Dr Kun Wang

Lecturer in Engineering Project Management Organisation – University of Manchester

Dr Kun Wang is a Lecturer in Engineering Project Management and Deputy Programme Director of the MSc Management of Projects at the University of Manchester. She focuses on the professionalisation of project management and socio-technical systems.

Her current research interests are promoting communication between scientists and end-users, professionalisation of project management in engineering intense environments and machine learning in crisis management.

Session: Can AI learn to be a project professional? – An exploration based on our conception of ‘profession'

The highly ‘situated’ nature of project management, the history of ‘solo-practice’ in UK management practice and the dominance of concepts constructed by ‘folk concepts’ around what profession actually means, creates distinctive threats and opportunities when it comes to considering the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on the professional status of project management.

AI is intelligence demonstrated by machines. There are folk concepts around this too. AI in its various forms is bringing change to every kind of work. This research considers the implications of folk concepts of AI in the project management profession from the perspective of the sociology of professions, which creates both a critical evaluation of the interaction of AI with the professionalisation of project management and a novel perspective for developing AI applications