Operational decision-making (ODM) as a concept is present in multiple industries, with many definitions and applications stemming from aviation, where ODM has been present as a model of decision-making since the 1990’s (Lofaro & Smith, 2000). In general within the decision-making literature there are four defined types of decision-making within high risk industry – strategic, operational, instantaneous and emergency (Yang & Haugen, 2015). ODM is distinguished from the rest as decisions that take place during active operations (so excluding the design / concept phase), where there is time to undertake a risk assessment (though this time window may be relatively short), and in response to the perception that operations are in danger of moving outside the safe operations envelope (SOE).

This PhD project will seek to explore factors potentially influencing the efficacy and efficiency of operational decision-making within the energy industry.

The PhD student is Apoorva Amirapu, supervised by Dr Amy Irwin, Dr Eva Rubinova, Dr Ruby Roberts and Prof Rhona Flin.