In 1990, the School of Engineering at the University of Minho introduced a new degree program in business informatics, thereby expanding its portfolio of degree programs in computing and informatics. The new program led to an increase in faculty focusing on information systems, and in 1999, it resulted in the creation of the Department of Information Systems. The Department currently offers degree programs at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels.
The Department of Information Systems envisions the information systems field as oriented to professional activities that seek to make use of information technology to create value to human endeavours and social situations. The designation used for the Department’s basic bachelor’s and master’s programs – engineering and management of information systems – suggests such a vision. These programs are run in collaboration with UMinho’s School of Economics and Management, which teaches the courses that address economics, management, and business themes.
Academic interests at the Department of Information Systems encompass themes at the intersection of information technology, information, and human and social endeavours. Particular importance is given to design activities to address enterprise or social problems or seize opportunities where information technology plays a central role. Research activities combine engineering and technology research methods with those used in organisational studies, management, and social sciences. Therefore, within the department’s research projects, it is possible to find interpretive, positivist, and design science perspectives, as well as a wide range of research methods and techniques appropriate to the study of the specific Information Systems phenomena being addressed.
The research activities of the Department of Information Systems are integrated into a R&D unit, known as the ALGORTIMI Centre. This unit within the School of Engineering at UMinho brings together researchers from several departments, covering a wide range of fields. Besides information systems, it includes areas such as informatics, computer networks and telecommunications, industrial electronics, systems and production engineering. ALGORITMI centre promotes research thematic lines that cross-cut those fields. Currently, those thematic lines are: innovative industries and organisations; smart cities and people.
Within ALGORTIMI, the Department of Information Systems promotes a research stream entitled Information Systems and Technologies (IST) that encompasses the following areas: IST in Organisations and Society; Adaptive and Intelligent IST; and Engineering and Management of Software-Based IST.
