III. Academic Leadership and Other Professional Activities

This section includes activities that have arisen because of my professional roles and my expertise, rather than as output of research.

III-1. Academic Leadership and Initiative

Since my arrival at the University of Salford in 1986, I tried to lead colleagues in various ways. When I received my Chair, I asked the Vice Chancellor what the University wanted me to do. "Explore this Dutch Philosophy and how it relates to information systems" was his answer. My academic leadership as a professor, therefore, is closely tied up with Dooyeweerd's philosophy. The following summarises how this has been manifested in various areas. It has been summarised and critically analysed in Basden [2020] ("Foundations and Practice of Research Foundations and Practice of Research").

I tried to get colleagues involved in Dooyeweerd's ideas, but this did not succeed except in a couple of instances. A couple of colleagues began to show interest but then either left the university or moved onto other things. However, one was particularly successful, in the field of sustainability, below. Other than that, it my students (undergraduate, masters and doctoral) in which I have been able to foster active interest in Dooyeweerd's ideas.

III-1.1 Researching Dooyeweerd's Philosophy and its Application

I am recognised internationally as the world's foremost applier of Dooyeweerd's philosophy. This is manifested in several directions. (See also Research Leadership for another slant on this, and also leadership in earlier areas of research.)

III-1.1.1 Ideas and Critical Strategic Understanding

In my first ten years of exploring Dooyeweerd's thought, when I was applying it piecemeal in the fields of information systems and sustainability, I found that new paradigms were emerging - new ways of understanding problems or issues in various areas of those fields. Since Dooyeweerd was not well-known, his ideas had to be explained anew in every paper I published, which proved something of a constraint. I decided that a monograph was needed in which I could bring together the disparate ideas and possibilities into a single portrait, and which would act as a reference point for future discussion, and a stimulus and launchpad for future work.

The first attempt at such a portrait was Basden [2008] (Philosophical Frameworks for Understanding Information Systems). This accomplished three things:

This stimulated deeper engagement with other thinkers and approaches, then extant in the information systems community, including a new approach to understanding the whole field and its dignity, destiny and responsibility. From this work, Basden [2018] (Foundations of Information Systems: Research and Practice) was published, which not only updated the ideas above, but added:

However, Dooyeweerd's philosophy was and is useful in other fields than information systems. The standard texts however are not suitable for researchers (often too philosophical or, as in the case of the above two books, seemingly limited to a single field). So my third monograph, Basden [2020] (Foundations and Practice of Research : Adventures with Dooyeweerd's Philosophy) discusses the potential that Dooyeweerd's philosophy has for research in all fields. It has several 'unique selling points' for researchers:

This monograph may be accessed via "http://dooy.info/bk/adventures/".

III-1.1.2 Research Group

From 2000 onwards all my PhD students except one used Dooyeweerd as the conceptual framework for their research, some exploring how to use Dooyeweerd in interviewing, some, in data analysis, and some, in understand paradigms and discourses in a field. This research was applied to a variety of problems in the information systems and education fields. In 2012, The University of Salford made a feature of this in RISE, its outward-facing research magazine.

III-1.1.3 The Centre for Philosophy, Technology and Social Systems

In 1995, I was invited to be a founder member of the Centre for Philosophy, Technology and Social systems (at first called "SWEHOL" and then "CTS") and remained in its leadership for over 20 years. This was a collaboration for research, scholarship and teaching, forged to stimulate good academic discourse around Dooyeweerd's philosophy, social systems thinking and the philosophy of technology. The collaboration was between the Information Technology Institute (the Business School) of the University of Salford, the Faculty of Philosophy in the Free University, Amsterdam, the Department of Informatics and System Sciences, University of Luleå, Sweden and, later, the Computer Science Department, University of Potschefstroom, South Africa.

The CPTS organised annual Working Conferences in Maarssen, Netherlands, for over 20 years, up to 2012, at which researchers presented papers for criticism and refinement, a Summer School Workshop on Dooyeweerdian Philosophy, at which papers were prepared, delivered and criticised as well as lectures given, and sundry collaborations in research, publication and teaching. Many of these papers were published in high-ranking mainstream journals and, in 2006, the CPTS celebrated its 10th anniversary by publishing a selection of such papers in a book (Strijbos & Basden [2006], In Search of an Integrative Vision of Technology: Interdisciplinary Studies in Information Systems. Kluwer/Springer, Contemporary Systems Thinking Series). The Centre planned an International Masters degree in Philosophical Management (the importance of philosophy in management). The Centre also prepared a new International Master's Course on Philosophical Management and Systems Science.

