This Week’s Featured NORSI Member
Tin was chosen for a profile piece at NORSI - Nordic Research School in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He spent half his mandatory credits at the PhD school, and in the interview, he gave a detailed account about his PhD, how innovation studies affected his understanding of real estate, and not least, when he got to interview Christer Falck, the TV personality and first winner of the Norwegian Survivor. Tin thanks NORSI for this profile piece and for whipping his ass, and making him a better researcher.
1. What is your name, and at which NORSI institution are you a PhD candidate?
My name is Tin Phan, I am a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.
2. What field of research did your master’s degree cover?
My master’s degree covers architecture and urbanism (consultant side), whereas my PhD covers property development (client side).
3. What is the working title of your PhD thesis?
My working title is, “Proptech – What aspects of proptech are influencing the core practices surrounding early-stage property development?”
4. What do you hope that the reader of your thesis learns about your work?
In the context of the NORSI community? That the real estate industry is not as conservative and risk averse as people make it out to be. Studying innovative practices and digital transformation in a counter-intuitive field brings with it surprisingly interesting findings, e.g., property being durable assets, non-scalable, cyber-physical and century long timeframes on buildings. You must read my thesis to learn more about it!
5. How are innovation and/or entrepreneurship a part of your work?
Real estate theory describes very well its status quo, not so much the entrepreneurial/innovative efforts, hence my NORSI affiliation. In my papers I have applied the framework Sustainability Transitions to explain how the proptech market interacted with institutional aspects. Technology Acceptance Model is another one to explain the student’s responsiveness in the use of digital tools. I also used entry-level theories such as ten types of innovation or business model canvas to explain specific- or constellation of companies. For my first paper I received 1st place/Best Paper Award in an international research conference, which was drafted at one of the NORSI courses.
6. What is your favourite NORSI experience or memory?
I did two-three NORSI courses. My favourite and fondest memory was Inger Beate Pettersen’s PDHINN904, Doing Responsible Innovation. What made this course unique, was the focus on applying a theoretical framework on a real-world business case. Initially, I was annoyed to find out that I had to slave for another person’s PhD, Cultural Crowdfunding, as case study. In hindsight, there were many transferable lessons that I took with me. As the course progressed, I grew to love the idea of objectively scrutinizing another person’s research without bias. The intense workload and pulling an all-nighter reminded me of my days as a student in my twenties. I also got to interview my childhood hero, Christer Falck, the Norwegian season one winner of the reality show, Survivor.
7. Why is it important to be part of a research school like NORSI?
NORSI is important in terms making totally different professional fields comparable. As a PhD candidate we are encouraged to find our research niche (which we should!), making it hard to interact with other and give input. The frameworks at NORSI created an arena bridging professions, study areas, and niches. It is only at NORSI I as an architect meet a nurse, ecologist, or priest.
NORSI is the research school for PhD students in the Nordic countries within the field of innovation and entrepreneurship. It works to enhance and strengthen the Nordic innovation and entrepreneurship research education and community. They have nearly 400 active PhD candidates and 150 alumni. In other words, almost 550 engaged individuals with a myriad of backgrounds, viewpoints, and competencies. Through HVL’s RESINNREG courses PHDINN903, -904 and -908, Tin has gotten to both interact and work with NORSI representatives and students. Unofficially, he was already part of NORSI in the PHDINN908 course back in August, but had to submit the formal papers to be part of NORSI. Doctoral students of this network will get access to relevant seminars and trips within the field of innovation. Tin is eyeing to join the annual Kappe course in 2023 (more on that later).
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22-26. August
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News article
NORSI - Nordic School in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
