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Centre for Doctoral Studies

Equipping doctoral research students at King's College London to excel

• PGR Community
• Meet the January 2024 winners of the King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize!

Congratulations to the first round of winners of the 23/24 King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize!

Each year a limited number of awards are given to celebrate truly outstanding research and theses completed by King’s doctoral students. The prizes are nominated by the external examiners and are judged by a panel consisting of the College’s Director of Research Talent and the Chair of the Research Degrees Examinations Board. There are two rounds, in January and June, and these are the winners from the first round in January 2024.

Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine

Dr Alice Beardmore-Gray

If you would like to find out more about Alice’s continuing research then you can find her on Twitter: @alicebgray

Dr Michelle Gibbs

After completing my BSc, MSc, PGDip, and MRes, I knew I wanted to pursue a PhD and developed my research ideas while I was working as a Dietitian in clinical practice in the NHS. My professional interests in malnutrition and oral nutritional support led me to ask key questions about how, why, for whom, and to what extent dietetic consultations worked, how they were experienced by nutritionally vulnerable older adults and other key stakeholders and how their value was perceived. These questions led me to use a convergent parallel mixed method approach to develop a novel programme theory for dietetic consultations that explained their underlying causal mechanisms, contextual influences and how they worked to generate outcomes, as well as understand how oral nutritional support consultations were experienced by older adult patients, their carers and the consulting dietitians, in various clinical contexts.

Since finishing my PhD, I’ve been putting my research knowledge and skills to good use in my current NHS role. I also continue to support student dietitian training at KCL. I am grateful for the opportunity to advance my clinical academic career in dietetics, with exciting post-doctoral plans to advance the body of work I began during my PhD. Further to this, I am engaged in various forms of dissemination at both local and international levels. Overall, I am grateful to be able to do purposeful work, both within and beyond academia, that contributes to improving the lives of others.

If you’d like to see more about Michelle’s current research you can follow her on Twitter here: @drmichellegibbs 

Dr Mathieu Ruthven

Prior to starting a PhD, I worked as a medical physicist specialised in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging at Barts Health NHS Trust. As a health and care professional, I was eligible to apply for a HEE-NIHR Doctoral Clinical and Practitioner Academic Fellowship which enabled me to undertake a PhD while continuing my professional practice and development. My PhD was clinically focused and multidisciplinary, at the interface of MR imaging, artificial intelligence (AI) and clinical assessment of speech. Its ultimate goal was to improve the clinical management and treatment of patients with velopharyngeal insufficiency. The main contributions of my PhD towards this goal were the development of AI-based methods to automatically extract clinically relevant information from MR images of the vocal tract, and creating and making publicly available a dataset to enable others to develop similar methods. More information about the methods and dataset is available in the following journal articles: Ruthven et al. (2021) , Ruthven et al. (2023a) , Ruthven et al. (2023b) .

The outputs of my PhD laid some of the foundations for a successful research funding grant application to Barts Charity. This funding has enabled further research to refine and extend the techniques and bring them closer to clinical translation.

If you would like to find out more about Mathieu’s research you can find him on LinkedIn here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthieu-ruthven/

Other winners from the Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine:

Dr Maria Ibrahim

Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience

Dr Johanna Keeler

Prior to my time at KCL, I studied Psychology (Bsc, University of Exeter). Prior to that, my first job as an 18-year-old was working as a support worker in neurosurgical theatres, which sparked my interest in the workings of the brain and particularly in neuropsychology. My interests in neurobiology were further cemented during my undergraduate studies where I was fortunate to undertake some fantastic research placements that utilised methods and study designs including MRI, neuropsychology, and service evaluation/improvement work. Here I also co-founded an eating disorders peer support group for students. The experiences I had progressed my interests in the mind-body interface, translational research, and lived/living experience involvement, which had a huge influence on my PhD project.

My PhD thesis integrated several methodologies such as structural MRI, neuropsychology, investigations of inflammatory markers and growth factors, and qualitative methods, to examine brain changes in anorexia nervosa. A highlight of my research was translating basic research findings to the lived experience using qualitative methodology. I have disseminated these findings through delivering NHS training to a wide range of clinicians and am hoping to develop some psychoeducational resources for service users, clinicians and carers of people with eating disorders.

Several of the studies I conducted throughout my PhD were part of the groundwork that supported a grant application for a randomised controlled trial looking at the potential of oral ketamine to alleviate depressive symptoms in people with AN and treatment-resistant depression. We recently received funding for this project from the Medical Research Council, and I am currently employed as a postdoc at KCL to prepare the study which is scheduled to start in 2025.

You can find more about Johanna’s current research via her Twitter ( @jhnnklr ) or that of her team ( @kingsedresearch ) or via her research gate ( https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Johanna-Keeler ) or Pure profiles ( https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/johanna-keeler ).

Dr Laura Sichlinger

Prior to pursuing my PhD, I completed an MSc in Neuroscience at KCL and a BA in Phonetics and Speech Processing at the University of Munich. These experiences laid the groundwork for my passion for neuroscience and brain disorders.

Currently, I am privileged to be a member of the Heller lab (lead by Prof Elizabeth Heller) at the University of Pennsylvania and the ENDD team at the Children’s hospital of Philadelphia, where we are dedicated to advancing gene-targeted therapies for rare neurodevelopmental disorders such as STXBP1 and SYNGAP1-related intellectual disability.

Beyond my research, I am committed to fostering inclusivity and equality in STEM. During my PhD I had the honour to be co-president of Women of the Wohl, a student-led equality network, advocating for the rights of womxn and marginalised groups in the scientific community. I believe that diversity is not only essential for scientific progress but also enriches the fabric of our society.

If you want to see more about Laura’s current research then you can find her on Twitter via @LSichlinger

Faculty of Law

Dr Farnush Ghadery

If you’d like to find out more about Farnush’s current research then please check out her LinkedIn page: https://www.linkedin.com/in/farnush-ghadery/

Faculty of Natural, Mechanical and Engineering Sciences

Dr Gergely Bodo

I feel honoured to have received the King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize for my research on Stochastic Analysis for Cylindrical Lévy Processes. This accomplishment would not have been possible without the exceptional guidance and support from my supervisor, Markus Riedle (Department of Mathematics).

