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Vishanth Weerakkody

Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor

Area
Office of the Vice-Chancellor
Professional Services
E-mail
V.Weerakkody@bradford.ac.uk
Phone
+441274234426
Vishanth Weerakkody

Biography

I joined the University of Bradford as a Professor of Digital Governance in 2017 after completing a 15-year tenure at Brunel University London where I held multiple leadership responsibilities  including for learning and teaching, graduate employability, and external engagement and outreach. Since joining the University of Bradford, I have held multiple leadership responsibilities including as Associate Dean for Planning and Resources for Management and Law, Dean of the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences, and Associate Dean for International and Enterprise. As Associate Dean of Planning and Resources, I was responsible for leading the implementation of a transformative growth programme for the Triple Accredited School of Management. As Dean, I was responsible for completing the complex merger of Management and Law with Social Sciences and implementing a unified culture and values across a diverse faculty. As Associate Dean of International and Enterprise, I have developed and led the international strategy for the faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences resulting in significant international growth, strong academic and research partnerships, and global engagement focused on supporting joint curriculum, knowledge transfer, and student mobility.  

In my present role as Associate Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Global Engagement and Partnerships, I lead the international strategy to grow and consolidate the University of Bradford brand and footprint globally, and support social mobility through a ‘responsible and ethical’ student recruitment and global stakeholder engagement agenda.

As a Professor of Digital Governance within the Triple Accredited School of Management at the University of Bradford, I maintain an active research track record with regular publications in 3* and 4* journals and R&D funding which have led to two REF2021 impact case studies. My current research is multidisciplinary and centred around public sector policy implementation, process transformation through digital government, social innovation, and the implementation, diffusion and adoption of disruptive technologies within a smart city–services context. Focusing on the evolving role of technology, I closely follow and critique digital-enabled service transformation efforts in the public sector. In this realm, I have presented written evidence to separate parliamentary inquiries on the UK Universal Credit and Common Agriculture Policy Development Programmes and given oral evidence on Digital Governance to the Science and Technology Committee in the House of Commons. 

My passion for solving societal problems through research and innovation together with a vast network of collaborators from both academia and industry has allowed me to attract over £25 million of R&D funding from the EU, ESRC, Qatar Foundation, British Council, and UK Local Government. Given the changing landscape of the UK within Europe, I am particularly passionate about research and innovation to tackle the societal challenges prioritised in the National Industry Strategy, including the use of emerging technologies to transform health and social care and using community-led innovation to deal with increasing levels of scarcity and poverty.

Prior to my academic career, I worked in several multinational organisations both in the UK and overseas and my last role in industry was as a Methods and Process Analyst at IBM UK. I draw from over 30 years of commercial and academic experience to combine leadership, innovation, and intrapreneurship to accomplish both personal and institutional success.     

Research

My current research and teaching are multidisciplinary and centred around public sector policy implementation, process transformation through digital government, social innovation and the implementation, diffusion, and adoption of disruptive technologies. Focusing on the evolving role of technology, I closely follow and critique digital enabled service transformation efforts in government and has given expert evidence to the house of commons on ‘digital government efforts in the UK’. Given the changing landscape of UK within Europe, I am particularly passionate about research and innovation to tackle the societal challenges prioritised in our National Industry Strategy, including the use of emerging technologies to transform health and social care and using community led innovation to deal with increasing levels of scarcity  and poverty. 

Research projects

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We are in the midst of a transformation of democracy that involves many new channels of citizen participation in government, often outside of the more visible politics of electoral representation. These channels are designed to promote inclusion, high quality deliberation, better voting mechanisms, transparency, accountability, citizens’ involvement in politics and more generally improve democracy. However, when these channels are not properly integrated, they generate redundancies, inefficiencies, conflicts, exclusion, and missed opportunities. The EMPATIA project was created to address these challenges by designing coherent participatory systems and tools to evaluate and optimize them. The project was based on a constant dialogue between research and practice, this website describes what we did and the lesson we learned along the way. The EMPATIA project was composed of a multidisciplinary consortium of partners with extended expertise in digital and in person participatory processes.

