Associate Professor Don Kerr
CertAg QldAgColl, BSc Griff., PhD Griff., GCHEd, Griff.
Position: Program Leader, Information, Communication and Technology; Coordinator, Research
Office: K1.25
Tel: +61 7 5459 4860
Email: dkerr@usc.edu.au
Teaching areas
- Information Systems Management Issues
- Business Information Systems
- Management Support Systems
- Human Resource Information Systems
- Business Process Models
- Distributed Decision Support Systems
- Enterprise Systems Integration
- Critical Issues in Knowledge Management.
Research areas
- Enterprise resource planning systems implementations – Research into SAP implementations with Government owned corporations. Concentrating of the impacts of information technology integration on corporate culture, the supply chain and decision support
- Knowledge management – development and use of intelligent systems within both rural and urban organisations. Associated with the implementation and proposed implementations of decision support systems in the Australian dairy and cotton industries and Queensland Rail
- Studies on the adoption rates of decision support systems within rural industries, concentrating on decision support for small to medium enterprises
- Development of knowledge-based decision support systems, particularly in rural-based small businesses
- The development of a multi-disciplinary, systems approach to research. This approach incorporates statistical and mathematical techniques with computerised knowledge based decision support systems incorporating heuristics from over 20 years of dairy research. The approach is transferable to other industries, for example the Australian cotton and sugar industries
- Design, development and implementation surveys for both rural and urban industries
- Use and modification of simulation models for predicting crop yields
- Development of intervention analysis procedures using time series analysis techniques
- Exploratory data analysis of survey data and development of statistical models, expertise in outlier detection and justification
Student research projects (PhDs)
- Robert Tybon – September 2004 – Generating solutions to the jigsaw problem
- Marc Carter – December 2005 – A process for supporting natural resource management on farms: A case study in the Australian sub-tropical dairy industry
- Dale Mackrell – September 2006 – Women as farm partners: Agricultural decision support systems in the Australian cotton industry
- Lisa Soon – due to be completed March 2008 – Knowledge renewal and knowledge creation in export trading
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Profile
Don Kerr is an Associate Professor of Information Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast. His research areas include intelligent decision support systems development, implementation and evaluation. He also has research interests in enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementations and is specifically interested in the decision making modules within ERPs. He has also researched in areas such as the design, development and implementation surveys, the use and modification of simulation models for predicting crop yields, development of intervention analysis procedures using time series analysis techniques and exploratory data analysis of survey data and development of statistical models. He has extensive industry experience and has been commissioned to do consultancies for industries such as dairying, cotton and railways.
Dr Kerr has written 65 peer reviewed publications and has obtained four competitive research grants from the Australian Research Council and seven from industry sources. His PhD was multi-disciplinary in nature in that it incorporated statistical and heuristics modelling with decision support development for the dairy industry.
Dr Kerr worked as a principal research scientist for the Queensland Department of Primary Industries prior to joining academia in 2000. He is presently Chief Investigator on three ARC linkage projects. Dr Kerr has a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and has published extensively in the teaching domain. He has a wide variety of teaching experience involving large first-year classes, second and third-year classes, honours and master’s level students and PhD completions. He is the assistant editor for the Journal of Information Systems Education.