Moreover, I am immensely grateful to my thesis examiners, Rama Cont (University of Oxford) and Stefan Geiss (University of Jyväskylä), not only for nominating me for this award, but also for showing a genuine interest in my research by providing insightful suggestions on possible directions for future work. Their mathematical expertise and careful reading of my thesis led to a rather stimulating discussion during my defence.

In my thesis, together with Professor Riedle, we laid down the theoretical foundations necessary for the successful application of cylindrical Lévy processes as models of random perturbations of infinite-dimensional systems. By developing a comprehensive theory of stochastic integration with respect to cylindrical Lévy processes, our work allowed for the generalisation of fundamental tools in stochastic analysis such as Itô’s formula or the stochastic dominated convergence theorem. These results paved the way for the consideration of stochastic evolution equations driven by cylindrical Lévy processes.

During my time as a PhD student at King’s, I was presented with numerous opportunities to explore the mathematical landscape by giving talks at international conferences, attending summer schools and going on research visits. I would like to thank the Department of Mathematics for making all of these financially feasible.

After finishing my PhD, I joined the stochastics group of the Korteweg-de Vries Instituut of the University of Amsterdam, where I am currently a postdoctoral researcher under the guidance of Sonja Cox.

Dr Yannic Rath

My PhD at King’s College allowed me to build upon my great interest in studying scientific phenomena with computational approaches, which I developed in previous Physics and Computer Science courses at the Leibniz University Hannover and at Imperial College London. My PhD research focused on the development of novel computational tools to simulate the intricate interplay of particles on the quantum scale underpinning the characteristics of various types of matter. The sheer complexity of the quantum physical laws of nature limits accurate computational simulations, making suitable approximations necessary for tractable applications. Complementing a broad variety of algorithms tackling this long-standing task on various levels of abstraction, we were able to introduce a novel numerical toolbox expanding the predictive abilities of numerical simulations by bridging physical intuition with modern machine learning techniques. 

Building on the wonderful experience of my time at King’s College, I continue to follow my research interests as a computational scientist. I recently joined the National Physical Laboratory, where my focus remains the development of algorithms for the description, study, and utilization of quantum physical principles. I am looking forward to continuing studying interesting scientific questions, developing practical computational tools, and communicating research highlights to a broader community. 

  Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care

Dr Lesley Williamson

My thesis was generously funded by the Alzheimer’s Society, Cicley Saunders International, NIHR Maudsley Biomedical Research Centre, and The Atlantic Philanthropies. It focuses on the determinants of emergency department (ED) attendance among people with dementia approaching the end of life. Mapped against the phases of a health programme planning model, I conducted a cohort study of routinely collected hospital and mortality data, a qualitative interview study with people living with dementia and current and bereaved caregivers, and a mixed methods integration to develop a conceptual model and key components of an intervention programme aiming to safely reduce ED attendance among people with dementia.

My PhD was informed by my longstanding commitment to improve dementia care, influenced by my background in psychology, medicine and clinical leadership, and my work as a psychiatry trainee, former National Medical Director’s Clinical Fellow, and more recently, King’s Parliamentary Research intern . My thesis was greatly enriched by the valuable contributions of members of an expert panel of public representatives affected by dementia and the support of Alzheimer’s Society Research Network Monitors.

After submitting my thesis, I led the development and Parliamentary launch of a policy brief calling for better palliative and end-of-life care for people affected by dementia. I continue to promote the brief, which includes successfully submitting it to the World Health Organisation’s Global Dementia Observatory Knowledge Exchange Platform ( GDO KEP ).

I continue to research dementia and end-of-life care as a Research Associate at the Cicely Saunders Institute and NIHR Health and Social Care Workforce Research Unit . As a Dem-Comm fellow , I am also one of the Dementia Community Research Network (DCRN) coordinators, working with public, community and research partners to reduce inequalities in research involvement among people from minoritised ethnic communities.

• Meet the winners of the second round of the 22/23 King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize

Congratulations to the second round of winners of the 22/23 King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize!

Each year a limited number of awards are given to celebrate truly outstanding research and theses completed by King’s doctoral students. The prizes are nominated by the external examiners and are judged by a panel consisting of the College’s Director of Research Talent and the Chair of the Research Degrees Examinations Board. There are two rounds, in January and June, and these are the winners from the second round in June 2023.

Meet our winners: 

Dr Jonathan Powell, Faculty of Arts and Humanities  

I am delighted and very grateful to have received this award, which would not have been possible without the support and kindness of some extraordinary people. In particular, the brilliance, patience, and guidance of my supervisor, Prof. Lucy Munro, was instrumental to the researching and writing of a thesis that looks very different to its original conception. My time at King’s has been backdropped – and to a large extent defined – by my work for the Centre for Early Modern Studies (CEMS), and I am grateful, too, to centre directors past and present for their trust and advice over the past four years. I am especially indebted to Dr Hannah Murphy, under whom it has been a privilege to learn and who has shaped my thinking in myriad ways. Thanks are also due to the Institute of Historical Research for their award of a doctoral fellowship, and to King’s more generally for the opportunity to pursue this research.  

My thesis proposed a new approach to early modern English theatrical history through the legal record, resulting in new understandings of how common law shaped theatrical consciousness during a period of extraordinary and still unsurpassed litigiousness. Key to this work was close readings of hundreds of Latin entries in the plea rolls of the common law court of King’s Bench, with a particular interest in the voices and experiences of many previously invisible women connected to England’s first commercial theatres. I have been fortunate enough to continue developing this aspect of my work through a pair of postdoctoral research fellowships: the first, a three-month position on the Leverhulme Trust-funded project ‘Engendering the Stage: The Records of Early Modern Performance’ (jointly based at King’s and the University of Roehampton), and now at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where I’m part of the ERC-funded FEATHERS project investigating early modern manuscript culture and the mediation of authorship.  

Dr Cathleen Hagemann, Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial studies

I studied biology at the University of Bonn and discovered my fascination with the brain and its intricate functions. To deepen my understanding, I continued my studies at the 

University of Tübingen, specializing in cellular and molecular neuroscience. During this time, my focus was on the molecular composition of the neuronal cytoskeleton, utilizing super-resolution microscopy and click-chemistry techniques.  

