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6th International Conference on Developments in Doctoral Education & Training

Doctoral Outcomes: Evolution, Evaluation and Experiences

Conference
Doctoral Training
International
Candidate Experience
Doctoral Examination & Assessment

Date(s): 21 — 22 Mar 2024
Location: Apex Hotel, Bath
Price: £100–525

A view of a bridge over a weir in Bath, England, bathed in golden evening light.

Doctoral research is expected to deliver an ever-increasing number of outcomes. Apart from the high standard of the work produced, the research community must ensure that doctoral degrees meet the needs of government and funding organisations, along with employers and society in general.

This conference, which will include international contributors, will provide tools to help you adapt in a rapidly changing environment. It’s organised around three broad areas: evolution, evaluation and the experiences of the research community.

It addresses many different doctoral outcomes, ranging from employability (i.e., how can the doctorate prepare candidates both for academic research and the job market in general?) and the examination of doctorates. There will be opportunities to network, gather examples of best practice and reflect on how we can collectively shape the future of the doctorate — in the UK and beyond.

Discussion topics will include:

How do we measure the success of our doctoral provision?
How does collaboration work in contemporary supervision?
How has the ‘doctoral experience’ changed in light of increasing demands for skills development and training?
What is the future of doctoral assessment?
What’s next for the doctorate?

Conference background

This is UKCGE’s 6^th International Conference on the Development of Doctoral Education and Training. The event offers a major platform to discuss doctoral education and training in an international context, with an opportunity to share experiences and network with colleagues old and new.

The themes for this conference were prompted by a recent UK report which observed:

“…high quality postgraduate research is not static. Postgraduate research must evolve to ensure it continues to meet the needs of government, funders, research organisations, employers across the whole economy, society, and the researchers and innovators themselves.” (“A New Deal for Postgraduate Research: Response to the Call for Input”, UKRI, 2023, p. 5).

Realising that these issues are not restricted to UK postgraduate education, we have broadened the scope of the programme to provide diverse perspectives and to encourage opportunities for global collaboration.

Conference Themes

Measuring the success of doctoral provision
Innovations in doctoral programme design
Doctoral examinations and assessment
Communities of practice in doctoral supervision
Evolution of doctoral training and development
Enhancing doctoral employability

Keynote Speakers

Professor Sue Rigby
Vice-Chancellor | Bath Spa University
- Thu 21 Mar, 09.40
- Towards a Career Path for Doctoral Students
Sue is Vice-Chancellor at Bath Spa University, which is Social Inclusion University of the Year 2024. She previously held senior leadership positions at the Universities of Lincoln and Edinburgh.

Sue has a background as an academic palaeontologist, and a national profile in learning and teaching. She chairs the Board of Trustees of Student Minds, a national charity focussed on student mental health and wellbeing.

She is founding chair of the West of England Cultural Compact and is a strong advocate for creativity in education, sitting on the boards of Project Trust and An Tobar & Mull Theatre.

Sue is an honorary fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge and a Council Member of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
Professor Jeff Casello
Associate Vice President Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs | University of Waterloo
- Thu 21 Mar, 16.20
- Doctoral Degrees in Canada – Challenges, Opportunities and New Directions
Professor Casello has been active in university leadership since 2010 when he was invited to serve as the Associate Dean Undergraduate Studies in the Faculty of Environment. Since 2016, Jeff has led the University’s graduate studies and postdoctoral portfolios, supporting the 90 graduate programs, 6,000 graduate students and 400 postdoctoral scholars.

As a professor, Jeff’s interests lie in urban transportation systems and their impacts on healthy and economically viable urban areas. As such, he teaches and conducts research on the planning, design and operation of systems that promote efficient, balanced transportation, enhance regional economic competitiveness and support social mobility. His research engages graduate students in applied projects that improve local transportation systems (in Waterloo, Kingston, Philadelphia and Mexico City), while providing the foundation for scholarly output. At Waterloo, Jeff received the Distinguished Teacher Award, the highest teaching honor at the University.
Professor Rebecca Ford
Dean of Griffith Graduate Research School | Griffith University
- Fri 22 Mar, 10.45
- The Future of the Doctorate in Australia: Shifting Sands with Demands
Rebecca is Dean of the Griffith Graduate Research School at Griffith University, located in south-east Queensland, Australia. Griffith is a global top (2%) tier university and member of Australia’s innovative research universities group, focused to deliver impactful research to improve communities, welfare and social and environmental justice. She was previously Dean of Research for the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Systems at The University of Melbourne and Sciences Group at Griffith University.

