Major Projects Association PhD Research Grants
In 2010 the Major Projects Association established a grant for PhD students. In 2011 the Board of Directors increased the funding available in order to offer two distinct grants which are open to PhD students undertaking research in any discipline relating to the undertaking of complex major projects. The grants are as follows:
One-off Grant
The One-off Grant is intended to meet a specific need which a student can demonstrate will enhance their work – this might be to travel to a conference or to enable core research interviews. The maximum value of this grant is £1,000. Applicants must specify how much money they require. There is one One-off Grant available each year.
The Peter Morris Memorial Grant
We have renamed our Long Term Grant in honour of Professor Peter Morris who passed away in September 2021. Peter was one of the first academics to study major projects at PhD level so it is fitting that we support those following in his footsteps in his honour. This grant is intended as longer term support to enable a successful applicant to engage fully with the members of the Major Projects Association. The successful candidate would be asked to demonstrate long term engagement with the Association as well as the expected financial controls and quality of work. The maximum value of this grant is £2,000 per annum for a maximum of 3 years. There is one Long Term Grant available each year.
General Guidelines
Applicants must be undertaking PhD research at an academic institution which is a member of the Major Projects Association.
The grants are available for those at any stage in their research provided they can explain how the grant could enhance their work and how their work could be of practical benefit to members of the Association. This could include those who wanted to develop academically a hypothesis from their practical observation of working on a project.
Applicants for either grant will be judged using the following criteria:
- The work must be of significance to the objectives of the Major Projects Association.
- Excellence of research.
- The ability of the grant to enhance the research and make a difference to the work.
- The degree to which the research could foster stronger links between practitioners and academics.
- The degree to which the research could enhance the external profile of the Association.
- The acid test – would Major Projects Association members attend an event to hear the outcomes of the research?
There is a separate application form for each of the two grants. Please ensure you use the correct form and in each case attach your CV.
Download One-Off Grant Application form
Download Long-Term Grant Application form
Conditions of the grants
Successful applicants will be required to:
- Meet with a representative of the Association together with their supervising tutor
- Present (interim or final) research findings at an appropriate event during or after the period of their grant
- Produce a report at the end of the period of the grant giving evidence of how the grant has been spent and how it has enhanced the research
- Take part in appropriate promotion of the grant and the Association – this might take the form of press releases or interviews
- Provide the Association with a copy of their final PhD research to be made available on the Association website
Successful applicants will be encouraged to:
- Liaise with members of the Association as appropriate
- Attend Major Projects Association events throughout the period of the grant – it will considered appropriate to use the grant to pay travel expenses
- Maintain contact with the Association after the period of the grant
- Capitalise on the Association’s network by engaging with members whose work is of direct relevance to the research
Adjudication
Applications will be evaluated by a panel of members of the Association appointed by the Major Projects Association. The panel will determine the recipients of the grants based on the excellence of the proposed research and its practical value. The decision of the panel will be final.
Timetable
Following advice from our academic members, the deadline for applications is 31st October 2026. Applications can be received at any time and judging will take place in early December 2026. All applicants will be informed of the outcome before the end of December 2026.
If you have any questions please contact manon.bradley@majorprojects.org.
Accounting for grant expenditure
You will be asked to account for how the grant has been spent and will be expected to provide receipts of expenditure.
For more information contact:
Manon Bradley +44 (0)1865 818030
email: manon.bradley@majorprojects.org
Grant Recipients
Work completed includes building the first comprehensive UK database of 170 AIPs. The study employs a sequential mixed-methods design, operating across macro, meso, and micro levels, beginning with quantitative analysis of the database to identify abandonment patterns. This, then, informs the selection of in-depth case studies, involving extensive document analysis and interviews with key stakeholders including project owners, decision-makers and community representatives – to capture diverse perspectives on institutional pressures.
The expected impact is threefold. Theoretically, the study will advance stakeholder theory by systematically incorporating institutional perspectives. Practically, it will offer policymakers and managers guidance for navigating complex institutional environments and identifying derailment mechanisms. And ultimately, it aims to provide a robust explanatory model to mitigate the significant economic and social costs of project abandonment.
This study aims to expand knowledge about how leaders in projects make the future of energy transition by analysing how they envision challenges, negotiate power relations, and facilitate innovative practices at the front-end stage of project strategizing and organising. The research will conduct multi-source qualitative research methods including case studies of 2-3 energy transition projects in the UK, which emphasise projects as the intervention between natural environment issues and uncertain future to enact change, and practitioners’ practice is likely to shape the possible future and the pathway of energy transition.
The research is aligned with efforts to support the UK’s energy transition political strategies and net-zero targets. Yet the project studies largely ignore the energy transition projects and manage their enabled changes and challenges for the project define, design, and decision-making towards the future. Considering this context, the establishment of close relationships with project/programme leaders managing large-scale energy transition initiatives and transformation values can generate efficient contributions for both academics and practitioners in project management and energy transitions.
