Staff Profiles

David has researched three related bodies of knowledge – Industrial Systems Design (c.1990-1997), Systems Engineering (c.1997-2003) and Organisational Innovation (c.2003-present). Research into ‘Industrial Systems Design’ began in collaboration with a local multinational industry Thermo King Corporation (TK) and a large European funded project involving multinationals including Kuka Robotics, Renault Automation and Siemens. The main objective was to find ways of radically redesigning the operational characteristics of industrial systems to make them more flexible, efficient and higher quality.

Research into ‘Systems Engineering’ in 1997 extended concepts for the design of industrial systems to systems of all types including public sector organisations and small industries. Systems analysis and systems thinking that lay at the foundation of industrial systems design can equally be applied to all types of organisations. This body of work also extended the application domain of ideas to other industrial companies such as Nortel Networks. Architectures and models were translated into ‘collaborative design workspaces’ that organisations could use to manage the quality and performance of their processes.

The third body of knowledge, ‘Organisational Innovation’, began in 2003. A natural extension of research was into large extended enterprises comprising a number of organisations including suppliers and distributors. Once again industry was essential for providing requirements and later testing and validating the systems architectures. Hewlett-Packard and Boston Scientific played a key role here, as did a number of small to medium sized enterprises such as Eurobus and Sidhean who volunteered to participate in trials in cooperation with state support agencies UDARAS and Westbic. More recently research has focussed on innovation and quality management in Higher Education Institutes.

Recent research has focussed on quality and innovation in the higher education sector.

Topics
 
Applied innovation, creativity, project management
Strategy and performance management in industry
 
Approach
 
Learning results from the way students perceive and then process what has been perceived.  If learning is to be efficient, the student requires practice of four types of learning – concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualisation and active experimentation.  Effective learning requires that these learning skills be brought to bear alternatively on the learning task. My personal approach is summarised in the following list:

• Lecturer -> Instructor
• Passive Learning -> Active Learning
• Implicit Skills -> Explicit Skills
• Independent Learning -> Group Learning
• Exam Driven -> Knowledge Driven
• Rote Learning -> Understanding

Lecturing remains an important means of imparting information to the student. However, when combined with other learning techniques such as projects and group activities it transforms my role from lecturer to instructor. Learning techniques include lectures and various reflection activities. The reflection activities transform traditional passive learning into active learning where students practice and experiment on a practical project. The nature of my research topic makes it easy for me to insert explicit transferrable skills and projects into each module. All module exercises utilise project and group based learning. Knowledge driven learning is achieved by assessing students using a combination of assessment techniques that include open book examination, online activities and completion of a group reports.EndFragment 
 
Learning Outcomes 

• Understand the main theory and concepts of innovation management
• Understand how to apply and practice some of the main techniques and methods
• Use explicit tools and skills for practicing the subject matter
• Work effectively as a team member on project activities
• Effectively present and communicate projects
• Develop simple knowledge management tools (forms, databases) for the subject field
• Apply the subject material to problems and projects.