Associate Professor
Wasana Bandara
Faculty of Science,
School of Information Systems
Biography
I am an international expert in Business Process Management (BPM) and Information Systems (IS), and am committed to producing innovative research that advances society. I lead the Management branch of QUT’s distinguished Business Process Management (BPM) research group- specifically focused on the ‘human-centric’ aspects of BPM, and am the co-leader of QUT’s ‘Enfranchising Enterprises’ research program, where we enable organizations to radically change their business operations to empower and positively impact the eco-systems they function in. I have published 120+ refereed articles in leading IS and BPM outlets, won best paper awards and received grants to support my research. I am a passionate educator and an expert education-consultant, with 20+ years of experience. My pioneering teaching practice has been recognized by prestigious awards and fellowships. See further details under "Teaching" and "Experience" tabs. My full list of papers can be viewed and accessed via QUT's publication repository.Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Science,
School of Information Systems
Keywords
Business Process Management (BPM), Information Systems (IS), Enterprise Design and Architecture, Qualitative data analysis, Case studies
Research field
Information systems, Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (Queensland University of Technology)
- Master of Information Systems (Griffith University)
- Bachelor of Commerce (Griffith University)
Professional memberships and associations
Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), UK
Teaching
As an Information Systems (IS) and Business Process Management (BPM) educator, I believe in and am excited about the impact these fields make to modern society- the opportunities are endless. I am a passionate educator and am committed to the quality education of each and every student I teach. I like to leave my students enthused and curious to learn more, constantly thinking about what impact they can make to society. I have over 20 years of teaching experience in the Australian Higher Education Sector, and have taught over 30 different units/ subjects at both undergraduate and post graduate levels. I currently teach post graduate students Business Process Management and Information Systems Research Methods, at the School of Information Systems, QUT and run similar courses as a guest speaker (upon invitation) at other institutions inter-/nationally. I also lead the Doctoral education programs in IS at QUT. The topics I currently teach are:
- Enterprise-wide Business Process Management
- Business Process Improvement
- Information Systems Research methods:
- Basics of qualitative research
- Basics of mixed methods
- Tool supported qualitative research
- Rigorous literature reviews
- Case study research
- Publication Strategies
I sincerely care for my students and their development as ‘holistic’ professionals, and work hard towards providing them the knowledge and support to thrive in their careers. I am a strong proponent of ‘real-world’ learning and have deep expertise in authentic learning within the classroom, work-integrated-learning (WIL), and industry-informed teaching. I engage in advisory/ consulting services for Information Systems (IS) / Business Process Management (BPM) course designs and reviews inter-/nationally, and I champion inter-/national capability-building initiatives for BPM/ IS educators. I have acted as a coach/mentor to many educators in my field, and am available for those who may like to engage with me in this capacity. My Higher Degree Research (HDR) supervision strategies, passion, commitment, and mentoring have facilitated 17 successful research student completions (12 PhDs, 4 Masters and 1 Hons), 12 as Principal Supervisor and 5 as Associate Supervisor. My supervision strategies have enabled my research students to win national thesis awards, best paper awards, and hold prestigious positions utilizing the capabilities they have built through their research degrees, as senior academics in reputed universities and/or C-Level executives in industry. My passion for teaching, learning & teaching innovative outcomes and impacts achieved, have been recognized with diverse accolades, some outlined below: ACCOLADES RECIEVED FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING
National awards for Teaching I received the prestigious ‘Australian Learning and Teaching Council Citation award for 2009’, for excellence in applying compassionate, student-centric approaches to motivate, inspire and support students’ learning. QUT VC awards for Teaching
- Team performance award for outstanding achievement in Continuous Professional Education in 2010, where my research and thought leadership contributed to the design and delivery of cutting-edge BPM capability building modules for practice.
- Team Performance award in 2009, for outstanding achievement in teaching as a member of the Bachelor of Information Technology Core Team.
- Excellence in Teaching Award – Early Careers Category, in 2004, in recognition of my scholarship for creating novel knowledge-objects and innovative knowledge transfer mechanisms to support the progression of the field.
School/ Faculty level awards for Teaching
- Recipient of Outstanding Teacher award 2010, QUT’s Business Process Management Group.
- Recipient of Faculty of Information Technology Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award (Individual) for 2006.
- Recipient of Faculty of Information Technology Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award (Team) for 2002.
Special recognition for research student supervision excellence:
- Principal Supervisor of Dr Rehan Syed – winner of the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems (ACPHIS) Doctoral Thesis Award 2019
- Associate Supervisor of Dr Ahmad Alturki – winner of the Australian Council of Professors and Heads of Information Systems (ACPHIS) Doctoral Thesis Award 2014
- Received the Excellence in Research Supervision Award 2012 – Science and Engineering Faculty
- Member of QUT’s college of mentoring HDR Supervisors (since 2014).
Learning & Teaching Fellowships
- QUT Teaching Fellow for 2007-2008
- Senior Fellow of HEA (SFHEA) since 2018
Examples of invitations to lead prestigious IS and BPM Education events:
- Co-chair, BPM Education Symposium at the International Conference of Business Process Management (BPM) 2018, Sydney, Australia.
