Doctoral Education Research Articles

Operationalising University Excellence in Doctoral Education: The Case of Top-Ranked Russian Universities

AbstractNumerous countries have implemented excellence initiatives designed to establish world-class universities, boost research productivity, build up staff capacity, and thereby reform doctoral education systems as part of this agenda. To date, the relationship between excellence-driven initiatives and leading universities’ doctoral education enhancement remains understudied in Russia. This study seeks to examine how seven top-ranked Russian universities responded to the Excellence Initiatives (5-100 Project and Priority 2030) at the institutional strategy level from 2012 till 24 February 2022. To explore this relationship and change in research education, documentary research was applied to a corpus of institutional strategies for excellence accompanied with governmental texts. Norman Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was adopted and complemented with analytical lenses to understand and examine how university excellence is recontextualised and operationalised in doctoral education structures across these strategies. This CDA was enhanced with theoretical lenses to research how multiple forces behind governmental policies for globalisation, innovation, and international competitiveness shape this change in Russian doctoral education in relation to global trends, national priorities, and local needs. The paper presents and discusses emergent processes (with mechanisms and practices) and the universities’ meaning-making behind the normative and performative ‘enhancement’ in doctoral education constructed with the state’s dominant understandings of university excellence.

Roses and Thorns: Counterstories of First-Generation Latinx Faculty Pathways to and Through Doctoral Education and Into the Professoriate

ABSTRACT First-generation Latinx faculty representing various institutional types (i.e., research-intensive, public, private, and community college) share counterstories of their educational experiences of doctoral programs and the professoriate. Guided by funds of knowledge framework, we share counterstories from lived experiences, revealing “roses and thorns” of being first-generation graduates and navigating the journey to and through faculty life. We share recommendations for Latinx scholars interested in the professoriate, including those transitioning from student affairs administration into faculty roles or dual roles as administrators and faculty. We also offer recommendations for institutional actors interested in recruiting, holistically supporting, and retaining their first-generation Latinx faculty.

Centering the Scholarly Practitioner Within the EdD

The Educational Doctorate (EdD) is designed to meet the needs of current practitioners who aim to expand their professional expertise by leveraging deep knowledge and research methods to address specific and contextualized problems of practice. This approach centers on developing scholarly practitioners that are equipped with the skills necessary to bridge the knowledge-to-doing gap and contribute meaningfully to school improvement (CPED, 2020; Donovan, 2013; Hochbein & Perry, 2013; Jackson & Sun, 2022; Lewis et al., 2020; Perry, Zambo, & Crow, 2020). To achieve this goal, program faculty and their respective thinking must be concerned with and oriented to the scholarly practitioner and their unique positionality. This paper explores two considerations related to centering scholarly practitioners and their impact to illustrate the possibilities inherent within EdD programs.

Systematic Comparative Analysis of Doctor of Education (EdD) Programs

Systematic Comparative Analysis of Doctor of Education (EdD) Programs

Revitalizing classical Ayurveda practice in urban India—Contribution of Vaidya V. R. Padmanabha Rao

Abstract The renaissance of Ayurveda in contemporary times owes much to the remarkable contributions of exemplary practitioners. This paper explores the journey of Dr. V. R. Padmanabha Rao (1953–2020), an Ayurveda clinician who not only demonstrated excellence in clinical practice but also spearheaded the creation of “Agnivesha Ayurveda Anushthana,” an exclusive organization devoted to the education and training of Ayurveda doctors. Dr. Rao played a pivotal role in influencing and guiding numerous Ayurveda graduates to transition from allopathy to Ayurvedic clinical practice. His therapeutic knowledge was disseminated in a number of national and international forums, especially with regard to his successful treatment of male infertility. Central to his teachings was the concept of “How to be a successful Ayurveda clinician,” anchored in the three pillars of dual diagnosis (integrated Ayurveda and modern methods), the utilization of self-prepared classical medicines (single-herb therapy), and the cultivation of excellent clinical and administrative skills including documentation of clinical cases.

An Effective Academic Medical Center-Based Strategy to Enhance Diversity Among Nurse Researchers.

