Raj Kalady

Managing Director, PMI India

For all of us at PMI, the opportunity to gain from the intellectual capital of Indian academia is always a learning experience. It gives me immense satisfaction to invite you to the fifth Project Management Research & Academic Conference (RAC) at IIM Kozhikode. The RAC 2019 is being hosted by Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management-Kerala (IIITMK), Thiruvananthapuram and co-hosted by Indian Institute of Management (IIMK), Kozhikode.

As you would know, the RAC is a biennial event where leading academicians, researchers, and students of project management and allied disciplines assemble to discuss and share ideas on how to advance project management education in India. This year's conference theme is "Project management in the emerging world of disruption". During the three-day conference, there will be tutorials, workshops, and technical paper presentations, besides keynotes by noted academicians.

The scale of change seen in the last few decades is markedly different from the gradual change that the world had to contend with earlier. As globalization has advanced, it has opened up a plethora of opportunities along with a set of accompanying challenges. While it may seem that disruption is the way to a new order, it is redefining the roles of government, industry and academia. This shift has profound implications for all stakeholders concerned.

As it is believed, the calmest place is at the eye of the storm. And that is where academia will make the assessments with information, analysis and theory. Out of this churning, new concepts in project management will emerge. They will offer new perspectives and alignments.

A glimpse of the future in the making is already forming with the coverage of Blockchains, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), 3-D Printing, Big Data Analytics. These are part of Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0). These new technologies that combine the physical, digital and biological worlds will drive even greater change to business models, the well-being of economies and the position of countries in the world order. They will even challenge our ideas about what it means to be human.

India is well poised as one of the world’s emerging economies to harvest the fruits of this change. In this time of ferment, it is academia and research that will provide the food for thought and the intellectual pillars that will define this future.

I invite you to join us at IIM Kozhikode in the idyllic environment of God's own country for stimulating and illuminating discussions and breakthroughs in project management concepts. I look forward to meeting you there.

We are delighted to invite you to the 5th PMI India Research & Academic Conference in IIM Kozhikode, Kerala, from February 28 - March 2, 2019. The conference co-hosts are Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala (IITMK), Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), and Project Management Institute (PMI) India.

The theme of PMI India Research & Academic Conference -RAC 2019 is:

"Project Management in the Emerging World of Disruption"

This theme aims at enhancing the understanding the impact of "disruptive technologies" like Blockchains, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), 3-D Printing, Big Data Analytics on various aspects of managing different projects. The conference is expected to provide the academicians and industry practitioners a platform to discuss-deliberate the effect of these technologies on theory development, practical relevance, and generalizability to project environment. We also intend to enhance the interaction between renowned academic and industry practitioners so that the gaps between the two communities reduce. On the other hand, we hope to increase the success of various projects in construction, R&D, social, etc. sectors. Such interactions are expected to benefit humanity in the long run.

We would like to invite you to consider this as the platform for sharing your academic research as well as industry practitioner perspectives. We look forward to receiving high-quality original research papers, surveys, case studies, technical notes and write-ups that link with the theme as well as other aspects of project management. Selected full papers submission will get an opportunity for publication in the reputed IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review (IIMK SMR) after following the Journals double-blind peer review process.

For other information, please read the "Call for Papers" document. Please pay close attention to the abstract and author guidelines. Please mark the important conference dates on your calendar.

We are looking forward to receiving your abstracts and welcoming you to PMI India RAC 2019.