About this role
Start date: 28/09/2026
Funding
Sponsored by Cranfield University, this full-time PhD Studentship will cover the PhD programme fees and provide an annual bursary of £20,780 (tax free) for three years for a Home or Overseas student.
Fee: Home and Overseas
Duration *: 3 years
1st Supervisor: Dr Mehdi Safavi
2nd Supervisor: Prof Andrey Pavlov
Opportunity Reference No: CRAN-0069
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This fully funded PhD studentship sponsored by Cranfield 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 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.
Main Copy (advised structure)
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.
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.
Funding
Sponsored by Cranfield University, this studentship will provide an annual bursary of £20,780 (tax free) plus all programme fees for three years. This opportunity is open to Home and Overseas candidates.
How to apply
For further information please contact:
Name: Dr Mehdi Safavi Email: [email protected]
If you are eligible to apply for this studentship, please complete the online application form.
We will also require a research proposal, Admissions will contact you to request this once your application has been received.
Keywords
Strategy, AI, Decision Making, Algorithmic Design, Research Project, Organizational Strategy PhD UK, PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Management, Strategy and Artificial Intelligence Research PhD, Sensemaking, Human-AI Decision Making PhD, Generative AI Research UK.