The Connell-Jones Endowed Chair Diversity Nursing Research Scholars Program was created to promote engagement in nursing research and scholarship among nurses of color. Preliminary evaluation suggests that the program was widely beneficial, resulting in enrollment in doctoral education for some. Establishing opportunities that promote exposure and participation in nursing research and scholarship among nurses of color helps cultivate cohorts of diverse nurses armed to address health disparities through the advancement of nursing knowledge.

Teaching assistants’ contributions to creating inclusive and equitable learning spaces in engineering

ABSTRACT Sustainable engineering education requires us to address discrimination and inequity of experience, thereby contributing to a renewal of the engineering profession that reflects a rich diversity of experiences and perspectives. Many students experience discriminatory events in their classrooms, however the presence of teaching assistants in relatively high numbers means that they could provide both proactive support and reactive intervention to support inclusion and combat discrimination. This paper examines teaching assistants’ (TAs) contributions, employing observations from students (3988), student teaching assistants (277) and doctoral teaching assistants (65). We found that (i) students overwhelmingly reported respectful interactions with their TAs, (ii) while both student assistants and doctoral assistants see inclusion as part of their role, student assistants expressed more confidence in their ability to foster inclusion. Our analysis indicates that TAs are a constructive force to build inclusive engineering classrooms, informing our recommendations for improvingcampus culture.

Toward an Identity for the Field of Doctoral Education in Health Sciences

The Association of Doctoral Programs in Health Sciences (ADPHS) was informally established in November 2019, officially incorporated in August 2021, and is currently a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization comprised of the directors of member doctoral programs of health sciences. The ADPHS grew from informal discussions among program directors who agreed that a major problem in the field of doctoral education in health sciences was the lack of a clearly defined and easily articulable identity. The discussions led to the drafting of an informal and nonscientific survey used to help clarify the current health sciences education environment, relevant emerging trends, and the educational philosophies adopted by the directors of health sciences doctoral programs nationally. The results of the survey and follow-up discussions revealed a strong consensus among program directors that the field of doctorate education in health sciences is uniformly characterized by its interdisciplinary nature. In this position paper, we provide the rationale for the formal position of the ADPHS that the identity of the field of doctoral education in health sciences is based on its interdisciplinary approach to education.

Prominence, Promotion and Positioning of the ‘Thesis by Publication’ in Six Countries

AbstractThe international nature of doctoral education creates interesting tensions where national systems, institutional policies, disciplinary customs, individual supervisor preferences, and doctoral researcher needs meet. The Thesis by Publication (TBP), a model where published works are included within the thesis, is available to doctoral researchers in many disciplines and institutions, but it is not a universally accepted format or approached in a homogeneous way. Policy has been known to shape practice, yet we know little about how institutional policies shape TBP practices across different national contexts. This study presents a content analysis of policy documents related to the TBP in public universities across six countries: Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Our goal is to understand the prevalence of the TBP and related policy documentation in different contexts, and how the model is promoted and positioned within the doctoral landscape. Findings from our study challenge the often-stated notion that the TBP is a universally understood format. Our findings also show the risks in the absence of explicit policies, as well as the possible inequalities that may arise as a result of a lack of policy transparency and synergy within and across contexts.

Self-presentation and social networking online: The professional identity of PhD students in HCI

The number of research doctorate degrees awarded by US institutions per year has increased steadily over the decades. However, the academic job market is also becoming more competitive, and doctoral candidates often face difficulties in developing a professional identity and making career-related decisions. In this study, we investigated PhD students' professional identity formation with regard to their usage of social networking sites (SNSs). Through semi-structured interviews with 16 students in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), we found that self-presentation and online presence in the online community were considered necessary. Students' perception of using SNSs for professional activities was impacted by their peers and faculty. SNSs helped students gain information and support from online communities and also reflected their professional identities. The results present insights for transforming doctoral education and preparing students for diverse career options in today's economy.

Doctoral Student Parents During the COVID-19 Pandemic: How Did They Fare?

The challenges faced by parenting during doctoral education are widely acknowledged. When the COVID-19 pandemic struck universities in the United States in March 2020, doctoral student parents, like other working parents, faced the new challenge of managing workloads without access to childcare, schools, or other supports for balancing work and family opportunities. And yet, many parents persevered through these seemingly impossible circumstances. This paper describes a survey of doctoral students (N = 483) about the ways in which the first 18 months of the pandemic impacted their academic work and professional development opportunities, identifying the institutional supports available to them during this time. Differences between parents of dependent minor children and non-parents were explored, with no differences found except in dissertation delays, where non-parenting students were more likely to experience delays. Further, many students did not have access to supports and fewer used them, although parents were more likely to access supports than non-parents. Implications for understanding the impact on doctoral education are identified and discussed, including the need to reconsider parenting as a barrier to academic success in doctoral education.