III-1.1.4 The Dooyeweerd Pages

The Dooyeweerd Pages ("http://dooy.info/") is a major international resource for Dooyeweerdian scholarship, which I set up in 1997 and is still being expanded and maintained. It was initially set up to accumulate, collate and discuss thinking around Dooyeweerd's philosophy and its application, but has expanded considerably in volume and scope, to be a major scholarship aid to the Dooyeweerdian community and those interested in the philosophy and its potential application. It contains:

The site, of several hundred pages, is still growing. After initially being started on my private website, it was hosted by the University of Salford, and then moved to its own domain "dooy.info".

III-1.1.5 Dooyeweerd Research Fund

In 2013 I set up an international Dooyeweerd Research Fund, the aim of which was to provide small grants to those who wanted to research the application of Dooyeweerd's philosophy in most fields. It was initially hosted by the University of Salford, then transferred to the Association of Reformational Philosophy in the Netherlands for administration.

III-1.2 Innovation in Teaching: Everyday reality, integration and Dooyeweerd

Before encountering Dooyeweerd's philosophy, I pioneered various innovations in teaching, such as the use of multimedia when it was in its infancy and, once Powerpoint had become dominant and boring, the use of paper and non-electronic visual aids! I also pioneered an approach that was sensitive to everyday experience and intuition, and which tried to gain an holistic, integrative perspective. When I encountered Dooyeweerd's philosophy, all these were enhanced and given foundation.

In addition, I found Dooyeweerd's philosophy was extremely useful as an organising framework for courses I taught, to make sense of every field or topic being taught. In particular, Dooyeweerd's aspects were very useful in underpinning the importance of the wide range of kinds of issues in each field, including those usually taken for granted or poorly understood (and hence encountered in real life but not discussed in textbooks). Such a Dooyeweerdian perspective encouraged students to maintain a critical distance from extant ideas (whether accepted or disruptive) without rejecting them, and to be able to form their own ideas when necessary.

Since most of the world outside Europe finds religion important, it was very attractive to international students that Dooyeweerd enabled us to include religious issues alongside ethical, juridical, social and technical issues. rather than ignoring them or confining them to a separate silo.

The teaching in which I employed Dooyeweerd include:

One of my students, after she left, wrote a journal paper proposing using Dooyeweerd as an analytical tool in her discipline. That this was unbeknownst to me until many years later, illustrates the kind of impact that Dooyeweerdian thinking had on my students.

III-1.3 Fostering Interdisciplinarity and Philosophy at Salford

Because of my leadership in research and teaching, the University of Salford became known throughout the world as a centre for Dooyeweerdian thought. This is notable because Salford is rooted in technology rather than philosophy. So I began to encourage an interest in philosophy throughout the university - not just Dooyeweerd's but also a whole range of philosophies. This took various forms, including seminars for staff, teaching on philosophy for the Doctoral School, encouragement of colleagues who were thinking philosophically, and introducing a wide range of students to philosophy.

Even before that, however, I was a leading figure in promoting an interdisciplinary approach in many fields. This was made stronger by Dooyeweerd's ideas, since the various disci0plines could be understood as centring on one or two aspects of reality, in both their understanding and their normative direction and guidance.

III-1.4 Family-friendly PhDs

Several of my PhD students had family responsibilities while doing their PhDs. This is especially true of students from non-Western cultures, where the traditional family is still seen as important, and especially for women, where responsibilities to husbands and children are very important, culturally - and even more so for single mothers.

This meant they could not devote as much time to their PhD work as other students - single, liberal, Western students - and hence could devote less time to reading literature, developing ideas, writing papers and presenting at conferences. This cohort of PhD students are therefore at a disadvantage (other things being equal), in terms of the quality of their research, and the number of journal papers and conferences they contribute, and thus their C.V.s.

Therefore I tried to get the University of Salford to consider special support for such people, and I published an opinion piece on it in Times Higher Education on 2018 (see also in Publications. One of my students arranged a seminar on the issue.

III-1.5 Sustainability and Theology

When I first encountered Dooyeweerd, I was perplexed about the variety of infighting camps in the environmental movement, and on hearing of his aspects realised that each was merely emphasising a different aspect. I then wondered if sustainability may be defined as all functioning well in all aspects, and dysfunction in any aspect undermines sustainability.

