The new EUA-CDE Report highlights the Growing Importance of Doctoral Collaboration with Society.
The European University Association - Council for Doctoral Education (EUA-CDE) has published a new thematic peer group report, “Doctoral collaboration with society: drivers, success factors and ways forward,” presented during the EUA-CDE Annual Meeting in Galway. The report provides valuable insights into how doctoral education across Europe is evolving to better connect with industry, public institutions, and wider society.
The findings align closely with the ambitions of INRESCOS and underline the importance of strengthening collaboration between academia and external partners.
There is an increasing focus on combining disciplinary excellence with researcher skills and transferable skills in doctoral education. This reflects a broader and more integrated perspective on PhD training. Societal collaboration is becoming the norm, as PhD candidates pursue diverse career paths after graduation, not only in academia, but also in industry, public administration, and civil society.
At the same time, academic quality remains at the core of doctoral education. The growing emphasis on the societal role of PhDs does not imply a weakening of research excellence or academic freedom. In addition, institutional structures have improved to better support such collaboration, INRESCOS being a strong example of this development.
The 2025 Thematic Peer Group (TPG) under the direction of the EUA-CDE secretariat Ana-Maria Peneoasu, the Head of the EUA-CDE Simon Marti and Professor Jari Hämäläinen, was composed of: Irma Grdzelidze, Minna Hendolin, Dimitris Athanassiadis, Professor Nik Bessis, Janet Carton, Rosanne Ceuppens, Monica Fagerlie, Deirdre Fitzgerald Hughes, Oscar Garcia Leal, Anton Guhl, Jan Hesselbarth, Marjolein Iversen, Gro Lurås, Siobhán Mac Sweeney PhD, Skirmante Mozuriunaite, Sharon O'Brien, Igor Prpic, Tanja Storsul, Ganna Tolstanova, Liisa Uotila, Antonio Vicente, Margarida Correia-Neves, and Maija Tenkanen.