Earlier this month, the Doctoral School hosted a meeting for stakeholders in the marine/maritime sectors to showcase the results of the project. The project, which commenced in 2021 with funding from the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, looks at how universities can give visibility to the diversity of career paths for doctorate holders and identify the skills that students can transfer to any work context with particular attention to the Blue sector. At the meeting, the results of a survey which collate the experiences of doctorate holders who do not work in academia were presented by Dr Ritienne Gauci (Department of Geography) on behalf of the team; a sample can be seen . Dr Adam Gauci (Department of Geosciences) and (RSO on the project) argued for the need to create an efficient alumni network and showcased the that has been created for the purpose. Partners from the University of Cadiz joined the meeting virtually to present the results of the focus group surveys carried out with industry stakeholders to identify skills shortages amongst PhD graduates.
Prof. Joseph Cacciottolo, Pro-Rector for Academic Affairs, who welcomed those gathered at the Valletta Campus, reiterated the added value that PhD holders have over and above discipline specialisations: "The radical changes that universities, and our societies, have gone through, as well as the necessity for outreach and relevance, have impacted upon the purpose and scope of the PhD degree as well. The best possible scenario is for universities to produce high-quality PhDs to match a wide variety of attractive and satisfying careers." Prof. Nicholas Vella, Director of the Doctoral School emphasised the role that the Doctoral School is playing in ensuring that the professional development of doctoral students is an on-going part of the training that is available to them.
The was attended by professionals from private companies and government agencies.
SEA-EU DOC builds on the Universities of the Sea - SEA-EU alliance. The meeting was supported by the SEA-EU Office of the University of Malta led by Ms Maria Calleja Grima.