Rebecca is an agricultural pathologist at heart, a Fellow of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society, and her own research underpins security of production of staple food crops through improved and innovative practices. She has completed >35 PhD candidates of her own and is driven to provide all doctoral candidates with external engagement opportunities and career-readiness skills through authentic and responsible partnering. She regularly speaks on food security matters to parliament and is an active member of the Australian Council of Graduate Research.
Sandro Eich
Doctoral Candidate | University of St Andrews
- Thu 21 Mar, 12.30
- The Experiences of Doctoral Candidates
Sandro Eich (he/him) is a final-year PhD researcher in English researching narratives of whistleblowing in contemporary non-fiction and fiction writing at the University of St Andrews. His research interests include political philosophy and fiction, contemporary drama and performance, the academic/campus novel, crime writing, and interdisciplinary approaches to teaching and research. He teaches courses on twentieth- and twenty-first century fiction, drama, and interdisciplinarity at St Andrews and the Scottish Universities International Summer School. He is a fellow of the Alexender Grass Humanities Institute Johns/Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies St Andrews Humanities Doctoral Network and also works as Open Research Coordinator for University of St Andrews Libraries & Museums.
Sarah Kearns
Doctoral Candidate | Curtin University
- Thu 21 Mar, 12.30
- The Experiences of Doctoral Candidates
Sarah is a PhD candidate at Curtin University in Western Australia and has recently submitted her thesis for examination. Her research is about engagement and outcome experiences for PhD graduates and has focussed on experiences of early, mid and late-career graduates who have continued in diverse careers. She has worked in postgraduate education and researcher development roles for the past 25 years in Australia and the UK and has worked in industry, government and higher education sectors. She is currently working as the researcher development manager at the University of Plymouth alongside her part-time PhD through Curtin University.
Fa Wang
Doctoral Candidate | University of Plymouth
- Thu 21 Mar, 12.30
- The Experiences of Doctoral Candidates
Meet Fa (Frank) Wang (he/him) — a third-year PhD researcher in International Employability & Work Readiness at the University of Plymouth. His research interests span a diverse spectrum, ranging from student and graduate employability to international experiences. He is particularly intrigued by the research intersections of work readiness, sustainable careers & employability, career development and management, tourism experiences, and human resources management. He’s also an Associate Lecturer at Plymouth Business School, where he teaches courses such as International Business, Academic and Professional Development, Experiential Practice, Careers Management & Employability, and Tourism-related modules. Apart from his teaching role, Fa also serves as a dedicated Dissertation Supervisor and Postgraduate Tutor throughout his doctoral journey so far. Passionate about fostering the employability and career development of international students, Fa is also enthusiastic about exploring nature, conquering mountains, experimenting with new recipes on weekends, and always embarking on quests to discover the perfect café hideaway.
Sarah Warbis
Doctoral Candidate | University of Bath
- Thu 21 Mar, 12.30
- The Experiences of Doctoral Candidates
Sarah is in the third year of her PhD, exploring how we can encourage bystanders to intervene when witnessing a sexual assault. With a background in social psychology, and three years of market research industry experience, Sarah has turned her efforts to using virtual reality in her research, as an active member of the CREATE lab at Bath. In 2023, Sarah was crowned the UK National Three Minute Thesis champion (judge’s choice). Alongside her PhD and teaching responsibilities, Sarah also cofounded and runs the Researcher Wellbeing Group, an interdisciplinary, inter-university group, providing crucial support for researchers, like herself, exploring sensitive subjects where secondary trauma is a risk.

Conference Programme

Download as PDF

08:45

Registration — with refreshments

Duration: 45 mins

09:30

Welcome & Conference Briefing

Duration: 10 mins

09:40

Keynote Presentation — Towards a Career Path for Doctoral Students

Professor Sue Rigby

Vice-Chancellor | Bath Spa University

View Presentation

Duration: 40 mins

10:20

Changeover

Duration: 10 mins

10:30

Option 2 — Upgrading Doctoral Training and PGR Careers: Lessons from Social Sciences, University of Sheffield

Dr Elisabeth Garratt & Dr Michael Martin | University of Sheffield

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development
Secondary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability

View Presentation

Duration: 30 mins

Like many institutions, the University of Sheffield (UoS) is looking to strengthen the support available to PGRs with a view to improving their experience and immediate outcomes, but also to enhancing PGR success after programme completion. In this way, assessment of doctoral success needs to move beyond narrow measures of programme completion and timescale, taking a more holistic approach and considering wider skills, especially those relating to careers and employability both within academia and beyond.

PGR students, and social science graduates in particular, possess a range of high-level skills which are in demand from employers, making them well positioned to succeed in a variety of careers. Nonetheless, in 2019, only 31% of UK PGR students reported receiving advice on career options (Postgraduate Research Experience Survey). This evidence indicates that more can and should be done to bolster PGR training and in particular, in employability.