I was fortunate to join Andrea Serio’s lab for my PhD, where I applied bioengineering methods to model the relationship between cell shape and function in vitro, with a specific emphasis on neurons. Our primary goal was to create a platform enabling us to investigate how neurons adapt to varying axon lengths. By using this platform, we were able to uncover significant changes in biological processes that occur with an increase in axonal length. Notably, we found that homeostasis and metabolic processes undergo significant alterations when comparing 1cm long axons to shorter ones measuring 3mm in length. We were happy to share our findings by publishing this work in Advanced Healthcare Materials . Outside of my PhD research, I thoroughly enjoyed supervising students through the in2 science program, aiming to inspire others about the fascinating intersection between engineering and biology.  

Currently, I am actively using our platform to delve deeper into the intricacies and communication processes within neurons. Simultaneously, we are working on developing protocols that would enable biologists, even those without prior bioengineering knowledge, to utilize bioengineering tools. Our hope is that this effort will contribute to making cell culture-friendly devices more accessible to everyone, allowing for modifications and creations in this field.  

Dr Emma Williams, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine

research focused on newborn lung disease including the novel use of non-invasive monitoring techniques, pulmonary mechanics, and predictive models of bronchopulmonary dysplasia. It was an honour to be awarded the Bengt Roberston award by the European Society for Paediatric Research (ESPR) in 2020 for research concerning the neonatal lung, and I was recently elected as a junior council member onto the ESPR pulmonology board.

As a clinician I remain determined to improve the clinical outcomes of newborn infants by combining my passion of academia with clinical medicine. I am currently undertaking a neonatal fellowship in Canada at The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto – expanding my clinical experience, forming research collaborations, and gaining an international perspective on healthcare. It was a huge privilege to be awarded a King’s Outstanding Thesis Award and I would like to thank my supervisors (Professor Anne Greenough & Professor Theodore Dassios) for all their support throughout this journey, without whom none of this would have been possible.

Dr Luo Li, Faculty of Law

I am Luo Li, and have acquired my PhD degree this spring from School of Law, King’s College London. Before I came to King’s, I studied law for many years in China and acquired the PhD degree in Wuhan University, China. Thanks to my strong interest in legal research, I chose to continue my study in King’s since Oct, 2018. With Professor Ozlem Gurses ’ patient guidance during these four and a half years, I made deep research into the topic of how the assured can be remedied for the insurer’s late payment by Section 13A of Insurance Act 2015. I also published two relevant papers, “Compound interest for late payment of the indemnity insurance claim” in British Insurance Law Association Journal, (2001) Issue 134 and “Reconsidering the reinsured’s damages and costs for late payment: a comparative analysis between English and American law” in Business Law Review, (2022) Issue 6. Now I have gone back to China and worked as an associate professor in Law School of Central China Normal University.  

Dr Julia Griem, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience

It’s an honour to be awarded this prize and to have my doctoral work recognised by King’s College London. Thank you to everyone involved! I greatly enjoyed my time.

I studied Psychology (BSc, Royal Holloway) and Clinical Neuroscience (MSc, University College London) and was always planning to complete a PhD. This meant I spent valuable years before my PhD working as a research assistant – time I’d advise anybody wanting to complete a PhD to take! The RA work triggered my curiosity to study what is going on in the brains of people with personality disorders, and through the support of my colleague Dr John Tully, my supervisors Prof Nigel Blackwood and Prof Declan Murphy, and my funders the NIHR Maudsley BRC, I was able to pursue this for my PhD. I investigated the brain structure and function, as well as the impact of oxytocin, in males with a history of violent offending and antisocial personality disorder or psychopathy. I received the “Best Presentation” honourable mention award at the international congress of the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy for parts of my PhD research.

I was also awarded funding to conduct some patient and public involvement work. Together with 2 colleagues, we spoke to individuals in probation, prison, as well as medium- and high-secure forensic hospitals with the goal to break down barriers between academia and the criminal justice system. This was very informative for future research planning and helped us understand what people with lived experience want more understanding about. A summary of this work can be found here .

I am now working as a postdoctoral research fellow at University College London, studying the computational behavioural and neurobiological features of borderline personality disorder and mood disorders.

Dr Jessica Mundy, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience

Prior to starting the PhD, I studied Human Sciences at Oxford University. This is where my interest in population genetics began. As part of the 1+3 PhD, I completed the MSc in Genes, Environment, and Development in Psychology and Psychiatry, which paired research methods in statistical genetics with the study of psychopathology. My PhD thesis explored how we can use self-reported data to improve the phenotypes used in genome-wide association studies of mood disorders.    

    A highlight of my PhD was working with Helena Davies to set up a study that investigated how we can educate people with mental health disorders about genetic and environmental risk factors, which is an area close to my heart. Other highlights included teaching MSc students to use R for statistics and presenting at conferences/seminars. Finally, it was a brilliant experience to be part of the SGDP’s Anti-Racism Working Group, which includes some truly inspiring people who do such valuable work for the SGDP community and beyond.    

    After leaving King’s, I started as a post-doc at the Department for Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University, Denmark. Here, I research how we can use polygenic scores to predict clinical outcomes in people with major depressive disorder. I also research the issue of genetic confounding in epidemiological studies. Once I have finished my position in Aarhus, I will be joining a team at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who research child and adolescent mental health in the UK.    

Dr Mary Tanay, Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care

My background as a cancer nurse significantly influenced my interest in chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). Prior to my PhD, I have explored the lived experiences of patients and the negative impact of CIPN symptoms on their quality of life particularly after cancer treatment. This greater understanding of CIPN motivated me to undertake research aimed at improving patient experience.   

A self-regulation model of CIPN was developed through my research. The model illustrates the complex processes involved in experiences of CIPN and ways to address this condition. By working with patients and clinicians, we co-designed a behavioural intervention for patients to help them self-monitor CIPN symptoms, communicate and report symptoms to clinicians early and participate in making chemotherapy dose modification decisions with their clinicians. The intervention also supports patients to engage in self-management and safety strategies to reduce the impact of symptoms.   

Since finishing my PhD, I have been working on the feasibility randomised controlled trial of the intervention which is ongoing.  I have also been invited to present my research in various local, national, and international conferences. I continue to work with the scientific community networks I have made links with during my PhD. Currently, I am a Lecturer at the Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery and Palliative Care of King’s College London and President -Elect of the United Kingdom Oncology Nursing Association.  