- Track co-chair, ERP and BPM Education track at the Americas conference of Information Systems (AMCIS), 2012, Seattle, USA.
- Track co-chair, Education track at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) 2011, Sydney, Australia.
- BPM Education Track co-chair at the International Conference of Business Process Management (BPM) 2010, Hoboken, NJ, USA.
- ERP and BPM Education Track co-chair at the Americas conference of Information Systems (AMCIS), 2010, Lima Peru
Experience
I am a globally known award-winning researcher in Business Process Management (BPM) and Information Systems (IS). In my BPM research, I pioneer programs that advance the knowledge-base on ‘human-centric’ aspects of BPM. I lead research teams that address persistently challenging issues such as BPM leadership, BPM training, stakeholder management, and process portfolio management. My IS expertise is twofold, namely the effective; (a) design and deployment of technology driven organisational and societal transformations, and (b) conduct of IS research through research method innovations. I collaborate with an extensive and influential group of Australian BPM practice leaders, from leading organizations. These BPM practice leaders work in the prominent roles of Chief Process Officer, General Manager, Director- of BPM Centers of Excellence, Senior/Principal consultant. They participate in my research and teaching teams as ‘knowledge co-creator’, ‘research outcome-user’ / ‘relevance-checker’, ‘teaching partners’ and ‘research-learner’. Selected papers related to some of these engagements are presented below. I have been an Australian Research Council (ARC) Expert Reviewer since 2017, Section Editor at the Australian Journal of Information Systems since Feb 2021, and invited guest editor to special issues in reputed journals of my field such as Communications of AIS (2015), Knowledge Management and E-Learning (2012), and Australian Journal of Information Systems (2012). Through these roles, I steer pioneering discourses and design the research agenda of contemporary topics in my fields. I have enduring partnerships with my students, where they are ‘partners in learning and teaching’ during their studies with me, and active alumni post-studies engaged in their own life-long learning and contributing to my current education and research practice. SELECTED OUTCOMES FROM PARTNERSHIPS WITH PRACTICE
- Collaborations with Services Australia (previously known as Department of Human Services), on Enterprise BPM and Robotic Process Automation (RPA)
- Bandara, Wasana, Bailey, Scott, Mathiesen, Paul, McCarthy, Jo, & Jones, Chris (2018) Enterprise Business Process Management in the public sector: the case of the Department of Human Services (DHS) Australia. Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases, 8(2), pp. 217-231
- Collaborations with Commonwealth bank, on Enterprise BPM, BPM Governance and Process Architecture
- Merideth, John C., Bandara, Wasana, & O'Neill, Dan (2020) Process portfolio management for enhanced digital readiness: Insights from a large Australian bank. In Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2020). Association for Information Systems, United States of America.
- Bandara, Wasana, Merideth, John C., & Holmes, Elizabeth (2020) Means’ for achieving process modelling success: Insights from a large Australian bank. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of Business Process Management (BPM 2020) - Industry Forum
- Bandara, Wasana, Merideth, John, Techatassanasoontorn, Angsana, Mathiesen, Paul, & O'Neill, Dan (2019) Mechanisms for creating successful BPM governance: Insights from Commonwealth Bank of Australia. In Rosemann, M (Ed.) Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Process Management 2019 Industry Forum, BPM2019IF (CEUR Workshop Proceedings, Volume 2428). Vol. 2428. Sun SITE Central Europe, http://www.ceur-ws.org/, pp. 49-60.
- Collaborations with Bank of Queensland on Enterprise BPM and BPM Culture
- Bandara, Wasana, Abbott, Charon, Mathiesen, Paul, Meyers, Lara, & Nagra, Mindy (2018) Developing enterprise-wide business process management capability: A teaching case from the financial sector. Journal of Information Technology Teaching Cases, 8(2), pp. 192-208.
- Collaborations with QUT (as a partner and HEI example) on Enterprise BPM, Process Architecture, BPM benefits realisation, Robotic Process Automation and Research Process Management
- Denagama Vitharanage, Imesha Manuraji, Bandara, Wasana, Syed, Rehan, & Toman, Denise (2020) An empirically supported conceptualisation of robotic process automation (RPA) benefits. In Proceedings of the 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS2020).
- Masana Sepulveda, Felipe, Bandara, Wasana, & Allbutt, Jo (2020) Enhancing communication of complex services through process modelling practices: Insights from an Australian higher education institution. In Proceedings of the 18th International Conference of Business Process Management (BPM 2020) - Industry Forum
- Denagama Vitharanage, Imesha Manuraji, Toman, Denise, Bandara, Wasana, & Syed, Rehan (2019) Process improvement benefits realization: insights from an Australian university. In Rosemann, M (Ed.) Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Business Process Management 2019 Industry Forum, BPM2019IF (CEUR Workshop Proceedings, Volume 2428). Vol. 2428. Sun SITE Central Europe, http://www.ceur-ws.org/, pp. 154-165.
