WIT Research Day 30th April 2013 Is it worth doing a PhD? Dr Conor O’Carroll

Piled higher and deeper! http://www.phdmovie.com/ Piled higher and deeper!

24/07/2018

This workforce is necessary to support our capacity to out-innovate, out-create,and out-think the rest of the world and to create jobs of the future for the American populace. It is people — highly skilled people — that provide the competitive advantage across industries and sectors around the world. The highly skilled intellectual talent needed to fuel the U.S. competitive advantage in the global economy is prepared in our nation’s graduate schools.

... yet the perceived value of a graduate degree is tied to insufficient information about viable careers.

Science PhD Career Preferences: Levels, Changes, and Advisor Encouragement Henry Sauermann1*, Michael Roach2 1 Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America, 2 University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America PLoS ONE | www.plosone.org 1May 2012 | Volume 7 | Issue 5 | e36307

Based on Salzburg I & II Principles PhD 2020 Based on Salzburg I & II Principles It is important to be clear at this point that the core component of doctoral training is the advancement of knowledge through original research.

Principles of Innovative Doctoral Training 1) Research Excellence 2) Attractive Institutional Environment 3) Interdisciplinary Research Options 4) Exposure to industry and other relevant employment sectors 5) International networking 6) Transferable skills training 7) Quality Assurance – PhD Life Cycle

PIDT in Action Structured PhD’s – do they work?

Irish Universities Study Response to question, “Before you began your PhD, did you have an in depth discussion with your primary supervisor or co-supervisor regarding your project?” against year of PhD (2010)

Irish Universities Study Likelihood of Producing the Following PhD Outputs in a Structured PhD Programme compared to ‘traditional’ PhD

Bio-Analysis & Therapeutics Structured PhD Programme Bio-AT Provision of high quality, flexible graduates for entry into nationally significant sectors of the economy Mainstreaming of structured graduate training at the partner institutions

Future Application of PIDT through Structured PhD programmes provide a higher quality outcome for the student, the university and society Well established in a number of countries and aspired to in others Already piloted in FP7 in the Marie Curie Actions – Initial Training Networks (Innovative Doctoral Programmes, European Industrial Doctorate) Integrated into Horizon 2020

Giant’s Causeway

Is it worth doing a PhD?

Thank you Conor.ocarroll@iua.ie