This presentation will outline and explore the ongoing activities undertaken by deputy PGR Directors (PGRDs) in the Faculty of Social Sciences (FoSS), UoS in response to training and careers needs. Complementing the existing methods training programme for FoSS PGRs, a core skills training programme was introduced in 2023, offering sessions across seven thematic areas. Likewise, a new deputy PGRD role was introduced in 2023 to engage with and expand upon PGR careers. Example initiatives developed thus far include a Faculty PGR Careers Strategy and an ongoing PGR Secondment Framework.

We will explore the general enhancement of PGR training opportunities, paying particular attention to Careers as an area of strategic priority and practical application for UoS, contextualising these within wider institution- and sector-level priorities. Finally, we will share learning points from our ongoing activities, including challenges faced and our responses to these, that attendees from other national and international institutions can take transferable benefits from.

10:30

Option 3 — Innovations in Doctoral Programme Designs and Practices: Collegial Creativity & Doctoral Supervision

Prof Pamela Burnard & Prof Tatjana Dragovic | University of Cambridge

Dr Kieran Sheehan | University of Cumbria

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Innovations in doctoral programme design
Secondary theme: Communities of practice in doctoral supervision

Duration: 30 mins

In this presentation we will share innovative doctoral research, programme designs and doctoral supervision practices subsumed under the idea and inspiration of new materialism and posthumanism. This turn has left us thinking differently as doctoral educators. One important question is to open the doctoral research carried out in any field to arts and experimental forms of writing and researching. Breaking with traditional boundaries of analytical writing styles opens innovative spaces for doctoral programmes and supervision. All of this involve types of collaborative and collegial creativities. Here we invite you to rethink new relational forms of doctoral supervision. In this presentation, we present and illustrate this rather playful enquiry into the process of innovating doctoral programmes as well as supervisory relationships with researching professionals where the supervisor and researching professional collaboratively enact new types of research. This enactment allows us to redefine and build new boundaries because research is taking place by making new material-discursive boundaries. We illustrate this by offer several examples of cartographic research assemblages. The use of the term ‘cartography’ will be discussed along with the constantly evolving methods used in mapping lines of articulation and lines of flight that make visible new and creative ways for opening up the research playspace to arts and experimental forms of writing. An onto-ethico-epistemology (being-doing-knowing) framework underpins the methodology of some c/artographic research assemblages but not all. The Deleuzian materialism of Rosi Braidotti, the agential realism of Karen Barad and the posthumanism of Donna Haraway will be some of the theorists put to work in guiding (and redefining) c/artographic research assemblages. Rather than categorising and coding data in a linear fashion, these theories invite a reconfiguration (and re-seeing) of analytical research tools as post-qualitative weavings and chartings that dismantle binaries and invite the cartographic research assemblage to deliver a new direction of travel for creative research. In this session we will: (1) explore a range of cartographic research assemblages in terms of ways of documenting, organising and coproducing re-search/we-search differently; (2) offer some novel material-discursive processes which signal a shift from language as the focal point to analyses in conversation with our current work on assemblages of deliberative collaborative, collegial and collective creativities and (3) provide implications for how cartographic assemblages capture new connections between theory and practice and research. We will invite you to do and see doctoral supervision with researching professionals differently in terms of what things become rather than as they currently are.

11:00

Refreshment Break

Duration: 20 mins

11:20

Option 1 — CDT/DTCs in Interdisciplinarity and Industry Collaboration

Symposium
The symposium will include the following presentations, with additional time at the end for discussion.

Duration: 60 mins

A

Industry partnerships and doctoral employability – the case of the CDT in Formulation Engineering

Sian V. Williams, Estefania Lopez-Quiroga, Richard W. Greenwood, Peter J. Fryer & Mark J.H. Simmons | CDT in Formulation Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, University of Birmingham

Primary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability

View Presentation

The Centre for Doctoral Training in Formulation Engineering (School of Chemical Engineering, Birmingham) focuses on training graduates with the skills needed to manufacture the next generation of sustainable formulated products, i.e., those whose structure (micro- to nano- scale) and chemistry is complex and a function of the processing it has received, such as foods, personal care products such as creams, toothpastes, powders and liquids, pharma products, ceramics or catalysts. The research issues that affect such different industry sectors are common, so it is possible to exploit the synergy between non-competing companies to develop innovative doctoral training programmes.

However, Formulation Engineering is not taught in first degree courses – the CDT in Formulation Engineering, which was first supported by EPSRC in 2001, was created to address this need. Our 4‑year doctoral programme combines industry placement and co-supervision (all projects are in sponsored by industry) with a taught component (120 credits) that delivers a common foundation in formulation engineering, specialist technical training, entrepreneurship and soft skills, including Responsible Research and Innovation. The taught modules are co-designed and co-delivered with our industry partners (Unilever, Innospec, JM, P&G, etc.) and are fully embedded within the PGT programme of the School of Chemical Engineering (IChemE accredited). To date, we have graduated more than 100 students, all of whom are employed – more than 95% are in employment with formulation companies, some of them in senior management posts – and received one of the 2011 Diamond Jubilee Queen’s Anniversary Prizes, demonstrating the highest national excellence.

