Dr Richard Dron

Dr Richard Dron MSc, PhD, SFHEA, PGCAP, CMBE, ACMALT

Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems

Programme Leader, BSc Business Technology

My profile

Biography

Richard Dron is a Senior Lecturer in Business Information Systems teaching across the portfolio of Undergraduate, MSc and Degree Apprenticeships programmes in relation to Information Systems, Information Management and Technology Innovation. He has been educating in a higher education institutions, including leading, managing, directing key learning and teaching activities since 2015, having previously worked extensively in industry, and has many years of experience in technology project management.

He is Programme Leader for the award winning BSc Business Technology degree programme, enabling our students to develop skills needed in a modern digital business environment, such as identifying business challenges, finding technological solutions, managing technology projects and services, and analysing business data.

His research focusses on Digital Environments. He considers co-construction of identity, understanding, narratives and realities in business and technology contexts and how digital enables organisations, groups and stakeholders within their contexts to construct their identities. He specialises in examination the methods, vernacular, rhetorical devices they employ, as well as the themes, sentiment and discourse of their construction through digital and its affordances. Furthermore, he applies these methods to cross-disciplinary research which consider societal, cultural, and political studies that align with Area Studies and International Relations. He consults in relation to enabling change and strategic shaping of digital environments within business and societal contexts. He is a member of the International Federation of Information Processing Working Group 9.5, ‘Our Digital Lives’, and the British Academy of Management ‘Identity’ Special Interest Group.

Richard is a member of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College, a prestigious group of experts who play a crucial role in ensuring that the ESRC supports the highest quality research across its portfolio. As a college member, he contributes to the peer review process, which is a fundamental part of the ESRC’s assessment process.

Professional qualifications and affiliations

  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Certified Management & Business Educator
  • Chartered Management Institute
  • British Academy of Management
  • Association of Internet Researchers
  • Associate Member of the Association of Learning Technologies
  • Member of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Peer Review College

Interests and expertise

Richard’s research interests lie at the intersection of digital environments, identity construction, and cross-disciplinary studies. He actively explores how digital technologies shape the way organisations, groups, and stakeholders construct their identities and narratives within various contexts. Through his work, he aims to enable knowledge creation and transfer, particularly in relation to product and service innovation within digital organisations. This focus is reflected in his research, grant applications, publications, teaching, and administrative roles.

Drawing from his extensive professional and project experience, Richard applies a range of methods to analyse the discourse, sentiment, and rhetorical devices employed in the process of identity construction through digital means. He extends these methods to cross-disciplinary research, collaborating with scholars in Area Studies and International Relations to investigate the societal, cultural, and political implications of digital environments.

As an active researcher within the Operations and Digital Transformation Knowledge Platform, Richard contributes to the understanding of how digital technologies drive change and shape strategic decision-making in business and societal contexts. His expertise and insights are sought after by organisations seeking to navigate the complexities of the digital landscape and drive innovation in their respective fields.

Get in touch

0161 247 2605
Drop-ins Mondays 12:00-14:00 BS 6.18 / Rest of week Digital Office (BS 2.01) Business School
Rich has an excellent blend of research, teaching and industrial experience. His successful commercial background and substantial industrial links bring an added level of practical insight and authenticity to his work. He has determination to drive projects forward despite working in a complex environment with multiple competing requirements, and always exceeds his brief. He has flair and creativity that bring a fresh angle to the promotion of collaborative opportunities in research, teaching and enterprise. He is extremely driven, and a passionate ambassador for applied technological innovation.
Laura Farran, Licensing & Commercialization Professional at University Health Network

Impact

Richard is passionate about solving problems with technology and until joining Manchester Metropolitan University was managing the team of Salford Business School academics working on the AI Foundry Project, an ERDF project providing support to SMEs in Greater Manchester in using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to become innovation ready and to enhance and develop new products and services - find out more about the project here.

As part of a Management KTP Richard is working to deliver large-scale digital transformation within Future Directions driven by a need for organisation-wide efficiencies (to scale growth whilst maintaining service quality), mitigate sector-wide resource and skills challenges and ensure compliance with the Government’s plans to digitise social care. 

Projects

Dr. Richard Dron’s research agenda focusses on  strategic use of digital and online platforms to shape narratives, for representation of  organisations, and building communities. By combining multi-method approaches such as network analysis, thematic analysis, discourse analysis, and sentiment analysis, he aims to map both the structural and semantic dimensions of these processes, paying particular attention to the interplay between vernaculars, algorithmic curation, and user agency in constructing identities and framing identities.

These research projects will provide actionable insights and advance theoretical understandings of how organisations and groups leverage digital. His research will benefit a wide range of stakeholders, including business owners, marketers, industry associations, policymakers, funders, community organisations, activists, and professionals invested in higher education and urban planning. His research agenda is of significant interest for funding due to its potential to contribute to the development of effective, equitable, and empowering uses of digital across a range of contexts. He has a successful history in bidding, and  is in the process of bidding for internal and external research and innovation grants to support this exciting research agenda.

Future Directions Management KTP (MKTP): Proposed to deliver large-scale digital transformation within Future Directions driven by a need for organisation-wide efficiencies (to scale growth whilst maintaining service quality), mitigate sector-wide resource and skills challenges and ensure compliance with the Government’s plans to digitise social care. By March 2024, the Department of Health and Social Care aims for all (but at least 80%) Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered care providers to be using a digital social care records platform. Whilst this is driving change across the sector, not all organisations are as ambitious in their vision for the breadth and impact of digitisation. Future Directions aspire to be digitally enabled at all levels, with integrated, real-time, responsive systems connecting people across the organisation, and enhancing access for external stakeholders; achieving this will be unique and persuasive within the sector. This MKTP addresses challenges related to: 

  • Integrating with, and removing reliance on, legacy operating systems.
  • Data extraction.
  • Creating a digitally enabled workforce to ensure organisation-wide adoption of new systems.
  • Change management.  
  • Culture change. 

Various publications are planned within the KTP work plan.

Teaching

Richard develops, delivers and helps to lead undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and contributes to enhancing the student experience. His modules are focussed in the following areas:

  • Technology Management
  • Technology Lifecycle Management
  • Managing Technology Projects
  • IT Consultancy

Supervision

Richard supervises research projects in relation to technology innovation, and particularly focussed in research that considers digital environments, and the intersection between technology and identity in organisations, digitally connected groups and contexts. He is open to supervise both MSc and PhD Research within these spaces.

Research outputs

Press and media

In the Spotlight with MMU: Bridging the gap between tech education and industry demands in Manchester. Available at: https://www.manchesterdigital.com/post/manchester-metropolitan-university/in-the-spotlight-with-mmu-bridging-the-gap-between-tech-education-and-industry-demands-in-manchester

Downing, J. and Dron, R. (2018). Incendie de la tour Grenfell à Londres : quand Twitter réfute fake news et islamophobie. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/incendie-de-la-tour-grenfell-a-londres-quand-twitter-refute-fake-news-et-islamophobie-98352

Downing, J. and Dron, R. (2018). Grenfell Tower: how Twitter users fought off fake news to honour Muslim heroes. [online] The Conversation. Available at: https://theconversation.com/grenfell-tower-how-twitter-users-fought-off-fake-news-to-honour-muslim-heroes-98059