Di-GEST Research Center Launched

Three teams consisting of college and university professors and doctoral candidates are working on current issues related to digital transformation The “Di-GEST – Shaping Digitalization” research college, a joint initiative of Mainz University of Applied Sciences and Johannes Gutenberg University, kicked off with a launch event on July 1, 2020, at the LUX Pavilion. In the presence of Rhineland-Palatinate’s Minister of Science, Prof. Dr. Konrad Wolf; the President of Mainz University of Applied Sciences, Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman; and the Vice President for Research and Early-Career Scholars at Johannes Gutenberg University, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Müller-Stach, three research tandems—each consisting of a professor and a doctoral candidate from Mainz University and Mainz University of Applied Sciences—presented their research questions on theories, methods, and tools, in keeping with the research college’s guiding principle: “Actively Shaping the Digital Transformation.” “The Research College strengthens research cooperation between universities and universities of applied sciences. As a state, we would particularly like to promote the joint training of early-career researchers. To this end, the cooperative doctoral program is the right path for Rhineland-Palatinate. The new research college focuses on cutting-edge issues regarding the opportunities and risks of new digital technologies and their applications in businesses and public institutions. This is a field of great societal relevance, and we are already eagerly anticipating the results of the research groups’ work and the doctoral dissertations,” said Minister of Science Prof. Dr. Konrad Wolf. As part of the research college, a total of six early-career researchers in the field of economics from both institutions are pursuing doctoral degrees. The three female and three male doctoral candidates will be supervised not only by the university professors—Prof. Dr. Franz Rothlauf (project leader, JGU), Prof. Dr. Oliver Emrich, and Prof. Dr. Andranik Tumasjan—as well as by the university professors—Prof. Dr. Gunther Piller (project leader at Mainz University of Applied Sciences), Prof. Dr. Oliver Mauroner, and Prof. Dr. Sven Pagel. Prof. Dr. Susanne Weissman strongly supports the collaboration between the two institutions: “Networking is the order of the day, because we need all the bright minds we can get when it comes to creating innovations,” she emphasizes. Vice President Univ.-Prof. Dr. Stefan Müller-Stach also welcomes the newly established structure of the research college: “On the one hand, this enables the integration of early-career researchers into a cross-institutional research context between the university and the University of Applied Sciences, and on the other hand, it opens up the opportunity for highly qualified graduates to pursue their doctorates jointly,” he explains. The three research tandems—two of which focus their research on companies and their activities within the thematic areas of “Identifying and Testing Digital Technologies and Trends” and “Applying Artificial Intelligence to Business Problems” , while the third is investigating the interaction between companies and their customers within the topic area “Transformation of Customers & Companies through Digital Media,” presented their respective different perspectives on the shared research areas and their diverse methodological approaches. The Research College, which is led by the Department of Economics at Mainz University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with the University of Mainz, is jointly funded by the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Science and the two participating educational institutions with a total of 1.5 million euros over three years. “The research college, established as part of the ‘MWWK Funding Initiative for Cooperative Doctoral Programs,’ creates a framework for expanding the disciplinary spectrum of the working groups and for continuing to launch externally funded research in a targeted manner,” adds Susanne Weissman. You can find all information on this topic here: di-gest.hs-mainz.de