Academic
Business
Doctoral research
Waterford Institute of Technology is an environment created for learning, not just teaching. Indeed, the Faculty at WIT School of Business is dedicated to research at the frontiers of their fields and this is reflected in the calibre of doctoral research within The RIKON Group. Reflective of this, the senior researchers of The RIKON Group supervise the largest amount of doctoral candidates within the School and have secured over €500,000 in research funding for its project activities.
Faculty Research
The senior researchers of The RIKON Group have mastered the behavioural, economic, and mathematical sciences that are the essential components of academic research in business related disciplines. In doing so, these individuals have attained expert competence in strategic planning, knowledge management, management information systems, marketing, market orientation, learning, innovation and networks. This group has amassed a significant publication repertoire which includes national and international conference and journal publications in addition to receiving multiple publication awards. Moreover, these senior researchers, as part of the School’s Graduate Business department, are facilitating the next wave of innovation expertise and competence through delivering taught undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and supervising doctoral research.
Doctoral Student Research
In the 2009/2010 academic year, half of The RIKON Group’s postgraduate students are studying at PhD level. Reflecting the calibre of these students and the programme of research provided by The RIKON Group, all of the PhD projects are funded from a combination of internal and external sources. These 9 individuals are conducting original research and are pursuing to create novel contributions to innovation theory and practice in the following areas:
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Enterprise and industry level innovation practices and processes
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Developing, managing and sustaining innovative organisational networks
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Innovation at the customer interface level – customer experiences and customer relating capabilities.
In addition, the doctoral students have and continue to publish their research insights and findings in national and international conferences and publications
Doctoral Student Research Forum
Excellent supports and research infrastructure underpin The RIKON Group’s doctoral research experience in addition to the School specific and Institute-wide postgraduate research support. With the largest cohort of PhD students, The RIKON Group in conjunction with the School of Business, have and continue to develop a multifaceted forum for doctoral student research. This encompasses progress review presentations, guest speakers, research practice and methodology sessions, a graduate business society, networking events with industry and a proposed School journal publication.
Doctoral Fellowships
The RIKON Group’s strategy documents a clear ambition to upscale its doctoral research activities. This is further evidenced by the Group’s recruitment of the first Postdoctoral Researcher in the School of Business. The emerging focus on doctoral research is driven by the fact that multi-directional knowledge transfer between academia, practice and applied research has been the cornerstone of the RIKON Group’s academic and commercial success. In response, The RIKON Group are currently in the very early stages of developing a Doctoral Fellowship scheme to promote the accessibility of PhD research and to attract motivated and talented individuals to innovation research. In the meantime any academic enquiries can be submitted here.