Professor Roger Maull

About me:

Roger Maull is Professor of Management Systems at the University of Exeter’s Business School and Academic Director of the Initiative for the Digital Economy at Exeter (INDEX), which is based on London’s South Bank.

Roger’s initial research was in Operations Management and he has continued to publish on that topic (see below for list of publication). Since 2009 his research has moved to focus on the impact of the Digital Economy on individuals, organisations and more generally on society. He argues that we are living through a revolution driven by digital devices that can help us understand more about people (eg biometrics, see DIGIT grant) and things (eg Internet of Food Things project). These new sources of data are changing how individuals live and work; how organizations operate; how businesses create value; how competition unfolds; how industries are structured and how innovation happens.

This begs the question, what is digital for? His research has become increasingly interested in the overlap between the adoption of digital technologies and the circular economy. Roger argues that the CE and the re-design often required is heavily dependent on understanding objects in 'use' and therefore requires technologies that can provide data on use. In a consumer context this raises serious ethical issues on the use of personal data. The practicalities of these issues were addressed in previous research projects associated with the HAT platform and are now being further developed in the startup https://www.dataswyft.io/. The B2B issues of data sharing are being addressed through a number of projects broadly labelled ‘data exchanges’. See for example, this report for the Food Standards Agency (https://www.food.gov.uk/research/cutting-edge-regulator/food-data-trust-a-framework-for-information-sharing).

He has held 28 UKRI research awards (20 EPSRC, 4 ESRC and 4 through Innovate UK) which have a total value over £40m. This is one of the largest portfolios of any UK social science researcher. His current research is funded through the DIGIT EPSRC project and the Defence Data Research Centre (DDRC.uk), where he takes an active role in developing international links. He is also a CI on the INCLUDE N+, led by Professor Helen Thornham at the University of Leeds.

Nationality: British

Part of Initiative in the Digital Economy at Exeter (INDEX)

Administrative responsibilities

• Director of Initiative for Digital Economy (INDEX)

Interests:

• Impact of digital technologies on business and society
• How outcome based business models contribute to a more sustainable society.
• Systems theory and problem solving, specifically the application of Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety.

Qualifications:

BA Econ, MSc Management Information Systems, PhD (1987)