Welcome to Thokozani Kachale, Marina Milosheva and Natalie Wangler, who have just joined us this month as new research students within the Centre for Social Informatics at Edinburgh Napier University.

Thoko Kachale, Marina Milosheva & Natalie Wangler

Thoko Kachale has previously studied with us in the School of Computing at Edinburgh Napier University, having completed our Masters degree in Business Information Technology in 2018. As an undergraduate Thoko studied Computer Science with Electronics and Pure Mathematics at the University of Malawi. Thoko also holds qualifications in accounting and project management. For his doctoral study Thoko intends to investigate the interactions of information systems and organisational strategies. Thoko’s Director of Studies is Dr Wegene Demeke, with Dr Christos Chrysoulas and Professor Alistair Duff as co-supervisors.

Having already been associated with our group for over a year during the +1 MSc(R) component of her PhD, Marina Milosheva has now ‘officially’ joined us for her three years of doctoral study. Marina’s project – entitled Career information literacy and decision-making behaviours of young people – is supported by a collaborative ESRC-Skills Development Scotland studentship awarded by the Scottish Graduate School of Social Science. Marina’s MSc(R) adds to her qualifications in Psychology (Bachelors degree from the University of Aberdeen) and Human Resource Management (Masters degree from Edinburgh Napier University). I am Marina’s Director of Studies, with Dr Pete Robertson and Peter Cruickshank as co-supervisors. For further information about Marina’s PhD and her wider interests, please see her blog at marinamilphd.org.

Like Thoko and Marina, Natalie Wangler has also previously studied at Edinburgh Napier University. She first came to us for a semester abroad as an undergraduate student on the Business Information Systems degree at the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg. She then decided to stay on in Edinburgh to complete the Masters in Business Information Technology in 2019/20. In her doctoral work Natalie will be considering the relationship between levels of trust in digitisation and democratic thinking. Natalie’s Director of Studies is Dr David Brazier, with Dr Colin Smith and Dr Wegene Demeke as co-supervisors.