In this talk, we will review the activity of the CDT in Formulation Engineering, focusing on our strategy for the development of a doctoral programme in partnership with industry, which has been revealed as an effective mechanism to enhance doctoral employability in a key economic sector for the UK (>£90 bn GVA in 2021).
B

Challenges in developing a doctoral training centre for industry collaboration.

Dr Gavin Sim | University of Central Lancashire

Primary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development
Secondary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability

View Presentation

UCLan established a doctoral training centre (DTC) for industry collaboration in 2022, developing an interdisciplinary cohort of PhD students. Each student’s project has been developed by academics in conjunction with an industrial partner, to drive research within the public and private sector. This transdisciplinary model of a DTC provides added value to research projects and supports the professional development of each doctoral candidate. PhD students in the DTC reside in six different schools within the university, spanning areas including Law and Policing, Medicine and Dentistry, and Engineering and Computing. The diversity of the cohort has presented many challenges in developing a bespoke training package that compliments existing university provisions and that also fosters a cohesive cohort identity. With a total cohort of over 40 students, recruited over 2 years, who wish to pursue careers in industry or academia, cohort training has centred on the development of transferable skills to enhance employability. Initially, the training was co-designed with the students in induction, reflecting their career aspirations and current skill gaps. This has evolved over the last year with greater emphasis placed on skills such as leadership, confidence building, project management, managing budgets, developing a network and communication skills. Social events have also played a crucial role, infusing a sense of identity for the PhD students to feel part of a DTC, as well as a student within a school. Reflecting on the development of the DTC and its evolution since its inception, valuable lessons have been learnt in developing complimentary training, working with industry partners, fostering a diverse cohort of PhD students, and enhancing employability. This DTC model differs from current UKRI support for doctoral training, is innovative and is proving to be transformative within the university in supporting both REF and KEF initiatives.
C

Co-creation and implementation of an inclusive doctoral training programme

Dr Rachael Miles & Prof Jonathan Reid | University of Bristol

Dr Kerry Knox | University of York

Prof Darragh Murnane | University of Hertfordshire

Prof Adam Boies | University of Cambridge

Primary theme: Innovations in doctoral programme design
Secondary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development

View Presentation

The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Aerosol Science is a seven institution, multidisciplinary CDT which uses a cohort-based approach to train postgraduate researchers (PGRs) in the fundamentals of interdisciplinary aerosol science. Launched in 2019, the CDT offers an innovative doctoral training programme designed around the CDT’s Nine Graduate Competencies, which were co-created by PGRs, academics, and industrial/public sector partners working across the diverse field of aerosol science. The Nine Graduate Competencies describe the knowledge, skills and attributes required by a professional aerosol science researcher, regardless of disciplinary background, and map to all domains of the Vitae Researcher Development Framework. The doctoral programme for the CDT has been constructively aligned with the Nine Graduate Competencies, which inform our taught curriculum, the research-based instructional strategies we use in our delivery, and our emphasis on considerations of equality, diversity, and inclusion in our recruitment, learning and assessment approaches.

In this presentation we will outline the co-creation process used in the development of the CDT’s Nine Graduate Competencies and the ways these have informed the design of our doctoral programme and the CDT training environment more broadly. We will also describe the implementation of our bespoke, two-part recruitment and selection process specifically developed to support the inclusive recruitment of a demographically diverse cohort of PGRs. This process involves a competency-based assessment of a candidate’s potential considering both technical and non-technical skills, de-emphasizing their educational trajectory to date. Of the 96 postgraduates recruited to the CDT to date, ~25% are returners to education, with PGRs alumni of 37 different UK institutions (49% Russell Group).

11:20

Option 2 — Supporting Supervisory Practice outside academia

Prof Julie Sheldon | Liverpool John Moores University

Prof Janet de Wilde | Queen Mary University London

Workshop
Primary theme: Communities of practice in doctoral supervision

Duration: 60 mins

The external supervisor is occupying an increasingly significant role in the co-creation of knowledge, and in collaborative and vocational doctorates. They often provide access to resources as well as professional expertise in an expanded field of research. However, a survey of 150 institutions in the UK found that few HEIs supported external supervisors to engage in professional development in their roles (Taylor and Humphrey 2021). It shows that external supervisors are often overlooked by HEIs, and their only orientation to working with PhDs is a short university guide to their responsibilities and compliance with regulations.

