De Montfort University PhD Scholarships

Developing countries are faced with both economic growth and climate change challenges. For example, estimates suggest that temperatures will rise by 2°C over the next 30 years. But according to the environmental Kuznet’s argument, a country’s path at the initial stages of growth is through industrialisation, which is expected to be accompanied by pollution. Thus, from economic theory, it may be difficult to pursue growth and net zero outcomes simultaneously. This is even more challenging in developing countries with large informal economies given that they mainly source their raw materials through unsustainable means and produce using outdated technologies and techniques. It thus raises an important question: in what ways and to what extent do climate change and net-zero policies hinder or promote inclusive economic growth? Our research will seek answers to this question. In addition, we will develop frameworks that will ensure an inclusive decarbonisation pathway for developing countries with large informal economy in their pursuit of net zero policies and economic growth.

Potential applicants can contact Dr Eghosa Igudia, for any questions about the project or for informal enquiries.

Efficient capital allocation directly enhances firms' profitability, growth, and competitiveness. It ensures that resources are allocated to high-return projects to maximize shareholder's wealth and financial stability. A significant challenge firms face today is the risks associated with climate change linked to carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. However, other factors including environmental challenges may lead to the misallocation of firms' financial resources.

The research will examine how firm climate risk affects capital allocation efficiency. The growing concern by the public and other stakeholders in the environment has served as motivation for policymakers to find ways to encourage firms to reduce emissions. We hypothesize that firm climate risk proxy by greenhouse carbon emissions will lead to inefficient capital allocation. This project includes the opportunity to work with large data set and develop quantitative research skills leading to publications in top-quality journals.

Potential applicants can contact Dr Frank Kwabi, for any questions about the project or for informal enquiries.

The creative industries continue to play a significant role in the Midlands economy and yet over the last 25 years, research on the applied and normative aspects of creative economy models have been surprisingly scant. Functionally, the creative industries today are markedly different to the arts-based activities that emerged in the first few years of the new millennium. In collaboration with Leicester City Council and the Midlands Engine, we invite proposals that open up new and enriching research on the creative economy, with a particular focus on:

1. The role of creative industries clusters, networks, and growth poles as drivers of regional economic performance with empirical application of the 4 and 6 models of the creative industries (Potts and Cunningham 2008, Granger 2024) and regional modelling (e.g. input-output analysis).
2. The creative lifecycle and longitudinal economic frameworks that position an evolving creative economy as successive waves of capital investment and development of new ecosystems and maturing functions (e.g. the rise of civic creativity).
3. The role of creative industries in knowledge exchange with a focus on spillovers, foreign direct investment, innovation precincts and districts, and within manufacturing and traditional sectors.
4. Internationalisation of creative work with a particular focus on outsourcing, offshoring as international divisions of labour and vertical productions.
5. Creative capital as new circuits of urban capital drawing (drawing on Lefebvre, 1970, and Harvey, 2010 revisiting the urbanisation of new capital)
6. The economic impacts of creative job and place hopping

Potential applicants can contact Professor Rachel Granger, for any questions about the project or for informal enquiries.

UK dairy and meat products logistics and annual waste are main contributors to GHG emissions in the UK food supply chains. Among others, logistics management-related issues, such as poor demand forecasting, planning, and poor inventory management play a crucial role in exacerbating this adverse environmental impact of the food supply chains. However, as the UK aspires to reach net-zero GHG emissions by 2050, and now that Brexit has been completed, it is increasingly evident that new pragmatic approaches, policies, and system improvements are needed to abate GHG emissions in the UK food logistics. In the UK, dairy and meat products are, respectively, three- and 21-times emissions intensive than the average for fruits and vegetables, and consequently their GHG emissions becomes an important concern for public authorities and public body. This research aims at employing mathematical modelling techniques to investigate how environmental performance of UK dairy and meat products logistics in the UK can be improved to potentially contribute to reduced GHG emissions of UK food logistics.

Potential applicants can contact Dr Ayham Jaaron, for any questions about the project or for informal enquiries.

Skills and sustainable labour markets are intrinsic to structural transformation and sustainable economic growth. Whilst recent literature has been directed at employability, labour productivity and place-based models, as well as the aftermath of shocks such as the Global Financial Crisis and Covid-19, here, this PhD focuses on the unique problem created through the nexus of economic decline, austerity, and green transformations, and how we might overcome these complex problems to support sustainable economic growth through the skills economy. The rise of the skills economy is a response to the global skills shortage, where 87% of companies worldwide anticipate major skills gaps within the next 5 years. Of additional concern is how people from vulnerable, marginal or ‘excluded’ groups such as migrants and minorities are less able to participate in, and benefit from, entrepreneurship, fair employment and benefits of inclusive economic growth. This results in part from the spread of the informal economy and businesses operating on the margins of legality, for example in their compliance with employment, safety and other law and regulation.

• Policy interventions to tackle historically high economic inactivity
• Changing funding landscapes and the role of third-sector organisations (TSOs)
• Alternative spaces within the informal economy, which represents 60% of the global workforce, and spaces for social justice
• New research to open-up discussions on ‘decent work’, especially within new green economies
• Financial literacy gaps, sustainability and economic growth, working to tackle the digital divide

Potential applicants can contact Dr Alex Anlesinya, for any questions about the project or for informal enquiries.

The provision of safe, efficient and cost-effective public and active transport is a pre-requisite for the efficient functioning of place-based economies. Although much has been done to improve the accessibility of public transport for marginalised groups, transport spaces remain exclusionary and more work is required to make transport models truly accessible, sustainable and inclusive. At the same time, logistics, especially within the Midlands- context raises concerns about inclusive and welfare aspects of logistics work, and the green credentials of expanding air freight systems.

Indicative research areas for this PhD:

• Work on policy interventions to tackle place-based public transport use in different communities in Leicester
• Inclusive supply chains that researches welfare concerns of logistics operations and workers as gig economies
• The sustainability of air transportation through benchmarking approaches

Potential applicants can contact Professor Lucy Budd, for any questions about the project or for informal enquiries.