Strategy
Scope
The scope of the Management of Projects Specialist Interest Group is expressed in terms of research domains; these are broad and based on the interests of its members. Currently, it predominantly falls within the disciplines of:
- Commercial Management, and
- Project, Program and Portfolio Management.
And is applied within the context of Engineering Management. Further, the scope can be expressed in both generic and more specific terms.
Generic fields include, for example, operational research, logistics, business systems, engineering economics, environmental issues and sustainability. While, c urrent areas of specific focus include: Conflict and dispute resolution; Contract price prediction and cost estimating; Knowledge management and organisational learning; Procurement strategy and systems; Project finance; Risk management; Supplier decision-making: decision to bid and bid price determination; and Value management.
Structure and Process
The Specialist Interest Group is currently divided into two sub-groups that reflect the research interests and ambitions of its members. As above, these being Commercial Management, and Project, Program and Portfolio Management.
Aim and Objectives
The aim of the Management of Projects Specialist Interest Group is to attain International standing in research output.
Its objectives are:
- To support the research activities of the Group (both individually and collectively)
- To develop, encourage and maintain a broad research portfolio
- To identify and lead (in scope) short, medium and long-term research opportunities and to match these to capabilities within the Group
- To develop approaches to ensure improvement in the capabilities of the Group (both individually and collectively)
- To maximise research activity by encouraging and facilitating collaboration (both within and external to the University)
- To raise the bidding success rate of the Group (both individually and collectively)
- To optimise the quality and number of publications of the Group (both individually and collectively)
Profile and Positioning
It is important that the Specialist Interest Group creates an accurate profile to reflect the real strengths of its members and the synergies within the Group. The Group is ambitious and focused on strengthening its research profile.
Internally, it is essential that the Specialist Interest Group establish positive and recognized relationships with other Institutes and Centres within the University. It is anticipated that these will include: Aerospace, Dalton, Protect and Tyndal.
Externally, existing relationships with industrial, governmental and university sector collaborators need to be maintained, expanded and fully integrated with the Group in order to gain maximum advantage from the opportunities available for synergy and collaboration. Additionally, the Group will strategically engage with bodies, organisations, conferences and networks that can enhance and enable its research interests. (For example, these will include: CIB, ICE, ARUP Foundation, MoD, RICS Research Foundation, CIOB, BT and Rolls Royce). Also, the group will build upon the EPSRC funded Research Network ` Rethinking Project Management' which it hosts by seeking to establish a parallel network in commercial management.
The British University in Dubai (BUiD), a partnership between Manchester University and the BUiD Institute of Engineering, will be utilised to maximise the potential for postgraduate research and research projects.
It is an aspiration of the Group that it will generate at least one new University Research Centre in the medium term.
Sources of Research Income
The Group seeks to ensure:
- A strong relationship with both funding bodies and other sources of research support
- A broad funding base
Postgraduate Research
The Group seeks to:
- Maximise the generation of publications from taught MSc dissertations, doctoral and postdoctoral projects;
- Maximise the conversion of high quality postgraduate students to research staff posts, studentships and scholarships; and
- Maintain a high quality of supervision in order to retain and generate value from postgraduate research.
Theme/Sector Strategy
The Group has a strategy to focus on themes and sectors as follows:
| Sectors | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Generic Themes | Nuclear and Energy | Aerospace | Manufacturing and Process | Construction | Telecom | Pharmacy | IT |
| Commercial Management | * | * | * | * | |||
| Project Management | * | * | * | * | * | * | |
The above generic themes represent fields of research in which members of the Specialist Interest Group are actively engaged. All Generic Themes have a critical mass of knowledge and research activity within the Group. As it develops this matrix will evolve to reflect the membership and research activity within the Group.