The Digital Society and Economic interdisciplinary research theme has been running for over a year, working to encourage and support interdisciplinary research across the College of Social Sciences. It’s been a difficult time for so many people, and we are grateful to all colleagues who have engaged with us during this period. As we move towards (hopefully) brighter times ahead, we wanted to share some of the theme’s activities colleagues have been involved in to date. We look forward to hearing from you in terms of helping shape our future work – please do get in touch with suggestions for events, funding collaborations, and research you want to share.

In part 2 of this review, we are looking at some of the theme’s work around skills development and training, particularly through our Innovative Research Methodologies for a Digital Society (IRMDS) workshop series, the Social & Digital Change Symposium and Scottish Scale-Up Consortium.

Innovative Research Methodologies for a Digital Society (IRMDS) Workshop Series

The Innovative Research Methodologies for a Digital Society 2020-2021 workshop series introduced and explored new and pioneering ways of collecting, processing and investigating digital data, paying particular attention to the interplay of ongoing changes and challenges in our digital world.

Researchers presented their methods and methodologies, along with insights into the background of why they used these methods, their experience of setting them up and adapting them for their studies, as well as the limitations and ethical considerations that they had to take into account.

Some highlights from the 2020-2021 workshop series are:

  • The insights and limitations of analysing Twitter networks in mixed methods research by Emma Seddon, School of Education: in this workshop, Emma demonstrated the advantages of a mixed methods approach, integrating the analysis of Twitter networks into ethnographic data; discussing how the quantitative measures of social network analysis can speak to qualitative data, and the richness this brings to research.
  • A Practical Guide to Using Data Ontologies in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences by Michael Pidd, from the Digital Humanities Institute: the aim of this workshop was to explore how data ontologies can be used to structure, organise and analyse primary and secondary sources -- including mixed data types -- in order to better represent the subject domain in question and leverage new forms of inquiry.
  • Getting started with Social Network Analysis: Networks are everywhere! By Yasi Sarabi, Edinburgh Business School, Heriot-Watt University: this workshop provided an overview of the field of Social Network Analysis (SNA), and insights into how it can be used in scholarly practice in various disciplines, specifically in business and management. The workshop explored how you can get started with SNA with an overview of the key tools and software packages available, with some examples from business and management studies used to show the extent and applicability of SNA.

Social & Digital Change Symposium

The Social & Digital Change Symposium ‘Living in Between: Digital Technology and the COVID-19 Pandemic' was organised by our post-graduate researchers (PGRs) across the Digital Society & Economy IRT and the Social and Digital Change Group. This informal symposium offered an opportunity for PGRs and Early Career Researchers to present and discuss their research in a friendly, supportive and multidisciplinary setting.

The Symposium focused on the COVID-19 pandemic – the biggest social and digital change we’ve lived through to date. It focused on how new and repurposed digital technologies have resulted in a proliferation of the internet of things (loT), with new challenges for big data analytics, artificial intelligence, blockchain technologies and many more. Throughout the pandemic, there have been questions surrounding the inequalities perpetuated by new technologies, and resistance to them. But this social and digital change has also created many positive effects: improved sustainability, environmentally friendliness, and accessibility.

All of these issues were explored through four panel talks throughout the day, covering topics such as: Methodological challenges & considerations of research during the pandemic, Institutionalizing digital technology: People, policy and power and Social and individual burden: mental health and marginalisation. For a full list of the day’s events, please see the Social & Digital Change Symposium Programme.

Scottish Scale-up Consortium

The Scottish Universities Scale-up Consortium (SUSC) is a consortium of all 16 of the Scottish University business schools that supports scale-up through world-leading evidence-based education. The SUSC developed E Squared (E²), a programme that empowers established entrepreneurs to support the next generation of Scottish businesses to scale. SUSC is financially supported by the Scottish Funding Council and is supported by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

The E² programme was designed for entrepreneurs with direct experience in scaling businesses, ideally as a senior team member or chief executive. It was aimed at experienced entrepreneurs who wanted to give back to the Scottish scale-up community while developing their own career by underpinning their exiting practical experience with academic theory and case study based learning

One of our IRT leaders, Dominic Chalmers, was the Programme Manager for the SUSC, alongside the Director of SUSC, Professor Francis Greene (University of Edinburgh) and the Director of Strategic Operations, Mrs Sandra Stirling (University of Edinburgh). The E² programme ran from 17th May 2021 to the 1st July 2021. The programme was part-time and include a mix of self-directed and online live learning.

If you are doing or interested in research that speaks to how people use data, new technologies, or digital services (in any sector), then please get in touch! From lived experience and digital exclusion, to regulatory frameworks and the role of digitisation in meeting sustainability targets - we are here to support you in making new connections, getting the right funding, and amplifying your work.

You can contact one of the theme leads or email us on: digital-irts@glasgow.ac.uk

First published: 21 February 2022

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