PHD SPECIALISATION
Decision
Decision Sciences is an interdisciplinary field that draws on economics, forecasting, statistical decision theory and cognitive psychology.
Introduction
Broadly speaking, the area addresses three fundamental and inter-related questions: First, how should a “rational” person make decisions? This ‘normative’ question is at the heart of economics, and often serves as a baseline for evaluating human decision-making. Second, how do people really make decisions? Recent research has explored the ways in which people are “boundedly rational”, and utilise rules of thumb and shortcuts to formulate judgments and to choose among alternatives. Finally, given what the faculty know about rational decision making and actual behaviour, ‘how can we help people, especially managers, improve their decision-making?’ Researchers employ a variety of techniques to improve decision-making, ranging from sharpening statistical intuition to quantitative decision analysis.
The Decision Sciences area includes an intellectually diverse faculty that tackles the above questions from many perspectives, bringing together traditions in mathematics, statistics, economics and psychology.
Faculty expertise and research interests
- Risk management
- Decision-making under uncertainty
- Statistics and forecasting
- Operations research
- Revenue management
- Negotiation and auction analysis, and
- Behavioural decision theory
What we’re looking for
Ideal candidates tend to have strong backgrounds in economics, mathematics and statistics (or related fields), with outstanding degrees in rigorous disciplines and a desire to do theoretical research.
Students may come with little or no work experience, or as experienced professionals who have worked in research, consultancy, manufacturing, etc. Although not essential when applying, prior research experience is helpful.