SURVEY CALL: New deadline for the SuperProfDoc survey: 31 January 2017 !
The Call:
Dear SuperProfDoc-survey Participant!
Doctoral degrees are no longer simply a training ground for the next generation of academics. Different forms have evolved to encompass multi-and trans-disciplinary study by practitioners within their work context (Lester, 2004). The designation has also changed to include terms such as professional, industrial or practice-based PhDs or Doctorates (Fillery-Travis, 2012), called modern doctorates . These are doctorates were a part of the supervision is undertaken within the candidate’s work place and they include EdDs, DBA, industrial PhDs and ProfDocs.
In 2014 a consortium of HEIs providing modern doctorates from the EU and USA, and the association of European doctoral candidates (EURODOC), was awarded an Erasmus + grant to explore best practice in the supervision of modern doctorates. Their aim is to then codify it within a framework supported by appropriate resources for European universities and companies to leverage the innovation and new knowledge these degrees can produce.
In moving beyond the current state of the art the project objectives are to:
(1) Access best practice in the supervision/advising of modern doctorates:
(2) Identify the host/sponsoring organisation's requirements from supervision (if any) and their contribution to it
(3) Develop a framework of practice (supported by training resources) suitable for modern doctorates
(4) Disseminate this best practice framework to all stakeholders
(5) Produce a sustainable impact on supervisory practice throughout the EU.
The project has now been running for eighteen months and the six partners; Middlesex University UK, Maastrict School of Management NL, Eurodoc, Trinity College Dublin and Adapt Italy with the support of the University of Central Florida as a non-funded partner will share some insights into the first results and provide an opportunity for attendees to this conference to participate in the discussions, research and subsequent outputs.
Specifically three working groups have been formed to develop the instruments to explore current best practice across both discipline and form of modern doctorate.
Firstly a literature review has been undertaken that covers the research literature of doctoral supervision for all doctoral forms. It has identified a rich debate in the current frameworks of supervisory practice. There is evidence of an increasing interest in the varying forms of the degree and the design of modular elements to enhance the practice focus but there is a paucity of pedagogical frameworks for this higher degree. Indeed there seems to be an accepted wisdom that academics supervise how they were supervised. This is not a fully sustainable position given the emerging doctoral forms that seek to provide opportunities for knowledge transfer to the organisational setting as well as individual learning for the candidate. Without generalised or accepted models of practice there is a diverse range of provision and support offered to doctoral candidates.
The two remaining working groups are looking at the emerging practice from the perspective of the supervisors and candidates. The first is a survey instrument to be web based and will be circulated to networks of supervisors and candidates to allow us to get a snap shot of what current practice is across Europe. Specifically with this instrument we are looking at the more operational elements of supervisory practice such as numbers of contact hours with the supervisory team and what type of issues are covered in supervisory meetings.
There is also an interview group looking specifically at the pedagogical approach of supervisors and the lived experience of candidates. Their interview questions have been developed to enquire into both the practice of academic supervisors and their counterparts in industrial settings. To our knowledge this is the first such enquiry into the experience of this second type of supervisor and it is hoped their perspective will encourage and inform similar collaborative supervisory practice across sectors.
Please help by filling out the survey using the links below – it really will make a difference to supervision of these doctorates across Europe
Secretariat Coordinator, Eurodoc
European Council of Doctoral Candidates and Junior Researchers
Rue d’Egmont 11 | 1000 Brussels | Belgium
(Commissioned by SuperprofDoc, ERASMUS+)
Dr Annette Fillery-Travis Bsc MA PhD CChem FRSC
Institute for Work Based Learning
Research: Erasmus + RA2 Project SuperProfdoc
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