Director, ISOS

In July 2009 David became Director of the Information Systems, Organisations and Society Research Centre, (ISOS). 

The below are extracts from the Research Centre Plan 2010-12 created and distributed in Salford Business School, (SBS), in September 2009.  ISOS was dissolved in a further restructuring which took place in the summer of 2012, and replaced with the present Centre for Digital Business.

Centre for Information Systems, Organisations and Society (ISOS)

INTRODUCTION

It became clear during the last academic year that the Director of ISOS, Prof Ben Light, based in Media, would not be able to continue leading the Centre following restructuring. When it then became apparent that Prof Elaine Ferneley was going to leave the School, the post of Centre Director became vacant. Dr Kreps consulted with both Prof Light and Prof Ferneley, and then, with their blessing and support, canvassed opinion amongst SBS-based ISOS members regarding his candidacy, receiving their support. A preliminary meeting to discuss the new School-based ISOS Research Centre was then called by Dr Kreps in late July 2009 and a Draft Research Centre Plan was drawn up by Dr Kreps in collaboration with prospective members of the new School-based Centre, and distributed in September 09. Dr Kreps has created this new version in response to the School invitation for formal expressions of interest in the role of ISOS Centre Director.

BACKGROUND

Members of the former Informatics Research Institute (IRIS) Research Centre for Information Systems, Organisations and Society (ISOS) are mostly located within the Salford Business School, and their research continues to inform their teaching and innovation activities.

IRIS achieved a 6* rating in RAE2001. The recent UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE2008) outcomes showed that 75% of the research activities of the Informatics Research Institute were at international level, with 25% at the world leading level. Based on a research measure that takes account of the number of staff submitted, Research Fortnight ranked IRIS activities in the top two submissions made to the Library and Information Management panel. This achievement was in large measure due to the high standard of achievement within the ISOS Centre.

Members of ISOS wish to continue and maintain this high level of contribution to the field, with the high reputation that attends it, and have collectively agreed upon Dr David Kreps as their new Centre Director within the School.  David has been P.I. on two EU-funded Research Projects, is Vice-Chair of an International Research Committee (IFIP 9.5 WG), and widely published in IS conferences and Journals. In his career as an Arts Centre Director, prior to becoming an Academic, David managed up to 20 staff and a budget of £250k.

VISION

Information systems are increasingly important in organisations and society, especially in business, with new types emerging that have major impact and which pose challenges to our ways of understanding.   As a leader in this field, the Centre will fulfil its responsibility by fostering sustainable, high quality research activity that will make internationally significant contributions to our understanding of informatics and its social aspects, to effective practice therein, and to the world’s understanding and expectations of the field as a whole.

In this way, the Centre will also continue to enhance the research reputation of the University of Salford, and will enrich the teaching and other research within the Business School and elsewhere.

Mission

  • ISOS will be the University of Salford’s recognised bearer of the top research rating obtained under the LIM Panel in RAE2008.
  • ISOS will maintain and develop the reputation for international and world-leading research.
  • ISOS will foster and continue to develop a fertile research culture within which both staff members and doctoral students are continually inspired and developed in research capability.
  • ISOS will ensure that the University of Salford’s research in the field is of the highest quality, and that this quality is sustainable and self-generating over a long period.
  • ISOS will collaborate with other research centres in the University of Salford, to stimulate and support them and transfer good research practice and research strategy. This will inevitably enhance the University’s profile of interdisciplinary research.
  • ISOS will, in view of its position of leadership, engage with other related research activities elsewhere, to disseminate ideas and inspiration.
  • ISOS will bring the benefit of its high quality research expertise to the wider world by providing members to serve on boards, committees, etc.

Objectives

  • ISOS will run a regular Seminar programme, at which invited Guest speakers will present their work, and in which members present their work to each other, for supportive critique and feedback
  • ISOS will promote collaborative writing, funded research projects, and enterprise through regular discussion and sharing of ideas and opportunities
  • ISOS will disseminate their work through journal publications, conference papers, and a website that includes members’ biographies and publication lists, presentations given at conferences, and topical articles
  • ISOS will contribute to the SBS Doctoral School and run additional IS-specific sessions for its PhD students, focusing on tools, skills, topics and support for IS researchers at the start of their careers

Research Areas

  • The Centre prides itself in being trans- and multi-disciplinary, with a common linking theme of Information
  • Research Areas where work is ongoing amongst members include:
    • Organisations in the Information Age: business, government and voluntary
    • Social Networking and Social Media in Organisational and Social Contexts
    • Learning and Technology
    • Information Society and Global Responsibility
    • ICTs in service of business
    • ICTs and local community
    • Theory and Philosophy of Information in Use
    • Critical approaches to Information Systems
    • Relating to IT as individuals in social context
    • Social Inclusion and ICTs
    • Gender and ICTs
    • Web 2.0
    • Digital Culture
  • The Centre will expect to undertake cross-disciplinary collaborative work with neighbouring Research Centres such as
    • The various other SBS research centres
    • CCM – of particular importance given the merging, in the REF, of the old RAE LIM and CCM panels, into a new CCMSLIM panel.
    • Computer Science and Acoustics

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