Doctorate Workshop
During a one-week workshop, graduate students and their professors discuss the results of their work and exchange views and experience on their logistics research. ELA publishes a report of this Doctorate workshop.
Twelfth Annual ELA Doctorate Workshop 2007
The Twelfth Annual ELA Doctorate Workshop took place between Wednesday 27th to Friday 29th of June 2007 in Jungbauernschule at Grainau in Germany. This is an excellent location, very close to Germany’s highest mountain and to the border with Austria. It was the second time that the event was held at this location and the main sponsor was DHL.
The selection of PhD students was decided during a meeting of the ELA Research & Development Committee. The Committee members assessed the research proposals submitted in a form of a 3-page abstract. Four academics with a research interest in logistics and supply chain acted as moderators during the event. The event was chaired and organised by Dr Michael Bourlakis (Brunel University Business School, UK) and the other three moderators were Prof. Dr. Michael Essig (Bundeswehr University, Germany), Dr. Tom Van Woensel (Technische Universiteit, Netherlands) and Dr Allan Woodburn (Westminster University, UK).
At the beginning of the Workshop on Wednesday afternoon, a welcome introduction and reception was organised that was supported financially by Taylor & Francis Publishers. The students, who were representing eleven different countries (Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, UK) had the chance to get to know each other and to meet the moderators.
On Thursday morning, students formed groups with the aim of working on a research funding proposal in relation to European logistics. They considered a range of aspects and their impact on European public policy makers, businesses, scientist and other stakeholders. Moderators commented on these proposals and provided constructive feedback whilst the rest of the day was allocated for students’ presentations.
In total, eighteen students made presentations during the Workshop analysing a diverse range of topics on logistics and supply chain management issues such as, inter alia, humanitarian supply chains, packaging and logistics, maritime logistics, operational analysis of product deliveries and intermodal transportation. These presentations were chaired by the moderators who also provided relevant feedback at the end.
At the Workshop, we were also delighted to receive a keynote address by Prof. Dr. Hans-Christian Pfohl, the Chairman of the ELA Research and Development Committee, who welcomed the students and analysed contemporary issues in European logistics. During another session, Prof. Dr. Jan Dul (RSM Erasmus University, The Netherlands) shed extra light on the Case Study Methodology.
The next ELA Doctorate Workshop will run in 2008 and will allow again PhD students to meet to discuss logistics issues from various European universities.
Dr Michael Bourlakis
Brunel University Business School
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