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LEARNER focus was to develop a graduate attribute and skills development framework encapsulating the context of higher education through to continued professional development (in employment) and life-long-learning

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The project focuses on developing a Road Map for Building Next Generation Banking and Financial Processes in Qatar through Developing Use Cases, Governance and Policy Models for Implementing Blockchain Technology

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The focus of the project is to develop a virtual Platform to Promote Entrepreneurship for Women in the Middle East (Qatar) Through International Collaboration and Co-Innovation with European female entrepreneurs and institutions

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The SI-DRIVE project objectives were: To determine the nature, characteristics and impacts of social innovation as key elements of a new paradigm of innovation (strengthen the theoretical and empirical base of social innovation as part of a wider concept of innovation that thoroughly integrates social dimensions) To map, analyse and promote social innovations in Europe and world regions to better understand and enable social innovations and their capacity for changing societies To identify and assess success factors of SI in seven particular policy areas, supporting reciprocal empowerment in various countries and social groups to engage in SI for development, working towards Europe 2020 targets and sustainable development (e.g. Millenium Development Goals (MDG)) To undertake future-oriented policy-driven research, analyse barriers and drivers for SI; develop tools and instruments for policy interventions (SI experimentation, incubation, ‘SI Manual’).

Research collaborator

  • Disruptive Technology (DedZinc)
  • Block Chain Technology (Delft University of Technology )
  • Entrepreneurship, Graduate Skills, Financial Services (Qatar University )
  • Digital Government (OneSource)
  • Digital Government (UNSW Business School Sydney)

Professional activities

  • University of Hertfordshire - PhD
  • City University London - MSc

  • Brunel University London - Professor of Digital Governance and Director of External Collaboration and Outreach, Director Brunel Business Life Employability Programme, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Director of Work Placements, Brunel Business School
  • IBM UK, Consultancy and Technology Solutions Division, North Harbour, Portsmouth - Methods and Process Analyst

  • Consultancy: Consultancy 
  • Manager: Managing Funded R&D Projects
  • Editorship (Journal): Journal Editorship

Publications

  • Promoting ICT skills through online services: Case study of video use for adult education in municipalities

    Molnar A.;Weerakkody V.;Almuwil A. (2014) IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 437, 63-72.

  • Integrating business process reengineering with information systems development: Issues & implications

    Weerakkody V.;Currie W. (2003) Lecture Notes in Computer Science. 2678, 302-320.

  • Developing Criteria for Evaluating a Multi-channel Digitally Enabled Participatory Budgeting Platform

    Omar A., Weerakkody V., Sivarajah U. (2017) International Conference on Electronic Participation. 1

  • Assessing consumers’ intention to adopt mobile internet services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Baabdullah A.;Alalwan A.;Rana N.;Dwivedi Y.;Weerakkody V. (2017) AMCIS 2017 - America's Conference on Information Systems: A Tradition of Innovation. 2017-August

  • Skills and attributes of it graduates: Evidence from employer's perspective

    Osmani M.;Hindi N.;Al-Esmail R.;Weerakkody V.;Kapoor K.;Eldabi T. (2016) AMCIS 2016: Surfing the IT Innovation Wave - 22nd Americas Conference on Information Systems.

  • Factors affecting citizens' trust and confidence in government and its relation with transformation of government

    Mahmood M.;Weerakkody V. (2016) AMCIS 2016: Surfing the IT Innovation Wave - 22nd Americas Conference on Information Systems.

  • Smart transport for smarter cities in the UK

    Kapoor K.;Weerakkody V.;Millard J. (2015) 2015 Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2015.

  • Indicators for measuring the success of video usage in public services: The case of education

    Weerakkody V.;Molnar A.;El-Haddadeh R. (2014) 20th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2014.

