RGU IMaGeS Booklet

IMaGeS

INSTITUTE FOR MANAGEMENT,

GOVERNANCE AND SOCIETY

organisation

accountancy

publicpolicy

legal evidence& procedure

public law, human rights & discrimination

transportpolicy

culturalidentity

graduateschool

economics & finance

fundedprojects

marketing

informationmanagement

newmedia

communication

knowledgemanagement

research

energy

knowledgetransfer

conferences

librarianship

smallfirms

skills & labourmarket studies

entrepreneurship

innovation

consumerchoice

IMaGeS

teaching environment

publishing

informationliteracy

CONTENTS

IMaGeS introduct ion

Bus iness & Enterpr ise

Governance & Society

Informat ion & Communicat ion

Graduate School

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4

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IMaGeS is dedicated to the enabling of excellence in multidisciplinary

research and knowledge exchange addressing the challenges facing

enterprise, business development, management and governance within a

knowledge society.

IMaGeS draws on RAE (Research Assessment Exercise) strengths in:

Business & Management Studies; Library & Information Management;

Accounting & Finance; Politics & International Studies; and Law. Aspects

of this research were recognised as internationally excellent and world

leading. Research and knowledge exchange is focused around three key

themes and a Graduate School:

BUSINESS & ENTERPRISE

GOVERNANCE & SOCIETY

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION

IMaGeS GRADUATE SCHOOL

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Members of IMaGeS come from all three RGU faculties (Aberdeen

Business School, Faculty of Health and Social Care and Faculty of Design

and Technology). Members publish in scholarly and professional journals,

present at conferences and closely engage with knowledge exchange with

industry. At the heart of our mission is the drive to develop knowledge and

to share this with our students, our academic colleagues, our industries

and professions.

IMaGeS’ activities are underpinned by the core values of scientific integrity,

transparency, fairness, collaboration, openness to ideas, and real social and

economic impact. Our focus is on high quality, innovative and sustainable

research.

Professor Dorothy Williams

Director, IMaGeS

[email protected]

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MISSION To develop understanding about the nature, processes and practices of Business and Enterprise To undertake research that is useful and informative, and to disseminate the outcomes widely within academia and industry.

DISCIPLINES Our research topic areas encompass a range of subjects and this is reflected in our members’ disciplines – entrepreneurship, marketing, organisation studies, economics and accountancy, politics, cross disciplinary environmental studies and the built environment.

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EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH

SFC Ski l ls Uti l isat ion

The University’s Centre for International Labour Market Studies (CILMS) and Research Institute for Management, Governance and Society (IMaGeS) was tasked with establishing the relevance and application of ‘skills utilisation’ in the oil and gas industry. We found:

• Lack of employee motivation

• Deficiencies in leadership and management

• Gaps in the skills base

• Shortage of core aptitudes (e.g. literacy and numeracy, decisionmaking, communication)

• Poor inter-generational skills transfer

On this basis, the Scottish Funding Council has agreed to fund twopilot schemes and a further programme of research in relation tothe issues identified, in order to investigate the impact which theseinterventions have on the better use of employees’ skills. Thisprogramme of work is ongoing and will report early in 2012.

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Focus on Entrepreneurship research

We are now internationally recognised as a centre of excellence in entrepreneurship and small business research.

The Centre for Entrepreneurship is linked to and works with others in the

Institute and across the university.


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NATIONAL LINKS AND COLLABORATIONS (EXAMPLES)

University of Aberdeen- joint researchUniversity of Dundee- leadership, policing and teachingLancaster University – joint research projects, fundingSouthampton University- joint projects

INTERNATIONAL LINKS AND COLLABORATIONS (EXAMPLES)

Sorbonne Paris- joint conferences Aarhus, Denmark- PhD collaborations and joint researchSousse, Tunisia- PhD collaborations and joint research University of Grenada, Spain- PhD collaborations and joint research

OUTPUTS

Scholarly publications (40+ in the last 2 years)Keynotes, invited speeches and workshops (20+ in the last 2 years)Editing and reviewing of scholarly work. (The “best” European journal on entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship and Regional Development, is based here)


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DOCTORAL COMMUNITY

Our research is complemented by the work of our thriving community of doctoral students.

