Maria-Luciana Blaha

Business Management,Technology Adoption, Intelligent Automation, Posthumanism, Organizational Behaviour, Operations Management, Leadership

Luciana leads the Intelligent Automation Systems (IAS) Lab at Heriot-Watt University and has worked in the public, private and third sector for 12 years before moving to academia.

Her research investigates Intelligent Automation systems (including AI, RPA and chatbots) and their impact on organisational behaviour, reuniting findings from science and technology studies, business management and computing science. 

Luciana has gained her PhD in Business Management from the University of Aberdeen under the Elphinstone Scholarship, and British Federation of Women Graduates bursary. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy,  member of the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), and an editor of the Scottish University Press, and Scottish AI Playbook. She has been granted the Early-Career Researcher of the Year Award by the School of Social Sciences in 2023.

Luciana has spoken to audiences in the UK, Dubai, Taiwan, US and Australia in the areas of Intelligent Automation, Management, AI and Qualitative Research Methods. Currently, her work focuses on the areas of organizational behaviour and Intelligent Automation systems, and AI stakeholder management for good.

Current projects under supervision:

• Intelligent automation for Manufacturing in Ghana and the UK, Randy Adjepong (PhD, SOSS Scholarship).
• The effect of adopting emerging technologies by Jordanian health insurance companies on their financial performance, San'a Mohammad Al-Sharaideh (DBA)
• An ethical AI adoption framework for public healthcare in Iran, Sinan Majeed (DBA)
• Integrating ChatGPT4o in international Human Resources departments: Ethical implications, future skillset and the evolution of HR roles through Generative AI, Anke Ishorst (DBA)
• EPSRC Summer Internships
• National Robotarium and Edinburgh Business School Accelerated Knowledge Transfer projects (AKT)

Intelligent Automation Systems Lab Lead

February 2023 - Present

Graduate Apprenticeships in Business Management Year 1 Coordinator

 Aug 2021 - Jan 2025

2025 and ongoing:

TransiT - Digital twinning research hub for the decarbonisation and integration of transport systems in the UK (EPSRC)

Lighthouse Project - SME Manufacturing Audit Service (Smart Manufacturing Data Hub/Innovate UK)

Local authority AI readiness review in partnership with GOLLM, the Association for Public Sector Excellence and the Society for Innovation, Networking and Modernisation UK (Interface Scotland)

2024:

Thermo Fisher/National Robotarium Accelerated Knowledge Transfer Partnership (Innovate UK)

Extend Robotics Scotland Feasiblity Study - Scotland Inward Investment Fund (Interface Scotland)