Publications
Journal publications - peer reviewed
- Kerr D, Houghton L, Burgess K. 2007. Power relationships that lead to the development of feral systems, Australasian Journal of Information Systems, 14:2, 141–152
- Thite M, Kerr D, Sandhu K. 2007. Problems and prospects in teaching multi-disciplinary courses: A case study of human resource information systems, International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education, 2:2, 183–193
- Archer-Lean C, Clark JA, Kerr DV. 2006. Evading technological determinism in ERP implementation: Towards a consultative social approach, Australian Journal of Information Systems, 13:2, 18–30
- Houghton L, Kerr DV. 2006. A study into the creation of feral information systems as a response to an ERP implementation within the supply chain of a large Government owned corporation, International Journal of Internet and Enterprise Management, 4:2, 135–147
- Woods PR, Jordan PJ, Loudoun R, Troth AC, Kerr DV. 2006. Effective teaching in the multicultural business classroom by - Journal of Teaching International Business, 17:4, 27–48
- Kerr DV, Winklhofer H. 2006. The effect of rapid rural industry changes on the development of a decision support system for dairy farmers in Australia, Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 50:1, 61–69
- Kerr DV. 2004. Factors influencing the development and adoption of knowledge based decision support systems for small, owner operated rural businesses, Artificial Intelligence Review 22:2, 127–147
- Kerr DV, Troth A, Pickering A. 2003. The use of role-playing to help students understand information systems case studies, Journal of Information Systems Education, 14:2, 167–171
- Bryant K, Campbell J, Kerr DV. 2003. Impact of flexible learning and academic performance in information systems, Journal of Information Systems Education, 14:1, 41–50
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Successful ARC research grants
| Description |
Year of grant |
Status and named researchers |
Funding amount |
Total amount (including in kind and status) |
ARC Linkage project LP0882065
Remote patient assessment using digital stethoscope for telehealth systems in Australia |
2008 |
Chief Investigators – A/Prof R Gururajan; Prof V Popovic; Dr DV Kerr; Mrs AM Scott; Mr C Moloney; Prof C Kesavan |
A$478,882 |
Total – including in kind from industry partner and university A$1,364,962 |
ARC Linkage project LP0561724
Title - Investigations into and development of an intelligent decision support system for general practitioners in home-based sleep disorder diagnosis |
2005 |
Chief investigators – Don. Kerr, R. Gururajan University of Southern Queensland; T. A. Vuori Murdoch University; M.S. Khan Murdoch University; C. Moloney Toowoomba Health Service District |
A$137,444 |
Total – including in kind from industry partner and university - A$332,044 – Commenced March 2006 |
ARC Linkage project LP0455115
Title – A generic decision-making design environment to enable end users in rural industries to develop expert systems |
2004 |
Chief investigators – John Gammack, Don Kerr, and Tom Cowan.
Host organisation – Griffith University |
A$80,280 |
Total – including in kind from industry partner and university - A$201,373 – in the second year |
ARC Linkage project C49937045
Title – Participatory development with dairy farmers of information/expert systems for optimising production and resource management practices on sub-tropical dairy farms |
1999 |
Chief investigators – Tom Cowan, Don Kerr, T Gardiner and B. Frank
Host organisation – University of Queensland |
A$70,384 |
Total – including in kind from industry partner A$183,884 – completed 2002 |
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Successful research grants – Industry
| Description |
Year of grant |
Status and named researchers |
Funding amount |
Total amount (including in kind and status) |
| Queensland Nursing Council (experienced researcher) – A study into the factors of adoption of wireless technology for rural nursing |
2006 |
Chief Investigator - Clint Moloney
Co-Investigator A – Associate Professor Raj Gururajan
Co-Investigator B – Associate Professor Jeffrey Soar
Co-Investigator C – Dr. Don Kerr |
A$21,706.50 |
In Kind contributions are absorbed by Queensland Health – commenced May 2006 |
| UNGR10061 – Analysis of the national land and water resources audit and other survey data to determine the relationship between environmental best management practices and profitability of Australian dairy farms |
2001 |
External DRDC funds
Chief investigator – Don Kerr
- Postgraduate student to analyse national dairy farm survey data
Dairy Australia stipend
Host organisation - Griffith University |
(A$21,000 stipend per year for 3 years plus A$30,000 operating expenses) |
Total funding A$93,000 from DRDC
Completed 2004 |
| DAQ-174 - Development of a knowledge based decision support system for strategic decision making on dairy farms |
2000 |
External DRDC funds
Chief investigator - Don Kerr
