PREST
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 5906Fax: +44 (0)161 273 1123Email: Janet.Evans@man.ac.uk
(PREST)
1) Contact Details
Address: Mathematics Building, The University, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
Phone: +44 161 275 5921 (Research Office)
+44 161 275 5900 (Teaching Office)
Fax: +44 161 273 1123
Email: Lisa.Moore@man.ac.uk (Research Enquiries)
Lesley.Price@man.ac.uk (Teaching/SOCRATES Enquiries)
PREST WEB SITE: http://www.man.ac.uk/PREST
2) General description of centre
PREST is an institute of the University of Manchester, with over 20 full-time research staff. Founded in 1977, it is located in the Faculty of Economic and Social Studies, at the University of Manchester. PREST is also a member of the Manchester Federal School of Business and Management. In addition to its main Manchester site, PREST also has an office in London.
PREST provides independent analysis and information for those developing and implementing policy for science and technology. It undertakes research and advisory work on various aspects of science and technology policy and strategy, and provides research training through postgraduate degrees and topic-oriented courses.
The University of Manchester and UMIST have formed the Manchester Federal School of Business and Management to bring together the Manchester School of Management in UMIST, the Department of Accounting and Finance, the Programme of Policy Research in Engineering, Science and Technology (PREST) and the Manchester Business School in the University of Manchester.
Members of Staff in PREST
Executive Director:
Ian Miles, BSc (Manchester), Professor of Technological Innovation and Social Change
Directors:
Luke Georghiou, BSc and PhD (Manchester), Professor of Science and
Technology Policy and Management
Philip Gummett, BSc (Birmingham) MSc and PhD (Manchester), Professor of Government and Technology Policy
J. Stanley Metcalfe, BA Econ and MSc (Manchester), Professor of Political Economy
Peter Swann, MA (St Andrews) MSc (Bristol) PhD (London),
Professor of Economics and Management of Innovation
Research staff:
Katharine Barker, BSc (Bristol), MSc (Manchester), Research Fellow and MSc. Course Director Mark Boden, BSc MSc and PhD (Manchester) BA (London), Research Fellow.
Hugh Cameron, BA Econ and MA Econ (Manchester), Senior Research Fellow, MSc.Course Co-director
Deborah Cox, BSc (Manchester), MSc (Sheffield), Research Assistant.
Paul Cunningham, BSc (East Anglia) PhD (UCNW), Research Fellow.
Janet Evans, BSc (Bristol) MSc (Manchester), Research Fellow.
Philip Hills, BSc (Southampton) BA (Open), Professorial Fellow.
Jeremy Howells, PhD (Cambridge), Senior Research Fellow.
Andrew James, BSc, Msc (London), Research Associate.
Denis Loveridge, BSc (London), MPhil (Cambridge), Ceng, Honorary Simon Fellow.
Maria Nedeva, MA (Sofia) Msc, PhD (Manchester) Research Fellow.
Tim Ray, BTech (Bradford), MSc (Imperial) PhD (CNAA), Research Fellow.
Neville Reeve, BSc (Bradford) MSc (Imperial) PhD (Manchester), Research Fellow.
Josephine Anne Stein, BSc (MIT) MSc (Berkeley) PhD (MIT), Senior Research Fellow, Manager of PREST London Office
Penny Street, BSc (Sheffield) MSc (London), Research Associate
Secretarial/Administrative Staff:
Lisa MooreLesley PriceWendy Walker
3) PREST's main research areas
Innovation. PREST is at the forefront of theoretical and empirical studies of technological innovation and has developed a distinctive perspective in most of our work, founded in the new evolutionary economics. This perspective stresses the dynamic aspects of technical change, and the interplay between technological development and user requirements which takes place in the context of a competitive environment. A recent stream of work extends innovation research to the service sector, where we are paying attention to services as producers as well as users of innovation. The national context is examined through studies of innovation systems and policies. We also have devoted numerous studies to generic technologies and to the impact of environmental challenges on the innovation process.
Evaluation. Policy makers need an informed basis on which they can make decisions about the allocation of R&D resources between competing areas, and can ascertain the value for money achieved from their decisions. Evaluation is also a learning process for the conduct of research and innovation: questions of the organisation and management of R&D are very much to the fore. Our work in this area includes not only the execution of evaluations, but also the development of methodology to be used in this process, and the design of evaluation and assessment systems which can be used by policymakers and funding agencies. PREST's international standing in this area of research is underscored by the wide range of organisations for whom projects have been undertaken.
