Professor Angelika Kokkinaki joined the University of Nicosia in 2003 and is currently the Director of the MBA Office and a Professor at the School of Business of the University of Nicosia. In conversing with her, her enthusiasm and dedication to academia and research become immediately evident and one cannot help but appreciate her can-do attitude and generous spirit, which, no doubt, have propelled her in her career.

Angelika received her first degree in Computer Engineering and Informatics from the University of Patras in Greece. Following this, she began her professional career working as a Systems Programmer at the IT Department of the General Hellenic Bank in Athens, Greece. Within this role, Angelika was involved in the design, implementation and testing of an online transactions processing system. She also developed and presented end-user tutorials for various systems and established the End-User Information Center at the bank. Within two years, by her mid-twenties, Angelika had established herself within the bank and would be assured a permanent, long-term position – at that time a well sought after job achievement.  It was at this point, that she was struck with the realisation that her initial success could define – and simultaneously limit – her professional career for the next thirty to forty years! Realising that she needed to create new opportunities for herself, Angelika decided to return to academia by pursuing first an MSc in Computer Science from Northeastern University, Boston, USA and later a PhD in Computer Science from The Centre for Advanced Computer Studies, Lafayette, University of Southwestern Louisiana, USA (since then renamed to University of Louisiana at Lafayette). Both opportunities were made possible thanks to a scholarship from the Fulbright Foundation in Greece and a fellowship from the USL Graduate School, respectively.

Angelika’s interest in Management Information Systems (MIS) was cultivated gradually through her studies and shaped by her previous experience. She was always interested in how organizations interact with systems to streamline operational efficiency, create added value or develop different ion strategies. She credits her Ph.D. co-advisor for guiding her through the process, and instilling in her the importance of writing and publishing journal articles and attending conferences. In this way, Angelika dove into academia and, over the next seven years, would spend time as a Research Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor in the UK, Cyprus and the Netherlands. In 2003, she joined the University as an Associate Professor in the Department of Management and MIS at the School of Business lecturing on both undergraduate programmes and on the MBA programme. Over the years, she has held numerous administrative posts, which included that of Department Head, Coordinator of the BBA MIS programme, Vice Chair of the MBA Mentors Board, Vice Chair of the School Research Committee and, from 2007 to 2014, Associate Dean of the School of Business. In 2014, she assumed the position of Director of the MBA programme. She is actively engaged in curriculum development, MBA and Doctoral thesis supervision and is engaged in several funded research projects.

Current ongoing funded projects include an Erasmus+ project, entitled the ‘European Network for Academic Integrity’ (ENAI), which explores the many facets of academic integrity, going beyond plagiarism by addressing questions that are not usually addressed (e.g. shadow writing or contract cheating – plague among postgraduate students) in an attempt to identify open issues and best practices. Another ERAMUS+ project, ‘YESict: An Innovative European Funded Project Aimed at Fostering Young Entrepreneurs’, explores how ICT tools can enable 10 to 15-year-old children to develop an entrepreneurial solution to a problem identified by them. Finally, the Erasmus+ project ‘Mentoring Platform for Young Social Innovators’ (MYNNOVA) aims to create an online mentoring platform for young social entrepreneurs.

When asked about the current important topics in her field, she notes that there has been a long-standing dialectic in her field – whether the research questions should converge tightly around the technology or whether a thousand flowers should bloom. She is not sure if there is a winner in this debate, but does think that, as a field, “We are more diverse than many disciplines”. She explains that there are numerous and growing numbers of different sub-fields, as evidenced for example, in the conceptual breadth of conference tracks, conferences, and SIGs including alignment of business and technological developments as well as the inter-relation between users and information systems.  Although she acknowledges that recent developments on AI, Automation and Mobility, Big Data Analytics, Blockchain Technologies, Business Intelligence, Internet of Everything and others propose exciting opportunities for research in the way they are employed in organisational settings she maintains, however, that a researcher should not be swayed unduly just by trends and he/she should anchor their research in principles and theories that are enduring and fundamental.

