Yixin (Sarah) Zhang

Associate Professor (Docent), Information Systems

Department of Applied IT, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

I am an Associate Professor (Docent) at the Department of Applied IT, University of Gothenburg. My research spans responsible generative AI in the public sector, digital transformation, data-driven sustainability innovation, human–computer interaction, and social media and digital platforms.

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Publications

ABDC A*/A journals

CORE A*/A conference papers

€2.04M

EU project (lead, UGU team)

Highlights

Pedagogical honour. Selected as one of three finalists for the SISA Pedagogical Prize 2024 — the highest pedagogical honour in the Nordic information systems community — for "Learning by Doing: Using Arduino in Teaching Digital Infrastructure."
EU research funding. Lead the University of Gothenburg team in the EU Interreg BALTFLOODS (2025–2028), project scale 2.04M Euro (≈ 2.4M USD, 3.3M AUD), addressing flood preparedness and stormwater pollution across Nordic cities through digital monitoring and citizen engagement.
National innovation funding. Led Work Package II, "Continuous Evaluation and Innovation," in Ocean Data Factory Sweden (Vinnova), across two phases (2019–2023), project scale 8M SEK (≈ 844,400 USD, 1.2M AUD) per phase — and founded and ran a 21-part webinar series connecting researchers, industry, and government.
Research record. 35 peer-reviewed publications, including work in Journal of Service Research, Information Systems Journal, Information & Management, and the International Journal of Information Management (IF 27.0).

Research & funding → · Teaching & supervision →

News

2026Elected member of the Department Council, Department of Applied IT, University of Gothenburg.
2026My doctoral student Per Persson successfully defended his PhD (principal supervisor); opponent Prof. Kalle Lyytinen.
2026Paper accepted at the SEFI Annual Conference on challenge-based learning for climate resilience (forthcoming).
2025New article in Business Horizons: "The Soft Side of Hard Metrics."
2025Began leading the University of Gothenburg team in the EU Interreg BALTFLOODS project (≈ €2.04M, 2025–2028).
2025Paper presented at HICSS 2025: "Openness and Transparency by Design: Crafting an Open Generative AI Platform for the Public Sector."
2024Finalist (1 of 3) for the SISA Pedagogical Prize.

Selected Publications

Micro-Level Mechanisms to Support Value Co-Creation for Design of Digital Services ABDC A*

Tuunanen, T., Lumivalo, J., Vartiainen, T., Zhang, Y., & Myers, M. D. — Journal of Service Research, 2023.

How Do Interruptions Affect User Contributions on Social Commerce? ABDC A*

Zhang, Y., Liu, L., & Ho, S. Y. — Information Systems Journal, 2020.

Openness and Transparency by Design: Crafting an Open Generative AI Platform for the Public Sector CORE A

Persson, P., & Zhang, Y. — HICSS, 2025.

See the full publication list (35) →