Alok Choudhary, Reader in Supply Chain Management has joined Crispin Coombs, Reader in Information Systems, as a second School of Business and Economics academic to be appointed to serve on Sub-panel 17: Business and Management Studies in the assessment phase of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.

The REF is the UK's system for assessing the quality of research in UK higher education institutions. It first took place in 2014. The next exercise will be conducted in 2021. The REF is undertaken by the four UK higher education funding bodies: Research England, the Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), and the Department for the Economy, Northern Ireland (DfE).

Professor Stewart Robinson, Dean, said,

“It is great to have two representatives from Loughborough on the Business and Management Studies sub-panel and demonstrates the high regard with which the School of Business and Economics is held in the UK.”

Alok Choudhary's research intersects supply chain management, sustainability, and data analytics. He has used data analytics methods to investigate efficient, resilient, and sustainable supply chain decision making. More recently, Alok's research interests lie in developing novel theory for the manifestation of sustainability-related outcomes, including sustainability risk, water risk, and climate change risk.

Alok has led interdisciplinary, industry-driven, and impact-focused research and consulting projects (as PI or Co-I) over £2.5 Million funded by the European Commission, EuropeAid, Innovate UK, EPSRC, ESRC, HEFCE, British Council. He has a track record of demonstrating the practical application of research with companies including Rolls Royce, BAE Systems, Carbon Trust, Fluiconnecto, TATA Group, Safex Group, Interserve, Infineon, etc. and has led initiatives and influenced regional policies through LEP, Carbon Trust, and the Chamber of Commerce.