Dr Pamela Abott is a Senior Lecturer of Information Systems at the University of Sheffield, UK. She started in academia as a computer scientist and mathematician, however, her academic career in Information Systems spans over some 11 years during which she has held various lecturing positions both in the UK (Brunel University London) and abroad (University College Dublin, Ireland).

Pamela obtained her PhD in Management Studies from Cambridge University in 2004, having pioneered research in an area of global sourcing called “Nearshore Software Outsourcing”. This research interest stemmed from her former career as a Software Quality Analyst at a Barbados-based software outsourcing company specialising in providing services to US-based clients.

Pamela’s more recent work in global sourcing looks at sources of collaboration and innovation through knowledge processes in software and services outsourcing. She carried out most of this research for this latter interest in China in collaboration with Chinese scholars.

She has attracted funding of up to £69,931 to pursue this research and won a prestigious AIS Senior Scholars best paper award for one of the ensuing publications.

Her early work in nearshoring also spawned an interest in ICTs and their effects on developing countries. Most scholars agree that the relationship between ICTs and development is contested; her work helps to uncover some of these contradictions and seek reasons for their continued existence.

Dr Abbott recently participated in two Horizon 2020 EU projects based in Africa which are trying to promote sustainable research and education networks (TANDEM) and science gateways (SciGaIA) to support African scientific communities of practice.