This workshop responds to the conference question: ‘how does collaboration work in contemporary supervision?’ It examines the neglected area of doctoral supervision beyond the academy. It invites us to do three things. First, to explore concepts of expertise embedded in supervisory practice; second, to assess the interrelated strengths of co-supervisors; and last, to plan and coordinate support in the best interests of supervisees. Attendees will be invited to draw up a Role Descriptor for the non-HEI supervisor during the workshop.

Delegates should come prepared to share their own experiences.

11:20

Option 3 — Examining Doctoralness in Professional Doctorates

Dr David Adams & Prof Kate Maguire | Middlesex University

Workshop
Primary theme: Doctoral examinations and assessment
Secondary theme: Innovations in doctoral programme design

Duration: 60 mins

The conventional assessment of doctorates is made on the basis of original, critically argued, independent research that contributes to the body of knowledge in its field.

Professional Doctorates, however, are designed to meet the demands of a rapidly changing professional environment. Early ProfDocs investigated the application of research to specific professional settings, but increasingly, they are designed to impact the culture and development of an organisation, community, or sector through the agency of the practitioner/researcher. As a consequence, assessment criteria need to focus on the quality of engagement with the complexity and uncertainty of the situation, rigorous attention to context, skill in navigating the terrain and influence on its future development.

The Professional Doctorate, and particularly one that explores the transcontextual and transdisciplinary nature of practice involves a different relationship between knowledge and practice. The practitioner/researcher is responsible and accountable to their research environment for the outcomes of their inquiries. They are not spectators but agents of change, involved in a continuous and open-ended interaction with the specifics of the situation, a process that changes both the knower and what is known. Because this is happening in real time the account they give of the activity and the way they account for it differs from academic researchers and the results of their engagement are judged by how well they work, in the sense of enabling them to produce a desired outcome.

This raises significant challenges in supervision and assessment, requiring supervisors and examiners who can work with multiple dimensions of quality. This workshop will offer an opportunity for participants to share their experience as supervisors or examiners, and collectively explore the suitability of Level 8 assessment criteria in assessing the doctoralness of Professional Doctorates and the challenges this raises in supervision and examining.

12:20

Changeover

Duration: 10 mins

12:30

Keynote Panel Discussion — The Experiences of Doctoral Candidates

Sandro Eich | University of St. Andrews
Sarah Kearns | Curtin University
Fa Wang | University of Plymouth
Sarah Warbis | University of Bath

Duration: 40 mins

13:10

Lunch

- Including a working lunch discussion session for the Postgraduate Practitioners Network (from 13:30)

Duration: 60 mins

14:10

Option 1 — Mind the gap: how can we assess transferable skills in doctoral education?

Dr Catherine Hasted | University of Cambridge

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Doctoral examinations and assessment
Secondary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability

Duration: 30 mins

Doctoral education has evolved substantially across the globe from its roots in the 1600s as an apprenticeship in research. The evolution is driven by ever increasing student numbers and mounting political pressure for PhD researchers to develop transferable skills that enhance their contribution to the knowledge economy. As a consequence, new PhD curricula are being developed that require robust assessment approaches to support student learning and evidence proficiency. The limited empirical studies that attend to the assessment of transferable skills in doctoral education focus on students’ self-assessment without exploring how both students and experts understand ‘good’ performance. In this paper, the author explores the feasibility of a new approach to assessing the specific transferable skill of collaboration, using the statistical method of Adaptive Comparative Judgment.

Students’ performances in collaboration at a single UK research-intensive University were captured in e‑portfolios and compared by expert and peer judges. Performances were compared to assess inter-rater reliability, fit to the probability model, and the correlation between peer and expert judgments. Qualitative methods examined the factors on which the judges based their paired comparison decisions and outlying cases, to identify similarities and disconnects in interpretations of performance in collaboration.

The findings indicated an acceptable reliability in relation to previous studies and in the context of the small-scale study. There was evidence that the adaptive comparative judgment exercise was marginally more reliable for the expert group than the peer group. The validity was moderate, with all e‑portfolios included, and high when a problematic e‑portfolio that diverged from the prescribed template was excluded. The study provides supporting evidence that adaptive comparative judgment offers a reliable and valid approach to the peer assessment of doctoral students’ collaboration skills. Future large-scale research is planned to further investigate this novel assessment approach.

14:10

Option 2 — Improving early career experience and outcomes: from postgraduate through to research leadership

Prof Annette Fillery-Travis | AFT Associates

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development
Secondary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability

Duration: 30 mins

The changing pattern of research careers within the STEM arena has reduced opportunities for straightforward career paths from postgraduate student to research leader of a small team. Such research groups are being replaced by larger groupings composed of supporting experts in specialised professional practices working alongside postdocs and postgrad students. The culture is changing and so must our management of research careers including researcher recognition, progression, and reward. These issues have been identified within the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme project Food Nutrition Security Cloud (FNS-Cloud), Grant Agreement No. 863059 and this paper reports on the initial outcomes of discussions and experience addressing the following questions:

What does research leadership look like in the future?
Is individual assessment of researchers still valid, or are alternatives required?
Will new professional fields (e.g., data curation) force parity in technical and research careers if so, what would that look like?
Improving diversity and inclusion across the research ecosystem: supporting staff and students

14:10

Option 3 — 20:20 Presentations

Each presentation will use 20 slides, with each slide being shown for no longer than 20 seconds. There will be opportunity for questions/discussion at the end of the session.