Finally, when asked how research contributes to today’s society, Angelika notes that research in information systems is interwoven into some of the critical issues of the modern age: energy, digital innovation, crisis management, social inequalities, unemployment from artificial intelligence-driven automation, as well as health and well-being. This presents an exciting opportunity for researchers and academics to bring value to the investigation of these phenomena, all of which span multiple disciplines, are global in scope, hugely complex and have a great impact on society at large.

Flash Five

1. What motivates you to come to work on a daily basis?

Many different things! Probably the knowledge that I could make a difference in peoples’ lives. Whether this is through the transfer of knowledge, skill development or the shaping of an individual’s views and attitudes. It is always wonderful and inspiring when former students get in touch to let me know what he or she have achieved!

2. What are your favourite and least favourite aspects of your work?

My favourite aspect of my work is, without a doubt, the diversity of the profession. While it can sometimes make things complicated and challenging, I do appreciate the variety it offers, as well as the opportunity to meet people from so many countries and backgrounds.

My least favourite part of my work is having to juggle so many projects and initiatives at the same time. Sometimes my multitasking abilities are stretched to the limit and I am left with very little free time. However, I have learned to take advantage of the summer break and try to spend at least a few days in the least possible connected place on Earth. I can confirm that there are still some places left with no telephones, no WiFi and no 4G network!​

3. Do you have any role models?

A few individuals who will remain unnamed! These people are successful academics or professionals who I can rely on to receive mentoring and encouragement. They are also gifted to resolve difficult situations in a tactful yet efficient way with respect to the human aspect and a kind spirit.  ​

4. What do you enjoy doing during your free time?

During my limited free time, I enjoy activities with loved ones, visiting new places, learning new things and, on occasion, gardening.​

5. What advice would you give to aspiring academics and researchers in your field?

I would suggest that they follow an R2-D2 approach. Not the robot from Star Wars J but the two R’s and the two D’s that are essential – in my view – to researchers in Information Systems. These refer to reading, reflection, dialogue and dialectic. R2-D2 reminds us that it is important to cover extensively the published literature, internalise the acquired knowledge, discuss issues with people who think similarly as well as (and possibly more importantly) debate one’s proposals with people who hold a different view to yours. R2-D2 may help investigate interesting and relevant research questions through appropriate research designs, but research productivity depends on creating content that is valued by the journals with high visibility in the discipline. Thus, one ought to become aware of the process of scholarly publication, the journals that are relevant to one’s interests, the type of research they publish, the peer review process and opportunities for special issues.

Lastly, it is important to learn by example from internationally recognized scholars, as well as editors of journals. For that, I strongly suggest conferences and doctoral consortia in relevant areas, for example, all AIS affiliated conferences are strongly recommended, including ICIS, ECIS and MCIS.  ​

Recent Publications

  • H. Dennaoui, and A. I. Kokkinaki “Do Geographic Information-Based Services Influence E-Government Citizens’ Adoption?” In Digital Innovation for a better life and a better world, Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, LNISO. Springer International Publishing, 2017, (To appear).
  • C-M Diakou, A. I. Kokkinaki and S. Kleanthous, “An Experiment Strategy towards Crisis Simulations: Qualifying CI-Enabled Information Systems”, In Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Springer International Publishing, N.T. Nguyen et al. (Eds.): ICCCI 2017, Part I, LNAI 10448, pp. 569–578, 2017.
  • Kiouvrekis, Y., Stefaneas, P. and A. Kokkinaki  “An Argumentation-based Statistical Support Tool”, In: Proceedings of the International Workshop on Applied Methods of Statistical Analysis, Nonparametric Methods in Cybernetics and System Analysis, Krasnoyarsk, The Russian Federation, September 18-22, 2017.  https://www.amsa.conf.nstu.ru/amsa2017/proceedings/AMSA2017-proceedings.pdf
  • Sapuric, S. Kokkinaki, A. I., and I. Georgiou, “In which Distributed Ledger do we Trust? A Comparative Analysis of Cryptocurrencies”, In: Proceedings of the 11th Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems, Genoa, Italy, 4-5 September, 2017
  • E. Karahanna and A. I. Kokkinaki (Eds), “Proceedings of the 11th Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems – MCIS2016″, University of Nicosia, ISBN (Electron)-10: 978-9963-634-97-2, 2016.