Amandeep Dhir is UiA’s most published and cited researcher
Professor Amandeep Dhir is the 3rd most published academic in the country, only two years after his arrival in Norway.
“I arrived in Norway in the middle of the pandemic, a fascinating time for new research subjects”, says Dhir.
One of the first reactions of the Nordic people to the pandemic was to hoard toilet paper. Dhir saw this as an excellent opportunity to investigate the phenomena of panic buying.
“The media gives us a constant supply of research subjects. I also know that research on current events is something the research journals are looking for. I see great potential in working in this manner”, says Dhir.
He has also published papers on themes such as how COVID-19 transformed air passengers' behaviour, damage to customer-brand relationships, and corporate social responsibility and sustainability in the tourist sector, to name a few. His most cited paper to date is a study of online social media fatigue and psychological wellbeing, published in 2018.
58 research papers in one year
Recently he was acknowledged as the 3rd most published academic in Norway, with an impressive 83,96 publication points in 2021. According to the publisher of the ranking, Norwegian science magazine Forskerforum.no, the average academic in Norway has between 0,4 and 3,4 publication points per year.
To achieve this number of publication points, Dhir authored and co-authored a total of 58 research papers in 2021. His work has been cited in over 10.800 papers worldwide, earning him a place among the most cited researchers in the world. Research.com has awarded him the 2022 Rising Star of Science Award, and Dhir describes himself as a goal-oriented individual, with many research interests.
“My network is a key factor. My research area is wide and includes all fields of business management. I am professor of research methods, so that is my primary contribution to the research. A lot of research fields stagnate because of the lack of diversity in research methods, and I like to use different approaches”, says Dhir.
Started with the wrong education fair
In addition to being a highly productive researcher, Dhir also teaches research methodology to bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD students.
“I keep in touch with many of my master’s and PhD students, and have published papers with several of them. It is very effective to work with people who are on the same wavelength, so to speak. Trust is key. Our students at UiA are a very important part of the research ecosystem. I put a lot of effort and time in teaching methods courses”, says Dhir.
The story of how he found himself as a professor at the University of Agder starts at home in India, working as a project engineer for a software company in New Delhi.
“A Japanese colleague of mine recommended a Japanese PhD Fair, and I decided to go and have a look. But my tuk-tuk went to the wrong education fair, and I got driven to a European one instead. I got to talking with some faculty at a Finnish stand”, says Dhir.
This little twist of fate eventually led him to win the prestigious European Union’s Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, giving him the opportunity to pursue a double degree in Finland and Norway.
First to Finland
He began as a research assistant at the Helsinki University of Science and Technology, continuing to Aalto and Tampere University. He worked in various leading Finnish universities for over 10 years.
This led to more opportunities as a visiting researcher in different countries, which eventually led him to Norway in 2015. He was a visiting researcher at the University of Bergen in 2015, and was finally hired as a Full Professor in Research Methodology at the University of Agder in 2020.
"Our students at UiA are a very important part of the research ecosystem. I put a lot of effort and time in teaching methods courses”, says Dhir.
He is a part of the UiA School of Business and Law’s Department of Management. The Head of Department, Associate Professor Bjørn-Tore Flåten, praises Dhir’s academic results.
“He publishes a lot and contributes in many other ways to our department. He brings new perspectives to our academic discussions and has a great capacity for teaching. Since joining us he has shown a tremendous work ethic, and we are proud to have him as our colleague”, Flåten says.
“Exceptional”
The dean of the UiA School of Business and Law, Roger Normann, has also been impressed by Dhir’s work ethic.
“These are exceptional academic results. Not only in a Norwegian context, but internationally as well. Since becoming dean in 2021 I have gotten to know Amandeep well, and I am fascinated and impressed by his thought leadership and as an educator”, says Normann.
Although Professor Dhir is happy with publishing in many highly rated journals, his plan is to publish less this year.
“I want to shift my focus towards the top-tier journals, and even though that might make me publish less, I believe the research we must do to get to the next level will be well worth the effort. I am very happy with my position here at the UiA School of Business and Law, and I am looking forward to continuing my work”, says Professor Amandeep Dhir.