Unique PhD Sponsorship for Bangor Business School Student

Anahita Baregheh is one of 5 Bangor Business School students to be awarded a PhD this year, but hers is a PhD with an ‘innovative’ twist.

In a unique partnership with Bangor Business School, Anahita’s studies were sponsored by BIC Innovation, a Bangor-based business consultancy for whom she worked on a part-time basis during her third and final year of study.

“This sponsorship was an invaluable experience” said Anahita, from Iran. “As well as allowing me to pursue a PhD, I was also able to have an input into BIC’s projects and to conduct market research for clients. The opportunity gave me a great insight into SMEs [small and medium enterprises] around Wales.” She added: “this experience will give me an edge over other candidates in the job market as, not being purely research-led, it differentiates my PhD from others”.

Anahita’s PhD focussed on organisational innovation in SMEs, looking into innovation processes and how these processes can be improved to optimise results. She is currently putting the finishing touches to her doctoral thesis.

Dafydd Davies of BIC Innovation commented: “Anahita was a fantastic student doing research work on food businesses for us, which we intend to build on in order to work with other industries. Her work really helped us understand the impact that innovation processes can have. We hope to continue building our relationship with Bangor Business School in the future and we wish Anahita all the best in her future career”.

Publication date: 3 June 2011