NUCLEUS Implementation Roadmap. Deliverable 3.6

International Journal of Higher Education Management, 2020

Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) has recently gained recognition as a guiding principle for research to be more inclusive of societal needs. In response, the University of Malta led an internal qualitative study to assess attitudes and perceptions towards RRI. This approach paved the way for cultural and institutional changes that may not have developed otherwise. Academics, non-academic staff and students were interviewed alongside an online questionnaire totaling 29 face-to-face interviews and 226 survey responses. Thematic coding analysis revealed the core theme of fragmentation. Sub-themes stemming from fragmentation include challenges around collaboration, communication, politics, knowledge systems thinking and varied ideas of responsibility in research. While most respondents are in favor of RRI practice, several barriers affect an individual's capacity to practice this approach, including lack of time and resources, and lack of recognition of public engagement (PE) efforts in the university's current policies and governance structure. This research allowed for the development of a targeted Action Plan and set of initiatives to successfully begin implementing a culture of RRI best practice, including the establishment of the Committee for Engaged Research and fostering an internal network of individuals who are exemplary in RRI best practice. The thorough and targeted process has produced more significant and tangible results than moving directly into implementation, while also reducing the risk of future problems emerging from rushed initiatives. The authors conclude that such an approach is imperative for successful RRI implementation within institutions, especially when considering cultural/local context.

The PhD at the End of the World, 2020

This chapter explores strategies for operationalising PhD studies in the context of a large research project addressing the unrelenting problem of ill-health in the growing population of informal settlements in the Global South. We advocate that PhD training presents an opportunity to contribute to these contexts by both training a new kind of action-oriented scholar, but also by strategically deploying the enormous energies and original work generated through PhD candidates towards this critical mission. Driven by the desire to give agency and utility to PhD researchers in a much-needed domain of transdisciplinary research, the chapter chronicles the trials of a group of four PhD candidates embedded in a large health study using innovative approaches to the revitalisation of 24 informal settlement communities in the Asia-Pacific. Through a discussion between the candidates and supervisory team, the chapter uncovers three types of embedded PhD’s. It articulates the challenges and op...

Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice, 2021

The widespread, theoretically-informed practice of curricula embedded academic language and learning development is generally acknowledged as the most productive method of improving tertiary student outcomes. University-wide comprehensive support, however, for the collaborative processes of interdisciplinary research, design, resource and staff development required to achieve this, is not common. Yet many practitioners continue to engage in embedding initiatives in response to faculty requests, despite institutional constraints on time and funding. This paper documents one such initiative, a common yet under-reported type, conducted one small step at a time over a number of years in a firstyear core unit in the architecture faculty of a large metropolitan university in Australia. The paper aims to respond Wingate’s (2018) call for more thorough documentation of pedagogic principles applied in embedding practice to allow for replicability. This granular examination of the first imple...

fteval Journal for Research and Technology Policy Evaluation, 2018

disciplinary, (3) intersectoral, (4) innovative, (5) impactful and (6) inclusive. 2. Secondly, to analyse key aspects of the practical implementation of the model at a higher education institution: in this case the University of Deusto 2. By analysing process indicators and outcomes, this paper focuses on a. the evolution of the implementation of the "6i Research Model" over the last decade and how it has been sustained in practice; b. the results produced; and c. the changes which the institution has undergone to accommodate and support the evolving model. Focusing on the implementation of the "6i Research Model" model at the University of Deusto, the second part will respond to the following research questions: 1. How did the "6i Research Model" evolve over time and how has it been sustained? 2. What kind of impact on institutional change did the model involve in terms of structures and resources, mechanisms, initiatives and outputs? and 3. Is Deusto steadily evolving into a research ecosystem for im-pactful research excellence, while adopting the "6i Research Model"? Based on lessons learned, we will draw some conclusions for future applications and scaling up the model to other higher education institutions. Building collaborative inter-and trans-disciplinary communities requires deep reflection and a clear, well-planned strategy.

Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 2011

Originally published as LERU Position Paper March 2010 at www.LERU.org Preamble It is talent more than technology that society or business needs from universities. Research and the people trained in it inspire many of the ideas, aspirations and actions that contribute to the vitality of society and its capacity for bold creativity in responding to whatever the future might bring. The prime function of leading-edge research is to develop new understanding and the creative people who will carry it into society. Most European researchers are trained in universities, and have their attitudes and perceptions formed in them. Universities' productivity in fundamental research, the seed corn for the whole research base, has been prodigious, assisted by their access to the best talents of the rising generation and the creative influence of the irreverent young. It is crucial that some of the best intellects in each generation continue to be attracted to research careers and are given every opportunity to grow in confidence, capacity, ambition and creativity. Summary This paper sets out the League of European Research Universities' (LERU) vision for doctoral education beyond 2010. Doctoral programmes at LERU universities aim to train researchers to the highest skill levels to become creative, critical and autonomous intellectual risk takers in pushing the boundaries of frontier research. The modern doctorate is at its core determined by an interplay between professional research experience and personal David Bogle et al. / Procedia Social and Behavioral Sciences 13 (2011) 35-49 [Type text] development, the most important outcome of which is an individual trained to have a unique set of high level skills. Doctoral graduates must make a significant original contribution to knowledge as judged by a panel of experts. The modern doctorate is an excellent training for those who go into roles beyond research and education, in the public, charitable and private sectors, where deep rigorous analysis is required. The business of research and innovation in the knowledge economy is international, interdisciplinary and increasingly intersectoral. Doctoral graduates should be trained in this context. If Europe is serious about its objective 'to become the most dynamic knowledge society in the world' strong support of doctoral education is a vital. In order to provide a fertile research experience, doctoral training should be concentrated in research-intensive environments where excellence is fostered. This can be in single institutions or in collaborating groups of institutions. We provide recommendations for employers, national governments and the European Parliament and Commission, for universities and for doctoral candidates

