The Global Research Forum, held at the University of North Texas, invited key university administrators, international research funding agencies, and doctoral students to establish an understanding of how to expand mutually beneficial global research cooperation, and support research-active faculty and graduate students with global research aspirations.
Maresi Nerad, director of CIRGE, was one of the panelists to discuss the core elements of a research report, published by the National Academy of Science in 2011, Examining Core Elements of International Research Collaboration.
In her talk, she highlighted the main points of strengthening international research collaboration among universities. Trust is imperative in mutually beneficial international collaboration, however, this process takes time and Dr. Nerad warned that the collaboration via virtual platforms could be unsustainable without prior personal acquaintance.
In addition, Dr. Nerad elaborated that research collaborations involving students and postdocs require a comprehensive assessment framework. In her opinion, the formative assessment work should start from the beginning in order to avoid tension that may be produced given the organizational structures, programs, and cultural behavior.
In this sense, the director of CIRGE was emphatic that graduate students and future researchers need to be prepared for international collaboration and need to be given room after returning from abroad to debrief on their experiences, and integrate the new knowledge and lessons learned into ongoing teaching and learning at their home campus. This includes integrating international students as equal partners on the home campus.
Dr. Maresi Nerad (Director of CIRGE), Professor at the University of Washington, and Dr. Beate Scholz, (Scholz Consulting), both researchers of CIRGE, discussed the future of Doctoral Education during the European Science Open Forum in Dublin, July 2012. The experts presented their visions for the science PhDs of the future – and offered advice to research leaders, policy makers and students on how to best equip students for the 21st-century science workplace, based on their views, research and specific programs that might serve as models.
The panel was also integrated by Gene Russo, Editor of Nature Journal; Dr. Mary Mary McNamara, Head of the Graduate Research School at the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland; and Michael Lenardo, Founder of the NIH- Oxford/Cambridge Scholars Program.
The meeting which was titled “The Policy Potential of Innovation and Research in Graduate Education” focused mainlyon the issue of inequality and diversity of doctoral education around the world. The participants discussed these matters in a very enthusiastic manner after the presentations of selected participants and guest speakers. Unlike pure academic meetings, we have prepared no individual papers but three larger papers were co-written by many participants, and most of our time was devoted to the discussion on these themes.”
Professor Yamamoto, an active participant in the 3rd Forces and Forms conference, reports on conference’s workshop-like style.
Today in the hometown of the Brothers Grimm (Kassel), scholars from around the world took some risks. They grappled with “Promoting Intellectual Risk-Taking Under Conditions of Globalization”—the focus of Task Force Three.
The blustery, occasionally rainy morning started with a high-risk, high-drama report from Task Force. They displayed their acting skills through three skits illustrating real-life dilemmas confronting doctoral students and faculty. The skits captured the interpersonal dynamics and emotions of how and when to pursue various types of research—or not. See it all on video:
Highlights of the subsequent Task Force draft findings:
Intellectual risk-taking is not an end in itself; it is a means to foster innovative, potentially transformative research. It is also a way to prepare doctoral graduates to respond flexibly to change in rapidly changing times.
An unresolved debate: is it advisable or worthwhile to encourage doctoral students to take risks in their research—such as studies that have not been tried before, have a high chance of failure, and/or are nontraditional or outside the mainstream?
Research funding agencies should develop a reward structure for innovation that accommodates experimentation and occasional failure—which ultimately can bring some researchers closer to success.
Task Force 3 description:
Two experts provided additional input to the work of Task Force Three:
Alex Quintanilha, Director of the Institute for Molecular and Cell Biology at the University of Porto, Portugal; Former Chair of the External Advisory Group of the People Programme at the European Union
Highlights from Jahn’s presentation:
“Risk taking is a mandatory prerequisite for transformative research.”
Of all the prize-winning research papers he has reviewed, he estimated that about half considered to be incremental were later seen as more transformative and substantive in advancing disciplines.
Interdisciplinarity is inherently risky—yet essential to production of new knowledge. Doctoral students may have inherent advantages to achieve interdisciplinarity in research because in general they are less encumbered with the disciplinary restrictions and norms faced by faculty.
Key issues for intellectual risk taking in doctoral education, among others: supervision of students; taking care to “distinguish between risky doctoral research and bad science.”
Highlights from Quintanilha’s presentation:
“Understanding risk and communicating risk brings different domains of knowledge together. We need to do this.”
Sustainability in intellectual risk-taking requires support from many directions. It is not enough for universities alone to foster intellectual risk-taking, “…we need to create societies that value imagination and creativity, and that will promote these ideas in a forceful way.”
“You should encourage a variety of training programs that evolve and change with the times, the needs of students, and the needs of society.”
He cited recent societal commitment to higher education in Portugal, in particular a funding model that rewards graduate students directly, allowing them to choose doctoral programs (rather than funding students indirectly through universities.)
He strongly encouraged pilot projects in doctoral research that engages risk taking. “By allowing different, small experiments everywhere, we can find at least some that work.”
Many questions and answers and a panel discussion followed. The input from the expert commentators informed the work of Task Group Three as it refined its recommendations for intellectual risk-taking. The day ended with a great deal of intense group directed at the climax of the workshop: final reports and recommendations from each of the Task Forces on Friday morning.
The dinner speaker was “Experiences with the German Excellence Initiative” from Hans-Jürgen Prömel, President of the Technical University of Darmstadt and a member of the Forces and Forms network.
Inside Higher Ed, a U.S. daily newletter on events in higher education, summarizes findings from our Social Sciences 5+ project in this article. Visit it for a summary of our work and a lively discussion in the comments area.
Attrition rates among master’s and doctoral students are often alarmingly high. The 50th installment of the First-Year Experience Monograph Series describes the challenges associated with entry into graduate study and offers information about new initiatives and programs designed to ease their transition—from unique orientations and mentoring structures to transition courses and graduate student centers. [Click for this article]
The recent CIRGE report: “Finally Equal Footing for Women in Social Science Careers” has received national attention. Inside Higher Education ran a feature-length overview of this important work which holds great potential for informing decision-making and speaks about progress for women that is still needed.
Toward a Global PhD? Forces and Forms of Change in Doctoral Education Worldwide, has been reviewed in the latest issue of Nature Magazine – “Doctorate Gets a Lesson in Management.”
CIRGE’s book Toward a Global PhD? (University of Washington, 2008), edited by Maresi Nerad and Mimi Heggelund has been getting national and international coverage. It was recently translated into Chinese and published in China. In addition, the National Science Board’s Science and Engineering Indicators 2010 includes a sidebar that displays the global trends in doctoral education identified in the book.
Join us on May 7 from 4:00 to 6:00 for the concluding event in the Graduate School’s theme of the year – The Internationalization of Graduate Education. Our group of expert panelists will discuss the effects of globalization and the labor market for graduate students. [click to download flyer]
