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Dr Mel Smith

Biography I am an Associate Professor in Operations Management with grants and publications in the areas of healthcare service quality, small business, sustainable supply chains and ERP implementation.

I teach Operations and Quality Management, general Business and Research Methods and supervise students from undergraduate placement students, through dissertation supervision, to PhD students.

Until July 2022, I was also the Leader of Strategy and Operations Cluster at UWE, with line management responsibility for 40+ academic staff and the academic development of the subject.

My research has always focused on small firms and performance improvement. I became interested in GP Practices as small firms and undertook research into how service quality impacts patient experience, developing dimensions of service quality for GP Practices. I am currently looking at the processes by which patients are allocated to healthcare professionals in GP Practices and how this impacts patient and staff experience. This work has led to several grants to date (see below). We also got through to the final stage of a competitive grant award for £1m in early 2025, though unfortunately did not secure the final funding.
2023: Stage 2 Research Capability Funding (BNSSG ICB), Principal Investigator £24,146
2022: CHSS-CBL Challenge Funding (UWE), Co-Investigator £6,000
2022: Stage 1 Research Capability Funding (BNSSG ICB), Principal Investigator £3,000
2019: Stage 1 Research Capability Funding (BNSSG ICB), Principal Investigator £3,000

I also have extensive experience of developing funded projects with businesses, having been involved with 8 'Knowledge Transfer Partnership' projects since 2005, worth over £1.1 million, as follows:
2023: KTP with Allbright Design (Duku) Ltd (Lead Academic), £217,802
2020: KTP with Harris Evolution Ltd (Lead Academic), £182,804
2010: KTP with Absolute Software Ltd (Lead Academic), £183,094
2010: KTP with Becton Dickinson (Principal Supervisor), £115,010
2009: KTP with Danser SW Ltd (Principal Supervisor), £118.974
2006: KTP with Beran Instruments (Lead Academic), £99,044
2006: KTP with Wessex Products Ltd (Support Academic), £99,044
2005: KTP with Delco Toolmakers Ltd (Lead Academic), £99,044.

I also have 7 research degree completions as follows:
2021: David Adkins PhD "The Governance of Maritime Clusters and the Impact on Sustainable Development and Social Capital"
2019: Moya Lerigo-Sampson PhD "The holistic exploration of the relationship between healthcare professionals' job satisfaction and quality of care"
2018: Mamata Dhakal PhD "Reverse Logistics in Micro Businesses : An Exploratory Study"
2015: Uchitha Jayawickrama PhD "Knowledge Management Competence for ERP Implementation Success"
2015: Alison Ashby PhD "From Principles to Practice: Sustainable Supply Chain Management in SMEs"
2010: Ravi Saxena MPhil "The Role of RFID in Improving Product Availability in a UK Apparel Retailer"
2009: Emmanuel Odofin MPhil "Implementing Continuous Improvement in Small Firms"
Scopus Author ID https://www.scopus.com/authid/detail.uri?authorId=15829340100
PhD Supervision Availability Yes
PhD Topics Patient Experience in Primary Care
Primary Care Operational Improvement
Small Business Operations Improvement