I was happy to host the very first IPSERA online Doctoral Workshop which took place February 18, 2021. We had 78 participants registered for the workshop which shows that people are really interested about PhD research. We had such a wonderful workshop where the PhD students of our community shared their research. We had 16 PhD student presentations representing PhD research from different countries and different continents. The PhD students of this year were Jan Martin Spreitzenbarth, Gregor Möllers, Michela Guida, Mickaël Cïta, Anne Ratsimandresy, Max Emanuel Schwarzer, Tommaso Calzolari, Yujia Han, Favour Uzoma Mba, Kati Marttinen, Débora Masullo de Goes, Alessio Ronchini, Iryna Maliatsina, Murielle Francillette, Madelon Wind and Honey Zimmerman. This year PhD research focused on IoT, artificial intelligence, big data and the role of these in purchasing and supply management. Another popular topic was again this year sustainability and, in particular, circular economy. We were also able to enjoy the wonderful keynote speech by professor Erik van Raaij who shared some insights about reviewing and publishing.
The faculty mentors have a key role in successful workshop and this year our PhD students got excellent feedback from their mentors in a friendly IPSERA atmosphere.
Big thanks to our faculty mentors – Andrea Patrucco, Anne Touboulic, Guido Orzes, Arash Azadegan, Robert Suurmond, Antonella Moretto, Aki Jääskeläinen, Thomas Johnsen, Wendy Tate, Leonardo Marques, Federico Caniato, Donna Marshall, Steven Carnovale, Jo Meehan, Davide Luzzini, George Zsidisin – for your time and effort in helping the PhD students of our community to develop their research further.
Even though the online version worked well, we hope that the next IPSERA Doctoral Workshop in 2022 can be organized in person. In a meanwhile, hopefully we’ll see you all at the IPSERA 2021 online conference March 29 – April 1, 2021.
Anni-Kaisa Kähkönen
IPSERA Doctoral Workshop coordinator
Professor of Supply Management
LUT University, Lappeenranta, Finland