Science Policy Studies. Analysis and assessment of the impact and effectiveness of national and international science and technology policy is a continuing theme at PREST. Research covers a wide spectrum of activity which links longer-term projects aimed at furthering understanding, with shorter-term investigations responding to the needs of clients. Recent work in this area includes examinations of national science policy systems, studies of scientific capital and labour, and work on indicators.
Prospectives. PREST has long been a centre for studies which take a prospective view on the development of science and technology. These studies aim to provide information about factors affecting the nature and scope of particular areas of development, and are thus intended to be of use in the management of R&D and at the policy level. Often the results are of more general interest, as is particularly apparent in the case of the studies we performed for the Office of Science and Technology's Technology Foresight programme. Our research in this domain includes methodological and applied projects, including both those with a broad scope and those applied to particular areas of technology.
PREST's research also often focuses on specific areas of technology. Major areas examined in recent years are Information Technology, including mobile communications and multimedia, new materials, and "clean" technology, including energy efficiency systems and renewable energy sources, and the role of environmental services in disseminating such innovations.
CRIC - Centre for Research into Innovation and Competitive Environments
PREST is a partner in this ESRC-funded research centre, which has been
operating since January 1997. The directors of this centre are Professors
Metcalfe and Miles, together with Professor Rod Coombs (Manchester School
of Management, UMIST) and Professor Huw Benyon (Dept of Sociology, University
of Manchester). The aims of the centre are to generate leading-edge research
on the themes of innovation and competitiveness, examining especially the
role of systems and networks in these phenomena. In addition to an extensive
programme of projects and publications, CIRC is developing a variety of
links with policy and industrial users of the work.
4) Teaching Activities - Graduate School
Postgraduate and post-experience training are vital complements to PREST's research activities. Over 30 postgraduates interact with staff and participate fully in internal and external seminar programmes. PREST's main taught course activity lies in the provision of the MSc in Technical Change and Industrial Strategy. This one year full time course offers a high-level grounding in science and technology policy studies and technology management. It focuses particularly on the relations between public policy and industrial strategy, offering a wide-ranging theoretical background together with project-based experience of practical techniques actually used by policy makers. The strong international research environment of PREST informs the course units and offers research opportunities to students when pursuing their dissertations.
The most common route into our graduate programme is through our M.Sc. course. This comprises six months of training and coursework followed by a six month research dissertation. The aim is to provide a strong foundation in relevant knowledge and skills and to develop an understanding of research methods, design and practice. Suitably qualified students may transfer after a year onto the doctoral programme. PREST's Doctoral Programme supports students working across the range of PREST interests.
Our graduate programme currently consists of 30 to 35 students, including about 15 M.Sc. students and about 20 Ph.D. students. Approximately half of them are overseas students, typically working as professionals within Ministries of Science and Technology. The PREST PhD programme operates within the University of Manchester Graduate School of Social Science, where students participate in common research training courses and which provides for faculty-wide quality assurance in doctoral training and research.
Our graduate programme is one of the few centres in the UK of any size offering postgraduate training in its field. It is recognised for the receipt of studentships by the Economic and Social Research Council. Its strong international reputation ensures a steady supply of overseas students and visiting staff. It is well placed to draw upon the wider teaching and research resources available both within the Faculty of Economic and Social Studies and the Faculty of Science. It also benefits from close collaboration with the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine. PREST is also an active participant in the Manchester Federal School of Business and Management, which offers further possibilities for teaching and research.
MSc in Technical Change and Industrial Strategy - Course Modules:
NB: SOCRATES students may attend courses within this MSc subject
to the timing of their stay in PREST and their course credit requirements.
Induction to PREST - core module, first semester
The first week of the course is taken up with an introduction to PREST staff and main research programmes, group discussions on science, technology and innovation studies, specialist tour of the library, introductions to the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Federal School of Business and Management, and full explanation of the course structure, regulations, and requirements of students. There is an optional session on essay writing, and students are required to submit a non-assessed essay.