Dr Hui Huang, Faculty of Social Sciences and Public Policy

Prior to commencing a PhD at King’s Department of International Development, I got a master degree in University College London majoring Development Administration and Planning. My PHD thesis, entitled “The Algorithmic Antagonism: The Digital Contested Terrain of Control and Resistance in China’s Platform Economy”, which examines how the digital technology reshapes the capital-labour relations in the new digital workplace in China’s context. For this, I did almost one-year ethnographic research through working as a food-delivery driver in a famous food-delivery company. Due to this in-depth participatory study, my work was published in prestigious journals like Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of Contemporary Asia, and New Technology, Work and Employment. The research findings were also quoted in famous media includes Wired and Al Jazeera.  

I am now working as an assistant professor at the Department of Public Economics and Social Policy in Shanghai Jiao tong University, where I will continue and expand my research on the algorithmic management, platform economy and gig migrant workers.   

I am incredibly honored to receive the King’s Outstanding Thesis Prize. I am especially grateful to my supervisors, Professor Matt Moran and Dr Heather Williams, for their steadfast guidance and to my examiners, Professor Andrew Futter and Professor Michal Onderco, for their thoughtful engagement with the thesis.   

My PhD examined U.S. public opinion of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. It introduced an original framework for assessing how various factors shape public responses to nuclear proliferation, shedding light on the public’s role in and engagement with nuclear issues. While studying as a Marshall Scholar, I also worked as a research assistant at the Centre for Science and Security Studies, working on projects related to the P5 Process, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons; transatlantic deterrence; and the impact of social media on conflict escalation. I also worked in the Nuclear Policy Programme at the Royal United Services Institute on projects related to strategic stability, disarmament verification, and the UK Project on Nuclear Issues. I completed my final year of the PhD as a Stanton Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.   

Since finishing the PhD, I have stayed on at Carnegie as a Fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program. There, my research focuses on public opinion of nuclear weapons issues; challenges climate change poses to nuclear weapons; and multilateral nuclear regimes.  

• Announcing the winner of the 2022 Tadion Rideal Prize 

We are pleased to announce the winner of the 2022 Tadion Rideal prize, Dr Francesca Mattedi!

This award was instituted in 1983 by a gift of £10,000 from Dr J. Tadion to commemorate his association with the late Sir Eric Rideal FRS and King’s College London.

The prize of £1,000 is awarded annually and is open to doctoral students of King’s College London who have carried out research for a PhD degree in Molecular Science. ‘Molecular Science’ is defined broadly and inclusively as: Research that involves studies at the molecular level.

Students are nominated by their supervisors; an expert panel of academics in the relevant fields assesses the nominations and provide a shortlist to the Director of Research Talent who selects the winner based on their recommendations.

Meet this year’s winner, Dr Francesca Mattedi:

It is a great honour for me to receive the 2022 Tadion Rideal Prize for my PhD thesis. I would like to thank my supervisor Dr. Alessio Vagnoni for his guidance over the years, as well as the members of the lab and all those who supported me during this time.

With this in mind, in February 2018 I started my PhD in the lab of Dr. Alessio Vagnoni at the Maurice Wohl Clinical Neuroscience Institute, King’s College London. My work focused on the study of the interplay between mitochondrial dynamics and function, to understand how they influence each other and how their impairment contributes to neuronal ageing. To this aim, a significant part of my project involved the development of optogenetic tools for the manipulation of both mitochondrial function and dynamics with spatiotemporal precision. I really enjoyed this process and I believe that generating innovative techniques is essential to improve our ability to answer scientific questions and our understanding of biological processes.

After my PhD, I was keen on applying the expertise I gained during this experience to investigate the pathways leading to neurodegeneration in human cellular models. Therefore, I have joined the lab of Prof. Pietro Fratta at the UCL Institute of Neurology as a postdoctoral research fellow. Here, I model the loss of TDP-43 nuclear function in human iPSC-derived lower motor neurons to study how it affects axons and neuronal physiology in ALS.

• Top 10s – Getting the best from supervision

Nigel Eady, Director of Research Talent.

Far and away the most important relationship during your PhD is with your primary supervisor.

Many successful academics were launched into their careers by a fantastic supervisor. However, it’s not a given that everything runs smoothly.

We know how important good supervision is and are part of a UK-wide project to develop the very best continuing professional development for research supervisors .

Having worked with numerous PhD students and supervisors in various guises since I finished my own PhD in 2003/4, here are my top 10 tips for getting the best from your supervisory relationship.

1. Discuss expectations and agree ways of working early on

It’s not a given that a student and supervisor’s expectations of how to work effectively together will match. You might be fortunate, but don’t make assumptions. Ideally in your first few supervisory meetings you should discuss how you’re going to work together and what you can expect of each other.

Your faculty should have a template document to guide you and your supervisor in this conversation. You can also download our template to get you started.  If you didn’t have that conversation at the start, don’t worry, have it now!

2. Review ways of working regularly

It’s also important to revisit the expectations conversation every now and then. As you progress in your PhD, your needs will change and the support your supervisor provides will likely change too. So revisit that conversation.

3. Remember your supervisor isn’t perfect!

It sounds obvious, but some students definitely have an unrealistic view of their supervisor. Remember they are human and likely have many other draws on their time, whether other students or other responsibilities, at work and at home. Be careful of slipping into bad habits – submitting work at the last minute and expecting a speedy response, for example.

4. Ask for help when you need it

Most PhD students are highly successful, hard-working people, used to getting top grades. Seriously! That’s you! As such, a PhD can be a challenge. You’re (suddenly) expected to be self-directed and you may come up against all sorts of issues. Your ideas are critiqued and pulled apart. Seemingly fruitful avenues of enquiry turn out to be dead ends. Experiments don’t work, archives don’t yield the information and insights you hoped for, fieldwork takes twice as long to plan as you’d imagined! Something happens in your personal life. You’ll need help. It’s normal.

5. If there are problems then raise them, don’t let them fester

Just ask for help sooner rather than later! There’s no shame in it. You’ll probably address the problems more quickly if you nip them in the bud. We’ve all been there, I can assure you.

