The MISQ Scholarly Development Academy
Background and Application Details
The purpose of this page is to provide some background about the MISQ Scholarly Development Academy and explain how to apply for the second cohort, which focuses on the Global South and members of indigenous and underserved ethnic or racial groups in high-income countries. If you are interested in applying, continue reading!
The MISQ Scholarly Development Academy follows in the footsteps of previous MISQ initiatives that demonstrate our journal’s role as a platform for engagement in our field (Rai 2017). In order to fulfill this role, we have moved beyond just processing manuscripts and have been developing programs that support scholars and authors. We run workshops for authors and reviewers, give seminars around the world, engage in social media, publish research curations, and more.
The common thread through all our pursuits is our mission of supporting IS scholars and scholarship. The objective of our newest initiative proposed here is to help IS scholars who are systematically disadvantaged from producing the finest scholarship because they suffer disproportionately in the emotional toll of an academic life, especially in the time of COVID. Through an intersectional approach, we will recognize and acknowledge the inequalities that coexist, such as gender, racial, economic, and social inequality.
For further background on the Academy, please see the September 2021 Editor’s Comments
Purpose and Scope of the Scholarly Development Academy
Our goal is to identify segments of our scholarly field who are disadvantaged (both in general and also due to COVID-19) and offer a program to help them. Over time, we hope to address many deserving segments of the field.
In the first year (2022), as a test case, we focused on untenured female scholars. We are also welcoming of trans and non-binary scholars who partially or sometimes identify with the female gender and feel they would benefit from participating in a women-centered initiative. Gender bias is a well-known scourge in society and in science. Even when revealed, gender biases are often ignored, discounted, or unsupported (see: Cislak et al., 2018; Garcia-Gonzalez et al., 2019; Handley et al., 2015). We know that COVID- 19 has exacerbated negative outcomes for women in society and in science. We also know that there are gender biases in the IS field and we have seen calls to address them (see: Gupta et al., 2019; Windeler et al., 2020). In short, the evidence shows that we must do something.
In the second year (2023), we will focus on untenured scholars from the Global South. Global South refers to economically disadvantaged nation states, as well as “people negatively impacted by contemporary capitalist globalization” as defined by Anne Garland Mahler, and it “references an entire history of colonialism, neo-imperialism, and differential economic and social change through which large inequalities in living standards, life expectancy, and access to resources are maintained” (Dados and Connell 2012, p. 13). Thus, it includes scholars in disadvantaged regions of the world, but also BIPOC scholars in high-income countries (as they are affected by colonialist and imperialist histories too). In academia, the dominance of voices from the global north is a well-known problem and, even in collaborations aiming to reduce the inequalities, it is often the scholars of the north that set the agenda.
For each segment of the community we support, we will coordinate our activities with other relevant activities in the field. In the case of IS academics of the global south, we will coordinate the initiative with the IFIP 9.4 working group. We are also leveraging our experience with related, successful initiatives. This initiative can be viewed as a combination of a junior faculty consortium and an author development workshop.
Structure and Focus
The MISQ Scholarly Development Academy will be an annual consortium with two foci: paper development, to help us overcome biases in publishing (see: Lundine et al., 2018), and career development, to help address biases in access to mentors and career support (see: Mummery et al. 2021). The two foci are aimed at supporting generativity (i.e., broadened thought-action repertoires and creativity in scholarship) and growth (gains in personal and social resources in one’s academic career) needed for scholarly flourishing.
Taking a strength-based approach, mentors in the academy will help participants learn how to build on the strengths of their existing work to enhance its publishability, and build on their personal strengths as a scholar to enhance their research career. Overall, the goal is to support the flourishing of the next generation of IS scholars, help release some of their burden, and renew their passion for scholarship. Given the scholarly focus of MISQ, compared to the broader focus of other institutions (e.g., the Association for Information Systems, which also supports the teaching components of an academic career), this initiative will focus on scholarship and the (re)kindling of joy in scholarship.
Much like other junior faculty consortia, applicants will be admitted to one and only one cohort of the MISQ Scholarly Development Academy (e.g., the 2022 cohort, the 2023 cohort, etc.). Potentially, events may later be held for cohorts from a given year, similar to the ICIS Doctoral Consortium reunions.
Application
Admittance to the second cohort of the MISQ Scholarly Development Academy will be limited to scholars who are between 1-7 years post PhD graduation and who either work in the Global South or are members of indigenous and underserved ethnic or racial groups in high-income countries.
Note:
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We have described the target cohort in inclusive terms to ensure we can accommodate as many scholars in need as possible. Depending on the volume of applications, we appreciate your understanding if we need to tighten the scope on intersectional grounds. If you have strong reason to apply based upon intersectionality, please highlight this in your application.
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Selected applicants will be informed by Jan 10, 2023
Application Requirements:
The application will require you to prepare and submit a single application document (maximum 7 pages) that comprises of the following:
- Cover letter (maximum 2 pages) that includes the following information:
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- When & at which institution you completed your PhD
- The topic of your PhD dissertation
- Current position and career status
- Future career plans (ex. explain what you seek to achieve in the next 5 years and how you plan to achieve this)
- A reflection on your own strengths and weaknesses
- What brings you joy in scholarship
- Statement that confirms your eligibility for admittance (i.e., within 7 years since PhD graduation, and either living and working in the Global South or identify as a member of indigenous and underserved ethnic or racial groups in high-income countries)
- Research proposal (maximum 5 pages) outlining a working project that includes the following information:
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- All applicable tables, figures, references, etc. (included in the page limit)
- The nature of your scholarship, including topic and method
- Expected contributions to the field
- Current status of the project & areas where you feel you need most feedback/advice
Admissions Process:
If you are accepted into the workshop, the second session (paper development workshop) will require you to submit a summary of a current paper you are developing. Rather than submit a full paper, the idea is to force applicants to focus on the core intended contribution. The goal is for mentors to help the mentees to enhance the contribution of their paper. We will be delighted if applicants wish to submit these papers to MISQ, but it is not a requirement.