Course Coordinator(s): Kate BARKER
Workforms: Lecture/Discussion/Guided Campus Visits
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 20
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: None
Computing for Social Scientists - core module, first semester
Module provided by the Graduate School of Social Sciences. Covers networks, email and the internet, Word for Windows, Access for Windows, and SPSS for Windows, taught through tutorials with problem solving exercises for students to complete at the terminals.
Course Coordinator(s): A.TICE, P.BULL, M.CAMPBELL
Workforms: Tutorials/Practical Exercises
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 25
Form of Assessment: Practcial Exercises
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 10 Special Credits
PR 104 Science and Technology Policy: concepts and issues - core module, first semester
This module presents the main concerns of science and technology policy and its historical development, examines key generic issues and compares national systems. Topics covered include science and technology policies in the UK, Europe, US, Japan and former USSR, the balance between military and civil R&D, foresight and the emergence of innovation policies. The construction of comparative approaches is emphasised, including examination of statistics and appreciation of national contexts.
Course Coordinator(s): Kate BARKER
Workforms: Lectures/Discussions
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR 105 Social Structures and Behaviour in Science and Technology - core module, first semester
This module covers social analysis of science and technology: the functioning of scientific institutions and research systems, the normative structures of science, gender issues, and social shaping of technology, network approaches and the relevance to policy making and analysis.
Course Coordinator(s): Dr Maria NEDEVA
Workforms: Lectures/Discussions
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR 103 Economics and Technological Change - core module, first semester
This module describes the approaches taken by various schools of
economic thought in addressing issues of technological change. The first
part concentrates on neo-classical analysis, covering the scope and methodology
of the framework, and then the micro-economic analysis of markets, production
theory and coverage of technological change itself, including economic
growth, new growth theory and market structure. Other schools of economic
thought which have emphasised the importance of technological change are
introduced later in the module. These include Schumpeter and the later
Austrians, and the development of later evolutionary theories.
Course Coordinator(s): Hugh CAMERON
Workforms: Lectures/Discussions
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR 102 Economic History of Technical Change - core module, first semester
Presents concepts of technical change through historical case studies: concepts of technology, technology and economic growth, paradigms, trajectories and competences, knowledge and skills, inducement mechanisms and product cycle models, entrepreneurship, social construction approaches and models of innovation.
Course Coordinator(s): Professor J. Stanley METCALFE
Workforms: Lectures
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR 101 Technology Strategy - core module, first semester
The unit covers the ways in which firms make technological choices and how they implement them, examining management issues and associated policy issues: knowledge acquisition and the science base, technology and competitiveness, organisation of technological development, technological collaboration, company foresight and implications of environmental concerns.
Course Coordinator(s): Professor Luke GEORGHIOU
Workforms: Lectures/Discussions
Number of Formal Contact Hours:16
Form of Assessment:Coursework (Presentation and Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR 112 Investment Appraisal - core module, first semester
A two week module, it introduces students to the formal economic analysis of investment decisions, providing the main framework in which commercial and public sector decisions about technology strategy and policy are made. Concepts of inter-temporal choice and formal investment appraisal indicators such as NPV, IRR and payback are taught. Most of the work consists of guided case-studies and students in groups develop a detailed investment analysis of a large project, including computer modelling of risk on spread sheets.
Course Coordinator(s): Hugh CAMERON
Workforms: Lectures/Discussion
Number of Formal Contact Hours:16
Form of Assessment: Group Project and Presentation
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
Evaluation of Science and Technology Policies - core module, second semester
Presents the context for and methods applied to the evaluation of research, and evaluation of science and technology policies. General principles of evaluation are conveyed, together with the particular concerns of science and technology policy evaluations - setting a frame of reference, collecting data, bibliometrics and technometrics, statistical data and qualitative data collection.
Course Coordinator(s): Professor Philip HILLS, Kate BARKER
Workforms: Lectures, Practical Exercises
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 30
Form of Assessment: Group Work and Individual Essays
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR 107 Case-studies in Technology Management and Competitive Performance - optional module, second semester
Building on the core modules Technology Strategy and Economics of Technological Change, the unit examines theoretical treatments of the nature and operation of the innovating firm through a series of empirical examples: the construction industry, operations in large firms, Japanese companies, service industries, project management and the effects of regulation on the rate and direction of technological change.
