Dr Carla Pereira

Professional biography

Carla’s research interest covers different approaches in the supply chain management, such as risk, sustainability, food waste and resilience. She is also interested in lean thinking (manufacturing, distribution, construction and healthcare). From 2016 to 2021, Carla coordinated a research group in supply chain (Núcleo de Estudos e Pesquisa em Supply Chain), and following her move to the United Kingdom, is now a sitting member of it. Some of the research projects conducted within this group include The Role of Sustainable Practices in Resilient Supply Chains; The Influence of KPIs in creating Resilience in Supply Chains; and The Application of Lean Tools on Process Improvement. 

Additionally, Dr. Pereira is part of several broad projects in conjunction with the Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar) in resilience, food waste reduction and food recall (all of them from a supply chain perspective). These projects were financially supported by FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation). She is also working on a collaborative project between Polytechnique Montreal (Canada) and the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy) in digital maturity and resilient strategies for operations.

Currently, she is involved in a pilot project (funded by FBL research seedcorn funding) about ‘Exploring distinctive skills and capabilities required for supply chain professionals working in the service industry’. Another key areas of her current research interest are: ‘resilient practices as an alternative to deal with surplus food for human consumption’ (potential future proposal for PhD students) and ‘lean and sustainable approaches in the construction sites’ (master students’ supervision).

She has published in key academic journals in the area of O&SCM, such as the Journal of Cleaner Production, the International Journal of Production Economics, Supply Chain Management: an International Journal, and the Journal of Industrial and Production Engineering.

Carla is interested in supervising PhD researchers. For a fully-funded opportunity, please see our current adversited project call (DPO01 Dealing with surplus food for human consumption by adopting resilient practices.pdf (open.ac.uk)) for a starting time in Feb 2024. For further information on funding, eligibility and how to prepare a research application, please check the following PhD Studentships | The Open University Business School.

Carla's teaching experience in the O&SCM area is focused on different topics, such as project management, introduction to industrial engineering, project and plant design, production systems and lean manufacturing. She was also involved in teaching projects that aim to develop educational games to provide a more practical view of the theoretical concepts for the students. 

At the OU, She is currently teaching on:

• BB849 – Supply Chain Management (MBA) (as module chair and module team member)
• BXY230/330 – Work-based modules within the Chartered Manager Degree Apprenticeship (CMDA) (as module chair and module team member)

As a visiting lecturer in Brazil, she teaches on:

• How to prepare and submit a scientific paper (master’s level)
• Lean Construction (supporting teaching only – master’s level)

- Federal University of Sao Carlos (UFSCar / Brazil) funded by FAPESP

- State University of Santa Catarina (UDESC / Brazil) funded by FAPESC

- Polytechnique Montreal (Canada) and the Polytechnic University of Bari (Italy)

- Queen’s Management School / Queen’s University Besfast