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Advising

My main current research subject is sociotechnological systems (recent, no publication as yet; presentation available here, in Portuguese). It deals mainly with technology in a systemic view. Previous publications can be seen in my CV, here, also in PT).

My availability for advising at EGC/UFSC is directed by the following factors: strength of proposal and candidate preparedness*, my interest and familiarity with the topic selected, a limit of 6 advisees according to directives by Capes, and the selection process at EGC (see details at www.egc.ufsc.br; usually there is a distance course with assessment along the year, research proposal in October, selection in December, entrance in March). Availability of funding (e.g., a scholarship, a paid leave for pursuing graduate studies) is a plus. Research ethics awareness is mandatory. I recommend this code of good practice in research from the University of Edinburgh as a starter.

Knowledge Engineering is my research area at EGC, however I am deeply interested in interdisciplinary work and have collaborated and participated in research in the other areas (Knowledge Management and Knowledge Media). As you can see from my CV and former students' topics, peer review in education is an interdisciplinary subject at the core of my research and practice efforts (with potential research topics for candidates from engineering and computer science, but also from education, information science, psychology, business administration, and other backgrounds). I'm also into knowledge modeling and other knowledge engineering topics and applications, including in e-gov information and knowledge platforms. A recent influence in my work has been the systemism of Mario Bunge, especially the CESM model of a system (composition-environment-structure-mechanism). This is philosophy, "but" with implications in my and my colleagues' work on information and knowledge systems. If you think you want to pursue graduate studies at EGC under my supervision, drop me a line (kern at egc dot ufsc dot br).

A few words about authorship, publication forum, and other research ethics issues
Since publication is generally encouraged in the academic world (and, in our case, required for obtaining a degree), here are a few words about authorship and choice of forum for publication:

Choose quality over quantity; pay the fair price (yes, publishing a decent article _is_ hard).

I do not favor "putting the name of the advisor" as co-author of a publication. I do not favor, also, hiding from the advisor the research the student is doing (Why would anyone not make the advisor aware of his/her research (including publication) initiatives?). An author is someone willing to take intelectual responsibility for the work (s|he better be, preferrably to "being accused of endorsement and authorship"). Therefore, please don't submit a paper for publication with my name on it unless I have an intellectual contribution and the proper procedures were taken (contact me beforehand, hear me about a choice of specific forum, don't assume that I gave you permission to submit with my name on it only because you have shown me a text in the hallway some day...). Academic authorship is a topic under debate (even in disciplinary communities). There is no code of conduct for authorship at EGC and this is especially difficult to attain given our multidisciplinary nature, but here are some pointers to knowledgeable sources:

Determining Authorship | APA Style
Authorship @ Research Ethics
Promoting integrity in the next generation of researchers - Authorship (PPT)
Uniform requirements for manuscripts submitted to biomedical journals - Authorship and Contributorship

Learn about the intended forum's reputation. For instance: in the Computer Science area, there are conference rankings that include a "Not encouraged" list (e.g. @ualberta, @albany); notice that SCI is the international version of what is known, in a latin-american version, as CISCI).

* EGC usually receives a large quantity of proposals for the masters and doctorate programs. There is a preliminary assessment based on CV, implying that doctoral candidates must have a good publication record.

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