In the late 1990s, I introduced Peter Brandon, Professor of Built Environment, this so-far-unformed idea, as a way of understanding sustainability, especially in the urban or built context. He welcomed the idea, and began to develop it, assigning a PhD student, Patrizia Lombardi, to develop the idea. She developed an entire evaluation framework on the basis of this, which is found in Brandon & Lombardi [2005] (Evaluating Sustainable Development in the Built Environment, Blackwell). This has continued.

Since the 2000s I have also been developing a theology of sustainability. It is partly informed by Dooyeweerdian ideas of meaningfulness, diversity and coherence, but is from a Christian theological perspective. Though this began as a personal project, it has become something of an academic venture, in which I have formulated the idea of a compelling theology of environmental responsibility.

In addition, I have explored the relationship between scholarship and religious belief, not in a Scholastic way, in which 'Nature' is subservient to 'Grace', the secular to the sacred, or the other way round, but in a way that explores the impact of religious belief on scholarship as one of its aspects; see the research programme Scholarship and Religious belief.

III-1.6 Cross-approach Dialogue

Most places that teach or research Dooyeweerd's philosophy emphasise its Christian, Calvinistic roots, and do so in institutions with Christian roots. To use Dooyeweerd in a secular university is astounding to many (the only other example I know of was the University of Luleå, Sweden, but that work has now stopped). I did so, not because Dooyeweerd shared my faith, but because I found his philosophy 'worked' in the real world of sustainability and information systems. But I had to work out a way to overcome the prejudice on both sides, pro- and anti-Christian, and focus on philosophical and field issues, not on theology. I am renowned for pioneering such an approach. The result was that I found that Muslims, Hindus and Humanists, and some African Christians, appreciated Dooyeweerd more than Western Christians did.

III-1.7 Asperger's Syndrome (Autism)

In 2003 I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome (now called "Autism" because of a sudden, recent sensitivity to the name "Asperger"). As the my page on Asperger's Syndrome explains, I see it as a gift as well as a disability, and have taken some minor leadership in academia about opening up the debate about it, with a blog Confessions of an Aspergic Professor. The blog attracted many responses.

Previous Material

The following material concerns other activities that is carried out in my capacity as an academic, up to around 2012 mainly before 2006.

III-2. Professional, Advisory or Consultancy Work

Most of my consultancy work has been within ICI plc, where I was the technical leader of the Knowledge Based Systems (KBS, also known as Expert Systems in the early days) work within the company, comprising around two dozen KBS projects while I was there. Much of my internal consultancy was paid for. Since I left ICI (January 1986) my consultancy activity has been lower because I have directed my efforts elsewhere.

1980 - 1986: Advisory or Consultancy work within ICI plc

1986 - 1988: External consultancy to ICI plc, since leaving, on KBS technology and Knowledge Engineering in general.

2003 onwards: Member of Scientific Steering Committee of the Department of Systems, University of Luleå.

III-3. Working Groups Related to Information Technology

1983 - 1985: Invited to take part in the SPL-Insight workshops on Building Expert Systems.

1984 - 1987: Invited to take part in the Alvey Deep Knowledge Workshops.

1984: Invited to take part in the Alvey Workshop on Very Large Data Bases.

1994: Asked to prepare two contributions towards the Government's Technology Foresight Programme, describing the current situation in Computer Games and System Development Methodologies. They were included in the Foresight documents 1994.

1996: Academic Catalyst at "Safety Critical Systems and Artificial Intelligence" working group of projects within the DTI Safety Critical Programme.

1997: Convenor of the University of Salford Interdisciplinarity Working Group.

1998: Convenor of the User Interface Working Group for the Industry Council for Open Amiga.

III-4. Service as Assessor

Up to 2015.

III-4.1 Examiner for Theses etc.

1998: External examiner for PhD at Exeter University, Dept. of Computer Science.

1999: Internal examiner for PhD 'Multi-Aspectual Approach to Urban Sustainability', Univ. Salford, Dept. of Surveying.

2000: External assessor for twelve Masters Theses, University of Luleå, Sweden, Jan 2000.

2000: External assessor for Masters Theses, University of Luleå, Sweden, Dec 2000.

2001: External assessor for Masters Theses, University of Luleå, Sweden, Dec 2001.

2002: Internal assessor for PhD on Sustainability in the Urban Environment.