A committee consisting of MISQ board members will review the applications and select applicants. We will take as inclusive an approach to selection as possible, but if resources are constrained, preference will be given to scholars who are likely to suffer multiple types of inequity due to their personal or geographical circumstances.
Practicalities
The MISQ Scholarly Development Academy will take place entirely online and begin with an introductory plenary session in mid-to-late February. The two foci of the Academy will be addressed through a paper development session in March, and a career development session in October.
To facilitate time-zone differences, each session will be run at two times of the day – one at a time that suits AIS Region 1 attendees and one at a time of day that suits AIS Region 2-3 attendees.
Mentors
We are proud to have a remarkable group of mentors for the Academy in 2023, listed below alphabetically. They represent a global cross-section of leaders in the IS scholarly community, many of whom have current or past affiliations with MISQ as a board member or author. They also reflect substantial diversity across topics, methods, world regions, gender, and career experience.
We will accept roughly 90 mentees, with a ratio of two-to-three mentees to one mentor. We will seek to allocate mentors to mentees based on potential fit (e.g., topic, method, region). We will make the best matches we can, but we cannot entertain specific requests.
Mentors for 2023
Margunn Aanestad, University of Agder
Atta Ado, University of Surrey
Bijan Azad, American University of Beirut
Abayomi Baiyere, Copenhagen Business School
Antonio Carlos Gastaud Maçada, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul
Michelle Carter, Washington State University
Emma Coleman, University of the Witwatersrand
Sherae Daniel, University of Cincinnati
Rahul De, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore
Antonio Diaz Andrade, University of Agder
Andreas Eckhardt, University of Innsbruck
Omar El Sawy, University of Southern California
Dirk Hovorka, University of Sydney
Lakshmi Iyer, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Nishtha Langer, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Eleanor Loiacono, William & Mary
Likoebe Maruping, Georgia State University
Silvia Masiero, University of Oslo
Saji Mathew, Indian Institute of Technology Madras
Nigel Melville, University of Michigan
Eivor Oborn, University of Warwick
Stacie Petter, Wake Forest University
Tuan Phan, The University of Hong Kong
David Chee Wei Phang, University of Nottingham Ningbo China
Marlei Pozzebon, HEC Montréal & FGV/EAESP (Brazil)
Israr Qureshi, Australian National University
Sundeep Sahay, University of Oslo
Brenda Scholtz, Nelson Mandela University
Lisen Selander, University of Gothenburg
Aslı Sencer, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Pankaj Setia, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad
Maha Shaikh, ESADE
Leiser Silva, University of Houston
Janaki Srinivasan, International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore
Shirish Srivastava, HEC Paris
Juliana Sutanto, Lancaster University
Felix Tan, Auckland University of Technology
Barney Tan, University of New South Wales
Nazım Taşkın, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi
Angsana Techatassanasoontorn, Auckland University of Technology
Jason Thatcher, Temple University
Jamie Windeler, University of Cincinnati
Lior Zalmanson, Tel Aviv University
Moderators/Co-Leaders of the Academy
Saonee Sarker, Lund University and London School of Economics
Mari-Klara Stein, Tallinn University of Technology and Copenhagen Business School
Andrew Burton-Jones, The University of Queensland
Mentors for the 2022 Cohort
We list the mentors for our 2022 cohort below, and we thank them for their service.
Ritu Agarwal, University of Maryland College Park
Indranil Bardhan, The University of Texas at Austin
Kathy Chudoba, Utah State University
Debbie Compeau, Washington State University
Jens Dibbern, University of Bern
Amany Elbanna, Royal Holloway, University of London
Xiao Fang, University of Delaware
Peter Gray, The University of Virginia
Bin Gu, Boston University
Traci Hess, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Weiyin Hong, HKUST
Dirk Hovorka, The University of Sydney
Carol Hsu, University of Sydney
Marta Indulska, University of Queensland
Tina Blegind Jensen, Copenhagen Business School
Mark Keil, Georgia State University
Thomas Kude, ESSEC Business School
Ting Li, Erasmus University
Kai Lim, City University of Hong Kong
Magnus Mähring, Stockholm School of Economics
Ann Majchrzak, University of Southern California
Mary Beth Watson Manheim, University of Illinois Chicago
Eric Monteiro, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Ning Nan, University of British Columbia
Shan Pan, University of New South Wales
Niki Panteli, Royal Holloway University of London
Raghav Rao, University of Texas San Antonio
Jan Recker, University of Hamburg
Michael Rosemann, Queensland University of Technology
Sundeep Sahay, University of Oslo
Nilesh Saraf, Simon Fraser University
Saonee Sarker, Lund University
Susan Scott, London School of Economics
Priya Seetharaman, Indian Institue of Management, Calcutta
Maha Shaikh, King’s College London
Choon Ling Sia, City University of Hong Kong
Heshan Sun, University of Oklahoma
Chuan Hoo Tan, National University of Singapore
Monideepa Tarafdar, University of Massachusetts Amherst
Hock Hai Teo, National University of Singapore
Yu Tong, Zheijiang University
Lynn Wu, University of Pennsylvania
Xiaoquan (Michael) Zhang, Tsinghua University