Featuring the following presentations.

Duration: 30 mins

A

3–2‑1 Lift off! Launchpad: supporting the professional learning of postgraduates who teach

Dr Alyson Lewis, Dr Nathan Roberts & Dr Michael Willett | Cardiff University

Primary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability
Secondary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development

Postgraduate Research Students (PGRs) report that they would like more professional development opportunities, but do not always have access to high quality provision (UKRI, 2023). At Cardiff University, there has been a strategic drive to radically scale-up professional learning for PGRs involved in teaching: since 2021, over 400 have participated in a new suite of workshops and structured programmes, with 200 already gaining an AdvanceHE Associate Fellowship (AdvanceHE, 2022). The institutional emphasis placed on the development of PGRs as educators has very quickly placed Cardiff University well ahead of comparator institutions and the wider sector in terms of Fellowships awarded to PGRs each year, with clear benefits for their own development and the students they support.

As requested by students, Cardiff University PGRs involved in teaching are also now offered Graduate Tutor (GT) and Graduate Demonstrator (GD) fixed-term developmental contracts which recognise their dual responsibilities as both employee and research student. Employment contracts have many benefits such as greater professionalisation of the teaching roles, enhancing future employment opportunities by including employment status on CVs, membership of the university’s pension schemes and participation in paid training such as ‘Launchpad’.

Launchpad, a one-day mandatory training workshop, provides GTs and GDs with a toolkit of good practices for getting started with HE teaching. In this short presentation, we discuss the content and learning opportunities in Launchpad, and showcase feedback from PGRs illustrating the positive impact of the workshop on their practice. Key strengths identified include the relevance of material and the modelling of effective and engaging practice by workshop facilitators, but PGRs identify the need for additional support in assessing students’ work and giving feedback. Supporting the professional learning of PGRs is the responsibility of everyone at the university, and the presentation concludes by highlighting specific plans for future development.
B

Focal awards model in the arts and humanities doctoral space – evolution to support employability

Agnieszka Siewicz & Dr Sue Carver | Arts and Humanities Research Council

Primary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development
Secondary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability

As independent analyses and reports illustrate, postgraduate-level skills in the arts and humanities “allow the workforce of the future to cope, adapt and thrive” and have a high value to society and the economy (The Right Skills report, British Academy, 2017).

This presentation outlines the objectives of the newly-launched doctoral focal awards in the arts and humanities funding opportunity, and their key characteristics, as one of the models of evolving the doctoral provision by the UK’s biggest funder of arts and humanities research, the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

AHRC has been running strategically-focused centres for doctoral training (CDTs) between 2013 and 2023. With the introduction of our Theory of Change and new Strategic Delivery Plan in 2022, as well as the UKRI collective talent fund in 2023, we have taken learning from previous and current models to inform the development of the focal awards. Core features of the focal awards are HEI and non-HEI partnerships and a broad skills development offer for the students.

Our ambition is that this type of consortia-based doctoral awards will:

a) prepare doctoral students for a diversity of careers in the evolving job market

b) forge connections between academia and non-academic partners

c) address pressing societal challenges through doctoral research.

The presentation will outline the objectives of focal awards, features of the model to achieve the objectives, and how AHRC will identify to what extent has the model been successful in meeting its objectives in the future.

As a result of attending this session, the audience will understand how UKRI and AHRC strategy informed the development of this model. Additionally, funders in the audience will get to know a model they can adapt, and attendees working at Research Offices and those who may become application leads will be guided how to apply.
C

Navigating the Evolving Landscape of a DBA: Insights from a New Kid on the Block

Dr Tena Patten & Dr Anne Burke | Atlantic Technological University

Primary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development

View Presentation

The landscape of doctoral education is continuously evolving, shaped by emerging trends in academia, industry demands, and the shifting priorities of doctoral candidates. The Faculty of Business programme in Atlantic Technological University in the West of Ireland has recently launched its first Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) programme. This presentation will explore the theme ” Evolution of doctoral training and development ” focusing on the challenges and opportunities in doctoral education in the context of a new DBA programme.

Our exploration begins with an analysis of the changing nature of doctoral education, particularly in relation to a DBA, highlighting a shift towards a more skills-focused and professionally-oriented doctorate and referencing Taylor’s (2023) insights on the evolving landscape of doctoral education.

