International Seminar: A perspective of pathways to developing a research agenda

The Journal of Trade Science co-hosted a seminar titled “A perspective of pathways to developing a research agenda” on 10 April 2026, featuring Professor Steven D’Alessandro from the School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Australia.

Professor D’Alessandro is a distinguished marketing scholar and Fellow of the Australian & New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC), recognized for his leadership in the discipline. He currently serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Consumer Behaviour and is widely known for his mentorship of early-career researchers around the world.

In the seminar, Professor D’Alessandro offered practical, experience-based advice for early-career researchers and PhD candidates, using the narrative of The Hobbit as a metaphor for building a research agenda. Just as Bilbo leaves the Shire, he argued that researchers need to move beyond the comfort of their PhD topics to explore new domains, collaborations, and methods.

Drawing on a diverse portfolio of projects in telecommunications, health, cybersecurity, climate change, veterans’ wellbeing, and green hydrogen, he illustrated how openness to opportunities, teamwork, and strong professional networks can lead to impactful and varied research outcomes. He also highlighted the “dragons” of academic life—tight deadlines, manuscript rejections, and administrative hurdles—as inevitable challenges that help build resilience and capability over time.

For Vietnamese early-career scholars in particular, Professor D’Alessandro emphasized that meaningful research careers are built on curiosity, a willingness to say “yes” to promising ideas, and collaboration with colleagues who bring complementary strengths. While research careers are rarely linear, he argued that flexibility and strategic thinking can enable researchers to create work with lasting impact in both academia and practice.