Host organisation – Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Griffith University |
A$98,000 |
Griffith University - A$57,558 – carried over
A$74,000 from DRDC
A$24,000 from Queensland state government (smart state initiative). A$116,000 in kind from DPI |
| DRDC-104 – Development of a common digital library of dairy information to enhance decision making of dairy managers |
2000 |
External DRDC funds
Chief investigator – Geoff Johnston
Collaborator – Don Kerr Griffith University
Host organisation – Queensland Department of Primary Industries |
A$150,000 |
Queensland Department of Primary Industries
Completed 2003 |
| STDP – 001 Improved resource use and management practices to achieve environmental and production efficiency benefits on subtropical dairy farms |
1999 |
External DRDC funds
Chief investigator – Dr David Gramshaw, Brad Silver, Helen Patton and Glen Chopping Collaborator – Don Kerr Griffith University
Host organisation – Queensland Department of Primary Industries |
A$858,610 |
Queensland Department of Primary Industries and the Department of Natural Resources total in kind A$1,500,000
Completed 2004 |
| STDP small grant (no reference number given) Development, implementation and analysis of a survey of dairy farms in northern Australia |
1999 |
External Sub Tropical Dairy Program funds
Chief Investigator – Don Kerr
Host organisation – Queensland Department of Primary Industries |
A$5,000 |
In kind Industry commitment to the project estimated to be A$50,000
Completed 1999 |
| DAQ – 77 Development of whole farm predictive models for the northern Australian dairy industry |
1992 |
External DRDC funds
Chief investigator - Don Kerr
Host organisation – Queensland Department of Primary Industries |
A$13,000 |
In kind Industry Commitment estimated to be A$120,450
Completed 1993 |
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Industry consultancies
Description |
Year |
Status and named researchers |
Funding
amount |
Total amount (including in kind) |
| University of Southern Queensland – postgraduate workshop |
2006 |
External Grant Chief investigator - Don Kerr, Host organisation – Griffith University |
A$1,950 |
A$1,950 |
| Queensland Rail – Report on Best Practices literature on supply chain |
2006 |
External Grant Chief investigator - Don Kerr, Host organisation – Griffith University
|
A$2,000 |
A$2,000 from the supply division – Queensland Rail |
| Queensland Rail – Report on the feasibility of implementing DSS technology within the supply Chain |
2005 |
External Grant Chief investigator - Don Kerr Host organisation – Griffith University |
A$10,000 |
A$10,000 from the supply division – Queensland Rail |
| Cotton Research and Development Corporation – Develop a business plan for the future of Decision Support in the Cotton Industry |
2004 |
External Grant Chief investigator - Don Kerr, Host organisation – Griffith University |
A$15,000 |
A$15,000 from the cotton research and development corporation |
| Australian University Teaching Committee (AUTC) Joint Co-Leader of section to determine funding levels |
2002 |
Chief investigator – Don Kerr, Host organisation – University of Technology Sydney |
A$2,000 |
Total AUTC funding A$300,000 |
| Development of a knowledge base for a major project on nutrient recycling in the northern Australian dairy industry |
2001 |
External funds Chief investigator - Don Kerr, Host organisation – Griffith University |
A$7,200 |
Queensland Department of Primary Industries and the Department of Natural Resources Total in kind including SPIRIT grant – A$1,500.000 (included as part of the ARC linkage grant) |
| Study and fact finding tour of New Zealand - contributor |
1999 |
External funds
Investigators - Peter Doyle, Don Kerr and Tom Cowan |
A$2,333 |
Australian fact finding mission to New Zealand to discuss DSS development |
| Victorian Consultancies |
1997 |
External funds Chief Investigator - Don Kerr Host Organisation
Victorian Department of Natural Resources |
A$3,000 |
Advice provided on modelling and KBDSS development methods. Wodonga dairy district and Kyabram Research Institute, Victoria |
| Report 1994-95 dairy survey |
1997 |
External funds Chief Investigator Don Kerr Host Organisation Sub-Tropical Dairy Association |
A$3,000 |
Report - DPI publication number QI96115 |
| Study Tour on DSS development USA Wisconsin, Florida |
1998 |
External funds Chief Investigator Don Kerr |
A$7,270 |
Final report sent to DRDC, DPI, DNRE and ATDI |
| Study tour of the USA |
1992 |
Funded by DRDC
Chief Investigator Don Kerr |
A$6,000 |
Report on the Use of Expert systems for the Australian Dairy Industry |
| Planning, implementation and analysis of a dairy industry survey in Fiji |
1992 |
Funded by the Rewa Cooperative Dairy Company
Investigators – Richard Fell Don Kerr and Alan Murray
Host organisation – Queensland Department of Primary Industries |
A$30,000 |
Report to the REWA cooperative dairy association. In kind Industry commitment estimated to be A$70,000 |
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