EVENTS

Event information; Information Technology Career Fair Wednesday, 16th March 2016

We are pleased to invite you to our Wednesday Research Seminar. It will be held on April 24th from 4pm, at Middlesex University Dubai in the Oasis Theatre, Block 16, Knowledge Park. Wednesday Research Seminar Series was launched in 2008, and has featured more than 250 presentations to date. The seminars provide a forum for researchers to share their work. Presenters include faculty from Middlesex University Dubai and other universities in the United Arab Emirates, as well as researchers from other global institutions. Muddasir will deliver seminar on: “Creating a Supply Chain Strategic Plan for your Business” Muddassir Ahmed   Abstract The process to create a Supply Chain Strategic Plan explains how an organization and/or supply chain professional can create an integrated Supply Chain Management strategy that leverages standard business processes and tools, optimizes organizational capability, minimizes waste, improves predictability, and delivers comprehensive value to the customer. The seminar will discuss the following aspects: SWOT analysis for your Supply Chain Department The 4 Pillars of Supply Chain Strategy Define Key Supply Chain Goals & Results. Keeping 4 Pillars of Supply Chain Strategy in mind. Define Key Tactics & Initiatives to Achieve Supply Chain Goals Create a Supply Chain Strategy for your business/department Biography Dr. Muddassir Ahmed, MEA Regional Planning Manager at Bridgestone EMEA. He is responsible for Managing Planning & Operations activities to support $700 Million sales for Bridgestone Middle East & Africa (MEA) Region. He is also responsible for Strategic Sourcing and Supply Chain Strategic Projects in the MEA Region. Muddassir holds a PhD in Management Science from Lancaster University. He has considerable multi-site manufacturing experience in Electrical, Hydraulics, Automotive and Internet industries, and in deploying Continuous Improvement best practices in Europe, Middle East & Africa. Dr. Muddassir is also the founder of leading supply chain Blog scmdojo.com We look forward to welcoming you at the seminar. If you are interested in presenting at one of our future seminars, or would like to recommend someone, please contact:  [email protected]

Middlesex University Dubai,Room 309 in Block 16

We are pleased to invite you to our Wednesday Research Seminar. It will be held on 11 December from 4pm, at Middlesex University Dubai in the Oasis Theatre, Block 16, Knowledge Park. Wednesday Research Seminar Series was launched in 2008, and has featured more than 260 presentations to date. The seminars provide a forum for researchers to share their work. Presenters include faculty from Middlesex University Dubai and other universities in the United Arab Emirates, as well as researchers from other global institutions. Dr. Laura will deliver seminar on: “Conducting experimental research with emerging communication technologies: from virtual reality to social robots” Laura Aymerich-Franch Abstract My research promotes the positive applied uses of emerging communication technologies, principally with virtual reality and social robots, to enhance the human well-being. In this talk, I will review the principal research projects I have conducted in the last years. First, I will address the project conducted at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Stanford University, as a Fulbright postdoctoral scholar. In that project, I manipulated the appearance of avatars in immersive virtual reality in order to reduce social phobia. Next, I will explain the robot embodiment project, funded by the European Commission through the prestigious Marie Curie IOF grant, which was conducted at the CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory (Japan) and at the EventLab, Barcelona University. In this project, we created a humanoid robot avatar and demonstrated that humans are able to experience these avatars as if they were their own body. I will discuss the potential applications of these findings in the area of wellbeing. Finally, I will talk about my current research projects, including the collaborative project being conducted at the MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in which we use social robots to promote human psychological well-being through coaching experiences. The results of all these projects have been published in highly ranked JCR journals including the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication,  the International Journal of Social Robotics, Consciousness and Cognition, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, and many others, and presented at international conferences several times including the International Communication Association General Conference. Biography Dr. Aymerich-Franch is currently a Ramón y Cajal senior research fellow at Pompeu Fabra University. She was a visiting scholar at the MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2018/19). Previously, she was a Marie Curie IOF postdoctoral fellow (funded by the European Union) at EventLab, Barcelona University and at the CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory, Japan (2014/17). Previously, she was a Fulbright postdoctoral scholar at the Virtual Human Interaction Lab, Stanford University (2012/14). She earned a PhD cum laude on Audiovisual Communication from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (2010). She has also been a visiting scholar at the iCinema, Centre for Interactive Cinema Research, University of New South Wales (2009). Laura has a background in Media & Communication (BA), Digital Communication Technologies (MRes), Behavioral Psychology (MRes), Media Psychology (PhD), Positive Psychology, and Life Coaching. Her research promotes the use of virtual reality and social robot for the enhancement of the psychological wellbeing. We look forward to welcoming you at the seminar.

Middlesex University Dubai,Oasis Theatre, Block 16