BU Research Blog

On 18^th Nov 2019 the Faculty of Management (FoM) convened its Higher Education Futures: perspectives for international research and collaboration in a 4.0 world.  The event was organised to welcome the international visiting researchers, academics and professors the Faculty of Management (FoM) are currently hosting. Seven visiting academics representing 5 countries from across the world (Brazil, Canada, Egypt, Indonesia and Spain) attended, joined by their mentors, representatives of the FoM Professoriate and researchers with strong international experience from across the faculty. The focus of the discussion was on how we could ensure sustainable, impactful and globally competitive collaboration in world focused on the 4.0 phenomenon: Industry 4.0, Management 4.0, Education 4.0, i.e. the world of the 4th industrial revolution, where our private and professional lives are affected by ‘smart and autonomous systems fuelled by data and machine learning” (Forbes, 2018).

The timing of the event was chosen to complement the first Global Entrepreneurship Week at BU, thus celebrating all Fusion aspects with representatives of our international partners and launching the first FoM Global Fusion week. The 20 scholars at the round-table represented 14 nationalities, which is a true testimony of the highly international profile of staff in the Faculty.

The event was co-chaired by Dr Milena Bobeva, Associate Dean for Global Engagement, and Dr Jeff Bray. Introductions were followed by individuals sharing their reflections on current and past research experiences with international teams. These highlighted key enabling factors for productive practice, including, passion for the work one does and patience as it takes a long time to set up an international partnership.

The discussions navigated toward the transitions we are facing in Higher Education and how organisations and individuals address these. An interesting discussion arose around the effectiveness of virtual research collaboration compared to face-to-face, the slow speed of developing effective partnerships and the role of social meetings, e.g. coffee mornings, working lunch and travel, to support these. The importance of technologies and a systematic approach for using these permeated the discussion, being seen as enabling rather than replacing the value of face to face contact.

The main outcome from the round-table was a set of expectations and ideas on small steps towards making a difference through our research work, and outlining opportunities for engagement with FoM and BU beyond the scope of their immediate collaboration project. The quick-wins on this list include:

• Creating a lively online presence with up-to-date information (to complement the Staff profile pages), e.g. an online booklet of the projects we have run in the Faculty and the work done, with permanent space on the web site to direct visitors to;
• A record of the mini-biographies of the visiting academics and providing access to this information to Faculty members; keeping these contacts as a point for future reference to allow for developing future projects and visibility
• Introductory/Welcoming blog posts to visiting academics/researchers and final blog posts with their reflections on the experience and the outcomes of their collaboration;
• Interactive virtual Research Symposium open to other faculties, on common themes of interest.

Feedback from attendees was that this was a very positive, engaging and useful session. Our international visitors appreciated the opportunity to meet more members of the Faculty and contribute to developing the framework supporting international collaboration at the Faculty and BU.

Visiting academics and researchers attending the FoM research round-table:

• Prof. Jill E. Hobbs, Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada
• Prof. William A. Kerr, a University Distinguished Professor at University of Saskatchewan, Canada – Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics
• Dr. Francisca Sempere Ripoll, Associate Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de València in Spain
• Dr. Marko S. Hermawan, Head of Program of the International Business program, Bina Nusantara (BINUS) University International, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Dr. Primidya K.M. Soesilo is Head of Program and an Assistant Professor in Business Management and Marketing at the Business School, Bina Nusantara (BINUS) University, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Dr. Laila Mohamed ElShawdfy AlAdwey, lecturer in accounting, Tanta University, Egypt
• Lara Mendes Christ Bonella Sepulcri, PhD student in Management and Accounting at FUCAPE Business School, Brazil