School of Business Studies at IBA Karachi concludes 1st international conference on ‘Decision Making in a Disruptive Age’

June 22-24, 2022: The School of Business Studies (SBS) at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi held its first International Conference (IBA-SBSIC 2022) on ‘Decision Making in a Disruptive Age’. The three-day conference provided a platform for scholars, researchers and academicians to showcase their research and findings along with facilitating collaborative transnational research to further our understanding of disruption in a fast-paced digital economy. The theme of the conference centered around neuromarketing and its rapid growth due to swift digitalization, especially following the post COVID era.

Along with keynote speaker sessions, the conference also featured several parallel paper presentation sessions in the areas of management, marketing, accounting and finance tracks. Papers were presented on different areas of research by faculty, researchers, and graduate students from national and international universities. Paper presentation sessions helped in identifying new research directions and areas of collaboration among researchers from various backgrounds. The keynote sessions were aligned with the four thought leadership areas of IBA-SBS including, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Behavioral Studies, Investment Decision Making and Islamic Business and Finance.

The first day of the conference comprised of two workshops on 'Consumer Neuroscience' and 'Governance in Islamic Finance'. The first workshop on 'Consumer Neuroscience' was conducted by Dr. Joseph Devlin, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience & Vice Dean (Innovation & Enterprise), Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London (UCL); Dr. Daniel Richardson, Professor of Experimental Psychology, UCL; and Dr. John Hogan, a Neuroscientist at UCL. The workshop on neuroscience featured interactive sessions and examined the role of technology in understanding human behavior and its applicability in business research. The second workshop on 'Governance in Islamic Finance' commenced with an enlightening session on the theory, practice and challenges in corporate governance faced by Islamic Institutions by researchers including, Dr. Tasawar Nawaz, Lecturer in Finance, University of Plymouth; and Dr. Nader Virk, Senior Lecturer, in Finance, Accounting and Finance, Swansea University.

On the second and third day of the conference, keynote speakers from the US and UK universities spoke about various aspects of neuroscience, adaptive learning as well as ethical and sustainable finance.

The second day commenced with an opening note by Dean SBS, and Head of Neuroscience lab, IBA, Dr. Wajid Rizvi. Followed by an enlightening session by Keynote Speaker, Dr. Richardson, on the topic, ‘Using Neuroscience to study Collective Behavior: Underwater Nightclubs, Live Theatre and the Eurovision Song contest’. This session under the thought leadership area of Behavioral studies at IBA-SBS also related to work on consumer neuroscience at IBA-SBS. The second Keynote Speaker session was delivered by Dr. Omar Al-Tabbaa, Associate Professor, Leeds University, on the topic ‘How does adaptive learning take place in cross-sector collaboration during global crises? Insights from emerging economies’.

The third day began with a third Keynote Speaker session by Dr. M. Kabir Hassan, Professor of Finance, Department of Economics and Finance, University of New Orleans, on the topic, ‘Research in Sustainable and Ethical Finance’. This session related to the IBA-SBS thought leadership area of investment decision making and helped audience identify emerging areas of research in the ESG investing. The last and fourth Keynote Speaker session was delivered on the topic ‘A Mind Reading Machine: Facts, Fictions and Ethics’ by Dr. Devlin.

Sharing their thoughts, the keynote speakers appreciated the well-organized conference in which they had a chance to share the latest research in their respective fields of expertise. They appreciated the attentive audience whose participation stimulated scholarly discussions throughout the conference.

Addressing the closing ceremony, Executive Director, IBA Karachi, Dr. S Akbar Zaidi commended the conference theme of ‘Decision making in a disruptive age’ as interdisciplinary and relevant. Dr. Zaidi thanked the keynote speakers who had traveled for the conference and invigorated the audience with quality presentations in their areas of expertise. He also appreciated the organizers for making seamless arrangements for the first international conference by SBS. Furthermore, Dr. Zaidi acknowledged the services of Dr. Wajid Rizvi, the inaugural Dean of SBS at IBA Karachi.

The conference concluded with the presentation of mementos to the guests and the organizing team. Subsequent conferences are planned in line with the inaugural event as part of the SBS mission to foster contemporary research and scholarly interactions.