My action research journey started in the 1990's, when I was working as an Engineering Manager in a Japanese Multinational Company in Singapore, when I enrolled in a doctoral program using action research offered by the University of South Australia. I was fortunate to have Alan Davies and Bob Dick from Southern Cross University become my supervisors who started me off on an interesting and exciting journey. Bob Dick's famous Action Research and Evaluation On line Course http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/areol/areolhome.html taught at Southern Cross University, Jack Whitehead's valuable resources at the University of Bath http://people.bath.ac.uk/edsajw/ the Action Research on the Web Course conducted by Ian Hughes at University of Sydney http://www2.fhs.usyd.edu.au/arow/ and most of all arlist - the action research list http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/gcm/ar/arr/arlist.html helped me to learn and practice action research. After completing of my doctoral research studying how manager's learn from solving real problems at their workplace I decided to change careers and went to work for the Graduate College of Management at Southern Cross University where I met several experienced action researchers. We started a PhD program using action research in Singapore from Southern Cross University and also established a College of Action Research as a developing area of research strength (Sankaran, Hase, Dick and Davies 2006). We published a book to help doctoral students use action research based on our experiences of learning how to use action research. (Sankaran, Dick, Passfield and Swepson 2001). At Southern Cross University I had the privilege of working with Chad Perry and Stewart Hase and the three of us started promoting the use of action research by managers (practitioners) conducting research in their organizations. I also visited Peter Reason and Judi Marshall at Bath and met Jack Whitehead finally at the Action Research Congress in Groningen. In 2004 I went to the US on my study leave and met several prominent action researchers Davyyd Greenwood, Mary Brydon-Miller, Bill Torbert and Hilary Bradbury among others and wrote about my action research conversations with these researchers in the journal Action Rresearch (Sankaran 2005). In Australia I worked for the Action Research and Action Learning Association, http://www.alara.net.au/public/home in their committees and organized a National Conference at Southern Cross University. I am also involved in the ALAR Journal and the Action Research Monographs that is receiving submissions. In 2006 I moved to the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) where I am an Associate Professor and Course Director of Project Management at their Faculty of Design Architecture and Building. We have started a network of action researchers and action learners here. I am yet to start supervising a doctoral student using action research at UTS although I have given some talks and there is a growing interest in using action research. UTS has a student exchange relationship with ESC Lille in France. ESC Lille organized the EDEN doctoral seminar in August 2008 http://www.eden-pm.org/player/14_sankaran/ and I was invited to talk about using action research by project management practitioners. I am excited to be invited to join the review-team of EJOLTS to be working with Jack, Jean and Moira whose writings have been of great help in my journey. Truly action research has been a 'living experience' for me.
I was born and grew up in India and worked primarily in the oil, gas and petrochemical industry as an Instrument Engineer. in various locations in India in plant maintenance, construction and design. I went to work in Iran in 1977 and moved to Singapore to work in companies involved in fabrication on and off shore oil and gas production facilities. In 1984 I decided to change careers and work for a leading Japanese manufacturer of instruments and control systems in senior management positions. During my career in Singapore I have been involved in projects in the Middle East and South East Asia which took me travelling to many places in these regions of the World with a stint on a project in Houston, USA. In 1989 I migrated to Melbourne in Australia to manage a large project and returned to work in Singapore at the end of this project. I completed a Masters degree in System Engineering from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology when I lived in Melbourne. In 1999 I returned to Australia to become an academic. My wife Gita is an archivist and we have a daughter who is a lawyer and a son who is a biomedical engineer. I love Cricket, listening to Jazz and enjoy facilitating groups.
Sankaran, S., Dick, B., Passfield, R. & Swepson, P. (eds), (2001), Effective Change Management Using Action Learning and Action Research: Concepts, Frameworks, Processes and Applications, SCU Press, Lismore
Sankaran, S. (2005), ‘Notes from the field: Action research conversations’, Action Research, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 341-52.
Sankaran, S., Hase, S. Dick, B. and Davies, A. (2006), ‘Reflections on developing an offshore action research/learning based PhD program, Action Learning: Research and Practice, vol 3., no. 2 , pp 1-15.
