Suleman Dawood School of Business (SDSB) invited doctoral students to submit their work-in-progress, dissertations, or full papers for review at the Doctoral Colloquium 2018, a one-day event held on March 29, 2018.
The LUMS Vice Chancellor, Prof. Dr. S. Sohail H. Naqvi welcomed the guests and praised the organisers for providing a platform to support research in the field of management. Opening the Colloquium, Dr. Muhammad Ghufran Ahmad, Assistant Professor and Programme Director, PhD Management, SDSB said, “LUMS continues its endeavours of imparting world-class education while encouraging research and intellectual growth in the country by organising various events and activities. To support its aim to encourage research, the Doctoral Colloquium was organised to provide an opportunity to doctoral students to receive feedback on their research work at a platform that included peers, senior researchers and academics. Doctoral students also got the chance to network with fellow students and faculty from other universities across the country.” He also shared that the platform would help researchers refine their papers which would enable them to be presented and accepted at international platforms.
The keynote speaker at the Colloquium was Prof. Beverly Dawn Metcalfe, Visiting Associate Professor, International Management and Development, Coordinator Masters in HRM, American University of Beirut, Suliman S. Olayan School of Business. Prof. Metcalfe, who is recognised for translating social science into work policies and practices that promote sustainable business, especially staff development and capability, provided valuable feedback to the students presenting their work at the Colloquium. “A PhD Colloquium allows students to be exposed to broader business and management themes, appreciate different methodological approaches and also learn about the expectations of academic standards in the global political economy,” said Prof. Metcalfe.
She appreciated the quality of the research and the potential of the students. “The work presented was overall at an extremely high level, and covered both qualitative and quantitative studies. Events such as these provide opportunities for collaboration with public and social policy agendas,” she explained.
Elaborating on the need to encourage doctoral studies in management, she said that PhDs are the engines that will stimulate innovation and economic development. “PhD in Management provides essential insights into the policy domain of industrial management, sustainability and broader human capability improvements,” stated Prof. Metcalfe.
In addition to research presentations on Operations Management, Organisational Behaviour and Finance, the Colloquium included sessions on various topics related to Management, chaired by SDSB faculty members, Dr. Tanveer Shehzad, Dr. Ummad Mazhar, Dr. Abdur Rehman Malik, Dr. Azfar Nisar and Dr. Fahd Mehmood.
Participants at the Colloquium included students and faculty from Bahria University Islamabad, CUST Islamabad, Islamia University of Bahawalpur, COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Lahore, Institute of Management Sciences, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multan, AJK University, Muzaffarabad and Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar.
The colloquium concluded with an interactive session by Prof. Metcalfe and Dr. Jawad Syed, Dean SDSB on the topic of completing dissertations on time. Participants asked a number of questions and the session chairs provided useful tips and shared practical experiences.
At the closing ceremony, best paper awards were also distributed.
