IFS researcher awarded AIM Fellowship

IFS Deputy Director, Rachel Griffith has been awarded a three year AIM Fellowship. AIM (Advanced Institute of Management) is the UK management research initiative set up jointly by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) and the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council). It is the first attempt to create a national team of researchers to address the key problems facing British business. AIM's mission is to improve understanding of management's contribution to organizational performance, and thus UK well-being. The more specific objectives are: to create and make readily available new research-based knowledge where new knowledge is needed; to improve the quality and quantity of management research capacity in the UK; and to develop the infrastructure to respond to additional needs for knowledge as they arise.

Anne Sigismund Huff, director of AIM, said that the three-year appointments are Britain's biggest investment ever in management research. She said: "The people we have appointed are already senior management researchers in their own right. They are being given fellowships to structure their work as they wish, not grants for a pre-specified piece of research. This means that they will have the time and resources to pursue key problems of their own choosing in areas such as innovation, UK productivity and ways of spreading good practice throughout British companies. They will be setting up networks across the UK to perform and disseminate their research, and discussing the issues internationally. Interactions with business leaders and policy makers will be one of their main commitments."

Ian Diamond, Chief Executive of the Economic and Social Research Council, said: "The idea of AIM is to increase UK capacity for management research that is intellectually strong, uses the best methodology and produces useful conclusions. These appointments are a massive step towards the objectives of AIM. We are especially pleased that the fellows come from across Britain. They are based in Scotland, Wales, the North of England and the Midlands as well as London and Oxford."

Ends

Notes to Editors

For more information about the Fellowship, contact Rachel Griffith, @email. Details of her research interests can be found on her personal web page.