Call for Participation: CONFENIS 2012 Doctoral Consortium

Ghent, 17-19 September 2012 -- http://www.managementinformatics.ugent.be/confenis2012

Doctoral consortium of the 6th International Conference on Research and Practical Issues in Enterprise Information Systems (CONFENIS 2012), Ghent, 19-21 September 2012 – http://www.confenis2012.be

CONFENIS is the annual international academic conference of the IFIP (International Federation for Information Processing – http://www.ifip.org) devoted to enterprise information systems. Enterprise information systems refer to a wide array of applications of IT systems that ranges from cross-departmental to cross-organisational systems. Such systems provide the information and controls required for directing, planning, running, measuring, and monitoring the activities of single or multiple (i.e., chains or networks of) enterprises. Typical examples of enterprise information systems are Accounting Information Systems (AIS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, Supply Chain Management (SCM) systems, Business Intelligence (BI) systems, and Business Process Management Systems (BPMS). 

Following last year’s CONFENIS doctoral consortium, Design Science in Enterprise Information Systems Research is the central theme of the doctoral consortium. The aim is to explore the Design Science approach to Information Systems research, integrating conceptual design thinking with information systems engineering research.

All PhD students interested in learning more about Design Science research are welcome to apply for admission to the CONFENIS 2012 Doctoral Consortium. Participation is limited to 20 students. In case more than 20 candidates have applied for admission at the deadline (June 15, 2012) then participants will be selected based on the quality (i.e., relevance, soundness, clarity and maturity) of their research proposals (see admission procedure) and the potential benefit of participation to the student’s doctoral research. Participants in the consortium should currently be enrolled as a PhD student at a university and conduct research in the area of Information Systems. It is not a prerequisite that students use or intend to use Design Science as part of their PhD project.

We are in the process of having the Doctoral Consortium approved as a 3 ECTS PhD course (to be confirmed). Participation in all activities (see program) is required for receiving the course certificate.

All participants are required to register for the CONFENIS 2012 conference. PhD students can register at a strongly reduced tariff of 295 Euros (see http://www.confenis2012.be). The Doctoral Consortium itself is free for PhD students enrolled at Flemish Universities (as the cost for these students is covered by their doctoral schools). Other PhD students pay an additional 100 Euros for participation in the Doctoral Consortium. This fee covers all distributed materials, lunches (2), welcome reception and social event, and the doctoral consortium diner.

The doctoral consortium sessions will be held at the premises of the faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University (see http://www.feb.ugent.be)

I. Format and program

The doctoral consortium consists of a mix of lecturing and tutoring sessions. The doctoral consortium staff will teach a number of topics with respect to Design Science fundamentals ranging from the philosophical underpinning of the paradigm (e.g., ontology, epistemology, …) to the concretisation of the methodology (e.g., research design, research process, …) and experiences in applying it to Information Systems research (e.g., good practices, lessons learned, …). Staff includes recognized Design Science research experts like Professor Robert Winter (University of St. Gallen, Switzerland) and Professor Guido Geerts (University of Delaware, USA). A reader with Design Science research in Information Systems must-reads will be compiled and used as background material for these lectures.

During the tutoring sessions, the doctoral research proposals of participants are presented, analysed and discussed with the aim of providing feedback and suggestions from experts and peers. Students will be allocated to groups of each maximally 7 students and 2 – 3 doctoral consortium staff members (i.e., tutors). All tutors are professors having experience in supervising Design Science type of doctoral research in enterprise information systems.