INCOME STREAMS

Examples include:Industry (e.g. FSB, KTPs)Research Councils (e.g. ESRC, AHRC)Government (e.g. SIPR, SFC)Other universities (e.g. Lancaster)

CONTACT

Professor Al is ta i r Anderson

Business & Enterpr ise Theme Leader

[email protected]


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THE MISSION OF THE GOVERNANCE AND SOCIETY THEME IS:

• To explore the interfaces between governance and society (at local, national and international scales)...

• ...by carrying out international class – multi and interdisciplinary – research...

• ...for the benefit of societies, economies and individuals

DISCIPLINES CONTRIBUTING TO GOVERNANCE & SOCIETY INCLUDE

• Law

• Politics and Public Policy

• Accounting and Finance

• Sociology

• Psychology

• Transport Policy


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ENGAGEMENT AND OUTPUTS

Typical types of engagement undertaken by members of the Governance and Society theme include:

• Externally-funded research projects (funding bodies include the European Union, The British Academy, IAAER, and the NHS)

• High level advisory work for organisations such as the Scottish Government and the Scottish Transport Committee

• Appointments to external bodies such as the Mental Health Tribunal, NHS ethics committees and the Highlands and Islands Regional Transport Partnership

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RAE 2008

• In RAE 2008, Governance and Society members contributed to submissions in Law; Accounting and Finance; and Politics and International studies, with aspects of the work rated as world leading and internationally excellent.

CURRENT AREAS OF RESEARCH ACTIVITY (AND DISSEMINATION) INCLUDE:

• Care North and e-harbours – two European projects examining practical ways of reducing energy use and CO2 emissions from local transport and port activities, undertaken by researchers from IMaGeS and RGU’s IDEAS Research Institute

• Effective Communication with Jurors in the UK – collaboration between researchers in Law and Psychology looking at jurors understanding of evidence and legal process

• A Multidimensional Framework for Evaluating and Selecting Bankruptcy Prediction Models – financial research aiming to develop a forecasting model to predict the business failures

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• The UK Government’s legislative ‘war on terror’: legal, social and human rights outcomes – collaborative research between researchers in Sociology and Law

• ‘Variated Civil Society: the Brussels offices of the regions’ – a research project in Public Policy funded by the British Academy

• Do small town main streets still matter? – multidisciplinary research looking at the relationship between small town main streets and cultural identity

• Relatives’ experience of post mortems – a research project featuring researchers from Law and RGU’s Health and Welfare Research Institute, funded by the NHS Endowment Fund

• A Global Study for the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER) – a team from Accounting searched for good practice in the development and assessment of non-technical skills in accountancy trainees

• Socio-legal studies conference 2012. Major law conference hosted by Governance and Society members

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CONTACT

Professor David Gray

Governance & Society Theme Leader

[email protected]

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BACKGROUND

The Information & Communication theme brings together expertise and knowledge within RGU across a broad range of related subjects including:

• Information literacy

• Communication

• Knowledge management

• New media

• Librarianship

• Publishing

• Information management

AIM

The aim of the Information & Communication theme is to develop understanding of and solutions to information and communication challenges in society through quality research and practitioner engagement.


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RAE 2008

In RAE 2008, RGU was the top university in Scotland, and second equal in UK for overall research quality in Library and Information Management. All research within this area (Unit of Assessment 37) was of international quality, with the majority rated as Internationally Excellent or World-leading. This is based on the 2008 average scores for overall research quality in the subject area.

ENGAGEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES

Typical types of engagements undertaken by members of the Information & Communication theme include:

• Externally-funded research projects (funding bodies include NHS, UNESCO, AHRC, and The European Union)

• Technology transfer partnerships (including Amor Group)

• Consultancy work with public and private sector clients (including Shell Expro and The United Nations)


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These activities also generate the content for new lecture and tutorial material, allowing students at all levels to engage with the most up-to-date work in information and communication.

Members undertake a range of additional activities including membership on advisory boards, external auditing and assessment, and speaking engagements.