There are lots of routes you can go depending on the issue:

• Is there a PGR officer in your dept? Someone in Professional Services who can help with practice things.
• Maybe you need to speak to your academic PGR Coordinator.
• There may be confidential advisors or personal tutors, depending on your faculty.
• There is also the Associate Dean for Doctoral Studies, your faculty PGR lead.
• And there is lots of support through Student Services – for mental health and wellbeing, counselling, money & housing advice and more
• Our PGR Wellbeing Hub has all the links and information com/pgrwh

6. Make use of your second supervisor

I hope you know who your second supervisor is! There’s no one shape for what a second supervisor can offer. Just make use of them. Have regular meetings even if they’re not that frequent. They might be a sounding board for new ideas. They might have a specific skill/interest/expertise that will enrich your research/thesis. They might be very experienced and therefore be a fount of knowledge or provide access to networks. Like I say, there’s no one type.

7. Manage upwards

If you’re not getting what you need from your supervisor then you may need to be more assertive. We can help you with that… book for our workshop

Getting the Best from your Supervisor ( PGR324 )

This course will help you to understand your supervisor’s perspective and expectations and will highlight areas for autonomy and supervision throughout a doctoral journey. Learn how to be assertive and persuasive in the way that you communicate with your supervisors to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes.

8. Celebrate your supervisor if they’re doing a good job!

A lot of supervisors put a lot of time and energy into supervision. If that’s your supervisor then I can assure you that a kind word of thanks goes a long way.

If your supervisor really is excellent then you might like to nominate them for one of our Supervisory Excellence Awards .

Supervisory Excellence Award Winners 2022/23

9. Remember it’s your PhD!

I’m probably speaking more to scientists and lab-based researchers here but fundamentally the PhD is yours! In some disciplines your supervisor may play a very close guiding role, especially the start, but don’t let that lull you into a false sense of dependence. You will have to defend your thesis in the final exam. So don’t be afraid to try things you think are important and to discuss options robustly with your supervisor(s). As you progress in your research you should be becoming an expert, so don’t give way to critique too quickly.

In other disciplines, you may be only too aware that it’s your PhD! So…

10. Draw on as many sources of wisdom and support as you can

It can be easy to get stuck in a rut. So don’t!

Seek out other sources of support, find a mentor or two. Attend seminars in other related departments. Approach other researchers and academics. Make the most of being at a comprehensive research-intensive institution. Time spent thinking about bigger issues, the broader research context is rarely wasted and may yield information, stimulate new ideas and help you move forward.

I wish you all the very best in your doctoral research.

Nigel Eady Director of Research Talent

• Top 10s – Who’s on your team?

Who are the people who are helping you to be successful? Are you making the most of that support? Is there more support you could draw on?

I’ve been watching a lot of the Athletics recently. My father loved running and whilst he wasn’t ever close to being national standard, he had friends who were pretty close to it. When I was young, the TV would always be on if there was a big event happening, especially the Olympics or European Championships.

I think athletics is a pretty good analogy for the journey of the PhD.

We tend to think of athletics as an individual sport, but it struck me how many of the athletes talked about all the other people who had enabled them to be successful – family, friends, coaches, other current athletes, former athletes, the list went on.

When it comes down to it, like the athlete in the championship on the race track, there’s only one person who writes the thesis and goes through the oral exam.

Yet also like the athlete, to be really successful, you need a whole host of people supporting you and cheering you on.

Thirty or more years ago, a PhD was a solitary pursuit. You did everything on your own, with just the guidance of your solitary supervisor. However those days should be long gone. It’s well recognised that effective training of inexperienced researchers requires much more than one person! So who is on your team? Every athlete draws on a slightly different group of people, or perhaps draws on some people more than others.

Here is a Top 10 of people whom you might draw on. There’s no ‘one size fits all’. However, I’d dare to suggest if you’re not making use of most of these possible supporters, then you’re giving yourself an unnecessary handicap!

1. Supervisor

Certainly the most crucial person in your team. How well are you working together? When I’m discussing challenges with doctoral researchers, it’s often the case that there are mismatches in expectations between student and supervisor. Maybe you discussed expectations when you started your research degree but things change. If you’re in the final phases of the PhD and writing up, you’re likely entering new territory in your relationship. What can you expect from your supervisor then? What do you think you need? Have you had a proper conversation about writing the thesis or is it all based on assumption, what you’ve heard from others? Use your time effectively by having a clear discussion with your supervisor about what you think you need and what they can offer you. And this is true throughout the PhD.

2. Second supervisor

Hopefully you know who your second supervisor is! How often do you meet them? What do you discuss? Every second supervisor will be a bit different. Maybe yours brings a particular interest or skill to the table. Maybe their research interests are related but in a somewhat different area. What do you need from them? Maybe it’s just general discussions about how to tackle the PhD. Do you know their strengths? What can you learn from them? How can they add either to your research or your skills?

3. Other academic colleagues, researchers/staff at different levels

Sometimes you just need someone who gets the academic and research environment but isn’t connected to your project. Someone else in your department or even in another School or Faculty. Maybe you share an interest outside your research. Maybe you’ve had an interesting conversation in a dept seminar and they seemed like someone you’d get on with. It’s great to have a few people around you who understand your world and can offer advice, contacts or experience.

Do you have a mentor? There are many ways to get a mentor – formal schemes and informal approaches. A mentor can be invaluable for navigating complex environments or for considering what next. Having run mentoring schemes in the past, I think you get the most value from a mentor when you, as a mentee, are in the driving seat, making sure the mentoring is providing what you need.

I hope you have a few people around you who know exactly what you’re going through now. You may be fortunate and have lab colleagues or peers in your dept who share an office with you. Downloading your woes to someone who understands can definitely be cathartic (as long as you promise to be that person for them when they need you!)

6. Staff who support doctoral students – academics and professional services

You should have a PGR Coordinator or equivalent in your department, whose role is to support and advise doctoral researchers. You may also have PS staff who support PhDs. They may be the people you ask very basic questions about the PhD and the process, they may be the ones who can guide you if problems arise, whether complex ones or very simple ones.

7. One-to-one expert support

Did you know you can meet one-to-one with a careers consultant to discuss any career related issue or question? You might have no idea what to do next or what you want to do? They’ll help you to start working that out. You might need advice on a job application or an interview. You can also meet one-to-one with a professional writer to help you with your writing. Maybe you’re struggling to get words on paper. Maybe you’ve got the words down but you’re struggling for clarity or to communicate your argument.

8. Support services

In a similar vein, there is lots of support at King’s – start with Student Services (housing, money and more), who will point you to the relevant team. Ask for help before it all gets too much.