Monday 17 September 2012

* 6.00 PM – 7.30 PM: Opening session by the doctoral consortium organizers

o Welcome and presentation of participants and staff members

o Objectives and organization of the course

o Introduction to the theme and basic concepts/terminology

* 7.30 PM – 9.30 PM Reception and social activity in Ghent

Tuesday 18 September 2012

* 9.00 AM – 12.00 AM: Lectures on Design Science research in Information Systems

* 12.00 AM – 1.30 PM: Lunch

* 1.30 PM – 6.00 PM: Tutoring sessions – presentation and discussion of research proposals

* 7.30 PM – 10.30 PM: Doctoral Consortium Diner in Ghent

Wednesday 19 September 2012

* 9.00 AM – 12.00 AM: tutoring sessions – presentation and discussion of research proposals

* 12.00 AM – 1.30 PM: Lunch

* 1.30 PM – 3.00 PM: Tutoring sessions – group discussions

* 3.00 PM – 4.30 PM: Closing session by the doctoral consortium organizers

o General impression of the presentations and discussions

o Sharing experiences between the groups

o Lessons learned

o What to take away from this doctoral consortium?

o Farewell

* 5.00 PM: official start of the CONFENIS 2012 conference

 II. Admission procedure

 Prospective participants need to submit a report describing their doctoral research project in the following format and structure:

* Format: single PDF file, font 12 points, 1.5 lines spacing, length between 5 and 10 pages (not including references). Proposals longer than 10 pages will be rejected!

* Structure (apart from the front page, the content of the sections is indicative, not normative)

o Front page including title of the doctoral research; candidate’s name, affiliation (department and university) and full contact details; supervisor’s name, affiliation (department and university) and full contact details; date of admission into your institute’s doctoral program; executive summary of the doctoral research on maximum 15 lines.

o Context of the research: describe the broad problem/application area within which to situate your research; identify the main previous research related to yours; explain how your research relates to the research and/or expertise of your supervisor(‘s research group).

o Problem statement and goal of the research: describe the specific research problem addressed by your research; motivate its importance (i.e., significance, relevance) from a scientific and/or practical point of view; describe how and to what extent your research will provide a solution to the problem; identify the intended scientific contribution(s) of your doctoral research and state its/their originality/novelty.

o Solution approach and related research: briefly describe the alternative solutions to the problem, including those contributed by previous research (as well as their limitations); present in broad lines your solution approach and motivate why this approach is adequate and/or better than alternative approaches.

o Methodology: describe the overall set-up (including assumptions and constraints), the process, and the research methods that are required to apply your solution approach to the research problem; provide for the different steps in your research plan sufficient details about data sources, data collection and analysis techniques, applicable theories and research instruments, research procedures, evaluation and validation activities, etc.

o Results so far: if applicable, present a brief account of the research results so far.

o Planning and timing: provide a planning (i.e., research plan with steps) and timing for the part of the doctoral research that is not completed yet.

o References: provide a complete list of the literature referenced in the research proposal

* Send your proposal to geert.poels@confenis2012.be

Submission deadline: June 15, 2012

Notification of admission decision: July 1, 2012

Upon selection, further details will be sent to participants.

Doctoral Consortium Organizers

1. Professor Geert Poels, PhD – Dept. MIS and Operations Management, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium

CONFENIS 2012 Program Chair

e-mail: geert.poels@ugent.be

2. Professor Frederik Gailly, PhD – Dept. Mathematics, Operations Research, Statistics, and Information Systems, Faculty of Economic, Social, and Political Sciences & Solvay Business School, Free University of Brussels, Belgium

e-mail: frederik.gailly@vub.ac.be

3. Professor Manu De Backer, PhD – Dept. Management Informatics, Faculty of Applied Economics, University of Antwerp, Belgium

e-mail: manu.debacker@ua.ac.be

Scientific committee

1. Geert Poels (Ghent University) – chairman and co-organizer UGent

2. Robert Winter (University of St. Gallen)

3. Guido Geerts (University of Delaware)

4. Hans Weigand (Tilburgh University)

5. Michael Petit (FUNDP)

6. Monique Snoeck (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven)

7. Jan Verelst (University of Antwerp)

8. Mieke Jans (Hasselt University)

9. Steven De Haes (Antwerp Management School)

10. Stijn Viaene (Vlerick Leuven Gent Management School)

11. Frederik Gailly (Free University of Brussels) – co-organizer VUB

12. Manu De Backer (University of Antwerp / Ghent University) – co-organizer UA