"Researcher in the Wild: My INRESCOS Journey from Chaos to Wisdom (1)"
The Industrial Research School in Complex Systems (INRESCOS) reshapes doctoral training by creating structured partnerships between academia and industry. It overcomes traditional PhD limitations of research isolated from real-world practice, lack of industrial data, and weak industry connections. Through direct industrial engagement, students strengthen their research, validate findings, and develop solutions that are both theoretically sound and practically relevant.
When I arrived at USN for my PhD in May 2024, I was greeted by challenges alongside opportunities as I entered a new paradigm of systems thinking. The project I had been expected to join had ended. My background in engineering and entrepreneurship had prepared me for innovation, but not for a research environment without empirical data, industry partners, or a clear path forward. How does one conduct meaningful engineering research when the laboratory or real world seems entirely out of reach for experimentation and analysis?
In India, I had relied on research projects and consultancy to bridge academia and industry. Norway felt different. Universities prized theoretical rigor, while industry remained distant. My startup co-founders had warned me that a PhD would be "too theoretical" for someone who craved applied impact (2). That warning echoed in my mind as I stared at empty offices and ill-defined research objectives.
By July 2024, INRESCOS changed everything. The research school didn’t just promise access to industry; it provided elaborate guidance for navigating industrial research (3), aligning perfectly with my belief that rigorous academic inquiry could, and should, serve society. Through support from INRESCOS and my supervisors, I secured a formal agreement with Kongsberg Maritime. This was not merely a data source; it became my "industry-as-laboratory," where experienced practitioners not only embraced their role as research partners but also introduced me to the professional side of the discipline.
Immersion in Kongsberg revealed the limits of my PhD academic training. Industry experts corrected fundamental misconceptions I had absorbed at university, pointing me toward standards and practices absent from textbooks. Engineers with decades of experience transformed my understanding of systems engineering. Knowledge flowed in reverse: instead of academia informing industry, I found myself teaching professors lessons learnt directly from practitioners (4).
Through this engagement, a clear research problem emerged. I observed engineers writing requirements without consulting customers, starting from assumptions rather than user needs. The V-model methodology, widely taught in academia, begins with abstract specifications and neglects stakeholder context. My work now confronts this systemic disconnect, aiming to align systems engineering practices with real-world challenges for large high-tech organizations.
INRESCOS taught me a disciplined rhythm: "iterate and time-box," a fundamental principle of Muller’s philosophy. I cycle between industry immersion and academic reflection (5), taking different per spectives and preserving focus while absorbing practical insights. This approach demands constant balance, solving immediate business problems without losing sight of the central research question.
Industrial research brings unique obstacles. Security protocols prevent free data transfer, and renovation works limit workspace access. I’ve developed a "two-pipeline" method (6): test methodologies on open academic datasets before applying them to proprietary industrial data. Constraints spur creativity. Microsoft infrastructure now digitize interactions, generating both operational value and research data.
The INRESCOS network magnifies this effect. Multi-institutional collaboration builds connections impossible through traditional academia. Continuous engagement with practitioners embeds research in real-world complexity (7). Philosophically, INRESCOS reshaped my approach. I no longer pursue systems engineering in isolation; I practice "engineering for systemic issues." The shift is methodological: identifying real-world problems first, then applying rigorous engineering methods to solve them. Theory is no longer an abstraction, it is forged and tested against complex original realities (8).
Today, my research strives to deliver tangible impact. Tools like automated capability measurement, and customer-context extraction methods aim to integrate seamlessly into existing workflows. Practitioners benefit immediately, while my theoretical contributions gain real-world grounding. Knowledge flows bidirectionally: academia strengthens practice, and practice deepens theory. INRESCOS extends this very vision by building long-term capacity for Norway’s innovation ecosystem, creating career-shaping opportunities in a competitive economy that traditional research schools rarely provide.
Looking ahead, my journey affirms that the industry-academia collaboration is not a myth (9). Real theories grow from real complexity; without context, abstraction is trivial. The key lesson is clear: industrial partnership is not a compromise but the foundation for meaningful research. From the uncertainty of May 2024 to collaboration with Kongsberg Maritime, INRESCOS proved that my dream can come true. It did more than connect me with industry: it taught me how to conduct research that advances both theory and society.
(1) Thanks to USN Systems Engineering
(2) "I aspired to do academic research along with societal impact together."
(3) "We can help you. We can help you in getting industry partner. We can help you with the mechanism. We can teach you how to conduct industry research."
(4) "The true insight and knowledge is not always the way we imagine. Sometimes it is also vice versa... This bridge that INRESCOS built worked both ways."
(5) "Plan for this time. So, let’s say one day for industry and then come back for one week at USN... then repeat and keep on doing this again and again."
(6) "The trash pipeline is the papers which are not useful. Data from public or academic sources... I do it for conference papers, I test, iterate, verify and as soon as I feel that this is good enough, I extend them to my industry partner."
(7) "We all align with same vision-mission that we want change in the society and make world a better place to live."
(8) "This kind of collaboration, I feel is very ambitious... It’s not about compromising academic contributions, but be effective on both the sides."
(9) "This iteration is the essence of robust development where working with real issues, we all evolve together in time."