𝗜 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗮 𝗣𝗵.𝗗. 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝗜 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝘄𝗲𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗜

So I’m getting into this AI thing, you know. Its like your own pet research assistant sending it away to look into things, validate ideas, and seek new insights.

I’m lucky in away I’ve got such advanced research skills I can put them to great use with AI. The Ph.D. I embarked on 30 years ago is still bringing back rewards.

Between 1995 and 1998 I did a Ph.D at the University of Glasgow on “Best Practice in Regional Development Agencies.” It was fully funded and also CASE sponsored by Glasgow Development Agency, which was part of Scottish Enterprise.

The experience was challenging, but ultimately rewarding thanks to my Ph.D. supervisors, including the folks from Glasgow Development Agency. Getting to spend time in Glasgow – which extended beyond the Ph.D. (to total 10 years) was fantastic.

The skills I learnt ranged from high end research and writing skills, to communication and persuasion – how to get these busy people in development agencies around Europe to talk to me, to meet me? well whatever I learnt and did, it worked, I managed to talk to 80 people.

I also learnt the connection between academic research and economics to the real world of politics, policies and delivery. And I also delved into management research and organisation performance too.

𝗜 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗼𝗴𝘂𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗹𝗹𝘀𝗵𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 – 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝘂𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗔𝗜 – I can tell when it doesn’t read right, seems an impartial analysis or invalid and I know what kinds of tests I can then put in to probe if the AI is giving me anything useful or not.

Most of all – I’ve used AI as a primer on their “deep research” functions. A quick literature review identifies some of the main references and literature resources which I then go on to read myself.

𝗗𝗼𝗱𝗴𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱

PROCUREMENT UPDATE: As I’ve mentioned in previous diary entries – I’ve been wrestling with an advertised opportunity to provide some consultancy assistance to a local government organisation in the UK. So I submitted my proposal eventually as best I could – bearing in mind their was not an indicative budget, with requirements running into including the kitchen sink and two sets of questions to answer which were different. AND NOW THEY HAVE CANCELLED THE PROCUREMENT! Note to self – if the procurement looks botched from the client end, just don’t bother next time!!!

𝙉𝙚𝙬 𝙩𝙤 𝙥𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩? 𝙨𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙘𝙪𝙧𝙚𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙞𝙣 𝙀𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙘 𝘿𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙡𝙤𝙥𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙂𝙪𝙞𝙙𝙚 (https://tinyurl.com/bdcsxuf8 ) and Executive’s Toolkit (https://economicdevelopment.world/toolkit/ ).

#AI #phd #economy