2007: External examiner for Masters Thesis, Northwestern University, South Africa

2007: External examiner of PhD for Marita Holst, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden.

2007: External examiner of PhD for Jonathan Clarke, University of Central England, UK.

2012: Internal examiner for PhD of Alice Shemi, Universify of Salford.

2013?: External Examiner for PhD of Terry Miller, University of Lincoln.

2014: Internal Examiner for PhD of Mhorag Goff.

2015: External Examiner for PhD, University of Manchester.

III-4.2 Assessor of courses, proposals, etc.

1993-present: Regular assessor for EPSRC research project proposals.

1996-present: Referee for Expert Systems, International Journal of Human Computer Studies, International Journal of Construction Information Technology, and also for the British Computer Society Specialist Group for Expert Systems Annual Conferences.

1999: External Quality Examiner for BSc Year 3 Top-up degree course at University of Central England, School of Computing.

III-5. Office Held, Responsibilities with Professional Body or Learned Society

1987 - 1992: Committee Member of the British Computer Society Northern HCI/ES Group.

2003 - present: On Editorial Board of the International Journal of Knowledge Sciences.

2004 - present: Committee Member of European Conference on Research Methods in Business and Management (ECRM).

2010 - present: On Editorial Advisory Board, and Associate Editor of the International Journal of Multi-aspectual Practice.

2010 - 2011: Associate Editor on Philosophy Track of International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS).

2013: Editorial Board for UK Association for Information Systems.

III-6. Public Services

Many of the early services I rendered were in a private capacity, but because my interest in environmental matters gradually impinged on my work in information systems and then in philosophy, I have included them here.

1985: Member of Green Party Party Organisation Working Group.

1986: Invited to participate in H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh's workshops on The Christian Attitude to Nature, St. George's House, Windsor, UK.

1987: Member of Green Party Policy Working Group on Transport.

1987: Member of Green Party Policy Working Group on Agriculture.

1987: Invited to participate in the Evangelical Alliance Consultation 'Salt and Light' re. Environmental Issues.

1987-1994: Stood for election at parliamentary, county council and borough council levels as candidate for the Green Party.

1988: Invited participant to 'Salt and Light' consultation of the Evangelical Alliance.

1989: Presented evidence to Public Inquiry on the Vale Royal Borough Plan.

1991: Invited to participate in the Department of the Environment's Examination In Public of the Cheshire Structure Plan.

1990-5: Member of the Policy Working Group of the Green Party on Responsibilities and Rights.

1992: Invited to participate in Cheshire County Council Working Group on Transport Issues for the State of the Environment Project.

1993: Gave evidence at Public Inquiry into the proposed closure of Ditton Station, 18th March 1993.

1993 - 1994: Invited to participate in Cheshire County Council Advisory Committee on Long Term Envrionmental Planning.

1994: Member of Policy Working Group on the Environment for the Movement for Christian Democracy.

1995/6: Presented evidence at Public Inquiry into Warrington Borough Plan.

1997: Invited to participate in the Examination In Public of the Cheshire 2011 Structure Plan, November 1997.

2000: Called as Expert Witness on Computer Gaming at Crown Court, Harrow.

2001: Invited to participate in discourse on Environmental Action and Christianity, University of Toronto Chaplaincy, Oct 26th 2001.

III-7. Academic Invitations to Contribute Papers or Book Chapters

This section lists papers and book chapters that I have been invited to write, that is, where the proposal came from those who invited me rather than from myself. Most are also listed in the Publications section. Some of them are connected with invited lectures, below.

III-6.1 Invited book chapters

Basden A (1989) "On the use of Expert Systems to handle corrosion knowledge", in Jovanovic A S, Kussmaul K F, Lucia A C, Bonissone P P (eds.) Expert Systems in Structural Safety Assessment, Lecture Notes in Engineering, No 53, Springer-Verlag. (Contribution to chapter: 90%)

Basden A (2000), "Guidelines for a Proximal User Interface", pp.339-356 in Vanderdonckt J, Faraenc C (eds.) Tools for Working with Guidelines, Springer, ISBN 1-85233-355-3. (Contribution to chapter 100%)

Basden A (2000), "On the Multi-Aspectual Nature of Information Systems" pp.49-60 in Heimonen J-M, Ruohonen M, eds.) Pertti Järvinen - 60 Years Work for Science, Dept. of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Tampere, Finland, ISBN 951-44-4794-8 ISSN 1457-2060. (Contribution to chapter: 100%)

Basden A (2003) "Levels of Guidance" pp. 23-7 in Jacko J, Stephanidis C (eds.) , Human-Computer Interaction: Theory and Practice (Part 1). Proc. HCI International 2003, Crete, 25-27 June 2003.