- Gibson, Jeremy, Goel, Kanika, Barnes, Janne, & Bandara, Wasana (2019) Towards a process reference model for research management: An action design research effort at an Australian university. In Hildebrandt, Thomas, van Dongen, Boudewijn F., Röglinger, Maximilian, & Mendling, Jan (Eds.) Business Process Management: 17th International Conference, BPM 2019, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 11675). Springer, Switzerland, pp. 338-353.
RELATED ACCOLADES
- QUT Vice Chancellor’s Team performance award for innovation and creative practice excellence 2019 for impactful and innovative partnerships that supported high quality research.
- QUT, Science and Engineering Faculty award for ‘living SEF values: collegiality and integrity’.
- Best Papers Awards:
- Received best paper award at the International Conference on Research and Innovation in Information Systems (ICRIIS) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2011 (from among 250 peer reviewed papers)
- Received best paper at the Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), Shanghai China 2004 from among 400 international peer reviewed papers.
- Example invitations to lead IS and BPM international/national research events:
- Co-chair Business Process Management track European Conference of Information Systems 2022 Timisoara, Romania.
- Senior Program Committee member International Conference of Business Process Management 2021 Rome, Italy.
- Program Committee member International Conference of Business Process Management 2019 Vienna, Austria and 2020, Seville, Spain.
- Australasian Conference of Information Systems (ACIS) 2020 Executive committee member.
- Example invitations to lead prestigious IS Doctoral Education events:
- Co-chair Asian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) Doctoral Consortium, Wellington, New Zealand2020.
- Distinguished mentor at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) Doctoral Consortium, Perth, Australia 2019.
- Keynote speaker at the Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) Doctoral Consortium, Perth, Australia 2019
- Co-chair Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) Doctoral Consortium, Wollongong, Australia 2011
- Organizing-chair Australasian Conference on Information Systems (ACIS) Doctoral Consortium, Brisbane, Australia 2010.
- Organizing-chair Pacific Australasian Conference on Information Systems (PACIS) Doctoral Consortium, Brisbane, Australia 2010.
Publications
- Goel, K., Bandara, W. & Gable, G. (2021). A Typology of Business Process Standardization Strategies. Business and Information Systems Engineering, 63(6), 621–635. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208304
- Syed, R., Suriadi, S., Adams, M., Bandara, W., Leemans, S., Ouyang, C., ter Hofstede, A., van de Weerd, I., Wynn, M. & Reijers, H. (2020). Robotic Process Automation: Contemporary themes and challenges. Computers in Industry, 115. http://eprints.qut.edu.au/137284
- Keates, O., Wynn, M. & Bandara, W. (2020). A Multi Perspective Framework for Enhanced Supply Chain Analytics. Business Process Management: 18th International Conference, BPM 2020, Proceedings, 489–504. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/205799
- Abbott, C., Bandara, W., Mathiesen, P., French, E. & Tate, M. (2020). A typological framework of process improvement project stakeholders. Business Process Management: 18th International Conference, BPM 2020, Proceedings, 384–399. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/205629
- Denagama Vitharanage, I., Bandara, W., Syed, R. & Toman, D. (2020). An empirically supported conceptualisation of robotic process automation (RPA) benefits. Proceedings of the 28th European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS2020). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/203112
- Bandara, W., Velmurugan, M. & Leemans, S. (2020). Building 'holistic' Business process modelling skills for IS graduates. Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2020): Blending the Local and the Global. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/205803
- Bandara, W., Van Looy, A., Merideth, J. & Meyers, L. (2020). Holistic Guidelines for Selecting and Adapting BPM Maturity Models (BPM MMs). Business Process Management Forum: BPM Forum 2020 Proceedings, 263–278. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/205804
- Merideth, J., Bandara, W. & O'Neill, D. (2020). Process portfolio management for enhanced digital readiness: Insights from a large Australian bank. Proceedings of the 41st International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS 2020). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/205802
- Syed, R. & Bandara, W. (2019). Controlling corruption in developing country public sector: A process ecosystems perspective. Proceedings of the 40th International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) 2019, 1–9. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/133200
- Gibson, J., Goel, K., Barnes, J. & Bandara, W. (2019). Towards a process reference model for research management: An action design research effort at an Australian university. Business Process Management: 17th International Conference, BPM 2019, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Volume 11675), 338–353. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/130629
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Wasana, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Integrating Internet of Things (IoT) with Process Architectures: An Exploratory Study
MPhil, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Alistair Barros
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Influence of Performance Measurements on Institutionalizing Process Improvement Initiatives (2019)
- Leadership in Public Sector Business Process Management Initiatives - A Developing Country Perspective (2019)
- Training Transfer in Environments of Tensions: An Organisational Routines Perspective (2019)
- Potential Role of Business Process Standardization (BPS) on Business Correspondent (BC) Model Success (2018)
- Re-Conceptualisation of Information Quality: A Critical Realist Perspective (2017)
- Enterprise Social Technology in the Context of Business Process Improvement (2016)
- Systems Thinking in the Construction of Information Systems Theory: A Set of Methodological Inquiries (2016)
- DSR-Roadmap - A Design Science Research Methodology: harmonizing, extending and validating contemporary methodological thought (2014)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.