Ajman University’s Digital Transformation Research Center Hosts Research Day
Ajman University’s College of Business Administration (CBA) and the AU Digital Transformation Research Center (DTRC) jointly organized a Research Day on May 25, 2022. The event was chaired by Prof. Guangming Cao, head of DTRC. It began with a welcome speech by Prof. Akinola Fadahunsi, Dean of CBA, which was followed by five research presentations including a keynote presentation delivered by DTRC visiting research scholar Professor Yanqing Duan and three DTRC members.
Prof. Yanqing Duan is a full Professor of Information Systems and Director of Business and Management Research institutes (BMRI) at the University of Bedfordshire Business School, UK. Prof. Duan is a renowned scholar whose research interest is the development and use of emerging ICTs and their impact on organizational performance, decision making, and knowledge management. She is an associate editor for Decision Support Systems (A*) and International Journal of Information Management (A*); a regular expert evaluator for various major funding bodies including EU H2020 and Horizon Europe; and a regular keynote speaker on the topics related to the use and impact of emerging digital technologies, especially artificial intelligence for decision making. She has published over 240 peer-reviewed articles; many of which appeared in journals rated as A*, such as European Journal of Operational Research, European Journal Information Systems, Information & Management, The Information Society, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Technovation.
Prof. Duan delivered a keynote speech on how to write academically for peer-reviewed journals, followed by a talk on the topic of Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Research Directions in Business and Management. During the event, Prof. Kamran Arshad, Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, also met Prof. Duan to exchange ideas about managing research activities within business schools.
Three DTRC members, who have published peer-reviewed papers in international journals rated as AU-A/A*, also presented their research. Dr. Katariina Juusola talked on conducting qualitative research. Prof. Usha Ramanathan presented two very interesting projects funded by Interregional North-West Europe Fund and Global Challenges Research Fund quality-related research. Prof. Tamer Elshandidy shared his research on the impact of board diversity on textual social and environmental disclosures.
The Research Day was seen to be well organized and very well received. CBA/DTRC members who attended the Research Day event expressed great appreciation for the high-quality presentations delivered by both external and internal researchers. All talks were interactive, highly informative and stimulating. Many research questions were actively discussed, with a focus on potential future research topics.