2013

The topic of the impact of Web 2.0 ecologies on the learning contexts of PhD candidates is of particular interest for innovation in higher education teaching and learning. However, this theme results so far underesearched in literature, in particular in the Italian higher education setting. The present paper reports selected findings from an exploratory study investigating how individual doctoral researchers cope with competing institution-led and self-organized, analogue and digital opportunities for learning. This article is based on preliminary results of an online questionnaire which was delivered between September and October 2012 across three Italian universities. The questionnaire aimed to describe the components (people, resources, tools, people and related interactions) of the emerging learner-centered "ecology of resources" [1], characterizing individual doctoral students variously dealing with their needs of support and striving to achieve their being 'independent researcher'. The surveyed Italian doctoral students seem to be usual adopters of social media in their everyday life, but there are also signs that they are currently adopting tools and services available in the open Web to undertake activities usually required in their doctoral programs. The research participants show a pragmatic attitude towards the Web 2.0 services and state to be prompted to use such tools mainly by 'occasional, practical needs' related to their research activity. Although very few respondents actually curate an 'academic' presence in social media, they generally credit the social Web with a wider, still unexploited potential to improve some research tasks. Finally, it is worth noting that the provision or lack of specific research training on these emergent tools plays a key role in the indicated motivations. This early portrait of the emerging learning ecologies of current doctoral researchers sparks cues for reflecting on the extent to which the design of formation of future scholars should take into account changes occurring in learning spaces, also in the light of new forms of networked scholarship being pioneered in the social Web.

2022

Enhancing the Role of ICT in Doctoral Research Processes, 2019

The professional inquiry (a researcher training and development course) was introduced into the Master of Education program at Massey University, New Zealand in 2014 as a practitioner-based alternative to the research thesis pathway. In contrast with traditional, independent, time intensive models of postgraduate research supervision, the authors developed and implemented an innovative blended learning model of postgraduate research training and development to ensure the growing demand of future, predominantly distance, students would be met. The online, blended model developed and discussed here within the discipline of Education has the potential to be utilized across different disciplines and postgraduate programs including those at doctoral level. In its fifth year of delivery, the online community has grown from nine students and seven specialist academic advisors in the first cohort to 45 students and 27 academics in the current offering, ensuring an accessible and equitable research learning experience for all students.

Being Scholarly - Festschrift in honour of the work of Eli M Bitzer, 2016

I was meeting with E about the problems that postgraduate researchers experience when carrying out their research. E was a well-respected and eminent professor from Stellenbosch University. I had known him for about four years. We both had an interest in supervising and supporting postgraduate researchers undertaking masters and doctoral study. 'You've asked a very interesting and,' I added pointedly, 'a very important, question. Like all good questions, it raises a whole raft of other questions and issues.' E nodded thoughtfully. 'And the answer?' he asked. 'Well, the question was about whether or not we can collect qualitative data in an experiment? Of course, as you know, the methodology textbooks will answer that we should collect quantitative data and not qualitative data in an experiment.' 'Yes,' he nodded, 'but I suspect you've got a view about that?' 'Funny you should say that!' I laughed. We had spoken before about supporting postgraduate researchers in South Africa. We were aware, of course, of the academic and policy issues associated with postgraduate programmes of research, especially at doctoral level. For example, South Africa currently aims to increase its PhD numbers from 1,421 in 2010 to 5,000 each year by 2030 and increase the number of academics with PhDs from 34% to 75% (National Planning Commission, 2011). This is, of course, a mammoth task but unlikely to be achieved. More tellingly, there is evidence that private-sector employers in South Africa believed that a PhD did not have much relevance to the world of work (Treptow 2013). This suggests that it may be time to introduce a professional doctorate to sit alongside PhD programmes in South African universities. A professional doctorate would be aimed at evaluating and improving practice in the workplace and be more relevant to the needs of both commercial and not-for-profit organisations in South Africa.

PROCEEDINGS OF THE 12TH BIENNIAL QUALITY IN POSTGRADUATE RESEARCH (QPR) CONFERENCE APRIL 20-22, 2016, 2016

In this paper, two case studies of internationally successful research development programs and their relationships to postgraduate programs are explored. In one research program, cognitive science principles have been applied to education, leading to the development of Cognitive Load Theory. In the other, principles and processes of organisational learning based on action research, action learning, reflective practice and case study research have been integrated leading to the development of the Work-Applied Learning model for effective organisational change. In both cases, the associated research degree programs were important vehicles for the development of the research agendas. The common characteristics in both cases were innovation and leadership; close synergy between the research degree program management and leadership and the research agendas; combining the research candidates’ expertise, discipline knowledge and contexts with an innovative learning theory and practice; building research developments via the insights gained from research degree programs on each other; and forging researcher collaborations internationally between researchers with a passion for innovation in common areas. The differences identified consisted of different funding contexts, public university research resource access combined with private industry resourcing vs. private research funding via industry sources and university collaborations; and different scope of the theory applications, where one was heavily focused on organisational learning and change and the other was focused on educational design and learning implementation across school and tertiary education and industrial training.