Sometimes you just need someone to tell you to forget your research for a few hours or a weekend and do something completely different. As a friend of mine says, “Have breaks, make breakthroughs!”

I know not everyone is close to their family, but if you are, they are clearly a great resource. Perhaps your family are far away? If so, why not plan ahead – put a home visit in the diary, something to look forward to.

Like I say, different people need different help at different times. Just don’t suffer in silence!

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ATTOKINGS Attosecond Quantum Physics @King's College London

Research Interest

Our research focus:

Ultrafast laser sciences: Production and characterisation of complex femtosecond laser fields with time dependent polarisation, multi-colour field synthesis, OAM and optical vorteces.

Attosecond sources and applications to metrology.

Attosecond structure lights and chirality.

Tracking ultra-fast dynamical process in atoms and molecules using attosecond pump-probe techniques.

HHG spectroscopy.

Elucidating ultrafast carrier dynamics in quantum materials and metamaterials.

Attosecond quantum information processing.

Attosecond Quantum Physics @ King's College London

We are specialised experimentally and theoretically observing and controlling photo-induced phenomena on the attosecond (1 asec=10^-18 sec) time scale. Our research is scrutinising matter under strong laser fields and focus on understanding the first instant of carrier dynamics.

We develop from cutting edge high repetition rate fsec lasers, attosecond sources and technologies to ultrafast time-resolved mesurements. We study matter from simple sole system ( atom a molecule) to more complex condensed phase (solid, metamaterial, lattice). 

Latest Publications

Chromatic aberrations correction of attosecond high-order harmonics beams by flat-top spatial shaping of the fundamental beam.

K Veyrinas, M Plach, J Peschel, M Hoflund, F Catoire, C Valentin, P Smorenburg, H Dacasa, S Maclot, C Guo, H Wikmark, A Zaïr, V Strelkov, C Picot, C Arnold, P Eng-Johnsson, A L’Huillier, E Mével, E Constant.

NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS 25, 2, 023017 (2023)

Diversity in AttoPhysics

We would like to highlight the diversity in the new and growing field of Attosecond Physics. Click the links below to find out more.

News & Updates

AttoKings hosting Prof. Gerard Mourou Nobel in Physics Laureate 2018 on the Wheastone Lecture at KCL (07/02/2024)

AttoKings celebrating UNESCO women and girls in sciences day 2024!

Attokings become the largest Attosecond Physics group in the UK with two successful Marie Curie fellowships awarded to our candidates in 2024!

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Working with Afghan Sanctuary Seekers: A guide for mental health professionals

New horizons and opportunities for qualitative research to improve mental health in later life

The Qualitative Applied Health Research Centre (QUAHRC) at King’s College London (KCL) promotes the rigorous and innovative application of qualitative research within the health field, raising the visibility of high-quality qualitative research and providing opportunities for knowledge exchange, training and support.

The Qualitative Open Mic Podcast

Our podcast asks why we do qualitative research, how do we do it well, and how it can be effectively applied

Qualitative Open Mic: Making Interpretations Episode 5 - Joy Llewellyn-Beardsley on lived experience in interpretation

Qualitative Open Mic: Making Interpretations Episode 4 - Elaine Keane on Constructivist Grounded Theory

Qualitative Open Mic: Making Interpretations Episode 3 - Alda Terracciano on Interpreting Creative Data

Upcoming seminars, journal club meetings, and other events at King's College London.

QSIG Midday Talk: using qualitative longitudinal research to investigate how Universal Credit impacts claimants with health conditions and disabilities

Dr Steph Morris presents findings of a longitudinal qualitative study (January 2022-April 2024) with 47 UC claimants who reported mental and/or physical health conditions. She will reflect on the benefits and the challenges of using a longitudinal methodology to explore and disseminate such policy relevant findings.

Introduction to Qualitative Methods Short Course: booking now open

A four-day course offering a grounding in qualitative research methods in health

A four day course that equips students with skills and understanding in the purpose and use of qualitative research methodologies in health care. 

“The whole course was excellent and I wish I had done it years ago!”

Impact in qualitative research blog.

The latest posts from our impact blog

Impact in Qualitative Research: Gemma McKenzie on human rights in childbirth

An introduction to impact for qualitative researchers

Impact in Qualitative Research: Sian Oram on creative workshops with coercive control survivors

Sian, who directs the Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network, discusses a day of workshops exploring survivors' priorities around coercive control.

Pitch us your podcast and blog ideas!

Unlocking qualitative data in mental health research

QUAHRC Alumna Cate McCombie and Director Vanessa Lawrence share their insights on Qualitative Diary Methods with the results of a recent scoping review.

Do you have an idea for a podcast or blog on qualitative research? We are inviting pitches for our Impact in Qualitative Research blog and our Qualitative Open Mic podcast. We'd love to hear from you - click here for more details.

Research projects

CommonGround: Online peer support for preventing comorbid depression in people with long-term conditions

Refocus on Recovery

Developing and testing a recovery intervention in NHS Adult Community Mental Health Teams

Digital personalised cancer care planning

Coproducing personalised care in a digital age: using the Adversity, Restoration and Compatibility (ARC) framework to inform the co-design of a digital care planning tool for people with colorectal cancer

The effects of the asylum process on mental health

This project aims to understand the mental health effects of the UK asylum process on Afghan and Iranians.

QUAHRC Team

Dr Vanessa Lawrence

Professor Alan Simpson

Dr Clair Le Boutillier

Dr Stan Papoulias

Dr Angela Sweeney

Sohail Jannesari

Dr Norha Vera San Juan

Dr Julie Williams

Rachel Rowan Olive

Catherine McCombie

Quahrc affiliated partners.

ESRC Centre for Society and Mental Health

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Oguz a. acar.

In 2021, Oguz was named one of the World’s Top 40 Business School Professors Under 40. He is an Expert (in Behavioural Sciences and Innovation) at World Economic Forum, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (RSA). He has received several grants worth over £1m from various institutions including European Institute of Innovation & Technology and British Academy, among others. His research and opinions have been extensively featured in popular media outlets such as the ABC, BBC, Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune and Wired.

Prior to King's, he was an associate professor at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), and a visiting scholar at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stern School of Business (New York University). He completed his PhD from Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University. He also worked as a marketing professional in FMCG and financial services industries. He is an engineer by training.

