School of Computing (SOC) Universiti Utara Malaysia conducted a one-day workshop at Ideation Room, Institute for Advanced and Smart Digital Opportunities (IASDO) on 14 December 2022. The SOC management team, lab leaders and fellows attended the workshop. SOC research initiatives have been mainly geared by its school centre of excellence, IASDO and its four research labs, namely the Internetwork Research Lab (IRL), Data Science Research Lab (DSRL), Human-Centred Computing (HCC) Lab, and the newly established Data Management and Software Solution (DMSS) Lab.

All lab leaders and fellows gathered and discussed the school research niche and priority areas for the next three years. Further, they also discussed their labs’ plans for 2023 on the activities related to the research, publication and industry and community engagements. In the morning, the workshop started with presentations on the 2023 lab planning. Then, during the second session, a focus group discussion was carried out to identify the SOC research priority area and its blueprint. Finally, the discussion led to the decision of “Digital Solutions for Community Well-being” as the school research priority area for the next three years.