Artificial Intelligence in the Future of Iraqi Healthcare System

The development of artificial intelligence in medicine in Iraq indicates the increasing need for this new idea to be taught to medical students. The objective of such research study having this specific interest is to examine the attitudes of Iraqi medical students toward AI, with the focus made on the level of their understanding of AI and the types of career prospects that they envisage. In a study conducted on Iraqi medical students, a doctrine was outlaid; Iraqi med students were requested to complete anonymously in an online survey respectively. Analysis of the collected data was done by using SPSS21 software. Such an approach gave you the opportunity to investigate the behavioral patterns, trends and relations of the data, which allowed you to gain important outcomes about how the respondents see AI in medical education. The results showed that a total of 23 medical universities participated in the study and their response was collected to the extent of 318. The most of respondents (s=91,5%) is confident in the fact that AI is going to affect health care in the not so far future. Specially, the responses were summarized into those who are going to show strong agreement (33.6%, s = 107) and those who are going to show agreement (57.9%, s = 184). In this regard, the research found that Iraqi medical students find AI indeed adjacently affecting and are open to interacting with such new technology. Additionally, it leaves open a question - we should provide accompanying training programs against Artificial Intelligence during medical education for doctors.

Knowledge levels of doctors and nurses working in surgical clinics about nutrients and food supplements, a multicentre descriptive study

PurposeThe use of nutrients and food supplements is increasing worldwide. Nutrients and food supplements frequently used in the surgical period may cause complications and side effects. This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge about sixty-one nutrients and food supplements among doctors and nurses working in surgical clinics.DesignA multicentre descriptive, quantitative, cross-sectional study.MethodsThe study was conducted between 15 February and 31 May 2022 with a total of 410 participants, including 143 doctors and 267 nurses, working in the surgical clinics of 8 hospitals, including public, university and private hospitals, within the borders of one province in Turkey. Data were collected face-to-face using a questionnaire developed by the researchers, which included descriptive characteristics of the doctors and nurses and questions about sixty-one nutrients and food supplements.ResultsThe median overall success score of the doctors and nurses participating in the study regarding the use of nutrients and food supplements was 3.20 out of 100 points, the median success score of complications and side effects of nutrients and food supplements in the surgical period was 7.06 out of 33 points, the median success score for discontinuation of nutrients and food supplements prior to surgery was 0.21 out of 16 points, and the median success score for drug interactions of nutrients and food supplements was 1.70 out of 51 points. In addition, it was found that the overall success scores of doctors and nurses regarding nutrients and food supplements increased statistically significantly with increasing age and working years. The total success score of doctors and nurses who received training in nutrients and food supplements was statistically significantly higher than that of doctors and nurses who did not receive training.ConclusionIn conclusion, it was found that the level of knowledge of nutrients and food supplements among doctors and nurses working in surgical clinics was less than half or even close to zero. Therefore, it is recommended that training on nutrients and food supplements should be included in the undergraduate and postgraduate education of doctors and nurses in order to prevent complications, side effects, drug interactions and patient safety related to the use of nutrients and food supplements in the surgical period.

Support without Status: Inequities in Student–Advisor Relational Dynamics between First-Generation and Continuing-Generation Doctoral Students

One of the most important developmental relationships in the doctoral student experience is that of the faculty advisor, and yet we know little about whether and how advisor relationships vary between first-generation and continuing-generation doctoral students. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 83 late-stage doctoral students in biological sciences, we explore differences in student perceptions of their relationships with advisors. Narratives reveal a continuum of relationship types, including strained, evolving, supportive, and equal. In equal relationships, doctoral students feel more like collegial partners working alongside their advisors. While continuing-generation and first-generation students are similarly represented among strained and evolving relationships, first-generation students rarely attain equal relationship status. The presented findings offer implications for understanding how inequality shapes student–advisor relationships, the role of collegiality in doctoral education’s hidden curriculum, and the supports needed to foster equity for first-generation students in graduate programs.

