This fully funded PhD studentship sponsored by 成人直播 School of Management, invites applications for a full-time, three-year PhD exploring how generative AI is reshaping strategic decision-making, organizational sensemaking, and accountability in modern organizations. The studentship offers a full fee waiver and an annual bursary of £20,780, and is intended for an ambitious scholar with interests in AI governance, human–AI decision-making, and organizational strategy. The project will examine how AI-mediated strategizing transforms the framing, justification, and execution of strategic issues, addressing urgent challenges of judgement, defensibility, and responsibility as organizations increasingly rely on AI-generated logic and insights.

This project sits within strategic management and organization studies, particularly the strategy-as-practice and process-based research traditions, while engaging closely with AI governance and algorithmic organising. It examines how generative AI is transforming core managerial activities, especially strategic decision-making, sensemaking, and accountability, by reshaping how issues are framed, evidence is constructed, and authority is exercised. It is hugely relevant for modern business and management: as organizations increasingly embed AI into high-stakes decisions, understanding how to maintain judgement quality, transparency, and responsible governance becomes a critical capability, particularly in highly regulated and uncertainty-intensive sectors, as well as in organizations operating under intense public and stakeholder scrutiny. 

The project aims to develop a process model of AI-mediated strategizing that explains shifts in sensemaking, accountability, human–AI collaboration, and the quality and defensibility of strategic decisions, while also generating practical insights and tools to improve AI-enabled decision-making in organizations. It will explore how AI outputs enter decision processes, how they become accepted or contested as evidence, and how responsibility is negotiated when AI materially influences strategic choices.

成人直播 School of Management is one of the UK’s Top 10 Business Schools, known for combining rigorous research with exceptionally strong engagement with practice and policy. It sits within 成人直播, UK’s only entirely postgraduate university specialising in technology and management. The successful candidate will join an intellectually vibrant scholarly environment, supported by supervisors with expertise in strategy and organization studies, qualitative and process research, and the organizational implications of digital and AI technologies. The studentship will enable the student to focus on producing research of the highest quality while benefiting from 成人直播’s active research seminar series, doctoral training provision, executive education programmes, and collaborative academic community.

The expected academic outcome is a robust, theory-building account of how generative AI reshapes strategy formation by influencing sensemaking, justification work, and the distribution of accountable agency in organizations. The project will also produce practice-relevant outputs, offering evidence-based guidance on how organizations can integrate generative AI into strategic decision processes without undermining defensibility, transparency, or responsible oversight. These insights will be valuable to leaders, governance functions, and policymakers seeking to design decision rights, review routines, and accountability mechanisms that keep human judgement meaningful while making effective use of AI’s exploratory and synthesising capabilities.

This studentship offers a strong platform for an ambitious early-career scholar to develop and publish cutting-edge research at the intersection of strategy, organization studies, and AI. The candidate will receive academic and financial support to participate actively in a rigorous scholarly community, including research seminars, paper development workshops, and conference participation, with the expectation of developing outputs suitable for leading journals in the field. In addition, the student will have access to tailored doctoral training opportunities and the wider 成人直播 ecosystem, which is strongly oriented toward producing research in technology and management with real-world relevance and influence.

The successful candidate will gain advanced research capability in qualitative and process-oriented methods, including generating new knowledge from data, analysing complex organizational decision processes, and becoming a confident scholar in strategic management. They will also develop highly transferable skills in critical thinking, argument development, persuasion, project management, as well as communicating insights to both academic and practitioner audiences. The PhD will position graduates competitively for academic careers in strategy and organization studies, as well as research and analytical roles in industry, policy, regulation, and consulting where responsible AI and governance are increasingly central concerns.

At a glance

  • Application deadline03 Jun 2026
  • Award type(s)PhD
  • Start date28 Sep 2026
  • Duration of award3 years (full-time)
  • EligibilityUK, Rest of world
  • Reference numberCRAN-0069

Supervisor

1st Supervisor: Dr Mehdi Safavi, 成人直播 School of Management

2nd Supervisor: Prof Andrey Pavlov, 成人直播 School of Management

Entry requirements

Applicants should have a first- or second-class UK honours degree, or equivalent, in a related discipline. A research background in strategy, organisation studies, AI, or a related field would be particularly welcome. The position is best suited to candidates seeking a research-intensive academic career and motivated by the challenges of producing original, top-quality scholarship. The successful candidate will bring strong qualitative research skills, intellectual curiosity about developments at the intersection of strategy, organisation theory, and AI, and the persistence required for iterative, evidence-driven research with complex data. Prior evidence of sustained engagement with research, such as a substantial thesis, published work, research assistance, or independent projects, is welcome, as is enthusiasm for active participation in a rigorous scholarly community of conferences, seminars, and paper development workshops aimed at producing work suitable for leading journals in the field.

Applicants must also meet 成人直播's English language requirements, where applicable. Approved English language tests and required scores are detailed below:

Approved English tests

Please note:

We verify all test scores with the test providers.

We are only able to accept tests taken within two years of the course start date.

