Charge My Street

One year enterprise-led funded Masters by Research LCEI-130

This Masters by Research project in collaboration with Charge My Street aims to improve a business decision process, leading to increased efficiency when identifying electric vehicle charge point sites #mgtscience

Eco-I NW partner logos which include: European Regional Development Fund, Northern Powerhouse

Tab Content: Overview

Charge My Street (CMS) is a community benefit society which installs and operates community Electric Vehicle (EV) charge points by raising money through community shares. CMS has over 100 charge points in operation, with around 40 awaiting installation. Many new sites are suggested by community members themselves, and it’s a large undertaking for CMS to undertake site visits and assessments to check the validity of these suggestions. This often involves multiple site visits, conversations with village halls, parish councillors, small business owners and other stakeholders, to explain what is involved. Many sites ultimately prove to be unsuitable for technical, commercial or management reasons. The current site selection process is labour intensive, and a number of sites drop out in the later stages of development as they re-evaluate their commitment.

This Masters by Research project will identify recurrent issues and challenges using data CMS has accumulated over many years, to streamline and optimise this business decision process. This will lead to a higher success rate in identifying and installing new electric vehicle charge point sites and, ultimately, will help to reduce the time spent reviewing sites which are not worthwhile progressing.

This project will involve a mix of quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyse CMS data and provide a decision making tool. Qualitative research will involve conducting interviews and reviewing case studies of successful and unsuccessful site proposals. Support will be given to undertake quantitative analysis using a large data set held by CMS and using tools already developed.

Specifically, this project will develop a decision tree to support the site selection process and take this into a scoring system or algorithm which would reduce time spent on developing low quality charge point sites. The candidate will develop appropriate questions at each stage to help filter unsuitable sites and will draw on valuation theory to understand how decisions are made in the process by potential customers.

The ideal candidate should have an undergraduate degree in business or a related subject with relevant cross overs, such as sociology, and be interested in electric vehicles and charge points. Candidates should enjoy working with people, have good enquiry skills and be comfortable speaking with stakeholders. You should also be confident in handling quantitative data. The selected candidate will be given support in both areas from expert academics in each field, alongside members of Charge My Street.

Deadline for applications: Midnight Tuesday 21st June 2022

Start date: July 2022

Project ref LCEI-130

Tab Content: Eligibility

Before applying for this opportunity please download and read the Graduate Researcher Application Criteria

Non-UK/home candidates: For information on home/international fee eligibility please see the university fee status webpage. From 1st January 2021, EU students are required to have a visa to enter into the UK as well as other international categories. Please check these details to see if you would need to apply for a visa and indicate this on your criteria document.

Tab Content: Enterprise & academic partners

This project will be supervised by:

  • Professor Katy Mason, Professor of Markets, Marketing and Management
  • Dr Burak Boyaci, Senior Lecturer in Management Science
  • Dr Luke Rhodes-Leader, Lecturer in Management Science
  • Daniel Heery, Director of Charge My Street
  • Tom Barker, Marketing Lead at Charge My Street

Charge My Street (CMS) is a community benefit society which installs and operates community Electric Vehicle (EV) charge points by raising money through community shares. CMS has over 100 charge points in operation, with around 40 awaiting installation.

This project is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund and is subject to funding confirmation.

Benefits to you

This Masters by Research project in collaboration with Charge My Street aims to improve a business decision process, leading to increased efficiency when identifying electric vehicle charge point sites #mgtscience

Tax-free earning

Get paid £16,000 tax-free

Reduced tuition fees

Have your tuition fees reduced. Your partner company pays £2,200 towards your fees, meaning students eligible for home fees pay only £2,396. International students will need to pay the remaining £21,160.

Increase your employability

Finish in a strong position to enter a competitive job market in the UK and overseas or progress on to further study.

Access to award winning talent and resources

Be part of the multi award-winning Centre for Global Eco-Innovation within a cohort of talented graduates working on exciting business-led R&D.The Centre is based at Lancaster University, so you will gain your Masters from a highly-ranked university, recognised as The Sunday Times University of the Year 2018 and International University of the Year 2020.

How to apply

Deadline: Midnight Tuesday 21st June 2022

To apply for this opportunity please download and complete the below documents:

Addtionally, please provide a copy of the following evidentiary documents:

  • CV
  • Degree transcripts
  • English language certificate(s) if English is not your first language

Please email applications@cgeinnovation.org and give the product reference number (see title) along with your application documents. Please get in touch if you have any questions.

Send all completed documents, including a copy of your CV, degree transripts and English language certificate(s) - if English is not your first language - to applications@cgeinnovation.org by Midnight Sunday 12th June 2022 (closing date). Please ensure you give the project reference number (see title) when you send your documents.

For information on home/international fee eligibility please see the university fee status webpage. From 1st January 2021, EU students are required to have a visa to enter into the UK as well as other international categories. Please check these details to see if you would need to apply for a visa and indicate this on your criteria document.

After the closing date the interview panel (consisting of the academic supervisors and business sponsor) will shortlist preferred candidates. These candidates will be invited to interview and where appropriate a candidate will be selected to deliver the project. A separate formal university application process is then completed following recommendation from the interview panel.

Please send any interim queries on the status of your application or the shortlisting/interview process to applications@cgeinnovation.org

How do I apply?

Please complete and send all of the following documents to applications@cgeinnovation.org by the advert closing date:

Please send all of the above to: applications@cgeinnovation.org by the advert closing date.

Non-UK/home candidates

For information on home/international fee eligibility please see the university fee status webpage. From 1st January 2021, EU students are required to have a visa to enter into the UK as well as other international categories. Please check these details to see if you would need to apply for a visa and indicate this on your criteria document.

After the closing date the interview panel (consisting of the academic supervisors and business sponsor) will shortlist preferred candidates. These candidates will be invited to interview and where appropriate a candidate will be selected to deliver the project. A separate formal university application process is then completed following recommendation from the interview panel.

Deadline: Midnight Tuesday 21st June 2022