The Kingsman Prize for 2018 has been awarded to Management Science Ph.D graduate Aline Fernandes. The prize was established in memory of the long-standing scholar of Management Science, Professor Brian Kingsman.

Dr. Fernandes’ thesis was entitled “Towards an understanding of Temporary Supply Chains: a study of organisations and technology”, and the Ph.D was awarded in December 2018. The prize was awarded for a number of reasons. Aline took on a very ambitious piece of research. It was at the intersection of the two disciplines of supply chain management and information systems, which led to more interesting insights, but also greater scholarly challenges. It also involved an extremely large and complex piece of field work – working as a volunteer at the Olympic Games, in her home country, Brazil – which would have overwhelmed a lesser researcher. Her other research setting, the Ebola response, tested her in other ways, as she went to enormous lengths to gain research access. The work resulted in papers presented at both operations management and information systems conferences, one paper published in the AJG 4-rated International Journal of Operations and Production Management in 2018, and one that is under revision for the AJG 3-rated Journal of Strategic Information Systems. A third paper is planned for the AJG 3-rated Journal of Supply Chain Management.

Aline’s external examiner, Prof. Nathalie Fabbe-Costes, of Aix-Marseille University’s ‘CRET-LOG’ supply chain research lab. commented in particular on the ambitious multi-disciplinary research, and the fact that the phenomenon researched has great relevance, both practically and theoretically. Professor Martin Spring, who supervised Aline along with Professor Monideepa Tarafdar, commended Aline for her resourcefulness, initiative, and good citizenship, as well as the quality of her work – all attributes that Brian Kingsman would have greatly appreciated.