Basden A (2003) "Guidelines and freedom in proximal user interfaces" pp 28-32 in Jacko J, Stephanidis C (eds.) , Human-Computer Interaction: Theory and Practice (Part 1). Proc. HCI International 2003, Crete, June 2003.

Ball E, Chadwick DW, Basden A (2003) "The implementation of a system for evaluating trust in a PKI environment" pp.263-79 in Petrovic O, Ksela M, Fallebblock M, Kittl C (eds.) Trust in the Network Economy, Wien: Springer-Verlag. (Contribution to chapter: 20%)

III-6.2 Invited refereed journal papers

Jones G.O., Basden A. (2003) "How Habermas' Action Types Can Influence KBS Design and Use" Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation. (Contribution to paper: 60%)

III-6.3 Invited papers for non-referred journals

Basden A (1990) "Towards a methodology for building Expert Systems, Part 1", Codex, v.2, n.1, pp.(unknown). (Contribution to paper: 100%)

Basden A (1990) "Towards a methodology for building Expert Systems, Part 2", Codex, v.2, n.2, pp.(unknown). (Contribution to paper: 100%)

Basden, A (1999), "Ill-structured knowledge: Implications for KBS technology", Expert Update, v.2,n.2, Summer 1999, pp.30-39. (Contribution to paper: 100%)

III-8. Invitations to present Lectures, Seminars, etc.

This section lists presentations (seminars and lectures) that I have been invited to give, as opposed to submissions to conferences. Some are listed in the Publications section, but many, that did not result in a publication, are not.

1983: "On the benefits and limitations of Expert Systems", invited tutorial lecture at the Management Tutorial of the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems.

1984: There were sundry other invited lectures around this time of which I have lost the details.

1985: "Expert Systems and Appropriate Computing" invited lecture to the ICI company-wide Mathematics and Statistics Panel.

1986: "What is ICI doing in Expert Systems?" given to the Institution of Chemical Engineers.

1986: Member of panel on Methodologies for Building Expert Systems at Expert Systems 86, the Annual Conference of the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems. (Invited lecture.)

1986: Presentation of the RICS/Alvey project at Expert Systems 86, the Annual Conference of the British Computer Society Specialist Group on Expert Systems.

1986: "On the use of Expert Systems to handle corrosion knowledge", DeChema, Germany.

1987: "An Expert Systems for setting a budget at an early stage" invited lecture at the Cost Modelling and Computers conference at University of Salford.

1987: (with P.S. Brandon) Presentation of the RICS/Alvey project at the Grand Meeting of Alvey Clubs, London.

1987: "Industry and the Environment", Talk as Green Party representative to the Sixth Form Conference on Bangor University, 18-20th Sep 1987.

1988: "Expert systems and quality control", Symposium on Quality Control and Quality Assurance in Paint and Allied Industries, May 1988, The Paint Research Association, Teddington, Middx, UK.

1988: "Expert Systems for construction cost estimating", Quality Assurance/Design '88, Institution of Chemical Engineers, 21-22 September, 1988.

1990: "Methodology for Expert Systems", invited lecture to the Leonardo User Group.

1990: "Research Directions in Knowledge Representation", invited British Computer Society SGES Evening Series lecture. London.

1992: "A study of Knowledge Based Systems in Use", invited lecture at DTI JFIT Technical Conference, University of Sussex, March 1992.

1993: "A Radical Re-appraisal of Intelligent Authoring and Information Systems", Invited Talk, presented at "Informing Technologies for the Construction Industry", Sep 1993, Brunel University, UK.

1993: Invited to shared panel with MPs and General Secretaries of Trades Unions at regional meeting on Railway Privatisation, 20th March 1993, in my role as representative of the Green Party.

1995: "Knowledge Based Systems and Dooyeweerdian Philosophy", University of Lulea, Sweden, April 1995.

1995: "Roles and Benefits in Artificial Intelligence", Department of Philosophy, Free University of Amsterdam, Nov. 1995.

1995: "The problem of transport", Local Agenda 21 Conference, Warrington Borough Council; .

