EPSRC CENTRE FOR DOCTORAL TRAINING IN STATISTICS & OPERATIONAL RESEARCH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH INDUSTRY (STOR-i)

兰开斯特大学（LU）提出了一个博士培训中心（CDT），其目标是通过一个计划，在统计和业务研究（STOR）的国际研究领导者的发展，其中工业挑战是方法进步的催化剂。该提案汇集了LU在STOR的相当大的学术实力，以及一系列强大的外部合作伙伴，包括学术和工业合作伙伴。所有人都致力于培养能够在行业中发挥领导作用的毕业生，或者将他们的经验和对工业参与的承诺融入STOR的学术领导中。该提案通过其使命的重大演变发展了现有的EPSRC资助的CDT（STOR-i），将其工业参与程度提升到一个新的水平。这一大大增强的参与将进一步加强STOR-i的队列培训，并将导致至少80%的学生与行业联合开展博士项目，高于目前中心的50%。工业实习将提供给那些没有遵循博士学位与行业。工业界将（i）在指导中心方面发挥作用，（ii）共同设计培训方案，（iii）共同资助和共同监督工业博士项目，（iv）领导工业问题解决日方案，（v）在中心的领导能力发展方案中发挥主要作用。工业界的财政支持正在提供津贴增加和一系列基础设施和培训支持，并帮助将STOR-i的好处带给广大受众。对STOR-i的承诺支持总额超过500万英镑（包括110万英镑现金）。该提案涉及优先领域“以工业为重点的数学建模”。在这个主题中，我们特别针对“统计”（本身是一个优先领域）和运筹学（OR）。这一选择的动机首先是现代工业问题中普遍需要STOR解决方案，其次是这些领域的博士水平普遍公认和长期存在的技能短缺。我们的合作伙伴的支持声明证明，最近数据采集和数据驱动的业务和工业决策的大幅增长标志着对高水平STOR专业知识的需求发生了重大变化，并扩大了技能差距。目前的中心已经证明，一个高质量的，工业参与的研究培训计划可以创造一个非常有能力的数学训练的学生，包括许多谁否则不会考虑在STOR博士研究的地方高需求。我们相信，新中心在解决持续存在的技能差距方面，将发挥比其前身更具战略性的作用。我们的培训计划的目的不仅仅是解决数字问题。在STOR，毕业博士生的质量问题与数量问题一样多。我们的目标是培养能够跨越学术，科学和工业界限为他们的工作带来影响的研究领导者;谁可以与其他拥有不同技能的人一起工作，谁可以广泛沟通。我们的外部合作伙伴非常愿意通过STOR-i的队列培训计划与我们一起实现这一目标。我们毫不怀疑，我们的毕业生将在广泛的行业，无论是工业和学术的巨大需求。培训中心提供培训的必要性主要在于它能保证有足够数量的优秀学生。这首先使我们能够围绕学生群体设计一个培训计划，其中点对点学习是一个主要特征。其次，我们能够吸引和整合高质量的贡献（包括内部和外部的LU），我们需要创建一个质量，范围和雄心的计划。

Lancaster University (LU) proposes a Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) whose goal is the development of international research leaders in statistics and operational research (STOR) through a programme in which industrial challenge is the catalyst for methodological advance. The proposal brings together LU's considerable academic strength in STOR with a formidable array of external partners, both academic and industrial. All are committed to the development of graduates capable of either leadership roles in industry or of taking their experience of and commitment to industrial engagement into academic leadership in STOR. The proposal develops an existing EPSRC-funded CDT (STOR-i) by a significant evolution of its mission which takes its degree of industrial engagement to a new level. This considerably enhanced engagement will further strengthen STOR-i's cohort-based training and will result in a minimum of 80% of students undertaking doctoral projects joint with industry, up from 50% in the current Centre. Industrial internships will be provided for those not following a PhD with industry. Industry will (i) play a role in steering the Centre, (ii) has co-designed the training programme, (iii) will co-fund and co-supervise industrial doctoral projects, (iv) will lead a programme of industrial problem-solving days and (v) will play a major role in the Centre's programme of leadership development. Industry's financial backing is providing for stipend enhancement and a range of infrastructure and training support as well as helping to bring STOR-i benefits to a wide audience. The total pledged support for STOR-i is over £5M (including £1.1M cash).The proposal addresses the priority area 'Industrially-Focussed Mathematical Modelling'. Within this theme we specifically target 'Statistics' (itself a priority area) and Operational Research (OR). This choice is motivated first by the pervasive need for STOR solutions within modern industrial problems and second by the widely acknowledged and long standing skills-shortage at doctoral level in these areas. Our partners' statements of support attest that the substantial recent growth in data acquisition and data-driven business and industrial decision-making have signalled a step change in the demand for high level STOR expertise and have opened the skills gap still wider. The current Centre has demonstrated that a high quality, industrially engaged programme of research training can create a high demand for places among the very ablest mathematically trained students, including many who would otherwise not have considered doctoral study in STOR. We believe that the new Centre will play a yet more strategic role than its predecessor in meeting the persistent skills gap.Our training programme is designed to do more than solve a numbers problem. There is an issue of quality of graduating doctoral students in STOR as much as there is one of quantity. Our goal is to develop research leaders who are able to secure impact for their work across academic, scientific and industrial boundaries; who can work alongside others who are differently skilled and who can communicate widely. Our external partners are strongly motivated to join us in achieving this through STOR-i's cohort-based training programme. We have little doubt that our graduates will be in great demand across a wide range of sectors, both industral and academic. The need for a Centre to deliver the training resides primarily in its guarantee of a critical mass of outstanding students. This firstly enables us to design a training programme around student cohorts in which peer to peer learning is a major feature. Second, we are able to attract and integrate the high quality contributions (both internal and external to LU) we need to create a programme of quality, scope and ambition.