Terra Sprague, Lizzi Milligan & Guy Le Fanu

Building the CV?  Embedding Employability and the Changing Nature of Doctoral ResearchThe Third Annual ESCalate Conference,11 April 2011

Project Origins 3 Doctoral Students

with similar experience

1 Supervisor

Shared curiosity about

Doctoral Student

Engagement:

Publishing

Teaching

Researching

Research Questions

• What career-preparation / academic activities are students

engaged in outside of their doctoral research?

• What has prompted students to engage in these activities?

• To what extent might this facilitate, contribute to or hinder

their own research?

Background: Changing Nature of the Doctoral Experience

• Increased ‘embedding’ of employability by universities in

doctoral programmes (Metcalfe & Gray, 2005; Park, 2005)

But...

• Crucial role played by supervisors in shaping the doctoral

experience (Barnes & Austin, 2009; Brightman, 2009)

• Resistance among some students to ‘employability agenda’

(Brailsford, 2010; Owler, 2010)

• Impact of other factors on doctoral experience (Malfroy,

2005; Pearson, Evans, & Macauley, 2008)

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Methodology

1st Year 2nd Year 4th Year

• Two focus groups with doctoral research students at

the University of Bristol Graduate School of Education

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What types of

activities do you

participate in aside

from your doctoral

research?

What are your motivations for

doing these activities?

What role does

your supervisor

play in this?

Key: Home Student, International Student, International Student

Methodology

• Reflection among the research team drawing on

own experiences as doctoral students– Interpretive Perspective

Methodology

• Thematic analysis of motivations using a quartile mapping system

Intrinsic/Research

Social

Career

Financial

The research student experience is unique and individually tailored

• Each student experience is unique and defined by wide

range in level of engagement in activities, driven by

differing:– motivations for undertaking the Doctorate;– Attention paid to future plans; and– Personal feelings towards own research and

purpose of research more generally.

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I chose to do a PhD for a lot of reasons…but from a pragmatic point

of view I hope there is a job at the end of it…hopefully an academic one

Many students engage in a wide range of activities

• For those who do engage in a range of activities, the most

popular are seminar, workshop and conference attendance

• Others include: – Presenting at conferences, research assistantships,

publishing, teaching, related part-time work

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I go to seminars, workshops, conferences because I feel it is what a PhD student does. As

a student, its my responsibility, like it was at masters level to go to lectures

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Building the CV is a significant factor in engaging in these activities for some students...

I’m feeling increasingly worried about what happens after the PhD...I’m

definitely looking to build my CV in whatever way I can alongside my own research with more than half an eye

on what comes next...

I do them for the experience, and also they look good for

my CV [and] for my own curiosity, I want to explore and be exposed to different people

and topics … to get paid or put things on the CV are by-products, they’re not the aim. My reason for wanting to do

them is always experience or interest in the first instance

...But it is not the only one• Wide range of motivations for taking part in the many

activities, including:

– Social interaction;

– To enhance own research;

– Expectations of funders; and

– ‘It’s what a PhD student does’;

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I usually only do other activities which are related to my research … to give me some inspiration … I’m always thinking about my own

research project ..

I’m part of a team [that are funded] and there are certain commitments

that we have to fulfil … but apart from that its also for my work and my own professional development

And motivations are multiple and related

Supervisor promotion of career development is far from uniform

• Some supervisors are very proactive in identifying

opportunities and promoting career development,

others are less so;

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My supervisor never gives me information about seminars or conferences or anything like

that. I look for them myself and if I need a supervisor signature I go to them and ask for it …

When I started my PhD my supervisor drew me a

timeline … she said that if I wanted to publish by the

end of my PhD, I needed a timeline for when I needed to start having ideas, how

long it would take to publish

There is disagreement among students about what exactly the supervisors’ role in this should be...

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I don’t think the supervisor has responsibility for [career development], I

think they could give suggestions, help you if you ask them [about conferences and

publishing] how can I get there, how can I do this … they can encourage you if you want to do these things, but they’re not

responsible for it

I like to have my supervisor’s suggestions or directions or what sort of conference I should target on … but I like to be the person who takes the initiative myself. I wouldn’t want my supervisor to say ‘do this’, ‘do that’

It’s their job

...again, flexibility and an individually-tailored relationship are key

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It’s like a dance between the student and the teacher for them to understand each other. Part of the student’s responsibility is to take the initiative to say I’m thinking in this way and I hope I can achieve this and the teacher can respond to those thinkings and say ‘you might want to do this’ or ‘read this’. But, the teacher can also take some initiative to say that you might be interested in this

… overall, it’s about the quality of the communication

For your career into the academic world, each student is different in their vision to do something. For me, its not

possible to do any thinking about publishing at the moment if my

supervisor advised me to follow a timeline, I’d feel more stressed

...and could be an area for potential further research

• Embedding employability - More important for

home students in the current climate?

• What is the supervisor’s role and is it changing?

How prescriptive should it be?

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What could be the implications of a move to an emphasis on embedding employability?

• If there is a shift towards

embedding employability as

part of the doctoral experience,

there are some concerns that:

• It may not be right for

everyone; and

• could impact on quality of the

research process and

experience.

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References

Barnes, B.J., & Austin, A.E. (2009). The role of doctoral advisors: A look

at advising from the advisor’s perspective. Innovative Higher

Education, 33(5), 297-315.

Brailsford, I. (2010). Motives and aspirations for doctoral study: Career,

personal, and inter-personal factors in the decision to embark on a

History PhD. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 5, 15-27.

Brightman, H.J. (2009). The need for teaching doctoral students how to

teach. International Journal of Doctoral Studies, 4, 1-11.

Malfroy, J. (2005). Doctoral supervision, workplace research and

development. Higher Education Research & Development, 24(2), 165-

178.

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References

 Metcalfe, J., & Gray, A. (2005). Learning & employability: Series Two.

Employability and doctoral research postgraduates. York, United Kingdom: The

Higher Education Academy.

Owler, K. (2010). A 'problem' to be managed? Completing a PhD in the Arts and

Humanities. Arts and Humanities in Higher Education, 9(3), 289-304.

Park, C. (2005). New variant PhD: The changing nature of the doctorate in the

UK. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 27(2), 189-207.

Pearson, M., Evans, T., Macauley, P. (2008). Growth and diversity in doctoral

education: Assessing the Australian experience. Higher Education, 55(3), 357-

372.

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