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The Institute of Liver Studies (ILS) at King’s is a clinical academic partnership between King’s College Hospital and King’s College London . It encompasses a multi-disciplinary team devoted to the care of patients will all types of liver diseases and coordinates research and education in this field.

The ILS is one of Europe’s largest comprehensive clinical academic liver centres. It hosts a world-renowned liver critical care service, adult and paediatric liver transplant program (approximately 250 cases per year) and performs more than 700 major hepato-biliary surgeries each year. It has unparalleled expertise in the management of acute and acute-on-chronic liver failure, autoimmune and metabolic liver diseases, hepato-biliary neoplasms, viral hepatitis and paediatric liver diseases.

Find out more about some of the work of the ILS:

Money blog: Apple overtaken as world's second most valuable company

Nvidia has overtaken Apple to become the world's second most valuable public company; Disfrutar in Barcelona has been named the world's best restaurant; there's a new cola-flavoured Jaffa Cake launching. Read these and the rest of today's consumer news in the Money blog.

Thursday 6 June 2024 22:14, UK

• ECB cuts interest rates - and it could boost your holiday money
• McVitie's launches first ever non-fruit flavoured Jaffa Cake
• There's a new best restaurant in the world - this is how much it costs to eat there
• Now is the time to lock some of your cash away - here's why
• Asda goes from cheapest to most expensive supermarket for petrol

Essential reads

• How brands get you to buy more, more, more
• Top chef shares his take on an Italian classic - and Warwickshire Cheap Eats
• Ed Conway : Claim of £2k tax rise under Labour is over four years - same maths suggests Tories have raised taxes by £13k in last four years
• How much are student loans, when do you start paying back and what is the interest?
• Best of the Money blog - an archive

Ask a question or make a comment

Amazon is now giving all its UK customers - not just Prime members - access to its grocery delivery service.

People living in more than 100 towns and cities will also be able to access same-day delivery without needing to be a member of its subscription service. 

This covers items from Amazon Fresh, Morrisons, Co-op and Iceland. 

It comes amid efforts from the online giant to grow its grocery business in the face of tough competition within the sector.

Prime members, who used to be the only ones who could access the service, will be given more delivery options and free shipping, subject to a minimum spend. 

US regulators are investigating the notorious meme stock investor known online as Roaring Kitty.

Keith Gill shot to fame in 2021 after he fuelled a buying spree of shares in beleaguered video game retailer GameStop. The stock passed $120 from as little as $3 in three months and saw hedge funds' positions rack up big losses.

Gill returned to online chat forum Reddit on Sunday with a post revealing he had a $116m (£90.8m) position in GameStop, telling his followers that he controlled 1.8% of the company's available stock plus call options that gave him the right to buy more.

This fuelled investor confidence in GameStop, with its market value surging as much as 75% before settling around 30% higher.

Gill's trading activities are now being examined by the Massachusetts securities regulator, while the e-trade division of US bank Morgan Stanley is considering banning Gill from its platform, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The renewed interest in GameStop has gathered plenty of momentum, as our business reporter James Sillars outlined here this week...

Some Lloyds, Halifax and the Bank of Scotland customers will be charged more to use their overdrafts as of August. 

The three major banks, which are all part of Lloyds Banking Group, are set to launch a new tiered system for determining interest rates which could see some customers paying an extra 10%. 

At the moment, Lloyds has a standard rate of 39.9%, but the overhaul will see some forced to pay 49.9% for using their overdraft. 

The new rates are set to be: 

The 27.5% rate currently being offered to Club Lloyds customers will also be axed. 

There will be specific criteria for each tier based on a customer's credit information and account activity. 

For those who will see a rise, the banks will introduce a temporary tier for six months, which means the initial impact will be no more than 7.4% of what they are paying at the moment. 

"We are writing to our customers to let them know we're introducing new interest rate tiers on our overdrafts," a Lloyds Banking Group spokesperson said.

"The changes mean many will continue to pay the same or less than they do today, while some may see an increase." 

Nvidia has overtaken Apple to become the world's second most valuable public company.

The AI microchip maker's share price has risen to be worth more than $3trn (£2.34trn) for the first time. 

Only Microsoft is a more valuable company listed on a stock exchange, while Apple has fallen into third place.

Nvidia shares rose 5% after a year of growth - with one share now costing $1,224.40 (£957).

Nvidia's chips are powering much of the rush into AI, which has seen it become a poster child of the AI boom.

Demand for its processors from the likes of Google, Microsoft and Facebook owner Meta have been outstripping supply. 

Nvidia's shares - up nearly 150% so far this year - are also being boosted by an upcoming move to split its stock by 10-to-one on Friday. 

Ian Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said the stock split will "bring its share price down and make it more affordable to investors". 

Tech companies - including Microsoft and Apple - have been racing to develop AI and embed it in their products.

Nvidia is a younger company than some of its peers, having been founded in 1993. Similar to many tech giants, it was founded in California in the US.

Britain is less likely to lose power this winter than it was last year, according to the company that runs the grid.

National Grid's Electricity System Operator (ESO) said it expects power plants, wind farms and other generation methods to be able to provide more than enough power to meet demand this time around. 

In an early outlook, it said the grid would have an average margin - the difference between supply of electricity and demand for it - of 5.6 gigawatts (GW) this coming winter. 

This means the period when demand might outstrip supply is just 0.1 hours.

The increased margins are in part because of improved capacity, thanks to a new 765km high-voltage cable that connects the UK's electricity network with Denmark.

The cable, called an interconnector, is known as the Viking Link, and started transporting wind power between the two countries in December.

New gas generation, growth in battery storage capacity and increased generation connected to the distribution networks have also contributed to the higher margins. 

Despite this, ESO's chief operating officer Kayte O'Neill has said it will still need to be "vigilant" due to uncertainties around global energy markets.

"As a prudent system operator we remain vigilant, continuing to monitor potential risks and working closely with our partners to establish any actions necessary to build resilience," she said.

The continent's energy system has been forced to reinvent itself in recent years, faced with potential gas shortages due to the war in Ukraine.

The 20 countries using the euro currency have seen interest rates cut from record highs following progress in the battle against inflation over the past two-and-a-half years.

The Frankfurt-based European Central Bank (ECB) said it was "appropriate" to trim its main deposit rate from 4% to 3.75%.

It followed an assertion last month by its president, Christine Lagarde, that the pace of price increases was now "under control".

