This is a follow-up to EUA's DOC-CAREERS project (2006-09), which analysed the nature and extent of collaborative doctoral programmes and the employability of doctorate holders in non-academic environments. While the previous project studied partnerships between universities and mainly large industry, DOC-CAREERS II will gather and disseminate evidence of good practice in current doctoral projects in cooperation with a broader range of non-academic partners such as Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Research and Technology Offices (RTOs), professional bodies, regional offices, public authorities, etc.
The project activities will include presentations of hands-on case studies and discussions on the transferability of practices which may have specific regional characteristics. The main instrument will be dialogue workshops with both a clear regional focus and a European perspective to study the specific characteristics related to the host region (encapsulated by the expression "the way we do things here") and the potential transferability of these practices to other European regions. Panellists and participants in the workshops will include a broad range of partners reflecting the nature of the case studies.
EUA welcomes expressions of interest from universities or groups of universities willing to host one of the five workshops. EUA encourages its members to respond to this call and share their practices within the DOC-CAREERS II project. The outcomes will feed into other EUA initiatives currently in progress, such as role of universities in regional innovation, doctoral reform and research policy dialogue in the European Research Area. The deadline for the call is 26 February 2010.
More information on the project and the call is available on the DOC-CAREERS II webpage.