Our presentation will be an in-depth reflective look at our newly launched DBA programme. We will offer insights into how modern DBA programmes are adapting to the changing academic and professional landscape. We will discuss our curriculum design, which integrates traditional academic rigour with practical skills development.

Furthermore, we will delve into the conceptions about how the value of doctoral education has been challenged by global drivers of change and the imperative for inclusion and equality in higher education delivery. Recent research by Alves et al. (2023), stressed the need to strive for a better balance between the ecosystems involved in doctoral education and (re)creating a knowledge society that effectively strives for a more sustainable world.

Finally, we will offer predictions and recommendations for the future of DBAs, drawing on the emergent themes from our programme’s early experiences. This presentation will contribute to the ongoing conversation about the future of doctoral education, offering a unique perspective from a newly established DBA programme. It seeks to provide valuable insights for academic institutions, educators, and policymakers involved in shaping the next generation of doctoral programmes.

14:40

Changeover

Duration: 10 mins

14:50

Option 1 — Supporting PhD Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder for Success

Assoc Prof Amanda Hutchinson & Sally-Anne Boding | University of South Australia

Primary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development

Duration: 30 mins

Doctoral students have demonstrated their academic ability and performed well during their undergraduate years. However, a PhD can present new challenges as candidates are often expected to work in a less structured environment, to manage their progress towards research goals, and to work more independently than is required in undergraduate study. Of note, these tasks are all associated with executive functioning which encompasses the ability to switch between tasks, plan, manage time, and monitor performance, and is often negatively impacted by ADHD.

Girls and women have been less likely to be referred for assessment of ADHD and less likely to be formally diagnosed. Thus, it is not surprising that some women undertaking their PhD are seeking diagnosis for the first time as they experience difficulties managing the complex and often unstructured nature of PhD research. In addition, doctoral students who were diagnosed in childhood may also be experiencing new challenges within the context of their PhD. Therefore, there is a need to understand the challenges and predictors of success for PhD students with ADHD as the number of adults and university students with ADHD grows.

There are few published studies specifically related to PhD research in this population. Therefore, we report the results of our systematic review on predictors of success in the workplace for people with ADHD and make specific recommendations for graduate students and their supervisors to support success based on the published research as well as clinical experience, supervision experience, and student experiences. These recommendations aim to support supervisors and institutions to make graduate research more inclusive and accessible to neurodiverse candidates.

14:50

Option 2 — Incorporating Universal Design into the viva process to facilitate an equitable viva experience.

Dr Barbara Sandland, Dr Andrea MacLeod & Neil Hall | University of Birmingham

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Doctoral examinations and assessment

View Presentation

Duration: 30 mins

We are seeing an increase in the number of students declaring a disability in Higher Education, with 15% of students in 2020/21 declaring at least one disability (HESA). We also recognise that such figures rely on student disclosure, and as many students choose not to disclosure, the actual numbers of disabled students may be significantly higher. This is especially true in doctoral research, whereby students may refrain from disclosing, as their supervisors may also be their future employers.

The following presentation will explore the research undertaken at The University of Birmingham to understand neurodivergent student’s experiences of reasonable adjustments within the doctoral viva. Our research suggests that many reasonable adjustments (RA) could often be implemented through the principles of universal design for learning, whilst continuing to uphold the academic rigor necessary in a viva examination. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) theoretical foundations lie in the belief that every human being is different and therefore planning for this diversity is needed from the beginning of any design process. The focus on human diversity reflects the principles of neurodivergence. In employing a UDL approach, universities can demonstrate that a diverse student population is valued, rather than a minority that needs adjustments to enable participation.

A graduated response system is to be presented, developed by the authors, which underpinned by an inclusive culture, outlines how UDL can be incorporated into the design and university policies surrounding the doctoral viva. By undertaking this approach the doctoral viva can become more accessible for all students, including those with undisclosed disabilities or different needs such as English as a second language, while also allowing for more targeted and personalised reasonable adjustments where necessary.

14:50

Option 3 — Developing Transferable Skills Through Integrative Think Tanks

Dr Theresa Smith, Dr Susie Douglas & Dr Philippe Trinh | University of Bath

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Innovations in doctoral programme design
Secondary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability

Duration: 30 mins

Integrative Think Tanks (ITTs) are week-long workshops, designed to train PhD students in problem formulation, cross-disciplinary collaboration and effective communication of research ideas. The EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Statistical Applied Mathematics (SAMBa), pioneered the ITT model 10 years ago as a cornerstone of our postgraduate training. Since then, we have refined the model, exported it across the world and trialled it in other academic disciplines.

SAMBa is a large centre with a steady-state of around 80 PhD students delivering research across a range of mathematical disciplines. Many of our students work on industrial challenges as part of their research but not all.