Course Coordinators: Dr Mark BODEN, Andrew JAMES
Workforms: Lectures/Discussions
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Group Projects and Presentations
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR115 EU R&D Policy - optional module, second semester
Covers the history and development of European technology policy, the implementation of European Union research policy, the structure and development of the Framework Programme, policy making in the EU and the impact of EU science and technology policy. It builds upon the core module on science and technology policy.
Course Coordinator(s): Dr. Josie STEIN
Workforms: Lectures/Discussions
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR109 Environment, Technology and Society - optional module, second semester
The unit conveys key environmental concepts, the development and impacts of environmental policies and the principles of environmental management and auditing. It looks at the implications for technologies, such as for energy, manufacturing and materials, pollution control and market reorientation. A joint scenario workshop on sustainable urban living is held with the option Technology Assessment. Social approaches are compared with technological solutions. The unit builds upon the core modules on Social Structures in Science and Technology, Technology Strategy, Economics of Technological Change and Science and Technology Policy.
Course Coordinator(s): Dr Paul CUNNINGHAM
Workforms: Lectures, Discussions, Workshop
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Group Project and Presentation
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
PR108 Innovation and Markets - optional module, second semester
Building upon the core modules Economics of technological change, Economic history of technical change and Technology strategy, the unit studies how innovation influences the behaviour of markets and how market structure and rivalry influence innovation behaviour. It considers key strategic questions firms must consider when innovating: innovation over the product life cycle, costs and product characteristics, market demand for new products and services, dominant designs and standards, advertising, and product launch.
Course Coordinator(s): Professor Peter SWANN
Workforms:Lectures/Discussions
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 16
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Essay)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
Research Methods for Science, Technology and Innovation Studies - core module, first and second semesters
This module covers knowledge claims in science and social science, collection and uses of existing statistics, data sources for STIS on the internet, experimental design in science and social science (comparative approach), use and design of case studies, surveys (written questionnaires, telephone, face to face), ethnographic approaches, statistical analysis in economics and social science, project planning and validity of knowledge claims. The course emphasises the multi-disciplinary nature of STIS, and provides practical learning through group assignments. It supports the development of a research question, methodological approach and research design of the M.Sc. dissertations.
Course Coordinator(s):
Workforms: Lectures/Discussion/Practical Exercises
Number of Formal Contact Hours: 35
Form of Assessment: Coursework (Group and Individual)
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 5
Transferable Personal Skills - core module, first semester
This module is taught interactively over 3.5 days, the students working in small groups in a class of around 24 in total. It covers communication skills, teamworking, leadership, time management, presentation, self assessment, IPR, and ethics in social science research. Students assess themselves and their peers and their presentations are videoed.
Course Coordinator(s): D. CUMMINGS
Workforms: Lectures/Practical Exercises
Number of Formal Contact Hours:23
Form of Assessment: Reports, Learning Log, Video-taped Presentation
Language of Instruction: English
Credits: 10 Special Credits
Entrance Requirements
Students are accepted into the programme only after evidence has been presented of a good standard in their undergraduate degree, supplemented by at least two positive academic references and, where necessary, English language tests. The University offers English language courses through English Language Teaching Unit. Applicants are normally interviewed by a panel of at least two staff. Further information is available concerning entrance requirements for our M.Sc. course
Where interviewing overseas candidates is not possible, additional evidence of their standards and prior experience is sought. This is particularly important for PhD. applicants, from whom we may seek written material that they have produced in the course of their work. We also expect in such cases a particularly well worked out plan for the research project.
For further detailed information and application forms please contact: Lesley Price (Postgraduate Secretary).
SOCRATES students are accepted subject to agreement between network
partners and may attend PREST courses depending on timing and availability.
Further Information
Further information on graduate study in Manchester and on life in Manchester in general is available on request from the post graduate secretary and via links to the PREST world wide web site.
PREST Publications
Many of PREST's publications are reports to UK government bodies or the European Comission. Reports to UK government bodies are often published by and can be obtained from HMSO. Similarly, reports to the European Commision are often published by and can be obtained from EUR-OP, the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.
When not available in the open literature, other publications may be available directly from PREST. For further information, please contact:
PREST
Tel: +44 (0)161 275 5906Fax: +44 (0)161 273 1123Email: Janet.Evans@man.ac.uk