CASE Studentships Chris Harty Loughborough University Interactive agenda Setting 3 rd & 4 th November 2005, Cosener’s House, Abingdon ESRC CASE guidance notes My CASE case Practical experience: Pitfalls and Benefits Balancing priorities

CASE: Collaborative Award in Science and Engineering CASE awards are PhD scholarships which put together PhD funding and an industrial / business sponsor The aim is to provide PhD students with links with companies, to provide opportunities for research and connect PhD study with business priorities. According to the ESRC, the advantages are…

Collaboration provides an opportunity for universities to gain knowledge and insight about the needs, problems and research agendas of specific industries/sectors. Collaborative studentships can stimulate a non-academic organisation's interest in broader collaboration with a university… studentships are often a way of conducting necessary ‘background’ research or funding projects which may be difficult to resource in house; Those pursuing academic careers will be better able to engage with non-academic organisations in collaborative work as universities become increasingly dependent on outside funding. CASE students also have the benefit of a wider range of contacts than “standard” research students and more information and experience on which to base their choice of career.

But the ESRC states that “there is a potential conflict between academic and non-academic agendas, priorities and objectives… those at the beginning of their research careers are potentially more vulnerable to these pressures with students in particular requiring protection of their training and research needs” This suggests that achieving a balance between academic and non- academic issues can be tricky. The ESRC suggest that a well-specified formal agreement should underpin the relationship. But how do these tensions play out in practice?

My CASE award title: Re-designing Design - A study of the interface between design, procurement and specification CASE partner was COINS (COnstruction INdustry Solutions) a software developer specialising in products for the construction industry They had a specific interest in understanding the ways in which construction work could be re-configured, with their own products at the centre of the transformation The research was therefore intended to provide a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges of moving into new areas

Advantages of having a CASE sponsor: Contacts: Access to industry / users – from COINS to users to Terminal 5 Context: Becoming familiar with empirical settings of research Industry attachment – gives impression that you know what you’re doing, or that you’ve already convinced one company of the benefits you can offer… Financial: Conference travel / expenses

Disadvantages of having a CASE sponsor Connections to COINS: Had to work hard not to be perceived as COINS representative Difficult to keep out of conflicts between COINS and their users (there were quite a few!) Some difficult confidentiality issues Ebbs and flows of the performance of the business – levels of engagement vary with company peaks and troughs But in my case there was no attempt to specifically control or influence what I was doing…

Balancing the relationship – Giving and Taking Fit between PhD requirements and ‘usability’. There are definitely tensions between priorities… Extra work? Quarterly reports Conferences Case studies The stages of the PhD process: writing up and maintaining the relationship

Parallel streams versus close integration of academic and non-academic priorities No desire to influence the PhD itself Allowed ‘parallel streams’ approach – not about close connection between priorities but rather playing two games at once Individual relationships important, and need to be continually maintained Potential problems of disconnection especially during writing up

CASE studentships as a form of deliberately engineered Mode 2 knowledge production? For –Real world problems or issues / empirical focus –Close engagement & interaction with business / industry –Multiple accountabilities / stakeholders Against –Difficult to reconcile PhD requirements and something ‘usable’ for sponsor – so issue is not about aligning priorities but managing differences & tensions –Tensions between different businesses apparent – not a collaborative effort in that sense –PhD requirements strongly configure research in a Mode 2 fashion & results in ‘parallel’ outputs