Thinking about Time and Time Management in your Ph.D

Location

In Zoom. The link will be sent later to the participants.

Registration

Registration is open until February 7.

Speakers

Professor Kieran Conboy, School of Business & Economics at the University of Galway.

Overview

The workshop is aimed at researchers who:

want to reflect and improve their time management skills, particularly in the context of their PhD studies or research projects.
are or may be thinking of studying time as a part of their research.
want to improve the accuracy and publishability of their research by more effectively addressing time issues in their theoretical framing, research design and thesis/paper writing.

Abstract

Time is a critically important element of IS research. However, time is an inherently complex, multi-faceted, subtle and socially-embedded in nature. While IS researchers are quick to highlight the impact of ICTs on the speed of organizational and social life, they can be slow to address the multi-dimensional, complex and nuanced nature of time in IS research.

The first part of the workshop will begin by addressing temporality and temporal complexity - why it is important and how it can be embedded into research design. A tutorial on the principles and guidelines that underpin temporality will be offered, with a particular focus on contemporary frameworks in this area. It will address the hidden dimensions of time that we often ignore or underestimate in our research. Together, we will identify these issues and opportunities, and find ways to improve each attendee’s research design and execution to overcome these challenges and exploit these opportunities.

The second half of the workshop will focus on how we can apply this thinking to improving how we manage our own time when completing a PhD or indeed any research project. This will include an overview of tools and best practices for time management and specifically time management in a Ph.D/research context.

The final part of the workshop will take the form of a paper development exercise. We will work with participant’s papers/ideas and discuss each in terms of how they can best advance the work for publication in top conference and journal outlets.

Preparations

Ph.D students will all be at varying stages of the Ph.D. So 1 week prior to the course each student will submit something that they need help with. This could be a full paper draft, an extended abstract or just a set of brief bullet points- whatever best reflects the stage the work is at.
In addition they will submit 1 slide that lists the specific questions or problems they need help with. So for example some may be struggling with how to write a good motivation, others may be trying to decide which theory to use or what data collection/analysis strategy to adopt. We will cover any or all aspects of Ph.D research. No question/problem is too basic.