Youngjin Yoo

This course is compulsory on the MPhil/PhD in Management - Information Systems and Innovation. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course uses controlled access as part of the course selection process. For information on controlled access courses, including eligibility, application processes, deadlines, and departmental contact details, please refer to the Controlled Access Courses webpage.

Students can apply for this course by emailling the PhD Programmes Manager to request course leader approval. Please contact C.Kennedy-Harper@lse.ac.uk for more information. 

Students from related PhD programmes who are interested in learning about research design may be able to join the course with the teacher's permission. 

This course is a research reading seminar on select contemporary topics in information systems research, delivered in an intensive four-day workshop format. Each year, the course focuses on one or two topics of current significance to the IS field, providing doctoral students with a forum to develop comprehensive, in-depth knowledge of these topics and to advance their own research agendas. 

Students will be exposed to (a) established IS research — both theoretical and empirical — that has shaped the field's understanding of the topic; (b) foundational works from adjacent disciplines that can inform the IS research on this topic; and the latest studies from IS and cognate disciplines that represent the current intellectual frontier. Through close reading and structured discussion, students will learn to trace how ideas migrate across disciplinary boundaries, identify unresolved theoretical tensions, and locate opportunities for original contribution. 

Students are expected to read all assigned materials before each session and to participate in critical discussion. Students are expected to produce a research paper of publishable quality, targeted at a leading IS journal or conference. By the end of the course, students will be able to position their own research questions within the broader scholarly conversation on the topic, construct theoretically grounded arguments, and design rigorous empirical studies. 

The specific topics rotate annually to reflect the evolving research landscape. Past and prospective topics include but are not limited to: digital innovation; platform ecosystems and algorithmic organising; economics of IS; computational studies in information systems; and the management of artificial intelligence.  

20 hours of seminars in the Autumn Term.
20 hours of seminars in the Winter Term.
12 hours of seminars in the Spring Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn and Winter Term.

In its Ethics Code, LSE upholds a commitment to intellectual freedom. This means we will protect the freedom of expression of our students and staff and the right to engage in healthy debate in the classroom.

This course is a compulsory component of the MPhil/PhD programme in Information Systems and Innovation. Students will receive formative assessment in the form of written feedback on a research paper developed during the course, along with verbal feedback from the convener and peers throughout the seminar discussions, to support the ongoing development of their research skills and scholarly voice.