What supervisors and universities can do to enhance doctoral student experience (and how they can help themselves)

Abstract

Over the past two decades, there has been a flurry of government papers and policy reports worldwide calling for increased number and diversity of doctoral researchers and a broadening of the curriculum to meet the developing needs of respective national ‘knowledge-driven’ economies. This has been followed by position papers and best practice examples of employability skills development in boundary-crossing doctoral programmes, especially in response to these initiatives. However, there is a disassociation between this ample literature expounding the new doctorate with its broader remit, inclusivity and production of ‘industry-ready’ graduates and the comparatively sparse literature on the doctoral candidates’ experiences of their programmes and career readiness. Within this review, we briefly outline international government initiatives and examples of the responses by Life Science and Biomedical doctoral programmes to address these various challenges. Furthermore, we explore the recent literature on the lived experience of doctoral researchers by examining their perception of the recent changes to the research context to make recommendations for universities and supervisors on how to better support an ever more diverse doctoral population for a wide range of career opportunities. Examples of how doctoral researchers themselves can make the best of currently available opportunities are also provided.

Non-academic employability of life science PhDs: the importance of training beyond the bench

“…To continue to attract and develop high-potential trainees, faculty and academic administrators may benefit from increasing their awareness of non-academic career paths, encouraging and empowering trainees to explore their interests, and considering how they can support a holistic training curriculum that covers both laboratory research and career development experiences. Other authors have also highlighted the importance of an inclusive, high-quality and satisfying training environment (Duke and Denicolo 2017;Fuhrmann 2016). Various types of career development programming would be relevant to both academic and non-academic employment, and could be designed to allow individuals to tailor their participation to suit their career goals.…”

Doctoral Supervision at NOVA Lisbon University: An Overview

“…Some practices of supervision that can reduce attrition and drop out of the PhD are summarized [4,10,11,28,[34][35][36][37][38]:  Write and acceptance by PhD students and supervisor of rights and obligations (written contract/rules defined by both);  Induction and /or research skills training;  Development of the students ability to balance creativity and criticism;  Regular research-in-progress seminars, conference, workshops, formalized peer meetings;  Supervision by academic panels, informal gatherings and collaborative meetings;  Written progress reports (to monitor progress) and feedback during all doctorates, but also the use of graduate logs;  Increasing students financial support; …”

“…The student socialization promotion which comprises a good institutional climate and a sense of belonging, student inclusion in department activities, office space and technical support [4,10,11,28,[34][35][36][37][38].…”

Building Career Development Skills for Researchers: A Qualitative Study Across Four African Countries

“…Developing the skills of researchers is a vital aspect of capacity building and can help increase the quality and impact of research from low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) [1,2]. In addition to technical competencies such as systematic reviewing, study design and working with data, training in career development skills [3] such as communication, work-life balance, leadership, and mentoring is likely to be important in positioning researchers for success [4,5].…”