Having to make a critical decision which involves multiple stakeholders can be a huge challenge for businesses, charities, and public sector organisations alike. Thankfully, Kent Business School has the expertise to assist with such decision-making. In the first of our\u00a0Meet the Expert\u00a0series, we caught up with Dr Kathy Kotiadis, Reader in Operational Research and co-founder of\u00a0PartiSim, to discuss her work in supporting groups through the decision-making process.<\/p>\n
What is your area of academic expertise, and why are you passionate about it?<\/b><\/p>\n
I have over 20 years of experience in developing quantitative and qualitative modelling approaches to support stakeholder engagement.\u00a0I learned from my experience in using\u00a0quantitative modelling for decision-making processes\u00a0that it is often\u00a0misunderstood by the stakeholders involved or does\u00a0not account for the other factors which influence decision-making, such as politics and culture. This\u00a0drove\u00a0me to\u00a0develop a new\u00a0service\u00a0which\u00a0combines\u00a0soft\u00a0(qualitative)\u00a0and hard\u00a0(quantitative)\u00a0approaches to guide groups through the decision-making process from start to finish, helping them to\u00a0gain valuable understanding\u00a0and be more\u00a0confident in taking action that will lead to\u00a0improvements..<\/p>\n
What makes\u00a0this service\u00a0stand out?<\/b><\/p>\n
Unlike traditional modelling, which usually involves a single stakeholder, the service I offer through\u00a0PartiSim\u00a0incorporates direct input from\u00a0several\u00a0stakeholders at\u00a0almost every\u00a0stage of the\u00a0decision-making\u00a0process, to develop\u00a0bespoke\u00a0models that are truly relevant and beneficial to those involved.\u00a0This is only possible thanks to\u00a0my\u00a0unique\u00a0expertise\u00a0and\u00a0collaboration with\u00a0a\u00a0multidisciplinary\u00a0team of researchers at Kent Business School\u00a0and external academic collaborators.<\/p>\n
Who can benefit from working with you?<\/b><\/p>\n
In short, anyone who\u00a0wants to\u00a0make,\u00a0and\u00a0act\u00a0on,\u00a0a critical\u00a0decision involving\u00a0multiple stakeholders.\u00a0I have primarily worked in health\u00a0care\u00a0but\u00a0I\u00a0work\u00a0\u00a0with\u00a0a wide range of\u00a0organisations.<\/p>\n
What can organisations expect from working with you?<\/b><\/p>\n
Our unique service takes stakeholders through the decision-making process using a step-by-step facilitated approach. Each \u2018step\u2019 is informed by the latest scientific research and can be tailor-made to the\u00a0problematic situation\u00a0at hand. This may be condensed into one session or take place over several in-person or virtual meetings, depending on its complexity.<\/p>\n
Are there any recent collaborations\u00a0you are\u00a0particularly proud of?<\/b><\/p>\n
I recently supported an Associate on\u00a0a Knowledge Transfer Partnership\u00a0with Eurostar<\/a>\u00a0to develop\u00a0a\u00a0a\u00a0computer simulation\u00a0model which mimicked platforms in London and Paris. This model was used to help\u00a0Eurostar\u00a0identify\u00a0key triggers which create queues for trains, which in turn informed the decision-making around the positioning of new border control stations at London St Pancreas.\u00a0I also supported the\u00a0Kent Resilience Forum<\/a>\u00a0through the challenge of online decision-making\u00a0at\u00a0silver and\u00a0gold\u00a0command meetings\u00a0during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n How can\u00a0we\u00a0get in touch\u00a0with you?<\/b><\/p>\n You can contact me directly at\u00a0k.kotiadis@kent.ac.uk.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Dr Kathy Kotiadis<\/a> is a Reader in Management Science\/Operational Research at Kent Business School and is an expert in developing quantitative and qualitative modelling approaches to support stakeholder engagement, primarily in Health Care.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Having to make a critical decision which involves multiple stakeholders can be a huge challenge for businesses, charities, and public sector organisations alike. Thankfully, Kent … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74553,"featured_media":12674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9890,124,19165],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12668"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12672,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12668\/revisions\/12672"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}