University of Derby professor receives international research award

A University of Derby professor of Operations Management has been presented with the prestigious Outstanding Researcher award at a conference in Bandung, Indonesia, in front of 300 delegates from around 50 countries.

Professor Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes received the award at the 8^th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management (IEOM), in recognition of his research and achievements in Operational and Supply Chains Sustainability.

The IEOM conference provides a forum for academics, researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas, identify trends and foster networking and collaboration to advance the theory and practice of Industrial Engineering and Operations Management.

In this area, Professor Garza-Reyes is currently leading a number of international research projects funded by the British Academy, British Council and Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology. Through this research, he has published numerous books and articles in highly ranked international journals and conferences.

Professor Garza-Reyes also delivered a key note speech at the conference on the contribution that the industrial engineering and operations management fields have made towards environmental sustainability. His speech was delivered as part of a group of internationally recognised and prestigious industrialists and scholars.

He also collaborated on a paper which won the IEOM Society’s Best Track Paper Award in the Sustainable Manufacturing category. The paper, ‘Using the Delphi method to verify a framework to implement sustainability initiatives’, was led by his PhD student Bruno Gallotta and also written with Dr Tony Anosike from the University.

A further paper, ‘Innovation and growth in family-owned Mexican SMEs’ was named Best Track Paper in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation category. The paper was written by Professor Garza-Reyes, his PhD student Simon Pater Nadeem, and international collaborators from the University of the West of England and Mexico’s Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes and Universidad de Guadalajara.  

Professor Garza-Reyes said: “These awards demonstrate the internationally recognised research carried out at the University of Derby. I am sure that these achievements will serve as a foundation for further and more intense international collaborations, as well as motivation for our PhD students to engage in and develop high standard research.”