Are researchers in Europe European researchers? A study of doctoral researchers at the University of Luxembourg

Abstract

How doctoral researchers (and their supervisors) experience and conceptualise the process of becoming a researcher and the identifications that are enacted during the process has hitherto been researched only in terms of disciplinary and professional identities. Yet, within Europe, the creation of a common Higher Education Area has a potential impact on the doctoral experience and there is a declared intention to encourage doctoral students to see themselves as European researchers. The University of Luxembourg has policies and characteristics which might be expected to support this direction of development, and this study analyses the nuances of doctoral researcher experiences, at this University, of European and wider international identifications comparing these with policies at European and local levels. The opportunities offered to researchers in Luxembourg to ensure the policies are implemented are considered by participants to be significant. Whether the level of expenditure needed is possible in other countries and universities is an open question but remains a crucial condition for policies to be successful.

Unveiling ‘European’ and ‘International’ Researcher Identities: A Case Study with Doctoral Students in the Humanities and Social Sciences

“…I am learning to think and gather information in alignment with what is done in that specific community. This reinforces the importance of experiencing activities that are 'automatically' linked with an international scope of research during the PhD (Byram et al 2017). For instance, reading in another language to become aware of previous research developed in one's research field is considered by doctoral students to be mandatory.…”

“…Researcher mobility, for instance the one supported by the Erasmus program, has also been identified as an important factor by the Luxembourg case of the EUROMEC project. According to Byram et al (2017), mobility plans and agreements between different European universities and in different countries may contribute to creating an identify of a doctoral researcher in Europe. Nevertheless, while this may be a desirable output for European citizens, it may be problematic for students coming from other countries, in particular developing countries, as it will be highlighted in the following section.…”

“…Within the growing literature on doctoral education, identity has emerged as a central topic of research. One of the reasons for this attention lies in the fact that one of the main goals of the PhD is the development of a researcher identity (Gardner 2008b;McAlpine et al 2010;Byram et al 2017). Indeed, becoming a professional researcher requires students to negotiate new identities and reconceptualize themselves both as people and professionals in addition to learning specific skills (Hall and Burns 2009).…”

“…A recent study by Byram et al (2017) also draws attention to the lack of empirical studies focused on researching the impact of globalization and internationalization processes on doctoral studies. In fact, since the initiation of the Bologna Process back in 1999 and the adoption of the Lisbon Strategy in 2000 (Diogo 2016;Kehm 2007), as well as of subsequent changes related with the creation of the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area, the political higher education agenda has been explicitly and implicitly sustained on the intention of establishing a next generation of competitive scholars, who feel and act as 'European' .…”

“…In fact, since the initiation of the Bologna Process back in 1999 and the adoption of the Lisbon Strategy in 2000 (Diogo 2016;Kehm 2007), as well as of subsequent changes related with the creation of the European Higher Education Area and the European Research Area, the political higher education agenda has been explicitly and implicitly sustained on the intention of establishing a next generation of competitive scholars, who feel and act as 'European' . But, like Byram et al (2017) emphasize, the doubt remains: "Are researchers in Europe European researchers?". What factors are involved in this perception?…”