From September 25 - October 6, 2017, Prof. Dr. Robert O. Briggs visited the Department of Information Systems (Prof. Dr. Jan Marco Leimeister) at the University of Kassel and the University of St.Gallen to continue the international research cooperation in the field of Collaboration Engineering, to hold a PhD course as a guest lecturer, and to give a Research Talk as part of the ITeG Ring Lecture. 

Robert O. Briggs is Professor of Management Information Systems and Director of Doctoral Studies in the Management Information Systems Department at San Diego State University. He is a co-founder of the Collaboration Engineering research field and one of the most research-intensive scholars in Information Systems (ranked 46th in the Top 100 IS Researchers 2008-2010; h-index 48, i10-index 119). Numerous publications in A-journals (e.g. Journal of Management Information Systems, MIS Quaterly) underline his excellent sense for first-class research. In the course of his scientific career, Prof. Dr. Robert O. Briggs has worked at the University of Arizona, Delft University of Technology, University of Nebraska and San Diego State University, among others, and has constantly expanded his research network. 

Within the framework of the research cooperation between Prof. Robert O. Briggs and Dr. Sarah Oeste-Reiß, Prof. Dr. Robert O. Briggs was invited to Kassel and to St.Gallen. In this context, on the one hand, the international cooperation in the field of Collaboration Engineering could be consolidated and, on the other hand, a challenging format could be offered in which doctoral students from different universities acquired important competences in the theory of science, received paper coaching as well as opportunities to network with other doctoral students within the framework of the doctoral course "The Simple Elegance of Causal Inquiry" by Prof. Dr. Robert O. Briggs. The course brought together doctoral students and students from the University of Kassel, the University of Hamburg, and the University of St.Gallen. In addition, Prof. Dr. Briggs gave two Research Talks on "A Field Experiment to Test the Yield Shift Theory of Satisfaction" and on "A Structured Methodology for Collaboration Engineering."

The organization of the course, the Research Talks as well as the activities and networking of the participants from the participating universities and disciplines was the responsibility and coordination of Dr. Sarah Oeste-Reiß in close cooperation with Prof. Dr. Robert O. Briggs. 

It is a special honor for the Department of Information Systems to have won Prof. Dr. Robert O. Briggs as a guest lecturer for a doctoral course and thus to have been able to provide the participants with a unique insight into the wealth of experience of an excellent scientist from the USA.