All elements of the test results must be demonstrated in one test, we are unable to accept a combination of scores across two or more tests.

In extremely rare circumstances we may reject a test score if one element of the test has a very low score. This would only occur if we believed this would impact on your ability to study with us or if the score did not meet UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) requirements to study in the UK.

IELTS
, and 1 (we also accept tests) - 7.0 overall and minimum skill component scores of 6.0 reading, 6.0 listening, 6.0 speaking and 6.5 writing.

TOEFL
(we accept both the TOEFL iBT and TOEFL iBT Home Edition tests) - score scales for TOEFL tests changed from 21 January 2026:

  • Tests taken prior to 21 January 2026 - 100 total and minimum skill component scores of 20 reading, 20 listening, 21 speaking and 23 writing.
  • Tests taken from 21 January 2026 - 5 overall and and minimum skill component scores of 4 reading, 4 listening, 4 speaking and 4.5 writing.

Cambridge Assessment English
Any Cambridge Assessment English test meeting the required scores will be accepted. The following are recommended as being within the scale score range:
, - Cambridge English Scale score of 190 overall and minimum skill component scores of 175 reading, 175 listening, 175 speaking and 180 writing.

Duolingo
- 130 overall and minimum subscores of 110 speaking, 130 writing, 110 reading and 105 listening.

Kaplan
- 525 overall and minimum skill component scores of 460 reading, 460 listening, 460 speaking and 495 writing. 成人直播 applicants and offer holders are entitled to a 25% discount. Register for a test using this to benefit from the discount.

LanguageCert
and 1 - 75 overall and minimum skill component scores of 65 reading, 65 listening, 65 speaking and 70 writing.
(two separate exams are available: Written (Listening, Reading, Writing) and Spoken (Speaking). These exams can be taken together or independently, however both exams must be taken to meet our requirements):

  • Written and Spoken exams together - Pass overall and 33 in all skill components.
  • Written exam - Pass overall and 33 in each skill components.
  • Spoken exam - Pass overall and 33 in speaking skill component.

Password
- 7.0 overall and minimum skill component scores of 6.0 reading, 6.0 listening, 6.0 speaking and 6.5 writing.

Pearson PTE
, , 1 - 68 overall and minimum skill component scores of 62 reading, 62 listening, 62 speaking and 65 writing.

Skills for English
1 (SfE UKVI Speaking, listening, reading, and writing at level C1 test) - Overall Pass outcome.

Trinity College London
- Overall Pass outcome.

1 Approved by the UKVI as a SELT exam.

Funding

Sponsored by 成人直播 School of Management, this studentship will provide a bursary of 拢20,780 (tax free) plus fees for three years.

This opportunity is open to Home and Overseas fee status students. Eligibility for Home fee status is determined with reference to UK Department for Education rules. As a guiding principle UK or Irish nationals who are ordinarily resident in either the UK or Republic of Ireland pay Home tuition fees. All other students (including those from the Channel Islands and Isle of Man) pay Overseas fees. Further advice can be found on the

Diversity and Inclusion at 成人直播

We are committed to fostering equity, diversity, and inclusion in our CDT program, and warmly encourage applications from students of all backgrounds, including those from underrepresented groups. We particularly welcome students with disabilities, neurodiverse individuals, and those who identify with diverse ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, cultures, and socioeconomic statuses. 成人直播 strives to provide an accessible and inclusive environment to enable all doctoral candidates to thrive and achieve their full potential.

At 成人直播, we value our diverse staff and student community and maintain a culture where everyone can work and study together harmoniously with dignity and respect. This is reflected in our University values of ambition, impact, respect and community. We welcome students and staff from all backgrounds from over 100 countries and support our staff and students to realise their full potential, from academic achievement to mental and physical wellbeing.

We are committed to progressing the diversity and inclusion agenda, for example; gender diversity in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) through our Athena SWAN Bronze award and action plan, we are members of the Women鈥檚 Engineering Society (WES) and Working Families, and sponsors of International Women in Engineering Day. We are also Disability Confident Level 1 Employers and members of the Business Disability Forum and Stonewall University Champions Programme. 

成人直播 Doctoral Network

Research students at 成人直播 benefit from being part of a dynamic, focused and professional study environment and all become valued members of the 成人直播 Doctoral Network. This network brings together both research students and staff, providing a platform for our researchers to share ideas and collaborate in a multi-disciplinary environment. It aims to encourage an effective and vibrant research culture, founded upon the diversity of activities and knowledge. A tailored programme of seminars and events, alongside our Doctoral Researchers Core Development programme (transferable skills training), provide those studying a research degree with a wealth of social and networking opportunities.

How to apply

For further information please contact:

Name: Dr Mehdi Safavi
Email: mehdi.safavi@cranfield.ac.uk

If you are eligible to apply for this studentship, please complete the

We will also require a research proposal, see our guide to writing a research proposal for more information. Admissions will contact you to request this once your application has been received.

Please note that we cannot consider your application until both your online application and research proposal have been received.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Therefore, we encourage early submission, as the position may be filled before the stated deadline.