  • Examining adoption of electronic district (e- district) system in Indian context: A validation of extended technology acceptance model

    Rana N.;Dwivedi Y.;Weerakkody V.;Piercy N.;Williams M. (2014) 20th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2014.

  • Diffusing public sector services through high definition video

    Molnar A.;Weerakkody V.;El-Haddadeh R. (2013) ECIS 2013 - Proceedings of the 21st European Conference on Information Systems.

  • Complementing e-Government services through the use of video: The livecity project

    Weerakkody V.;Molnar A.;Irani Z.;El-Haddadeh R. (2013) Lecture Notes in Informatics (LNI), Proceedings - Series of the Gesellschaft fur Informatik (GI). P-221, 124-131.

  • Developing a conceptual framework for evaluating public sector transformation in the digital Era

    Osmani M.;Weerakkody V.;El-Haddadeh R. (2012) 18th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2012, AMCIS 2012. 4, 2555-2563.

  • Evaluating E-government services from a Citizens' perspective: A reference process model

    Tsohou A.;Lee H.;Irani Z.;Weerakkody V.;Osman I.;Latif A.;Medeni T. (2012) Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems, EMCIS 2012., 146-153.

  • Understanding factors for successful adoption of WEB 2.0 applications

    Dwivedi Y.;Williams M.;Ramdani B.;Niranjan S.;Weerakkody V. (2011) 19th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2011.

  • Understanding advances in Web technologies: Evolution from Web 2.0 to WEB 3.0

    Dwivedi Y.;Williams M.;Mitra A.;Niranjan S.;Weerakkody V. (2011) 19th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2011.

  • A conceptaul study of the factors influencing e-inclusion

    Almuwil A.;Weerakkody V.;El-Haddadeh R. (2011) Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems - Informing Responsible Management: Sustainability in Emerging Economies, EMCIS 2011., 198-209.

  • Diffusion of social cognitive theory in information systems research: A bibliometric study

    Alruwaie M.;El-Haddadeh R.;Weerakkody V. (2011) Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems - Informing Responsible Management: Sustainability in Emerging Economies, EMCIS 2011., 403-415.

  • The role of structural embeddedness in an IT outsourcing network

    Oh J.;Lee H.;Ali M.;Weerakkody V. (2011) Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems - Informing Responsible Management: Sustainability in Emerging Economies, EMCIS 2011., 181-185.

  • User expectancy and satisfaction of open source and commercial data base management systems

    Lee H.;Kim J.;Moon J.;Weerakkody V.;Hackney R. (2010) 18th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2010.

  • Factors affecting e-government adoption in the state of Qatar

    Al-Shafi S.;Weerakkody V. (2010) Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems: Global Information Systems Challenges in Management, EMCIS 2010.

  • The e-government implementation directions in Oman: A preliminay investigation

    Al-Busaidy M.;Weerakkody V. (2010) Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems: Global Information Systems Challenges in Management, EMCIS 2010.

  • E-Government implementation challenges: A case study

    El-Haddadeh R.;Weerakkody V.;Al-Shafi S.;Ali M. (2010) 16th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2010, AMCIS 2010. 2, 1379-1393.

  • The roles of intermediaries in the diffusion and adoption of e-government services

    Al-Sobhi F.;Weerakkody V.;Al-Busaidy M. (2010) 16th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2010, AMCIS 2010. 1, 146-156.

  • E-Government implementation in Oman: A comparative study of three public agencies

    Al-Busaidy M.;Weerakkody V. (2010) 16th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2010, AMCIS 2010. 1, 106-116.

  • The role of intermediaries in facilitating e-government diffusion in Saudi Arabia

    Al-Sobhi F.;Weerakkody V.;Al-Shafi S. (2010) Proceedings of the European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Conference on Information Systems: Global Information Systems Challenges in Management, EMCIS 2010.

  • Factors influencing E-government progress in Oman: An employees' perspective

    Al-Busaidy M.;Weerakkody V.;Dwivedi Y. (2009) 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009. 3, 1877-1891.

