three years as a Director of a UN refugee health programme in Tanzania. Paul speaks four languages (and is learning Chinese), holds an MBA, professional membership of the Institute of Marketing, is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

I am an assistant professor (senior lecturer) of Business Analytics at the Bradford School of Management. My main area of research is Applied Artificial Intelligence in the areas of Business, Circular Economy, People Analytics and Management. I have also previously worked on Natural Language Processing and Computer Vision. I have received major grants in the fields of Cultural Analytics and Digital Humanities. 

Gokcay Balci is currently working as Assist Prof in Logistics and Supply Chain. Previously, he worked as a senior lecturer at the University of Huddersfield between July 2019 and January 2023. Gokcay also worked as a research assistant in Turkey between 2014-2019. Before joining the academia, he worked in the industry as a ship agent and the export manager of a food supplier company. His research focuses on digitalisation, marketing, resilience, and decarbonisation domains in the logistics and supply chain management subject. His research has been published in high tier journals such as Transportation Research Part E, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Computers in Industry, and IJPDLM. He has received a research funding (British Academy / Leverhulme Small Research Grant) in the subject of “Freight transport resilience in the UK in the post-COVID-19 and post-BREXIT era”. He is a chartered member of CILT and the Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Vadim Grinevich is Professor of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Innovation.  Vadim’s key expertise is in the field of academic entrepreneurship, innovation and university-industry links. His research develops an inclusive approach which helps shed light on the nature and extent of entrepreneurial activities by academics with different intersectional profiles, from both STEM and non-STEM disciplines and across different types of universities. Vadim is also interested in digitally enabled sustainable entrepreneurship. He has published in top journals including Research Policy, Small Business Economics, Journal of Technology Transfer, Environment and Planning C, International Journal of Management Reviews, and Gender, Work & Organizaton. Vadim’s research has been supported by UK Research Councils, British Academy Newton Advanced Fellowship Fund, European Commission, NESTA and local and devolved administrations. 

Throughout his career, Vadim has held key leadership roles. He co-directed the Management Research Centre at the University of Wolverhampton, which is the research arm of the Wolverhampton Business School. He was Faculty Director of Graduate School at Business, Law and Art & Social Sciences at the University of Southampton. He was also directing the Centre for Inclusive and Sustainable Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the same university.  Vadim is keen to use all his knowledge, experience and skills to help further enhance the profile of the entrepreneurship & innovation education and research at the School of Management, with particular emphasis on the co-creation of value for communities, individuals and organisations locally, nationally and internationally.  

Vadim holds a PhD in Management Studies from the University of Cambridge where he was a Cambridge Overseas Trust Scholar. He was a Regional Research Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars at Washington, D.C., and held research positions at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, Cambridge-MIT Institute and Martin Centre for Architectural and Urban Studies. He was lecturing at the University of Suffolk, and remains a Visiting Professor at the University of Southampton. Vadim is a Chair of the European Academy of Management Doctoral Colloquium. He is also internationally affiliated with the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi, Pakistan, and was previously a Visiting Professor at Tilburg University, the Netherlands and Ege University, Turkey.

Nuno has extensive industry experience in operations management and business development at multinational companies such as Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, UEFA, and Carglass. He is a serial Angel investor with a portfolio across a diverse range of sectors (ICT, creative industries, life sciences, industrial production). He has been involved in teaching international business, entrepreneurship and management accounting for undergraduate and postgraduate programs. 

His teaching experience in the UK began at Abertay University (2016-2018) as Lecturer, subsequently joining Coventry University (2018/2019) as Lecturer and Associate Course Director in Business Administration. At De Monfort University (2019-2023) he was a Senior Lecturer in Professional Development and Strategy, Leader of the Senior Leader Degree Apprenticeship and Deputy Programme Leader of the Senior Leader Master's Degree Apprenticeship (MBA). He has been publishing in leading journals in the area of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education such as the International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, the Journal of International Business Education and the Journal of Teaching in International Business.

He joined Bradford School of Management in March 2023 as an Assistant Professor in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, an area he is passionate about as a teacher and researcher, but also as a mentor for entrepreneurs and advisor/investor in start-ups.

Dr. Sankar Sivarajah joined the School of Management at University of Bradford in December 2017 and is a Professor of Technology Management and Circular Economy. He is currently the Head of School of Management (Interim) and the Head of Business Analytics, Circular Economy and Supply Chain Research Centre.  He is also part of the University’s Research Practice Innovation Group led by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Knowledge Transfer) to help shape the university’s research and innovation (R&I) strategy.  

