The Academic Journey
There was no blueprint for this. No one was a doctor; no one held a university. In my community, doctors were figures on television, not people you knew. College was rumor. We understood education as a doorway—chasing sport or music as our own narrow paths out.
When I sat the SAT, I the nerves, the sense of being a standard never been taught meet. My marks were enough pass, math was borderline, I did not feel that it was not enough to open doors. I lacked the confidence, and there no source of encouragement filling that gap. On campus in the United States, I felt the weight of other people’s eyes, the silent question of whether I belonged. It exhausting. It was confusing.
In Australia, the air changed. The question wasn’t why you—it was how can help? Supervisors offered support, the system felt less like a locked door and more a map. It was hard to follow. But I forced myself through those doors, forced myself to take the journey.
Current focus, current academic research and writing
Today, I’m working with Professor Brad Carey of Curtin University on a journal article about identifying project management risk and increasing project success. We’re aiming for a top international journal—expecting declines, but believing we’ll place it somewhere solid. I haven’t put in as much time as I would’ve liked over the last few months, but things are settling now, and I’m carving out more space for the work. I don’t know which doors will open or close as a result, but I know this: it keeps my mind alive. I love learning, sharing knowledge, collaborating, and the pure challenge of it. The intellectual stimulation—the fun of it—keeps me moving. When it stops being fun or stops making a difference, I’ll stop writing. But for now, the journey continues. The legacy builds.
List of my academic articles on Google Scholar
I try to write, research, read at least an hour daily with no interruptions. I enjoy it and hope practitioners of transformation and project management get benefit from the writing.
Here is a list of my academic writings as identified by Google Scholar:
Publications and Articles
Journal articles
Journal paper title:
Preparing to engage the electorate: Assisting a politician make the online transition.
Abstract
The Internet is recognized as changing the way people, businesses and government communicate. In Western Australia, like many other jurisdictions, elected members of government have yet to fully embrace the Internet to campaign and to interact with constituents. However, ther is interest in gaining political benefit through the use of the Internet, but little evidence of a sustainable solution being developed. This paper documents activity taken to assist an elected member of state parliament take their initial steps online for interacting with constituents. These activities were based on the use of a project management framework being developed based on four dependent variables to guide the online transition: management, culture, processes, technology. The paper also discusses issues related to the planning and sustainability of the proposed solution
Citation
Wilson, A., Goldschmidt, P. (2005). Preparing to engage the electorate: Assisting a politician make the online transition. Global Journal of e-Business and Knowledge Management, 2 (2), 30-42.
Link: Wilson 2005 – Engage the Electorate
Conference Papers
Conference paper title:
Enhancing Leadership and Management Effectiveness: Leveraging Actor-Network Theory for Project Risk Mitigation.
Abstract
Investment decisions of leaders and managers influence the adoption and use of digital technologies that then transform their organization’s products, services, and operations. To foster transformation, project management methods are commonly used. However, project failure rates often exceed success rates regardless of the industry sector, or project management methodology. While project success has traditionally been measured in terms of time, cost, and quality, recent research suggests that success includes the dynamic interaction between multiple actors in diverse networks. Traditional project management methods may not adequately identify and help mitigate the risks associated with complex and dynamic influence of leadership and management on project success. This study uses actor-network theory (ANT) to examine opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of leadership and management in projects and mitigating associated risks. By doing so, this study aims to provide insights into how organizations can improve project success rates.
Keywords
Project Management, Project Leadership, Project Success Factors, Actor-Network Theory, Risk Management.
Citation
Wilson, A.; Carey, B. and Buckley, A. (2023). Enhancing Leadership and Management Effectiveness: Leveraging Actor-Network Theory for Project Risk Mitigation. In Proceedings of the 15th International Joint Conference on Knowledge Discovery, Knowledge Engineering and Knowledge Management – Volume 3: KMIS, ISBN 978-989-758-671-2, ISSN 2184-3228, pages 109-116.
Conference paper title:
Influencing culture related risks to improve project success
Abstract
Advances in technologies have resulted in significant interest, projects and investment in associated infrastructure to transform how public and private organisations engage and interact with their stakeholders. However, the success of such projects is far from certain. Projects continue to fail in higher numbers than they succeed across multiple industries, no matter the type of project management methodology adopted. Project success is often focused on time, cost and quality. However, there is growing recognition that the dynamic interaction of multiple actors from diverse networks influences project success. Current project management methodologies may not sufficiently reflect the complex and dynamic nature of projects. This paper explores how actions to influence culture can contribute to project success. We explore this concept through the lens of actor-network theory (ANT) which was used to guide the collection of data and the data analysis.
Keywords
Project management, culture change, project success factors, actor-network theory.
Citation
Wilson A., Carey B., Buckley A. (2023, July 13-15). “Influencing culture related risks to improve project success [Conference Presentation], 2023 International Conference on Digital Applications, Transformation & Economy (ICDATE) pp. 1-7. Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia, 2023, https://doi: 10.1109/ICDATE58146.2023.10248678.
Conference paper title:
The Indigenous digital divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on educational delivery to First Nation university students
Abstract
The global COVID 19 pandemic highlighted that the delivery of online education inadvertently disadvantaged Indigenous Australian university students. This situation was particularly critical for Indigenous students from rural and remote locations. Australian universities increased the use of digital technologies to engage, support and teach due to students’ inability to access campuses. This presented universities with challenges in supporting Indigenous students living in and returning to non-urban settings. Often not recognised is the need for better strategies and plans for Indigenous students returning to their rural or remote community to continue their studies due to COVID. These communities often lack suitable infrastructure that would allow access to pedagogical and learning support opportunities. This paper explores how the business decision made by Australian universities to increase reliance on teaching online during COVID impacted the education of Indigenous students. This paper will then canvas ways this ongoing dilemma can be addressed by considering risks, measuring and monitoring performance to guide transformation, including universities’ more inclusive and respectful use of digital technologies involving First Nations people and cultures.
Keywords
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Indigenous students, online university education, digital divide, transformation, COVID-19.
Citation
Wilson, A., (October 18-20). The Indigenous digital divide: COVID-19 and its impacts on educational delivery to First Nation university students [Paper presentation]. The 15th International Conference on Information Resources Management (Conf-IRM 2022): Thriving Amidst Disruptive Technologies, Oshawa, Ontario
Link: The Indigenous digital divide
Delivered at the The 15th International Conference on Information Resources Management (Conf-IRM 2022)
Being Arthur 