ESR8 – Rehan Iftikhar – Testimonial

I have a diverse educational background with a Master’s in Engineering Management and a Bachelor’s in Mechatronics Engineering. I received my master’s degree from University of Exeter, UK and my bachelor’s degree is from National University of Sciences and Technology, Pakistan. I have worked in UK and Pakistan in different capacities before joining Dublin City University (DCU). DCU is one of the top young universities in the world with a great research culture and outstanding support setup for young researchers. I am a part of School of Computing at DCU and a proud member of Business Informatics Group which produces world-leading research in field of Information Systems and Informatics.

The huge prestige of Marie Curie Actions and chance to engage with leading academics and researchers in my field all across Europe motivated my application. Marie Curie Training Network provides a unique opportunity, not only for the development of my scientific career but also for my life in general with international exposure through secondment and training weeks. Training weeks have given me the opportunity to establish a large network of international collaborations which enhances my professional aspirations. Engaging with world class researchers has been a highlight of my experience so far as an early stage researcher in a Marie Curie Training Network.

My project at PERFORM involves integrating traditional and online retail channels, providing unified customer experience and integrated retail operation and payment systems, applying different retail technologies. I am learning how digital technologies can impact retailers. My secondment partners are Technology for Mobile, Poland and AWS-Institute for digitized products and processes, Germany. This opportunity to work in different countries with world class experts is a feature of MSCA, which is not available in most other PhDs in the world.

My long-term goal is to become a leading researcher in field of Information Systems and with Marie Curie Training Network, I believe to be in the perfect place at this stage of my career to realize this dream.