Professor Ying Xie

Background

Prof. Ying Xie received her PhD degree in Management Science from Coventry University. Currently she is the Professor in Supply Chain Analytics in Cranfield School of Management. Prior to this, she was the Head of School in Economics, Finance and Law and the Director of Centre for Intelligent Supply Chain, Anglia Ruskin University.

With a background in Engineering and Science, Ying successfully applies the scientific tools to resolve business problems in multiple disciplines, including Operations Management, Finance, Healthcare, Disaster Management, Sustainability and many more. Ying has successfully won and completed over 20 projects, totalling more than £20m, including projects from EPSRC, Innovate UK, EU Horizon, Health Education England, ERDF and industries.

Ying has been invited to be an expert reviewer or panel member for several funding bodies, including UKRI MRC, British Academy/Leverhulme Trust, LGC Health Research Programme, UK, Made Smarter Digital Supply Chain Innovation Hub under Digital Catapult, UK, and Fondazione Cariplo Italy.

Ying is a Principal Fellow of the HEA, which is a recognition of the impact she makes at a strategic level to academic practice and leadership in teaching and enhancing the student learning experience.

Research opportunities

Principle Investigator and Academic Supervisor, A novel Events Environmental Sustainability Platform, UKRI Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Julia Charles Events Management company, £174,461, 2023-2025.

Co-Investigator, the UK National Clean Maritime Research Club, UKRI EPSRC and Department for Transport, the project has over 70 industrial partners, including the Port of Dover, the Port of Felixstowe, Cosco Shipping Ltd (UK), Peels Port, DFDS, and more. A total value of £21.3 million, with £7.4million from EPSRC and Department of Transport, and £13.9million from industries and partner universities, 2023-2027.

Co-Investigator, Digitalisation for operational efficiency and GHG emission reduction at container ports (EP/W028492/1), EPSRC, Siemens and NVIDIA, US, £42,605 + A100 for PCIe 80GB GPU sponsored by NVIDIA, 2022.

Principal Investigator and Academic Lead: An innovative Supply Chain Sustainability toolkit and live dashboard to reduce environmental impacts (Ref No.10015719), Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Hexcel Composites Ltd. UK, £173,418, 2022-24.

Principal Investigator: Population health profiles and workforce planning, Health Education England, £85,399, 2022.

Co-Investigator: Multi-hazard and risk informed system for Enhanced local and regional Disaster risk management (MEDiate, 101074075), Horizon Europe Framework Programme (HORIZON), ~5million, 2022-25.

Principal Investigator: Sustainable Transformation in Business Practice (Application ID: 877748439), British Council, Going Global Partnerships Grant, Dr B C Roy Engineering College, Durgapur, India, £30,000, 2022.

Co-Investigator, Standard driven high quality development mechanism, path and micro incentive policy research in logistics industry, National Social Science Fund, China, £25,000, 2021-24.

Principal Investigator and Academic Supervisor, Big Data driven Business Intelligence System (Ref No 1025918), Innovate UK, Knowledge Transfer Partnership, Simarco International Ltd. UK, £238,000, 2019-20.

Principal Investigator, Low Carbon KEEP project, funded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Cost Centre Services Ltd, £34,116.67, 2014-15.

Ying has supervised many PhDs to successful completions, and she has successfully secured external funds to sponsor two PhD scholarships. One project addresses yard management for the Port of Felixstowe using machine learning models, and the other project collaborates with Ocado Technology to develop digital twins of individuals. Ying would be keen to supervise PhDs in the following areas:

Supply chain digitalisation and decarbonisation

Supply chain collaboration, governance and resilience

Application of operational research/management science/data science in the areas of supply chain or financial market, or healthcare/wellbeing

Current activities

Ying has worked with NHS to reduce pharmaceutical waste and develop green pharmaceutical supply chain. In collaboration with Iotics Lab, Ocado Technology, and Healthcare Faculty in Anglia Ruskin University, Ying is developing digital twins enabled ecosystem for social care and healthcare. Funded by EPSRC, Ying is working with Felixstowe Port (UK) to improve the utilisation of rail transport of containers, to tackle the challenges of traffic congestion in roads and reduce impacts on environments. Ying is also working on an Innovate UK funded KTP project to build sustainable supply chain for Hexcel Corporation. Together with colleagues from the Aerospace centre in Cranfield University, Ying actively works with institutions from the Oxford-Cambridge Arc Universities Group to build the future of sustainable aviation in the UK.

As research expert in port management, Ying contributed to the report of 'UK Ports of the Future' commissioned by the Department of Transport, which supports the Government's maritime 2050 strategy. She also supported Essex County Council to develop the Freeport East proposal to unify Felixstowe and Harwich ports. Ying's research on global supply chains and sustainability has attracted considerable attention from the media; Ying has been interviewed by BBC Radio, BBC International Television, ABC News Australia and she has published many articles in a range of media.

Ying is a board member in the Strategy Advisory Board for Digital Supply Chain Innovation Hub, Digital Catapult. The hub is designed to drive innovations for all potential users. The programme run by the hub has drawn £10m award from UK Research and Innovation and will draw another £10m investment from the private sector, to accelerate commercial integration of advanced and emerging digital technologies across manufacturing supply chains in the aerospace, defence, pharmaceutical, fabrication and logistics sectors over the next four years.

Clients

• Ocado Group PLC

Publications

• Articles in journals