Bethan joined the IfM in October 2022 as a PhD student under the supervision of Dr Letizia Mortara. Bethan is part of the EPSRC-funded CDT in Agri-Food Robotics and Autonomous Systems (AgriFoRwArdS, grant reference: EP/ S023917/1) in collaboration with Samworth Brothers, a British food manufacturer.

As part of the AgriFoRwArdS programme, Bethan completed an MSc in Robotics and Autonomous Systems at the University of Lincoln. Her MSc thesis investigated whether the introduction of an augmented reality decision support system could improve the decision making of people solving a variable-sized bin packing optimisation task. Prior to the MSc, Bethan graduated from the IfM’s MET course with a first-class integrated MEng in Manufacturing Engineering.

Bethan joins others in the IfM looking at how digital technologies can support decision-making processes. In particular, her research explores how technologies facilitate knowledge integration and decision-making in manufacturing process innovation.