While Building Information Modelling (BIM) can be adopted to promote Project Management (PM) in construction projects, BIM’s benefits differ for each project. One of the essential reasons for this result is that projects adopt various BIM Uses based on the goals they want to achieve. However, most existing research only studies BIM as one without breaking it down and exploring the impact of specific BIM use in PM.
This PhD research adopts mixed methods to examine what various BIM Uses contribute to PM and contains a field study of proper projects to explore how these benefits are generated. It enables the project owners and teams to visibly know what kind of contribution each BIM Use could provide to PM. Nevertheless, more importantly, it could guide the project team to select suitable BIM Uses in the initial stage of a project based on their PM objectives. Therefore, PM efficiency and sustainability would be precisely improved by using it.
Presently, he is undertaking a PhD in delay analysis which aims to improve the delivery of projects by creating and testing a conceptual model for significant and measurable reduction in dispute resolution-related transaction costs, particularly those associated with the analysis and quantification of construction project delays.
The objectives of this research are to:
1) Identify the state of the art about advantages and disadvantages of modularization in major projects
2) Investigate how modularization impact on the design and construction of major projects in general, SMRs in particular
3) Investigate how modularization impact on the operation of major projects in general. SMRs in particular
4) Investigate how modularization impact on the decommissioning of major projects in general, SMRs in particular
5) Understand how the circular economy paradigm can reshape the principles presented in 2, 3, and 4.
The final scope of this research project is to develop new knowledge filling the gap in knowledge explained above and to provide guidelines to both practitioners and academics on the expected consequences of modularization on the design, construction, operation and decommissioning of major projects in general (SMRs in particular) from a “project management” point of view.
This study aims to expand the knowledge about the management of megaprojects analysing how the legacy of best practices and delivery models from the last successful megaprojects (Heathrow Terminal 5, London Olympics 2012 and Crossrail) is being applied to the next generation of one-off complex infrastructure projects. This research will conduct real time case-studies at Thames Tideway Tunnel and High Speed 2, which are landmark megaprojects and their activities are likely to be emulated by others.
The research is aligned with MPA’s priority to support the Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) in the development of Project X, which aims to create excellency in the delivery of UK government major programmes. Considering this context, the establishment of a close relationship with an owner/operator that has a multi-billion pipeline of projects for the next decades can generate interesting outputs to a wide audience of academics and practitioners.
For some years now, our industry has acknowledged the criticality of collaboration and there are contractual and standards frameworks which aim to encourage good practice and collaborative working relationships. However, there are still examples of where things have not always been totally successful. Mega and major projects also provide a specific context for consideration given their scale, complexity and often the timescale over which they are delivered. My area for investigation is therefore around what factors support or hinder a consistent and sustained approach to collaboration between teams in these kinds of temporary organization rather than consider the justification of collaboration itself.
My research is of direct relevance to the MPA and its member organizations as major and mega projects provide the specific context for my area of interest. This interest has been inspired through my own experience working on mega projects and interactions at MPA events and with MPA members throughout my career. An enhanced connection with the MPA through my grant will ensure that my research, as developed, remains relevant to members including member organisations with whom I am not already connected and current or emerging issues can influence my thinking. As my knowledge is developed, I will be able to share this with the MPA membership through participation in events and presenting my findings as this becomes appropriate through web articles, papers or presentation.
Most of the data sources for his research can be fulfilled by the operational Local Education Partnerships and their contractual and financial PPP/PFI development and delivery structures. The grant will also help disseminate his findings in industry.
The grant will help to facilitate data gathering from different participating organisations for the first phase using case studies and the second phase which will verify and validate the findings using a survey. Gloria hopes that this research will help organisations have a better way to account for the value derived from project management.
Alex hopes such empirical testing will shed an objective light on the assertion that procurement method is a significant determinant of a project’s operational performance. To date he has already undertaken two considerable analyses of social infrastructure concerning hospitals and schools, which suggest there are differences in aspects of the operational cost and performance between facilities procured via the PFI procurement route and that of more conventionally procured facilities. The MPA Long term PhD grant funding will be used by Alex to undertake industry consultations to verify the accuracy of the central government datasets used to benchmark operational performance. The consultations will also serve to inform and guide the ongoing PhD investigation to provide practitioner relevant findings and implications.
The topic of Dr Turner’s research was that of organisational learning in complex projects, a key area within the industry and the necessity to balance ‘exploitation’ (refinement and incremental improvement of existing knowledge and processes) together with ‘exploration’ (innovation, knowledge creation and problem-solving). Dr Turner tells us that organisations are generally better at one than the other, but project management inherently requires that both be present. This is known as ‘ambidexterity’, an emerging field within academic research that is shown to enhance organisational performance. Dr Turner’s PhD is entitled: ‘The Management of Ambidexterity – An Intellectual Capital Perspective’.