Dr. Rebecca Purcell received the medal for her PhD Thesis research which is titled: An Investigation of Multi-Level External Knowledge Search Activity in Organisations

This research introduces an external knowledge search strategy as a central element of an organization. The study develops a framework to explain how organisations participate in the search for external knowledge. The framework uniquely incorporates the interpersonal, inter-group and inter-organisational levels of search. It uses three dimensions of organizational search those of technology, geography and social. Three exploratory case studies are conducted using in-depth interviews, non-participant observation and documentation analysis techniques to evaluate the framework. The research establishes the value of the extended enterprise.

Rebecca¹s work develops the first multi-level framework on external knowledge search that provides the grounding for a large stream of research in the area of search. The realisation that external knowledge plays a critical part in a dynamic network economy is only recently being fully appreciated. The exploitation of external network knowledge will be a key source of competitive advantage for most knowledge based organisations. The integration of external knowledge is important to organisations for two reasons; firstly, integration allows firms to create new knowledge and grow and secondly, it enables firms to avoid an over-reliance on internal knowledge and therefore to avoid learning traps. The research is very well grounded in the literatures of organisation search, which in turn draws on behavioural, evolutionary and organisational learning perspectives. The work has significant insights for the practice and theory for the disciplines of innovation management, technology transfer, knowledge management and business strategy.

The Frederick A Krehbiel II Medal Award Ceremony was held at the University of Limerick on Tuesday, 27th February 2007.  The individual selected on this occasion as the Frederick A Krehbiel II medal recipient was a very worthy recipient, Pamela O’Shea, a native of Limerick and a 2006 PhD Graduate of the Computer Science and Information Systems Department at the University of Limerick. During her graduate studies, Pamela worked on a project entitled The Suitability of Open Source Software for Second Level Education.  This project was developed as a means of bringing this experience to second level students.

The course was designed to encourage exploration and provide students with enough skills to continue their learning upon completion of the course. Students learned how to use and navigate the Linux operating system, gained an appreciation for networking and web development, and programmed using Python. All of these skills were then used to design group projects of the students' choice. Following her graduate studies, Pamela continued this work as outreach and education officer with LERO - The Irish Software Engineering Research Centre, at the University of Limerick. Presently, Pamela is currently working with the CPU Development Unit, a newly founded professional blended learning unit within the University of Limerick, and service provider for accredited courses, professional training, knowledge skills guidance, virtualisation, and consultancy.

Invitees included a number of eminent figures from Molex, including Matt Wilhite, R&D Manager, Molex and Orla O’Connor, HR Manager. Prominent among those representing the University of Limerick were Dr Edward Walsh, President Emeritus, University of Limerick. 

Michael Desmond, a Computer Systems graduate the University of Limerick, was the first recipient of The Frederick A Krehbiel II Medal, awarded at a special ceremony at the University of Limerick on 22 Jan 2004.

Desmond, 23, won the honour for his work on a new audio conferencing feature within the Lotus Notes Instant Messaging and Conference (Sametime) application. He was one of a team of students who took part in Extreme Blue, an IBM global student work internship programme that was inaugurated at IBM’s Dublin Software Lab in Santry in 2003. Last summer Desmond helped design technology to integrate teleconferencing into Instant Messaging and so enrich the whole user experience.

“Michael’s project is very impressive and has already been immensely successful, leading to a staggering five patent disclosures,” said UL Professor Brian Fitzgerald.