1996: "Artificial Intelligence and Cosmonomic Philosophy", invited lecture at Free University of Amsterdam, Faculty of Philosophy, Sep. 1996.

1996: (Invited to give Key Lecture on the application of Dooyeweerdian thinking to information systems at INFORMS 1996, Barcelona, Spain, but unable to.)

1997: "Integration and Interdisciplinary Working", an invited seminar on Dooyeweerdian philosophy and its application to interdisciplinarity, to the Open University Knowledge Media Institute, March 1997.

1998: "Normalisation - An Intuitive Approach", University of Lulea, Sweden, April 1998.

1998: "Towards Proximal User Interfaces", invited lecture at City University, Feb 1998.

1998: "Towards the Knowledge Level of Data Storage", University of Lulea, Sweden, April 1998.

1998: "User Interfaces", University of Lulea, Sweden, April 1998.

1998: "Knowledge Based Systems and Ill-Structured Knowledge", invited to give a tutorial at Expert Systems '98, Dec 1998, Cambridge, UK.

1998: "Multi-Modal Theory of Information Systems" and "Virtual Environments", two invited lectures/seminars at University of Tampere, Finland, 8-11 August, 1998.

1998: "Virtual Environments Systems and Applications", invited lecture to School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences, University of Greenwich, London.

1999: "Knowledge Based Systems and Ill-Structured Knowledge", Invited to give a tutorial at Expert Systems '99, Dec 1999, Cambridge, UK.

2000: "KBS for DSS", invited lecture on the use of knowledge based systems for decision support at University of Luleå, Sweden, January 2000.

2000: Paper and lecture solicited for TFWWG'2000, Biarritz, France, on "Guidelines for a 'Proximal' User Interface".

Basden A (2001) "The Means of Evaluating Information Technology", Invited Faculty Seminar, Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario, 22nd October 2001.

Basden A (2001) "Getting the Most out of Information Systems: A Philosophical Approach", Invited Seminar, Brock University, Ontario, 23rd October 2001.

Basden A (2001) "Christian Philosophy and Information Systems", Invited Faculty Seminar, Institute for Christian Studies, Toronto, 25th October 2001.

Basden A (2001) "Christianity and Information Systems", Invited Talk, Chaplaincy, York University, Toronto, 25th October 2001.

Basden A (2001) "Dooyeweerdian Philosophy and Christian Faith", Invited Lecture, La Jolla Presbyterian Church, La Jolla, California, 28th October 2001.

Basden A (2002) "An Overview of Western Philosophy - and how it can aid teaching and research at the University of Salford" Invited whole-day seminar under the auspices of the Staff Development Department of the University of Salford, in which the role and an overview of philosophy was presented to colleagues. From this a study group is being set up.

Basden A (2002) "Diversity, Responsibility and Change in Information Handling", Invited lecture to Record Managers Association of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand, 6th December, 2002.

Basden A (2002) "All Things Complete in Christ", Invited Day Seminar, Faith and Action Trust, Wellington, New Zealand, 7th December, 2002.

Basden A (2003) "Application of Dooyeweerd's Philosophy to Information Systems", Invited to give Seminar at Temple University Graduate Program, by invitation of Heinz Klein, 27th March 2003.

Basden A (2003) "Guidelines and freedom in proximal user interfaces" HCI International 2003, Crete, 25-27 June 2003. (Invited Paper.)

Basden A (2003) "Levels of Guidance" HCI International 2003, Crete, 25-27 June 2003. (Invited Paper.)

Invited to sit on Panel on "'Exploring the Meaning of 'Critique' in Electronically-Kediated Work'" at Critical Management Studies 3 Conference, University of Lancaster, UK, 9 July 2003.

Invited to give lecture 'Faith and the Study of Information Systems', at the Organisational Analysis Research Theme Group, University of Lincoln, January 2005.

September - October 2007: Invited lecture Northwest University, South Africa.

September - October 2007: Invited lecture University of Pretoria, South Africa.

October 2007: Keynote paper given at the annual conference of the South African Institute for Computer Science and Information Technology: 'Understanding the 'whole story' of information technology'.

