/library/oar/handle/123456789/46683 2025-10-27T18:25:51Z 2025-10-27T18:25:51Z /library/oar/handle/123456789/111156 2023-06-30T09:05:47Z 2023-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Inspiring alumni stories : testimonials of blue doctorate holders Abstract: This booklet of testimonies retraces the career paths of doctors in marine, maritime and coastal sciences. It focuses on experiences outside the academia. It is a collective output of a European Erasmus+ project involving the universities of Brest, Gdansk, Cadiz, Split, Kiel and Malta working within SEA-EU DOC project. This project aims to broaden employment opportunities for doctors by preparing doctorate students for a wide range of career options matching the reality of the labour market. The sectors constituting the blue economy are developing very dynamically. It is, therefore, important to analyse development opportunities for PhD holders based on examples of successful careers outside the academia. The method used to examine these “success stories” was an interview. The interview analysis allowed to draw conclusions on the factors that may influence the success of doctorate holders in developing careers outside the academic sector. This, in turn, allowed to identify the key elements that should be included in doctoral training programmes and ensured that doctoral students obtain the qualifications and skills expected by employers of the current and future labour market. These interviews are used as informative material to present the diversity of employment opportunities for doctorate holders. They are disseminated through open online access on the SEA-EU platform and the partners’ websites. The main objective of the interviews is to get a picture of PhD graduates’ career path from the moment they decided to undertake PhD studies up to the point when they developed their careers. During the SEA-EU DOC project, a total of 60 doctorate holders from 6 countries were interviewed (51% of them were male and 49% female). Participants represented diverse scientific fields. The Earth sciences (41%) was the most represented field, while engineering (16%) was the least. The majority of doctorate holders worked at their current job for over three years. Most of them (77%) worked in their home country. Among the interviewed PhD holders three most popular blue economy sectors were environmental monitoring and protection (32%), offshore wind power (16%) and science communication (12%). The two least popular sectors were marine biotechnology and mineral resources (each 2%). Additionally, 22% of doctorate holders worked simultaneously in at least two sectors. This collection of testimonials presents the diversity of career paths of doctorate holders and focuses on valuable skills acquired during the doctorate that can be transferred to any work context. It is also intended to be a collection of messages sent by these doctorate holders to current doctoral students and to companies likely to hire them.

2023-01-01T00:00:00Z Smith, Russell /library/oar/handle/123456789/94688 2022-04-29T11:46:46Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Doctoral School annual lecture 2021 : everyone runs a business Authors: Smith, Russell Abstract: Obtaining a PhD is not easy. And neither should it be. It identifies the holder as having made a significant contribution, to a body of academic knowledge, all to the satisfaction of academic experts in the field. That takes years of dedicated study and experimental work. Towards the end of that period of intensive work, many doctoral students begin to question their future and suffer from the Quo Vadis syndrome. The choice often appears simple: either pursue an academic career or not. But this is the trap of the ‘single pursuit’ illusion ... the idea that only one option at a time is possible. A common view, although one that I now know to be false. Taking a PhD is not common. So why not be uncommon?; In this talk, Professor Smith argues that everyone in the world of work actually runs a business by selling their know-how. In other words, they are the business. All businesses sell just that one thing, know-how, either packaged as a product and/or a service. The doctoral student must step back and look at themselves from a new perspective. Will you sell your know-how to one customer and become an employee? Or will you sell it to multiple customers and become an employer? It is all a matter of assessing the true risk and reward from the commercialisation of your know-how, not the conventional perception.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Leshem, Shosh /library/oar/handle/123456789/73548 2021-04-14T10:20:50Z 2021-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Doctoral School annual lecture 2020 : the question of ‘doctorateness’ : theory and practice : Shosh Leshem Authors: Leshem, Shosh Abstract: The notion of ‘doctorateness’ acknowledges its significance for those who are involved with the doctoral degree – as candidates, supervisors or examiners. The notion has been recognised, internationally, as a key issue that determines the nature and quality of doctoral degrees. Thus, it represents a critical issue for candidates and supervisors to address and then to demonstrate within a submitted thesis. Each university possesses its own institutional framework for its degrees, however, there are generic features of ‘the doctorate’ that transcend the individual university and its procedures. These are features of received wisdom which examiners often refer to as the ‘gold standard’ of the doctorate. A series of essential elements in research activity have to be accounted for and explained in the text of a thesis. These are the inescapable pre-requisites of doctoral research. When these indicators are met, they constitute ‘doctorateness’ which is what examiners look for in a doctoral thesis. This address will discuss the nature of ‘doctorateness’ from a theoretical and practical perspective, and present those critical issues that signal the appreciation of ‘doctorateness’ and acknowledge that a doctoral candidate is thinking like a researcher.

2021-01-01T00:00:00Z Leshem, Shosh /library/oar/handle/123456789/52192 2020-03-08T06:13:19Z 2020-01-01T00:00:00Z

Title: The Question of ‘Doctorateness’: Theory and Practice Authors: Leshem, Shosh Abstract: The notion of ‘doctorateness’ acknowledges its significance for those who are involved with the doctoral degree – as candidates, supervisors or examiners. The notion has been recognised, internationally, as a key issue that determines the nature and quality of doctoral degrees. Thus, it represents a critical issue for candidates and supervisors to address and then to demonstrate within a submitted thesis. Each university possesses its own institutional framework for its degrees, however, there are generic features of ‘the doctorate’ that transcend the individual university and its procedures. These are features of received wisdom which examiners often refer to as the ‘gold standard’ of the doctorate. A series of essential elements in research activity have to be accounted for and explained in the text of a thesis. These are the inescapable pre-requisites of doctoral research. When these indicators are met, they constitute ‘doctorateness’ which is what examiners look for in a doctoral thesis. This address will discuss the nature of ‘doctorateness’ from a theoretical and practical perspective, and present those critical issues that signal the appreciation of ‘doctorateness’ and acknowledge that a doctoral candidate is thinking like a researcher.; Presentation delivered by Prof. Shosh Leshem at the Second Annual Doctoral Symposium, Valletta Campus, 28 February 2020.

2020-01-01T00:00:00Z