The industrial PhD: student perspectives on learning, communicating and knowledge brokering

Abstract

Purpose – Professionally integrated doctorates such as “industrial PhDs” (IndPhD) are considered a way of promoting societally relevant and applicable knowledge production in the academy. IndPhDs place the studentin a brokering role between industry and academia – theorised as two different discourse communities (DCs) in this study – which entails new and challenging practices when communicating their research. Whereas previous research has painted the communication realities of IndPhDs with broad brush strokes, this study aims to highlight the variety of their experiences and challenges, along with the support needed. Design/methodology/approach – This study designed and used a survey distributed to IndPhD students affiliated with major Swedish technological universities

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