EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Agri-Food Robotics: AgriFoRwArdS - Bethan Moncur

Bethan Moncur

  • University of Cambridge in collaboration with Samworth Brothers

Research Interests

Bethan’s research interests include, food manufacturing, strategic technology management, and industrial sustainability.

Publications

Presentations

  • “Augmented Reality to Help Humans Solve Complex Problems” (poster) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2022 [June 2022] – Lincoln, UK.
  • “Towards Open Source Hardware Robotic Woodwind: an Internal Duct Flute Player” (oral) – International Computer Music Conference (ICMC) 2022 [July 2022] – Online.
  • “Poisson Distributions: Fisheries for the Future” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School 2022 [July 2022] – Norwich, UK.
  • “Deciding to implement emerging technologies: the help of digital technologies in planning for the implementation of robotics and autonomous systems in food manufacturing firms” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Quarterly PhD Research Progress Meeting [January 2023] – Online.
  • “The Preparation and dish up of an English Breakfast with Robots” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School 2023 [March 2023] – Lincoln, UK.
  • “Integrating Multiple Perspectives in Technology Management Decisions” (poster) – University of Cambridge’s Institute for Manufacturing First Year PhD Conference 2023 [May 2023] – Cambridge, UK.
  • “Using Value Stream Mapping to Integrate Multiple Perspectives in Manufacturing Process Innovation” (poster) – The International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) Innovation Conference 2023: Innovation and Circular Economy [June 2023] – Ljubljana, Slovenia.
  • “Augmented Reality to Reduce Cognitive Load in Operational Decision-Making” (oral) – 25th International Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (HCII2023) [July 2023] – Copenhagen, Denmark.
  • “Deciding to implement emerging technologies: the help of digital technologies in planning for the implementation of robotics and autonomous systems in food manufacturing firms” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Quarterly PhD Research Progress Meeting [July 2023] – Norwich, UK.
  • “Deciding to Implement Emerging Technologies: the Use of Digital Technologies in Planning the Implementation of Robotics and Autonomous Systems (RAS) in Food Manufacturing Firms” (poster) – Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (TAROS) 2023 / AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2023 / Joint Robotics CDT Annual Conference 2023 [September 2023] – Cambridge, UK.
  • “How boundary objects facilitate knowledge integration in small groups” (oral) – International Society for Professional Innovation Management (ISPIM) Innovation Conference 2024 [June 2024] – Tallinn, Estonia.
  • “Supporting the implementation of automation in food manufacturing” (poster) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Quarterly PhD Research Progress Meeting [June 2024] – Cambridge, UK.
  • “Responsible Adoption (Ethical, Legal, Social, Environmental Aspects, Considerations)” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School: Robotic Phenotyping [July 2024] – Wageningen, The Netherlands.
  • “Supporting the implementation of automation in food manufacturing” (poster) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Summer School: Robotic Phenotyping [July 2024] – Wageningen, The Netherlands.
  • “Production simulations to support innovation decisions” (oral) – AgriFoRwArdS CDT Annual Conference 2024: Robots in Action [July 2024] – Norwich, UK.

Other Activities

  • Member of the Institute for Manufacturing First Year PhD Conference 2023 Conference organising committee.
  • Member of the Strategic Technology and Innovation Management (STIM) Consortium.
  • Lead a ‘hot topic discussion’, on integrating different perspectives in decision-making about manufacturing process innovation, at ISPIM 2023 (Ljubljana, Slovenia).
  • British Science Week (School Outreach) demonstrations and stall (Mar22).

About me

My name is Bethan and I am excited to have joined the CDT in 2021. I come from Surrey and am pleased to have moved to Lincoln to explore a new part of the UK. I spend most of my spare time playing hockey, but I also love cooking and hiking.

Before joining the CDT, I was studying manufacturing engineering at the University of Cambridge, where I will be returning to complete my PhD. I chose to join the CDT to equip myself with the skills needed to address the challenges facing the food chain, such as population growth and climate change, and I would like to have a career that improves the social and environmental impacts associated with food production.

MSc Project

Augmented Reality to Help Humans Solve Complex Problems

Decision making occurs at all levels of an organisation, from day-to-day operational decisions through to long-term strategic decisions. Complex and fast-paced environments with high levels of uncertainty can be overwhelming for humans, resulting in sub-optimal decisions. Therefore, individuals and organisations can utilise decision support systems (DSS) to provide relevant and appropriate information on which to base their decisions. This project aims to explore how augmented reality (AR), specifically situated visualisation (SV), can be used in DSS to solve a bin packing optimisation problem that mimics frequently occurring problems in manufacturing settings.

PhD Project

Deciding to implement emerging technologies: the help of digital technologies in planning for the implementation of robotics and autonomous systems in food manufacturing firms

Novel technologies are radically changing the way that food is produced, processed, and traded. However, successfully implementing emerging technologies is an important yet challenging task for organisations: they operate within complex, uncertain, dynamic environments where they must make decisions based on incomplete information. Therefore, companies often used tools and techniques developed by technology management researchers (such as roadmapping, scenario planning and scoring methods) to reconcile opportunities and risks associated with implementing emerging technologies. 

Digital technologies can be used to alter the interface through which information is presented to decision makers, thus influencing decision-making behaviour and affecting the decision outcome. The aim of the proposed research is to incorporate AR and VR into technology management decision support tools and study the effects. The focus will be on facilitating decision-making in the context of implementing emerging technologies, such as robotics and autonomous systems, that are necessary for the transition to a more sustainable food system. The insights gained will be used to develop a decision-making tool to test in the agri-food industry. 

Bethan’s PhD project is being carried out in collaboration with Samworth Brothers, with primary supervision by Dr Letizia Mortara.