During an ITT, partners from industry, the public sector or other academic fields initially present high-level challenges. Participants – including academic staff, PhD students at all stages, postdocs and the partners themselves – engage in deep, exploratory discussions in small, self-assembled teams to distil these challenges from initial concept to a mathematical problem formulation that could form the foundation of a PhD project. This problem formulation approach enables early student engagement in industry-sponsored PhD projects and gives all our students – regardless of their ultimate research direction — experience of co-creation with collaborators brining complementary skills. A vital part of the success of the ITTs is generating an open and supportive environment, and our experience here has impacted the research culture of our department and wider university.

In this presentation we will introduce the ITT model including the practical steps the SAMBa team take to deliver successful workshops and the roles of the students and partners in shaping the event. In particular, we will highlight how we enable students to take on leadership roles. We will give examples of how our approach has been successfully exported to other contexts and summarise our recommendations for initiating similar activities at other institutions.

15:20

Refreshment Break

Duration: 20 mins

15:40

Option 2 — Enabling interdisciplinary doctoral education through digital cross-institutional collaboration

Nicola Simonetti, Sandro Eich & Florence Felsheim | University of St Andrews

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development

Duration: 30 mins

In the post-COVID-19 academic world, in-person networking has been gradually displaced by digital networking practices. This, alongside continuing calls to make the modern PhD ‘fit for purpose’, suggests the need to restructure some of our basic assumptions about doctoral education, especially around collaborative and interdisciplinary skills. Remote collaboration, already ubiquitous in the sciences, is now emerging in the humanities too and productively challenging the traditional postgraduate research curriculum. For the 6th International Conference on Developments in Doctoral Education & Training, we propose a 30-minute presentation on the new interdisciplinary doctoral network between the University of St Andrews’ Graduate School for Interdisciplinary Studies (GSIS) and John Hopkins University’s Alexander Grass Humanities Institute (AGHI). The cross-institutional project, which kicked off in 2023, brings together 14 interdisciplinary humanities students to enable epistemological and methodological exchanges within the remit of interdisciplinarity. Central to our talk are 6 principles of innovative doctoral training and development which have shaped our doctoral experience and are likely to guide academic collaboration in the years to come. They are: 1) structurally embedding interdisciplinary education within the PhD curriculum; 2) investing in digital infrastructure allowing for larger digital collaboration; 3) capitalising on doctoral students’ skillset for developing the network further; 4) cost-efficiency and potential to collaboratively identify funding opportunities to develop individual or group opportunities within the network; 5) publishing opportunities for more diverse output formats; 6) developing doctoral students’ research and teaching confidence through a self-directed approach to planning collaborative projects around research and teaching. Far from providing definitive answers, our presentation highlights the importance of prising apart traditional modes of doctoral training, suggesting that willingness to educational experimentation is a core strength of designing future doctoral programmes.

15:40

Doctoral graduates’ experiences of PhD engagement and outcomes

Sarah Kearns | Curtin University

Oral Presentation
Primary theme: Enhancing doctoral employability
Secondary theme: Evolution of doctoral training and development

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Duration: 30 mins

This presentation reports findings from a current PhD project through Curtin University. This research investigates PhD graduates’ experiences to reveal new understanding of PhD engagement and post-PhD outcomes and how this can better inform employability support for PhD students and graduates. Interviews gathered experiences from nine PhD graduates across a range of UK and Australian universities, diverse career stages and diverse post-PhD career outcomes.

Challenges for doctoral graduates’ employability continue globally through increased competition and, employability mismatch. Many individuals commence doctoral studies later in their career. Career support for doctoral students does not widely reflect age diversity and outcomes. Many students are not effectively prepared or supported to continue in diverse career pathways. This research aims to enhance the design and access of career support within doctoral education.

Findings indicate positive and negative factors influencing how graduates viewed their PhD engagement and outcomes including, pre-PhD histories, experiences, networks, supervision, training and support, motivations, expectations, and decision-making. Differences appeared relating to age and career development, experiences, and outcomes. Outcome experiences identified the PhD as an enabler, or barrier to post-PhD careers and the impact on graduates’ lives. Satisfactory outcomes appeared linked to recognition and value of the qualification and skills. Dissatisfactory outcomes appeared linked to undervalue and barriers. PhD engagement alone cannot influence how graduates view their outcomes. Experiences and doctoral environments appeared strongly linked to outcomes including, networks, culture, support, and development.

This research recommends that support for doctoral students must recognise career stage diversity and diverse career pathways and enable better opportunities for students to actively engage in career development at all doctoral stages. This research aims to enhance support for PhD students to enable individuals to make better informed career choices.

16:10

Changeover

Duration: 10 mins

16:20

Keynote Presentation — Doctoral Degrees in Canada – Challenges, Opportunities and New Directions

Professor Jeff Casello

Associate Vice President Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs | University of Waterloo

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