Confirmation of Candidature - Candidate : Sijan Bhandari

Digital Twin is a virtual representation of real-world entities and processes, synchronised at a specified frequency and fidelity. Currently, many industries such as manufacturing, health, agriculture, and mining are developing their digital twins to build digitally enabled business systems. Based on a report published by the World Geospatial Industry Council, the oil & gas (O & G) industry is considered as the fifth contributor to digital twin initiatives. Current initiatives of the digital twin in the O & G industry are more focused on manufacturing areas. In another hand, the geospatial domain is a strong pillar of the upstream section of any O & G company. However, the investigation of the digital twin concept in the geospatial domain is rarely explored as the development of the digital twin is at an early stage. This has made relevant stakeholders difficult to understand the interconnection between the digital twin and geospatial domain of the upstream section. To address this gap, the central aim of this research is to develop a conceptual framework that integrates digital twins and the geospatial domain in the context of the development stage of the upstream section of the O & G industry. The development stage of the upstream section is considered as research scope due to the time availability and knowledge of the research candidate. The proposed research strategy to accomplish the central aim of this research is a design science framework in which the four sequential stages will be followed as foundation, design and development, demonstration, and evaluation. Firstly, the research problem has been identified after reviewing 65 academic resources over a 6-month duration in the foundation stage. Secondly, an artefact (conceptual framework) will be created to address the explicated problem during the design and development stage. Thirdly, during the implementation stage, the developed conceptual framework will be developed and refined through an illustrative case study approach on one of the steps (field design) of the development stage. Fourthly, the conceptual framework will be evaluated through a survey method (taking opinions from SMEs). The major expected outcomes of this research will be the comprehensive framework that integrates digital twins and the geospatial domain in the development stage of the upstream section. It is expected that this research will provide the knowledge and awareness to all the associated stakeholders to leverage emerging digital twin technology in the geospatial domain of the O & G industry context and will contribute to the body of knowledge in the areas of theory, methodology and practice to the geospatial and mining research communities.

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