Conference Agenda

The presentation will explore aspects of doctoral education diversity in European higher education, consider how we identify when the level of diversity is sufficient to significantly reduce inequality and also discuss the extent to which diversity is linked to inclusivity, without which it is unlikely that much transformation will take place. The presentation will and try to assess how close to real inclusion the field is (dream versus reality). There are several ways in which diversity can be present in doctoral education and these will be explored one by one. The mere existence of diversity does not mean it has reached its highest possible level, whether in an HE system or in one institution. Similarly, it cannot be assumed that diversity is always the result of formal policies (whether external, such as national legislation, or internal to universities), as this varies considerably within and between institutions and HE systems. Diversity related to student admissions is often connected to formal policies but other forms of diversity may be accidental or serendipitous (such as diversity in relation to available supervisors). Use is made of Thomas and Ely’s (2001) model of workplace diversity which suggests three possible perspectives that can be used to encourage diversity in organisations – discrimination and fairness, access and legitimacy and integration and learning – of which they commend the last-named. Key forms of diversity include admission of a variety of doctoral researchers, by virtue of varied gender and ethnicity, disadvantage, neurodiversity, disability and candidates with social, cultural and linguistic differences. Diversity in thesis topics, methods, theory, knowledge production and thesis writing is also important, including indigenous knowledge and knowledge from the global south as well as the global north but is a project far from complete. Doctoral programmes in Europe already demonstrate considerable variation in content and curricula, methodology and transversal skills training, both within and across multiple disciplines. Diversity is also potentially visible in less formal activities like reading groups and social events. Supervision practices vary considerably, in content, regularity, solo and/or group supervision and consistency of supervision practices, especially for part-time students. Diversity amongst supervisors is a challenge, since its absence can lead to delayed thesis submission or dropout. Finally, the career routes that doctoral researchers follow may not be very diverse in some disciplines but given the precarity of many academic roles, further diversification into jobs outside higher education is really critical. It will be argued that, overall, there is much more to be done before doctoral education in Europe is fully diverse and inclusive. At the moment, it is best described as part dream, part reality. Referring to discrimination and fairness, access and legitimacy and integration and learning are all relevant ways in which universities, directors of graduate/doctoral schools and doctoral programmes can increase both diversity and inclusivity. They do not need to resort to isomorphism to do this because the same equality outcomes can be achieved in diverse ways.