A European webinar took place on the 28 April 2021 to help progress the development of PhDs and DBAs. This webinar was hosted by the EEU and WIT
On 28 April 2021, the European ENGAGED University (EEU) partnership organized a webinar workshop to progress the development of PhDs and DBAs. The ENGAGED consortium worked in several group sessions and was hosted by our partner South East Technological University in Ireland. This third online event of the European ENGAGED University was again a great success.
ENGAGED workshop on future doctoral programmes
Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) in Ireland hosted the latest of the European ENGAGED University online discussions on 28 April with a workshop focussed on the development of doctoral research proposals. The aim of the workshop was to bring together researchers, teachers, professional and support staff involved in graduate education, and stakeholders to develop jointly a number of possible doctorate-level projects in the areas of citizen empowerment, regional development, and practitioner focussed education, the last with an emphasis on structured doctoral and DBA programmes.
The doctoral programmes to be developed would give candidates an opportunity to engage with academics across all six partner institutions and to link with the extensive network of public, private and civic partners across the six ENGAGED members. Nearly 40 people took part. Participants divided into three groups and identified a range of exciting, innovative and relevant doctoral projects by the end of the workshop. The themes of the workshop were as follows.
Empowering citizens and communities
The broad scope of this domain was to explore how to engage citizens and communities, considering the diversity between urban and rural communities at sub-national, national and super-national levels across the EU, in e-government, citizen science, community development, and the entrepreneurial discovery process.
This also involved consideration of how best to form students in support of future empowerment and engagement. Topics discussed by participants included the engagement of citizens with local government, an evaluation of internationalisation in education and its role in developing active citizens, and the potential for economic development offered by community-based sustainable innovation.
Redefining regions and regional development
This domain suggested participants explore regional socioeconomic development in the aftermath of COVID, which has forced us into new work, social, and consumer paradigms, and how these have also been facilitated or impacted by disruptive, integrative, and 'isolative' technologies. This set of ideas participants were invited to consider within the context of the heterogeneous, multifaceted diversity and dynamics of regions across the EU. Participants discussed a range of topics in this section of the workshop including human capital ('Industry-ready PhDs'), internationalisation, (regional) resilience and local responsiveness, 'asymmetrical change' within regions (partly influenced by COVID-19), and European and national policies influencing regions (e.g. Open science/innovation vs industry collaboration).
Engaged and inclusive practitioner-based curriculum development
Here participants were invited to use the DBA (professional PhDs) structure to explore methodologies and actuations of the design and implementation of curricula for public and private sector organisations.
The proposal was to use organisational practitioners and professionals to engage at a pan-European level to develop cohesive curricula. Participants discussed the nature of the professional we want from a DBA programme, the mechanics of building an engaged curriculum for a DBA programme with impact for the individual, business and society, and the critical content and pedagogy required in support of that curriculum.
The workshop also enabled the further enhancement of collaboration between the partners by broadening the number of faculty members and others involved with the consortium's activities. The European ENGAGED University partners have now moved to develop further some of the ideas that emerged from the workshop as well as to explore how these projects might be funded and operationalised.