  • Investigating the adoption of e-government services in Qatar using the UTAUT model

    Al-Shafi S.;Weerakkody V.;Janssen M. (2009) 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009. 3, 1915-1924.

  • The impact of national culture on E-government implementation: A comparison case study

    Ali M.;Weerakkody V.;El-Haddadeh R. (2009) 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009. 2, 1140-1152.

  • Understanding citizens' behavioural intention in the adoption of e-government services in the state of Qatar

    Al-Shafi S.;Weerakkody V. (2009) 17th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2009.

  • Current state of e-Services in Saudi Arabia: The case of intermediaries in facilitating government services in Madinah city

    Alsobhi F.;Kamal M.;Weerakkody V. (2009) Proceedings of the European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, EMCIS 2009.

  • An investigation of e-government progress in Oman: A survey of public sector workers

    Al-Busaidy M.;Weerakkody V. (2009) Proceedings of the European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, EMCIS 2009.

  • Investigating the role of stakeholders in EAI adoption process in local government authorities

    Kamal M.;Weerakkody V. (2009) 15th Americas Conference on Information Systems 2009, AMCIS 2009. 6, 3848-3858.

  • Adoption of wireless internet parks: An empirical study in Qatar

    Al-Shafi S.;Weerakkody V. (2008) Proceedings of the European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, EMCIS 2008.

  • Realising transformational stage e-government: Challenges, issues and complexities

    Weerakkody V.;Dhillon G.;Dwivedi Y.;Currie W. (2008) 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2008. 1, 185-201.

  • The use of wireless internet parks to facilitate adoption and diffusion of e-government services: An empirical study in qatar

    Al-Shafi S.;Weerakkody V. (2008) 14th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2008. 1, 171-184.

  • Exploring e-government in the state of Qatar: Benefits, challenges and complexities

    Al-Shafi S.;Weerakkody V. (2007) Proceedings of the European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, EMCIS 2007., 571-5719.

  • E-government implementation in Zambia: Contributing factors

    Weerakkody V.;Dwivedi Y.;Williams M.;Brooks L.;Mwange A. (2007) Association for Information Systems - 13th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2007: Reaching New Heights. 4, 2667-2691.

  • e-government: A comparison of strategies in local authorities in the UK and Norway

    Weerakkody V.;Jones S.;Olsen E. (2006) Proceedings of the European and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, EMCIS 2006.

  • Investigating the impact of broadband on consumers' time use on daily life activities in the United Kingdom

    Dwivedi Y.;Choudrie J.;Weerakkody V. (2006) Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2006.

  • Broadband adoption in the uk household: Towards reliabilty and construct validity of a survey instrument

    Dwivedi Y.;Choudrie J.;Weerakkody V. (2006) Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2006.

  • Conference chairs welcome letter

    Janssen M.;Chun S.;Weerakkody V. (2018) Acm International Conference Proceeding Series.

  • Editorial preface

    El-Haddadeh R.;Weerakkody V. (2013) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 9

  • The adoption of e-government services and associated implementation factors

    Weerakkody V.;El-Haddadeh R. (2012) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 8

  • Editorial preface

    Weerakkody V. (2011) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 7

  • International Journal of Electronic Government Research: Editorial preface

    Weerakkody V.;El-Haddadeh R. (2011) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 7

  • International Journal of Electronic Government Research: Editorial preface

    Weerakkody V. (2010) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 6

  • Preface

    Sahu G.;Dwivedi Y.;Weerakkody V. (2009)

  • IJEGR 5(2)

    Weerakkody V. (2009) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 5

  • IJEGR 5(1)

    Weerakkody V. (2009) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 5

  • IJEGR 5(4)

    Weerakkody V. (2009) International Journal of Electronic Government Research. 5

  • Editorial

    Weerakkody V.;Dwivedi Y.;Williams M. (2007) Electronic Government. 4, 361-364.