III-9. Academic Visits, Secondments, Special Collaborations

1995-present. Founder member of the Centre for Philosophy, Technology and Social Systems, a collaboration for research, scholarship and teaching between the Information Technology Institute, University of Salford, the Faculty of Philosophy in the Free University, Amsterdam, and the Department of Informatics and System Sciences, University of Luleå, Sweden. The Centre has organised annual Working Conferences in Maarssen, Netherlands, at which researchers present papers for criticism and refinement, a Summer School Workshop on Dooyeweerdian Philosophy, at which papers were prepared, delivered and criticised as well as lectures given, and sundry collaborations in research, publication and teaching. The Centre has expanded to include the Computer Science Department, University of Potschefstroom, South Africa, and is currently preparing a new International Master's Course on Philosophical Management and Systems Science. It celebrates its 10th year in 2004.

1997. Secondment to University of Luleå, Sweden, for two months to prepare and deliver course on information technology that was based in multi-modal (Dooyeweerdian) systems theory. See the Teaching section for details. In addition, I share in the teaching and assessment of Masters Theses at the University of Luleå, Sweden once a year.

1997-1999. Two years' secondment to National Industrial Centre for Virtual Environments (CVE), University of Salford. The purpose of this secondment was to help start the new Centre, contributing to its teaching, research, planning and administration. I brought a much-needed focus on the human factors to balance the technical focus of my colleagues. My teaching contribution included devising, preparing and presenting a module on Human Factors in Virtual Environments, managing the Team Projects (basing them on the successful model developed in the Information Technology Institute over the years and modifying it to the special circumstances of a one-year Master's Course), and supervising Master's Dissertations. As it turned out, most of the rest of my effort had to be devoted to seeking grant funding and setting up a Strategic Web Site on Virtual Environments that would keep abreast of developments in virtual environments worldwide. To create the site involved me in considerable analysis of worldwide virtual environments activity. Nevertheless, I was also able to undertake significant research activity, directed towards capitalizing on the opportunity afforded by my secondment to enrich my research ideas, extending them to cater for the different context and requirements of virtual environments, and then to feed those refined ideas back to the benefit of topics in virtual environments. This led to the papers: 'Three Levels of Usability in Virtual Environments' (1998), 'Applying Dooyeweerd's Ideas to Virtual Environments' (1998), 'On the ontological status of virtual environments' (1999).

1998. Visiting Chair. On the basis of my application of Dooyeweerd's concepts to information technology, and my involvement in virtual environments, I was offered a Visiting Chair by the University of Tampere, Finland (by Prof. Pertti Järvinen, Dept. of Computer Science), as keynote speaker and main seminar and discussion leader in the 'X In Residence' programme held in Tampere in August 1998. During this time I lectured on the application of Dooyeweerdian ideas to information systems, on levels of meaning, and on virtual environments, and gave critical guidance to ten researchers.

1999-2000. Collaboration with Tarja Kuosa, University of Tampere, who sought to work with me on research and publication in the field of attitudes to Information Systems.

October 2001: Lecture tour of Canada and USA, giving six lectures, including: The Fall 2001 Faculty Colloquium, "A Means of Evaluating Information Systems", at Redeemer University College, Ancaster, Ontario, Canada, and the Seminar and Paper "Christian Philosophy and Information Systems" at the Toronto Institute for Christian Studies. See section on Presentations.

February - August 2003: Awarded Study Leave to write academic work on 'A Practical, Interdisciplinary, Philosophical Framework for Information Systems' exploring how the philosophy of Herman Dooyeweerd can provide frameworks for understanding areas of interest in information systems, from the raw technologies through its human use, to the 'ecology' of technology in society.

April 2005: Awarded grant by Leverhulme Trust to invite Prof. Heinz Klein to work at the University of Salford for 10 months 2006-2007 and give six Leverhulme Lectures on the philosophical turns in information systems, as well as assist the research in the department.

September 2007: Invited tour of academic institutions in South Africa, to give invited lectures at Northwest and Pretoria Universities, to present keynote paper to SAICSIT conference, and to contribute to postgraduate and staff research by means of seminars and workshops.

This page is a section of the Curriculum Vitae of Prof. Andrew Basden.

Copyright (c) Andrew Basden 2003.

Last updated: 19 December 2003, 24 September 2004. 3 May 2005 18 February 2006 cpts. 24 November 2006 ECRM. 16 April 2007. 30 April 2007. 11 September 2007. 18 March 2008. 14 July 2011 added some committees and editorial positions but there are other things to update. 11 February 2013 ukais, split assessor. 13 February 2020 Added new section on academic leadership. 14 February 2020 asperger; cross-approach dialogue. 15 February 2020 corrected section numbers, and expanded material.