His broad area of research interest and expertise is interdisciplinary focusing on the use of emerging digital technology for the betterment of society, be it in a business or government context. His current and evolving research interests include exploring the role of digital technologies in the context of circular economy, sustainable supply chain management and public sector innovation and transformation. He actively publishes in leading high impact factor journals such as Journal of Business Research, Computers in Human Behaviour and Government Information Quarterly. His research has also been featured in reputable media/trade publications such as Computer Weekly, Public Sector Focus, London School of Economics academic blog etc.

To date, he has been involved as Principal and Co-investigator in over £3 million worth of R&I and consultancy projects funded by national, international funding bodies and commercial organisations. Some of the notable funders have been the European Commission (FP7, H2020, Marie Curie), Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), Innovate UK/DEFRA and British Council focusing on projects addressing business and societal challenges surrounding themes such as Blockchain use in Financial Services, Smart Waste and Cities, Energy efficient data centres, Social innovation and Participatory Budgeting (currently being developed as an impact case). Some of the key past and present industry and public sector partners that he has collaborations with are Fraunhofer, Thales, Enel, Telefonica, Vodafone, Leeds Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Cambridgeshire County Council, Hounslow Council, Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Arup and PA Consulting to name a few. 

He was awarded a PhD in 2014 in Management Information Systems from Brunel University London, which focused on the development of a technology evaluation and impact assessment framework for local government authorities.  He holds a first-class BSc (Hons) in Business and Management specialising in Computer Sciences from Brunel University London and MSc with Distinction in Management specialising in Entrepreneurship from Cass Business School (Cass), City University London. He was also recognised and awarded by Cass a honorary membership to the Beta Gamma Sigma (BGS) society, an international honour society recognizing business excellence. He is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy (FHEA), Member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, UK (MCILT) and a member of the British Academy of Management (BAM) and Association for Information Systems (AIS).

Professor Amir Sharif joined the University in his new role as Associate Dean (International) in August 2017 coming from Brunel University London, where he was Professor of Operations Management and the Founding Director of the Operations and Supply Chain Systems (OASIS) research group within Brunel Business School. He was also an appointed member of the Institute of Energy Futures at Brunel University London and a past member of Senate.

Amir has previously held a number of senior leadership and management roles within Brunel Business School, including as Head of School and also has been Assistant Head, Acting Director of the Doctoral Programme, Director of MBA Programmes, and Director of Teaching and Learning.

He brings a wealth of experience in terms of both internationalisation of programmes and overseas global partnerships (predominantly across MENA, GCC and South Asia) – and has successfully lead, directed and contributed to key accreditations including AACSB and AMBA. Amir also has experience in gaining programme recognition and accreditations from a number of leading UK chartered bodies and PSRBs for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Prior to his academic career, Amir worked extensively within the Financial Services and Professional Services sector, working for and consulting with many of the world’s leading multinational corporations, including JPMorgan, UBS Investment Bank, KPMG Consulting, BAE Systems, Sony, and the BBC.

In parallel with his industry experiences, Amir remained and continues to be research active and continues to be an active member on grant funding bodies. He has been re-elected in successive years to be a member of the UK’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Peer Review College, whilst also having provided his expertise to a number of other leading national and international research funding bodies such as the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), European Commission (EU), the British Academy, the British Council, the Czech Research Foundation (CRF), the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF), the Natural and National Science Foundation of China (NNSFC), and the Qatar National Research Foundation (QNRF).

He has published extensively in international peer-reviewed journals and has been recognised for his academic contributions from publishers and societies alike. Amir’s research was identified in 2014 by the UK’s Research Excellence Framework (REF) sub-panel for Business and Management as of “outstanding international reputation and impact” for research conducted with the UK government’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) in applying “soft” operations research modelling techniques in order to evaluate the impact of European Union farming subsidies on the UK agribusiness sector and the resulting effect on UK climate change policy.

He continues to be active in the popular press and media, contributing and being quoted in articles in newspapers such as the Financial Times, The Times (of London), The Independent, WIRED (UK edition), as well as being an ad-hoc columnist for University Business magazine. Amir is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts (FRSA), the Chartered Institute for Logistics and Transport (FCILT), the Institute of Leadership and Management (FInstLM) and a Member of the Chartered Management Institute (MCMI).

I am a Professor of Digital Governance at the School of Management at University of Bradford. After serving as Dean of the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, I have recently assumed a university wide role as Chair of the Bradford Business and Social Enterprise Board to lead the implementation of the university’s new Business, Community Engagement and Enterprise strategy.  While discharging responsibilities as Chair, I continue to lead the strategic development of the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences’ international growth agenda and efforts to strengthen existing academic and research partnerships, as well as developing new global relationships around student mobility, enterprise and entrepreneurship.  Prior to this, I held the role of Associate Dean (Planning and Resources) for the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences at University of Bradford. Before moving to University of Bradford, I held various senior management roles at Brunel Business School and was a Professor of Digital Governance at Brunel University London.