PD Dr. Daniel Beverungen
Research Visit

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Mission statement

• To cooperate on a top journal paper on applying process mining techniques for the analysis and improvement of service business processes (joint research).
• To network the teams at both research groups by identifying fitting research profiles of the involved IS faculty members (joint research).
• To strengthen joint teaching activities in the ERCIS virtual seminar and to improve international student mobility in our current student exchange program (joint teaching).

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Research results

Joint Research on Process Mining in the Services Industries

Based on the profiles of researchers at UNIST and WWU, we have long identified Business Process Management (BPM) as an area for successful joint research. In particular, Prof. Minseok Song's expertise in the Process Mining field has great potential to be applied in Service Science Management and Engineering (SSME), a field that has been targeted for many years at the WWU. During my stay, we have set up and detailed a joint paper project in this area that shall lead to a joint paper submission made to one of the leading IS journals. This work might also increase to joint intellectual property of the involved researchers and institutions, paving the way for establishing joint industry projects in this area. What is more, UNIST and WWU have together with other institutions with a strong research profile in BPM applied for a joint EU project in the course of the Horizon 2020 funding schema. In the case this project will be funded, it would make for an unique and ideal research environment to extend our research collaboration for years to come.

Joint Research and Industry Projects on Electric Vehicle Batteries and Services

In a presentation at UNIST, I introduced some of the ideas and IT artifacts we have been working on in our current projects on services for electric mobility in Germany. In particular, we are deadling with new concepts and services to reuse electric vehicle batteries (EVBs) in other applications, after they have been removed from the electric vehicle itself. This reserach is aimed at increasing the diffusion of electric vehicles in Germany, facilitating the climate protection plans of the European Union and establishing Germany as the leading nation for grenn mobility solutions. Since Korea, and the Ulsan industrial area in particular, is home to many of the leading battery companies, including Samsung SDI, cooperating in this area is a promising field for establishing joint industry projects that can have inpact on business practice.

Joint Teaching of Students and PhD Students

After its establishment in 2012, two students from WWU have spend away semesters at UNIST. With the next Winter Term 2014/2015 to come, two additional studentsd from Münster will be staying in Ulsan, while two Ulsan students will be coming to Münster. During out visit, we discussed ways for enhancing the exchange program as well as for improving the operations of sending and receiving students from either institution. Amongst others, Dr. Armin Stein gave a talk on spending an away semester in Münster. In addition, students were encouraged to participante in the ERCIS virtual seminar, which is an international seminar to network students from international institutions to jointly work on a research topic. This seminar was awarded with the innocative teaching award by the Association for Information Systems (AIS) in 2013. In addition, we developed the idea of providing industry internships to Ulsan students in Europe, enabling them to integrate their study work with in-depth experience gained from working at major international companies. In the weeks to come, we will be finding out to what extend these ideas can be realized.

Exploring the area and finding out "what it is like" to stay and work at UNIST

Apart from advancing our joint work in joint research, joint teaching, and joint industry projects, we strived to find out what work and life at UNIST is like. We must say, that in our minds UNIST makes a fine environment for research and teaching. With its high concentration of high-tech companies, the region also provides for rich opportunities to explore Korean heavy industries and their particular needs with respect to IT. Trips to Busan, Seoul and other parts of the country are greatly recommended to provide for a good work-life balance.