Factors Influencing the impact of nurse practitioners' clinical autonomy: a self determining perspective.

To explore factors that influence the impact of nurse practitioners' clinical autonomy with a self-determining perspective. Worldwide, there is a significant demand for healthcare professionals such as the nurse practitioner in meeting some healthcare needs across patients' lifespans. Factors influencing nurse practitioners clinical autonomy can impact the full utilisation of the role in practice. Limited evidence exists that describes or researches nurse practitioner clinical autonomy. Instead, there is a focus in the literature on strategic debates, role confusion and nurse practitioners reporting the straddling between nursing, allied heath professionals and medicine in the provision of healthcare services. A cross-sectional study design was used in a purposive sample in a national sample of nurse practitioners in Ireland across a full range of healthcare settings. Additionally, the survey included open comments sections to capture qualitative comments by the nurse practitioners themselves. Self-determination theory is rooted in an organismic dialectical stance. This study used a convenience sample of n = 148 from a total sample of n = 448 (33%) of the population. The Dempster Practice Behavioural Scale and an initially validated advanced nursing practice clinical autonomy scale were used. Open comments were analysed by thematic analysis. STROBE Standards guidelines for cross-sectional studies were followed, and COREQ guidelines were followed for writing qualitative research. The study findings demonstrated that the more clinical experience the nurse practitioner had, the higher their levels of clinical autonomy. The previous length of nursing experience did not impact nurse practitioner clinical autonomy levels. However, average experience of nurse practitioner' in this study was 3-10 years. No significant differences existed between the reported gender, nurse practitioners' clinical autonomy and decision-making. 1:40 female and 1:9 male nurse practitioners undertook a doctorate or PhD-level education. No advanced nurse practitioner identified as non-binary. Gender and organisational culture considerations can influence nurse practitioners clinical autonomy. This study highlights intrinsic motivators that support nurse practitioners in providing innovative healthcare: competence, relatedness and clinical autonomy. Countries credentialing, regulations professional standards and healthcare policy positively influence nurse practitioner clinical autonomy. Nurse practitioners' clinical autonomy is championed when health policy and organisational stakeholders intrinsically collaborate. A disconnect between health policy organisational culture extrinsically influences lower levels of nurse practitioners' clinical autonomy. The findings underline the positive impact of nurse practitioner clinical autonomy. A recommendation of this study is to continue to measure impact of clinical autonomy anddevelop nurse practitioners' self-determination strategies around the role and integrity of their levels of intrinsic clinical autonomy.

DOCTORAL STUDENTS AT RISK ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT: QUALITY MANAGEMENT ISSUES

Academic engagement and support of vulnerable categories of learners is a crucial thematic issue within the EU and globally. In this respect, the research is focused on searching for suitable solutions for gaps in doctoral education capacity strengthening at institutional and national levels in Ukraine, primarily due to underestimating its societal dimensions, and on synchronizing the Ukrainian practices with European policies and standards, including helpful initiatives in integrating resilience and sustainability into its academic, research and engagement activities; creating an inclusive and welcoming culture within academia that encourages respect, support, and mentorship. The developed educational courses aim to facilitate a cross-sectoral dialogue on solutions for the challenges faced by Ukrainian academia in reforming the doctoral education sector, within the framework of a sustainable, cohesive, and peaceful Europe. The implementation of the proposed educational courses aims to achieve the following short-term effects: to ensure Ukrainian PhD students’ belonging and research engagement, return to stability, and help to alleviate psychological anxiety; to advance doctoral students’ research competencies in line with ethical and methodological standards; to minimize the risks of doctoral student attrition; to activate faculty and peer mentorship and professional networking within the academia regarding doctoral students at risk diversity; to diversify the institutional strategies of doctoral students’ academic and researcher identity development in war and post-war circumstances. This will provide a significant context for advancing a new type of academic culture in doctoral education within Ukrainian academia – a culture of university social responsibility that prioritizes human values and addresses the real needs of Ukrainian researchers while providing early-career researcher-friendly support, both academic and professional.

