KLU Best Dissertation Award goes to Dr. Tim Schlaich
Dr. Tim Schlaich wins the 2025 KLU Best Dissertation Award for his outstanding doctoral thesis on food supply chain transformation. Dr. Schlaich was presented the prize, which is sponsored by the prestigious Dr. Friedrich Jungheinrich Foundation and endowed with 1,000 euros, at the KLU graduation ceremony on September 19.
“My research seeks to make a contribution to transforming food supply chains, and the food sector more broadly, which may be moving more slowly than other sectors in terms of digitalization and the green transition,” explains Dr. Schlaich. His thesis, Transforming Food Supply Chains: Technology-driven Approaches to Optimization and Design, consists of three papers that combine both analytical and entrepreneurial perspectives.
Highlighting the potential of new technologies and supply chain information
One research stream focuses on supply chain analytics, exploring how novel technologies and data sources along the supply chain can help decision makers optimize operations.
One of his papers, which demonstrates how point-of-sale data from supermarket checkout systems can help retail suppliers improve their forecasts, has been published in the European Journal of Operational Research. The second paper of his thesis investigates the use of Internet of Things (IoT) inventory sensors that allow farmers to track feed levels in silos.
“In the past, farmers had to knock on the silo walls to guess how much feed was left inside, but now with technology they can gain real-time visibility into inventory levels, and this helps them make better ordering decisions,” Dr. Schlaich, currently Assistant Professor of Supply Chain Management at Copenhagen Business School, explains.
Award-winning paper on entrepreneurial operations
“The other research stream looks at more disruptive approaches, so instead of improving what we already have, we explore the emergence of new systems. I look at entrepreneurial operations, which is the interface between entrepreneurship and supply chain management. I'm interested in how start-ups create supply chains in nascent industries.”
The third chapter of Dr. Schlaich’s thesis, co-authored with KLU Professor Kai Hoberg and Professor Benn Lawson of the University of Oxford, explores how entrepreneurial firms shape and scale their supply chains in the nascent plant-based meat industry. This paper won the Harry Boer Student Paper Award at the EurOMA operations management conference in Milan this year.
An outstanding scholarly contribution
Professor Sönke Albers, Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Innovation and Honorary Senator at KLU, was lavish in his praise for Dr. Schlaich’s work when presenting the Best Dissertation Award on behalf of the Dr. Jungheinrich Foundation.
“Dr. Schlaich’s dissertation makes an outstanding contribution through its originality and framing, its novelty and methodological execution, and its interdisciplinary nature,” he said. “Each of the three project papers in the dissertation introduces a new lens on food supply chains, capturing different technological and behavioral levels for improvement.”
Dr. Schlaich, whose thesis was co-supervised by KLU Professors Kai Hoberg (Supply Chain and Operations Strategy) and Sandra Tranchel (Supply Chain and Operations Management), said he was honored to have received the award.
"It's cool to receive such an award, because it shows appreciation for your work, it shows you that what you're working on has value, is important. This fuels my motivation, shows me I'm on track, and makes me happy. It makes me feel that I made the right choice to stay in academia, which is not always the easiest path to tread."
