Claire is an Associate Professor in Supply Chain at Heriot-Watt, specialising in research on end-to-end healthcare supply chains, after gaining her PhD in healthcare improvement in 2016. She holds a secondary role as Head of Research for the Marketing and Operations Department (sabbatical 2024-25), as part of the extended School Leadership team, working on Research Strategy, Governance and Staff Development activities. 

Claire's research specialises in operational improvement, procurement, and wider supply chain sustainability initiatives. She is particularly interested in how legal/policy initiatives survive and are sustained in their translation to procurement and supply activities. Current research is exploring how diversity is embedded into procurement and supply activities. This research informs Claire's teaching as she teaches Global Procurement and Supply and Operations Management at Post-graduate levels on the Edinburgh Campus. 

She was formerly Chair of the British Academy of Management Special Interest Group (SIG) for Operations, Logistics and Supply Chain Management (2018-2022) and was a founder member of the SIG. Prior to joining Heriot-Watt, she was a Lecturer in Operations and Supply Chain Management at Edinburgh Napier University (2013-2019) which included the delivery of courses and programmes in across the UK, in Hong Kong and Singapore. 

Prior to entering academia, Claire worked in FMCG for a decade in a variety of Operational and Supply Chain roles, after starting her career in retail. As a result of her practitioner background, she is an active volunteer of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS) as she sits on the East of Scotland Committee. This practice background also informs her empirical research where she has conducted work with the NHS in Scotland and England, National Services Scotland and Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. 

Claire welcomes applications from PhD students in the following areas:

Public Sector Improvement

Sustainable Procurement

Sustainable and Resilient Supply Chains