Doctoral Consortium

We invite nominations for the 42nd International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2021 Doctoral Consortium. The Consortium will be held in Austin, TX on December 8-10, immediately before ICIC 2021.  Students selected for the Consortium who cannot travel due to COVID-19 restrictions will be accommodated through online/hybrid participation.

Since the 1980s, the Consortium has provided students who are doing their doctoral dissertations with the chance to present and obtain comments on their research, to hear about the work of their peers at other universities, and to gain an understanding of what academic and research careers are all about. It also offers students opportunities to make new friendships with other students and leading faculty from around the globe.

Important Dates:

  • Nomination Deadline: May 29, 2021 (Midnight, US Eastern Time, UTC/GMT-5 hours).
  • Notification of Acceptance: Aug 27, 2021
  • Doctoral Consortium: Dec 8–10, 2021

Doctoral Consortium Co-Chairs

Pär Ågerfalk

Uppsala University
par.agerfalk@im.uu.se

Jungpil Hahn

National University of Singapore
jungpil@nus.edu.sg

Sirkka Jarvenpaa

University of Texas at Austin
sirkka.jarvenpaa@mccombs.utexas.edu

MENTORS

Ashish Agarwal (University of Texas at Austin)

Andrea Carugati (Aarhus University)

Michael Chau (University of Hong Kong)

Zhiling Guo (Singapore Management University)

Julia Kotlarsky (University of Auckland)

Christine Legner (Lausanne University)

Beibei Li (Carnegie Mellon University)

Ting Li (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

Likoebe Maruping (Georgia State University)

Jeff Parsons (Memorial University)

Jui Ramaprasad (University of Maryland at College Park)

Ulrike Schultze (Southern Methodist University)

Jason Bennett Thatcher (Temple University)

LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS CHAIR

Tricia Moravec (University of Texas at Austin)

ELIGIBILITY

Participation in the Consortium is by invitation only. Each university may submit only one nominee. If two units in the same university hold separate AIS memberships, they may offer one nominee from their respective unit. We expect each student selected for the Consortium to attend all Consortium meetings and activities, from the opening on Wednesday evening to the closing on Friday evening (i.e., participants will not be able to participate in any pre-ICIS activities that conflict with the Consortium schedule). Candidates who are not able to make this commitment to the Consortium should not apply.

Ph.D. students currently working on Information Systems dissertations are eligible for nomination submission. Candidates should have successfully defended their thesis proposals before December 1, 2021 (or have an accepted and approved proposal) although they need not have defended their thesis proposals before the submission deadline. Students who will have defended their final dissertation before December 1, 2021, or are within six months of the final defense will not be accepted or allowed to participate. An ideal candidate would have completed at least one year of their Ph.D. studies and be less than one year away from completing their Ph.D.

Nominated candidates should intend to pursue an academic career in Information Systems following their Ph.D. studies. Prospective candidates should also note that the Consortium is designed as an intensive personal development experience and, therefore, participants should not bring guests to the Consortium. They should plan to stay at the Consortium hotel, which will house all Consortium participants.

Students selected to participate in the Consortium will be given instructions on how to prepare their research papers for presentation during the Consortium, following their selection.

SELECTION PROCESS

Selection to the ICIS Doctoral Consortium is very competitive. Typically over 80 nominations are received each year, and space is limited to 40 Ph.D. students. Participants will be selected based on:

  • The quality of their proposed research and its potential significance and contribution to the IS discipline,
  • The potential contribution the student can make to the Consortium, and
  • The potential benefit of the Consortium to the student’s research and professional development.

This assessment will be based on a review of the dissertation proposal paper prepared by the doctoral student (see details below). Previous attendance by other students from the nominating school is not a criterion for selecting Consortium participants.

Final Consortium selection will include a balance of students representing diverse research topics, methods, schools, and cultures. The language of the Consortium is English, and all submitted materials must be in English. Students must have sufficient proficiency in English to participate in the presentations, discussions, and other activities.

All doctoral students selected to participate in the ICIS Doctoral Consortium will be required to register for the ICIS 2021 conference and pay the ICIS early student registration fee to signal their intent to attend the Consortium and the main conference. This fee covers participation in the Doctoral Consortium with full room and board. The fee also covers the ICIS 2021 registration. ICIS and AIS fund the costs of running the ICIS Doctoral Consortium.

DOCUMENTS NEEDED FOR NOMINATION SUBMISSION

  1. Nominee Information Sheet

Students complete the information on this form and submit it along with the other two documents mentioned below.

  1. Nomination Letter

Students must be nominated by an IS faculty member or academic. There can only be one nominee per university or institution unless different units of the institution each hold their own AIS membership. In that case, each unit of the university may nominate one student. Multiple nominations received from the same unit of a university or institution will be rejected.

The nomination should be in the form of a nomination letter from the nominating faculty member and should certify that:

  • The candidate is the sole nominee from the university or institution, or from that unit, if the university has more than one unit with an AIS membership;
  • The candidate meets the eligibility criteria mentioned above; and
  • The nominating institution guarantees to provide the consortium participation fee and travel funds to the nominee should she or he be admitted to the Consortium.
  • Ideally, the nominating faculty member should be the IS Doctoral Program Director or the IS Department’s Chairperson. If these individuals are not available, then the nominee’s Dissertation Advisor may nominate the student. However, if this is the case, then the dissertation advisor must be a faculty member at the nominee’s university or institution.
  1. Candidate’s Dissertation Proposal Paper

The paper outlining the candidate’s research should be in the form of a short report summarizing the student’s dissertation/thesis proposal. This part of the paper should not exceed ten double-spaced pages, formatted as follows: Times New Roman or equivalent font, 11-point or 10-point font, double-spaced only (not 1.5), 2.54cm margins all around A4 paper (or 1-inch margins all around letter size, 8.5 x 11-inch paper).  Number all pages. Nominations not adhering to the proposal length limits will be rejected.

This paper should include the research question, a justification for why and to whom the research is important. It also should include a brief literature review, a presentation of the theoretical basis for the work, a research model and hypotheses (if applicable), and a description of the research design.

This ten-page limit does not include a title page (incl. abstract), tables, figures, or references. Tables and figures should not be embedded in the text but appended to follow the ten pages of text immediately. References should appear last.

Two appendices of no more than one page each should be included. (These appendices must also follow the formatting guidelines outlined above.) The first appendix summarizes any findings the student has at the time of nomination. The second appendix is an estimated timeline of the planned activities needed to complete the dissertation after May 29, 2021. We are requesting this information to gauge how far the nominee is in the dissertation process.

The complete document — including the title page, main text, tables, figures, references, and appendices — should not exceed 20 pages. This page limit will be strictly enforced, and the Consortium co-chairs reserve the right to reject any candidates whose research paper fails to conform to these parameters.

All three documents — including Nominee Information Sheet, Nomination Letter, and Dissertation Proposal Paper — are to be included in a single PDF submission in the above order.

SUBMISSION PROCESS

Document Submission

The single pdf including all three documents – the Nominee Information Sheet, the Nomination Letter, and the Candidate’s Research Paper – must be submitted at https://new.precisionconference.com/ais by the nominated doctoral student, not the nominating faculty member.

Due Date and Time

Submissions must be received no later than May 29th (Midnight, US Eastern Time, UTC/GMT-5 hours). Late submissions will be rejected. Multiple submissions received from the same university (or the same person) will be returned. If the university’s different units hold separate institutional AIS memberships, submissions from each of the units will be considered.

In case of problems or further clarification about the submission process, please contact one of the consortium co-chairs via email. Good Luck!