With close to 50% of HDR students gaining employment in organisations beyond academia, it is critical that their HDR prepares them to succeed in both academic and industry environments.
To do this, they will need skills in research communication, collaboration, stakeholder management, project management and an understanding of industry contexts. These skills are highly sought by industry employers of HDRs and will give them the ability to apply their expertise to industry problems. Many of these skills are also critical for future success in an academic career, both for teaching industry-relevant courses, and to develop collaborations that create impact for society, the environment, culturally and economically.
The Flinders University Doctoral Graduate Attributes provide more detailed descriptions of the skills developed by PhDs.
Industry engagement activities are proven to support development of these skills as well as providing opportunities for HDR students to expand their networks, explore potential career options and gain a new perspective on their research. As HDRs build their networks, these connections can flow through to supervisors as opportunities for future collaboration and potentially, to broaden the scope of their practice.
The Quick Guide to Industry Engagement Activities provides an overview of opportunities, stage of candidature and skills developed
Chances to practice being interviewed by the media are rarely offered before completing a HDR.
Learn moreThe Department of Education and Training has also placed an emphasis on greater research-industry engagement by HDR students and is monitoring universities’ performance through biannual reporting. More recently the NLFP also highlights the government’s focus on increasing industry – university engagement with the particular outcome of job-ready graduates.
Supervisors have a key role in connecting and enabling HDRs to engage with organisations beyond academia. A conversation at the beginning of candidature about what your HDR students want to achieve and their aspirations, particularly career goals, will help you and your student identify relevant engagement opportunities and plan these into candidature.
There are many different types of organisations that are considered industry for the purposes of industry engagement:
Other higher education providers and organisations that are affiliated with or controlled by higher education providers, such as research institutes, are not considered industry partners.
Joint supervision – where a HDR is actively supervised by a supervisor from an industry organisation
Joint or fully funded research – where the HDR research project is partly or fully funded by industry
Community outreach, consultancy, commercialisation projects, entrepreneurship
Training – that helps prepare HDR students for work with an industry partner
Internships – a placement of more than 30 days within industry to undertake R&D related to their HDR
General relationship building activities – activities that support industry engagement
There are also some discipline-specific programs:
- Industry Mentoring Network in STEM (IMNIS) for students who are interested in the medtech-pharma industry and may come from disciplines including medicine, physics, health sciences, chemistry, psychology or business
- Southern Adelaide Local Health Network Research Office Placements (currently in pilot phase) – 2-week placements for HDRs whose research careers may occur with a clinical setting or will focus on human research
- St Paul’s Creative Centre Student Membership (currently in pilot phase) – provides opportunities to network with organisations and people in arts and creative industries
Information about these and many of the other opportunities are available in the Research Employability Skills and Training (REST) FLO.
On 12 May 2021, the federal government announced changes to Research Training Program Block Grant Funding to encourage greater industry-PhD collaboration through internships. In response, Flinders University is implementing new ways of supporting co-funded PhD scholarships with internships to research industry problems, including a pilot of a new scholarship – the PhD Enterprise Scholarship.
PhD Enterprise Scholarships involve:
For scholarships commencing in 2022, both Flinders and an industry partner(s) will contribute approximately $57,000 each to cover 3.5 years of stipend payments, plus any paid leave. Industry partners can also provide additional funding towards the scholarship to attract talented candidates in competitive markets.
For the 2022 pilot, 10 PhD Enterprise Scholarships will be available. The OGR will be working with College and Portfolio stakeholders to implement the PhD Enterprise Scholarships and aim to enable scholarship students to commence in 2022.
The processes currently being developed by the OGR for the PhD Enterprise Scholarships will also provide greater support to supervisors and industry partners seeking to develop bespoke PhD scholarships with internship arrangements.
Are you working with an industry partner who might be interested in co-funding a scholarship?
Expressions of interest for the pilot will close on 11 February 2022.
Enter the details of your potential PhD Enterprise Scholarship below.
Expressions of interest will be reviewed by the Dean of Graduate Research, in liaison with the College HDR Coordinator as required.
If selected, we will work with you and your industry partner on:
The Australian Council of Graduate Research (ACGR) has developed a number of resources and Good Practice Guidelines to provide information to the sector about industry engagement:
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