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Research

About Our Research

At the MDTRC, our primary mandate is to engage in cutting-edge multidisciplinary research aimed at better understanding the implications of digital transformation in a wide range of contexts.

We are open to local and international collaborations with academic colleagues as well organizations from all sectors and industries that are currently undergoing, or aspire to embark on, their own transformations. Additionally, our research infrastructure is also available for organizations, researchers, and students if they would like to conduct their own research projects independently. 

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Are you Interested in Academic Research Collaborations? Research With Us

At MDTRC, our primary mandate is to engage in cutting-edge multidisciplinary academic research aimed at better understanding all aspects of digital transformation in all contexts. We are open to multidisciplinary collaborations with academics from around the world. Our multidisciplinary MDTRC research team will secure researchers with the appropriate fit discipline and expertise for the initiative.

Are you from the Public, Private or Not-for-Profit Sector? Collaborate with Us

We’re actively building collaborations and engaging with joint research projects with key partners and affiliates in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. Our experienced research team can assist you with your digital transformation initiatives of all sizes and shapes. Through your collaboration with MDTRC, some projects may be eligible for additional funding from various grant bodies.

EXAMPLE RESEARCH AREAS

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Value Creation through Technology

Value creation is at the core of every organization. Innovative utilization of digital technologies not only enhances processes, efficiency, and creates new value, but also has the potential to disrupt entire industries by rendering some traditional value chains obsolete. Research at the MDTRC aims to investigate how digital technologies can transform the ways value is created in organizations of all sizes, at all stages of maturity, and across a broad spectrum of industries.

Technology Adoption

Adoption of new technologies is an ongoing challenge for individuals and organizations. Research at the MDTRC will explore key enablers of and barriers to Information and Communication Technology’s (ICT’s) adoption, taking into account individual, organizational, technology, and contextual variations.

User Experience in the Digital Age

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have become essential to many contemporary professional, educational, and personal activities, with obvious transformational implications for the way individuals interact, communicate, and collaborate with each other. Research at the MDTRC focuses on understanding and enhancing users’ experiences as they interact with various ICTs in different social, educational, and professional contexts.

Digitization of Healthcare

The digitization and networking of information and systems in the healthcare industry had a tremendous impact on all stakeholders. Understanding these impacts and appropriate applications of emerging technologies is critical to the effective management of numerous healthcare market segments.

Evidence Based Decision Making

Effective decision making is a key success factor for organizations. With the advent of the Internet and “Big Data”, decision makers face an overabundance of information as they search, process, integrate, and contextualize information from a wide variety of sources. As a result, decision makers may settle for suboptimal decisions based on their intuition, as opposed to evidence, to reduce their cognitive burden.

Mixed Reality

Virtual and Mixed Reality systems are increasingly becoming more economical and powerful with time. They hold the potential to disrupt our personal and professional lives by changing the way we almost everything. Research at the MDTRC investigates the innovative application of Mixed Reality in various professional and social contexts to enhance communication, collaboration, and productivity.

Electronic Education

Due to the pandemic, most educational institutions around the world were forced to quickly implement online learning tools.  Research at the MDTRC seeks to understand how online learning differs from traditional classroom learning with an emphasis on the drivers for student engagement.  For example, gamified learning systems are explored for their potential to enhance learning outcomes across various contexts. 

Designing Digital Interfaces for Older Adults

Older adults are the fastest growing segment of the population but the challenges they face when using technology are typically overlooked. The natural process of aging is associated with declines in several cognitive and physiological abilities that puts older adults at a significant disadvantage when engaging with technology. Research at MDTRC closely examines how aging impacts the User Experience (UX) of older adults and how user interfaces can be better developed to remove barriers.

The Dark Side of Technology

Digital communication technologies have great potential to enrich and transform our personal, professional and educational lives.  However, these benefits or bright sides come with dark sides where IT can be misused, become a threat or cause harm. For example, researchers at MDTRC explore technology addiction, technostress, cyberbullying, negative health outcomes of technology use, cybercrime victimization, and misinformation, with the aim to provide support and mitigation strategies.