Dr Nikolai Kazantsev is a postdoctoral research associate at the Distributed Information and Automation Laboratory (DIAL) and works on Elastic Manufacturing Project. His research interests include:

• qualitative methods in operation and production management, which feed data to system dynamics or ontological engineering;
• exploring the role of product architecture to reduce cost drivers for elastic manufacturing systems, i.e., those able to scale output quickly and cost-effectively by provisioning and de-provisioning resources in an autonomic manner;
• developing the concept of 'capability buffer'  - the fourth type of uncertainty buffering in supply chains after inventories, idle capacities and lead time, which radically reduces costs of resilience to disruptions via collaborative responses.

Background

Nikolai received his PhD from the Alliance Manchester Business School, The University of Manchester, after the dissertation 'Supporting SME collaborations in low-volume high-variability manufacturing'.  His PhD was supported by the EU-funded project DIGICOR.

His later work on open data innovation was supported by Zoetis - the largest animal health company,  at INDEX - Centre for Digital Economy of the University of Exeter.

His papers have been published in journals such as Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, Decision Support Systems, Information and Management, among others.

In 2023, Nikolai joined the Early Career Editorial Board of the Journal of Strategic Information Systems (JSIS) and the Social Media Editors Board of the International Journal of Production and Operation Management (IJOPM).

In his free time, Nikolai plays the cello in Cambridge University Symphony Orchestra (CUSO) and sings in the choir at St Ephraim Orthodox Parish.