Research Clusters

Cluster projects research the role of emerging technologies in its potential for societal and business innovations and disruptions in regard to sustainable development. The main objective of this cluster is to inform feasible and desirable policy formulations aiming for sustainable development.

Cluster ManagerAssoc. Prof. Dr. Roman Meinhold,
email: roman.mei@mahidol.edu

Cluster Members

• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Alessandro Stasi, Business Administration Division
• Assoc. Prof. Bablu Kumar Dhar, Business Administration Division
• Dr. Christoph Wagner, Research Fellow, Chair of Business Ethics, University Hohenheim, Stuttgart, Germany
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Claus Schreier, Business Administration Division
• Dr. David Tan, Adjunct Professor, Business Administration Division
• Dr. Giovanni Frigo, Research Group Philosophy of Engineering, Technology Assessment & Science (PhilETAS), Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
• Asst. Prof. Dr. Isabel Pereira Rodrigues, Business Administration Division
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Roman Meinhold, Business Administration Division

The emergence of social media platforms and the proliferation of user-generated content (UGC) open new possibilities for analysing a massive amount of data – so-called Big Data, which refers to the large-volume and complex data that come from heterogeneous and autonomous sources with distributed and decentralised control. Such data could be utilised for research and commercial purposes. This research project focuses on the two timely issues: (1) the image analysis and (2) the social media content analysis.

The objectives of this research project are to (1) infer the cognitive and affective image of Bangkok from traveller-generated photos and (2) analyst tweets about COVID-19 and the countries worldwide. These two objectives are part of the place image narrative. Furthermore, this research aims to create a dashboard that could visualise the results to policy makers and destination marketing organisations such as Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT)

Cluster Manager:
Assoc. Prof. Dr.Viriya Taecharungroj, email: viriya.tae@mahidol.ac.th

Cluster Members:

1. Assoc. Prof. Dr.Walanchalee Wattanacharoensil, Tourism and Hospitality Management Division, MUSIC
2. Asst. Prof. Dr.Boonyanit Mathayomchan, Science Division, MUIC

Sub-projects

• Sub-project 1: The Image of Bangkok: Constituting Cognitive and Affective Images of Bangkok from Flickr Photos
• Sub-project 2: An Analysis of COVID-19 Tweets about Countries Worldwide in 2020

Recent years have seen a notable revival of the academic study of ‘frontiers’. Using Frederick Jackson Turner’s (1893) classic concept of the moving frontier line (and its significance for the development of American democracy) as a point of departure, the study of frontiers has been diversified to include (re)conceptualizations of the frontier as an abstract space of territorial expansion, exploration, and exploitation.

Projects under this research cluster engage with the academic study of ‘frontiers’ as “edge[s] of space and time: a zone of not yet – not yet mapped, not yet regulated” (Tsing 2003: 5100). Southeast Asia, the regional scope of the cluster, provides diverse avenues for an engagement with the spatial and temporal qualities of frontiers. Members of the cluster will initially investigate three different sub-projects, including a “heritage frontier” at the upper Mahakam in Central Borneo, organizational aspects of cultural entrepreneurship at “business frontiers”, and the “frontier communities” of KMT villages in Northern Thailand. The output of these projects attempts to combine academic products with reports and recommendations for policy makers to foster a dynamic dialogue between the academic world and the public realm.

Cluster Manager:
Christian Oesterheld, email: christian.oes@mahidol.ac.th

Cluster Members:

1. Dr. Hardina Ohlendorf, Social Science Division, MUIC

Sub-projects

• Sub-project 1: The Upper Mahakam Region in Central Borneo: Culture, Society and Development in a Frontier Region
• Sub-project 2:Frontier Communities: The Kuomintang Villages in Northern Thailand

Attending university is an important and often stressful experience for students and presents students with new psychological challenges. It is argued that these challenges offer result in psychology issues related to stress, anxiety, depression and sociocultural adjustment issues. Therefore, this research cluster will focus on the introduction of positive psychology based interventions within the classes at MUIC in an effort to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. This is critical to the development of resilience and specific coping strategies, for most undergraduates enter higher education at an age often associated with the onset of mental health problems. Arnett (2000) used the term emerging adulthood to describe this stage of development when students are adjusting to challenges involved in facing new academic and social situations as well as the transition from adolescence. While many view the experience as exciting, constructive and react positively, significant numbers of students suffer from the negative consequences of this transition. To date, much of the research on undergraduate stress, anxiety, and depression has a Western emphasis, yet these issues also impact students in Asia.

Cluster Manager:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Douglas Rhien email: douglas.rhe@mahidol.edu

Cluster Members:

1. Mr. Ian McDonald, Social Science Division, MUIC
2. Asst. Prof. Dr. Alexander Nanni

Sub-projects

• Sub-project 1: Positive Psychology
• Sub-project 2: Positive Psychology and The MEET Program

A new research cluster called Biophilia is proposed. This will inspire and facilitate transdisciplinary research projects from right across the art, humanities, business, science, and social science divisions of MUIC. The subprojects will focus on understanding,promoting and stimulating knowledge of the concept of biophilia: humanity’s innate attraction for the natural world based on our physical and psychological dependence upon it.

Cluster Manager:Dr. Kritya Bunchongchit
Email: kritya.bun@mahidol.edu


Cluster Members:

1. Dr. Kritya Bunchongchit, Science Division, MUIC

Sub-projects

• Sub-project : Planting Peer Mobile Applicationm