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EXAMPLES OF RESEARCH

Communication by and within parliaments

A programme of research including projects such as:

• Election Campaigning on the Internet - the latest in a series of studies examining online campaigning by Scottish political actors. This research focuses on the use of websites and social media by parties and candidates to communicate with the electorate.

• The Impact of New Technology on the Communication of Parliamentary Information - case studies of the public information services provided by the UK and Scottish parliaments and Welsh and NI assemblies; and a user study of the public’s information behaviour when using parliamentary websites.

• Parliamentary Documentation Centre Customer Knowledge Study – a study on behalf of the European Parliament into the use of information by MEPs, civil servants and parliamentary officials.

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CONTACT

Dr S imon Burnett

Informat ion & Communicat ion Theme Leader

[email protected]


Making connections in real world contexts

This ongoing programme focuses on the use and value of information in a range of workplace settings. Projects include:

• Effective Use of Information within Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) – an investigation of the information challenges faced by SMEs and the importance of information literacy to businesses across a range of sectors. The initial investigation was undertaken with a small group of SMEs in north-east Scotland; a larger survey of SMEs will investigate the challenges for developing more effective use of information across Scotland’s business community.

• Effective Use of Information in an Organisational Context - ongoing research into the effective use of information in ‘real world’ decision making in business organisations in a range of sectors, including oil and gas.

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GRADUATE SCHOOL

GRADUATE SCHOOL

The Graduate School offers three doctoral degrees. As well as the traditional Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) we offer two professional doctorates: Doctor of Business Administration (DBA); and Doctor of Information Science (DInfSci) that combine a taught element with practice-focused research. Our research degree student numbers continue to grow year on year as part of our wider research development strategy and we now have over 100 students engaged in doctoral work as part of IMaGeS.

As well as undertaking a PGCert in Research Methods as part of their training, our doctoral students can access specialist master classes across Scotland as part of our membership of the Scottish Graduate School, a partnership between 11 Scottish Universities committed to the training and development of social science research students.

Our doctoral candidates are engaged in research that spans the social sciences as well as the globe. This body of work brings a richness, diversity and depth to all three of the Research Institute themes. Over the past few years a number of clusters of research students have begun to develop around Entrepreneurship, Oil and Gas, African contexts, Information Literacy and Environmental issues.

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Recent doctoral successes include the following topics:

Fostering the Delivery of Wind Power: An Evaluation of the Performance of Policy Instruments in Three European Union Member States

Entrepreneurial Networking, Trust Process and Virtual Interactions

Scottish Country of Origin: Its Role and Value in the Identities of Scottish Premium/Luxury Brands

Economic and Socio Cultural Experiences of Female Entrepreneurs in Brazil and the United States: An Exploratorial and Empirical Analysis

CEO and CSR: Business Leaders and Corporate Social Responsibility

French and British Corporate Political Strategies in the case of the European Merger Control Regime: National or European?

Youth Participation and the Scottish Parliament: Accessibility and participation for Children and Young People

Corporate Criminal Liability in the UK: Determining the Appropriate Mechanism of Imputation

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GRADUATE SCHOOL

An Analysis of eParticipation in Scottish Local Authorities

Europeanisation and the European Security and Defence Policy: The Effects of the Development and Institutionalisation of ESCP on the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the UK between 1998 and 2006

Bookselling Culture and Consumer Behaviour: Marketing Strategies and Responses in Traditional and Online Environments

The Effective Evidence-Based High School Librarian: A Journey to Decision

The Dynamics of Upward Communications in Organisations

Knowing through Narratives: The Role of Knowledge within the Technological Innovation Process in the UK Upstream Oil and Gas Industry

Conceptions of Effective Information Use and Learning in a Tele-Health Organisation: A Phenomenographic Study of Information Literacy and Knowledge Management at Work

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GRADUATE SCHOOL

CONTACT

Dr Seonaidh McDonald

Graduate School Leader

[email protected]

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INSTITUTE FOR MANAGEMENT, GOVERNANCE AND SOCIETY

www.rgu.ac.uk/research/images

Robert Gordon University, Garthdee Campus,

Garthdee Road, Aberdeen, AB10 7QE, United Kingdom

IMaGeS

RGU IMaGeS Booklet

Documents

Transcript of RGU IMaGeS Booklet