But the Bank declared in a statement that the battle was not won - signalling data-driven caution on future policy decisions in the months ahead.

Its staff even revised upwards their forecasts for inflation this year and next.

As we have been discussing in Money this week, the cut before the US and UK could weaken the euro - potentially making Britons' holiday money go further.

McVitie's is selling a new flavour of Jaffa Cake - and it marks the first ever non-fruit flavour since the treat launched in 1927.

Shelves across the country will soon be stocked cola bottle flavoured cakes.

The new flavour will launch in Asda stores from 10 June and be available in other UK supermarkets - including Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Iceland and Co-op - in the coming weeks.

Adam Woolf, marketing director at McVitie's, said: "Jaffa Cakes Cola Bottle is certainly one of our more unexpected product launches – stepping away from fruit flavours for the very first time. 

"Jaffa Cakes have always stood out from the crowd (and the biscuit aisle), but we really wanted to try something new with this one. It's no doubt going to cause some debate among our Jaffanatics, and we can't wait to hear what they think."

By  Sarah Taaffe-Maguire , business reporter

Are we entering an era of interest rate cuts? Probably not. Or at least, not yet. 

But the European Central Bank (ECB) which controls the euro currency does look set to make their first cut in four years this afternoon. 

And Canada yesterday became the first country in the club of G7 industrialised nations to bring down borrowing costs by lowering their benchmark interest rate. 

The UK, however, isn't currently expected by markets to make a cut until September. 

Elsewhere, oil prices remain below $80 but are slightly more expensive than earlier this week. A barrel of the benchmark Brent crude oil costs $79.10.

The good news for people going on holidays to countries using the euro continues - the pound is still doing well against the currency with £1 equal to €1.1757. 

That could go even higher after the ECB decision at 1.15pm. A pound also can buy $1.2783. 

Like in the US, the UK's most valuable companies have become more valuable as the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) 100 and 250 indices are up 0.33% and 0.41% respectively.

Every Thursday  Savings Champion founder Anna Bowes  gives an insight into the savings market and how to make the most of your money...

Can you believe we are almost halfway through 2024?

Although the rate rises that we have seen this year have slowed compared with the previous couple of years, and we have even seen some falls, savers are now able to find hundreds of savings accounts that pay an interest rate higher than inflation.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed inflation was still higher than predicted, however - which means the anticipated base rate cut is likely to be pushed back again – into the second half of this year.

While bad news for borrowers, this is great news for savers.

Incredibly, the latest statistics from the Bank of England show there is over £253bn sitting in current accounts and savings accounts earning no interest at all.

With top rates available paying 5% or even a bit more, that is potentially £12.65bn of gross interest that is not being claimed by savers.

So now really is the time to move your money if you have cash languishing, earning less than inflation, especially if you can lock some away with a fixed rate, as a base rate cut will happen at some stage, we just don't know when.

Easy access

If you think you'll need access to your money, an easy access account is a wise choice.

The base rate cuts that we have been waiting for are yet to start, so the top rates on offer are still paying almost as much as they were at the beginning of the year.

Fixed-term bonds 

There is a strange phenomenon with fixed-term bond rates at the moment: the longer you tie up your cash, the lower the interest rates on offer.

Normally, you'd expect to be rewarded for tying up your cash over the longer term - but base rate forecasts have flipped this.

Fixed-term cash ISAs

A frequent complaint that I hear from savers is that the tax-free rates on ISAs are usually lower than the pre-tax rates on the equivalent non-ISA accounts – and this is particularly true with fixed-term accounts.

As many more savers are paying tax on their interest once again, cash ISAs are more popular than ever, as the tax-free rate of the ISA can still be considerably more than the interest earned after tax has been deducted on the non-ISA bond equivalents.

The renowned "50 Best" list of the world's best restaurants was revealed in Las Vegas last night - with a new restaurant taking top spot.

Disfrutar in Barcelona took the crown from Central in Lima, Peru (previous winners are ineligible and instead join a Best of the Best list).

Eating the standard menu costs £247 (€290) - with an extra £136 (€160) if you want the wine pairing.

To be fair, you do get around 30 courses.

They also offer a unique menu for your table for between €1,050 and €390 per person - the more people, the less it costs.

The 50 Best list says: "The combination of brilliantly imaginative dishes, unsurpassed technical mastery and playful presentation results in the dining experience of a lifetime, as full of surprises as it is memories."

Dishes include:

• Caviar-filled Panchino doughnut
• Frozen gazpacho sandwich
• Thai-style cuttlefish with coconut multi-spherical
• Squab with kombu spaghetti, almond and grape

Two UK restaurants made the top 50 but the UK was eclipsed by countries from across South America as well as Thailand, Italy, France and Spain.

London's Kol moved up slightly to 17, while Ikoyi, which we reported on a few weeks ago following a link-up with Uber Eats, came it at 42.

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King's College London

Dr Siavash Ali Madadi Jani

Research Associate, Centre for Sustainable Business

Research interests

• Sustainable cities & communities (SDG 11)

Contact details

Dr Siavash Ali Madadi Jani is a Research Associate at the Centre for Sustainable Business , with a focus on Sustainable Business Models, Net Zero, and Socio-Ecological Systems.

Siavash’s research focuses on the intersection of sustainability, strategy and innovation, with a particular interest in how future imaginaries shape collective action.

Bridging sociology and management, his work explores organised responses to global societal challenges through a process and practice-based approach, emphasising pluralistic organisational contexts where values are diverse, and power is shared among stakeholders.

He is committed to both academic rigor and real-world impact. Previously, Siavash led a notable three-year research project funded by Jan Wallander and Tom Hedelius’ Foundation for Social Science, conducting an ethnographic study on the Restoration and Renewal program of the UK Houses of Parliament.

He is experienced in qualitative methods, having used a range of research designs, including cross-sectional and longitudinal case studies, and drawing on multiple qualitative data sources including interviews, observation and audio ethnographic techniques and archival sources to study private and public sector organisations.

Before the current role, Siavash worked as a Research Fellow and Lecturer at the University of Sussex and University College London (UCL). He holds a PhD in Business Studies from Uppsala University (Sweden) and an MSc in Technological Entrepreneurship and Business Development from Umeå University (Sweden) and Grenoble Ecole de Management (France). Prior to academia, Siavash gained experience as a Management Consultant and Engineer.

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Business, society and environment in the pursuit of a sustainable future

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