Global Challenges and the Need for Knowledge Management Research Agenda

The advances in science and technology have not only transformed our planet into a global village, but also brough about local and global challenges that we can no longer be ignore or treated as “not in my backyard” issues. Climate change, sustainability, inequalities, corporate responsibility, and the current COVID-19 pandemic are examples of these challenges. The absence of data and knowledge hinders our ability to recognize and deal with the ambiguity and uncertainty surrounding these issues. Using system thinking, data analytics, machine learning and collaboration could form the basis for an integrated knowledge management research agenda that can be used to deal with the structures underlying these complex problems. In this talk, we will discuss some of the pressing issues and the efforts being made to develop a holistic KM framework.  

Dr. Suliman Hawamdeh is a professor in the Department of Information Science, College of Information, University of North Texas. He is a leading authority in the field of knowledge management. Dr. Hawamdeh founded and directed several academic programs including the first Master of Science in Knowledge Management in Asia in the School of Communication and Information at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the Master of Science in Data Science at UNT. He was department chair and the director of the interdisciplinary PhD program in Information Science. Dr. Hawamdeh is the editor in chief of the Journal of Information and Knowledge Management (JIKM) and the editor of the book series on Innovation of Knowledge Management Published by World Scientific. He has authored and edited several books in the areas of knowledge management, information science, data analytics and cybersecurity. In 2020, he received the ALISE Award for Professional Contribution to Library and Information Science Education and selected as distinguished member by ASIS&T.