Dr Khadija Tahera

Professional biography

I am a Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management in the Department of People and Organisations at Business School. Before joining the Open University, I worked as a Lecturer and then a Senior Lecturer in the School of Computing and Engineering at the University of Huddersfield. I have also worked as a researcher at Cranfield University and consultant at the University of the Arts London.

I have completed a PhD in  “The Role of Testing in the Engineering Design Processes” in the Department of Engineering and Innovation at The Open University. I have earned two MSc degrees, one in Astronautics and Space Engineering from Cranfield University, UK and the other from Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, under the Erasmus Mundus Joint European Masters Programme. I have a BSc in Computer Engineering.

Research interests

My research interest is in improving Testing for Sustainable product design and Manufacturing and Circular design and manufacturing and in particular:

• Integration of Virtual and Physical testing
• Digitalisation of the testing processes 
• Complex process modelling and analysis

Recent projects: 

Project Title: Knowledge Transfer Project (KTP) on "The RightSize Design Service(RSDS)", Innovate UK (2024 – 2026) . Project partners: The Open University and Low Carbon Europe (LCE). Collaborators: Prof Claudia Eckert (Academic supervisor) and Dr Khadija Tahera (Supporting Academic).

Project Title: InterAct Actionable Insight project to develop "An interactive online tool for prioritising verification, validation and testing activities to support human decision-making"  ESRC, Made Smarter funded InterAct Network+( 2023-2024), Principal Investigator: Dr Khadija Tahera.                  

Teaching interests

I teach Operations and Supply Chain Management, Project Management, Production Management, and MSc Final-year Engineering projects.

 Teaching interests:

• Circular design and sustainable product development 
• System engineering 
• Project management
• Risk management and resilience 
• Operations and Production management
• Lean manufacturing

PhD student supervision:

1. Project title:  “Adaptive project planning” commencing in Oct 2024 

2. Project title: Improve Project Communication During a Project Lifecycle

     Feb 2023- Present      Lead supervisor of Timothy Stevenson, with Dr Bjorn.Claes.

3. Project title: Designing Supply Chain Performance Measurement System Incorporating Sustainability and Resilience to Disruptions

    Feb 2022-Present       Supervisor of Mr Ankith Kamalakshi Ramesh, with Dr Nicoleta Tipi (Lead supervisor)

4. Project title: Decision-making Framework for Virtual and Physical Testing in Engineering Product Development Process

    Oct 2019-Present        Supervisor of Mosope Olaniyan, with Prof Andrew Longstaff, University of Huddersfield

Accepting PhD students. Please click here for more details of a Fully-funded PhD studentship ( look under Department of People and Organisations( DPO))

Impact and engagement

InterAct Actionable Insight project:

This project has developed a systematic method of analysing critical requirements and influences on VVT activity for new technology development and manufacturing. The development of new digital technology needs extensive verification, validation and testing (VVT). Implementing an effective way of analysing the requirements of different stakeholders, i.e., the customer’s voice, regulations and business’s voice and how these requirements must be considered often poses a significant challenge.

This free Interactive online tool allows users to visually analyse the transition of requirements from risk analysis to prioritisation and the impact of these choices. 

Access the online tool 

Watch the tool demonstration Webinar recording