Returning through Front or Back Door

The article reports the results of an interview-based study exploring how internationally educated Ph.D. degree holders re-integrate into research environment in Kazakhstan and how the process of reintegration varies depending on the country of study. We found that returnees from non-Western countries experience greater challenges than returnees from the Western contexts. Applying the concept of “legibility” we reveal that the variation in the experiences is the result of operation of a legibility sorting mechanism used by the state in valuation of the quality of doctoral education of two formerly colonial academic systems – the post-Soviet and the Western one, which compete as they exert neo-colonial claims on the academic system in Kazakhstan. The state uses foreign degree recognition mechanism as a heterogeneity producing system signalling the stakeholders the desired perception of the value of the different degrees. The differentiation in the experiences results from the sorting.

Ernährungsberatung in ärztlichen Praxen verschiedener Fachrichtungen – eine Querschnittsstudie

ZusammenfassungHintergrundZiel dieser Querschnittsstudie war es, den Stand der Ernährungsberatung (EB) und Versorgung in ärztlichen Praxen zu erheben. Das entsprechende Fachwissen der Ärzt:innen sowie Hürden und Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten für die EB wurden analysiert.MethodenEin Fragebogen mit 32 Items wurde erstellt und nach 2‑stufigem Pretest im Frühjahr 2022 an alle niedergelassenen Ärzt:innen der Fachrichtungen Allgemeinmedizin, Innere Medizin, Gynäkologie, Orthopädie und Arbeitsmedizin in Aachen (N = 360) verteilt.ErgebnisseDie Rücklaufquote lag bei 29,2 % (n = 105). 85,7 % der Ärzt:innen führten während ihrer Sprechstunde EB durch. Die Ärzt:innen schätzten, dass 39,5 % ihrer Patient:innen EB benötigten, tatsächlich beraten wurden aber nur 28,1 %. Bei Allgemeinmediziner:innen dauert die EB durchschnittlich 13 min, bei allen anderen 9,5 min. Die meisten Teilnehmer:innen fühlten sich gut über gesunde Ernährung informiert (95,2 %) und schrieben dem Thema eine hohe persönliche (57,7 %) und berufliche (47,6 %) Relevanz zu.Die größten Hürden für eine bessere EB waren die mangelnde Vermittlung von Wissen und Kompetenzen im Medizinstudium (89,5 %) und in der Facharztweiterbildung (79,6 %) sowie Zeitmangel (75,2 %). Viele Teilnehmer:innen würden mehr EB durchführen, wenn diese Leistung besser bezahlt würde und im Arbeitsalltag mehr Zeit zur Verfügung stände.DiskussionDie hohe Relevanz von EB ist vielen niedergelassenen Ärzt:innen bewusst, der Bedarf an EB wird von ihnen jedoch nicht gedeckt. Um EB in ärztlichen Praxen zu fördern, bedarf es unter anderem einer besseren ernährungsmedizinischen Ausbildung, einer angemessenen Vergütung und ausreichender Zeitkontingente.

The Concept of 'Doctorateness' and the Architecture of a PhD Thesis-from an Applied Linguistic Point of View

The term 'doctorateness' is the nominalization of word 'doctorate' which is defined concisely as 'the highest degree awarded by the university'. The concept of 'doctorateness' has been discussed and developed by several experts whose analysis was conducted recently, providing a current perspective on the defining attributes of the concept. It can be defined as: Individual scholar, an apprenticeship process of development, original conceptual contribution, highest academic degree, stewardship of the discipline. This study can serve as a reference for building the framework in the Architecture of a PhD Thesis, and contribute to the understanding and development of the concept of doctorateness within the field of doctoral education.

Embracing hybridity: the affordances of arts-based research for the professional doctorate in education

ABSTRACT Despite the growth of the professional doctorate in education (EdD), its potential for capturing practice is restricted by academic tradition. In this hybrid paper, we argue that arts-based research (ABR) can help rectify this. We bookend the paper with creative non-fiction of our own EdD experiences, where ABR is restricted and afforded. We develop our argument through a position paper mapping the theoretical similarities of the EdD and ABR. We then undertake a scoping review identifying existing research into ABR on EdD programmes. We analyse six articles using the 5A’s theory of creativity [Glăveanu 2013. Rewriting the language of creativity: The Five A's framework. Review of General Psychology 17, no. 1: 69–81] to see how these theoretical similarities are afforded. Using ABR on the EdD promotes reflexivity and co-creation, impacting upon diverse audiences. We conclude with a challenge for further research into ABR on EdD programmes through hybrid research.