Professional doctorate aims for direct impact

‘With this pilot, practice-based research is moving closer to maturity again’, begins Rogier Nijssen, professor of practice at Inholland University of Applied Sciences. He is referring to an initiative by the association of universities of applied sciences, set up – ‘perhaps out of a kind of professional frustration’ – to offer an alternative to the university PhD programme: the professional doctorate (PD).

That motivation was multifaceted, says Nijssen. ‘First and foremost, the existence of an “ius promovendi” exclusively for universities.’ There had previously been talk of giving professors of practice the right to confer doctorates as well, but that does not align well with the university of applied sciences philosophy, according to Jasmijn Ruijgrok, who is currently participating in the pilot at Inholland as a PD candidate. ‘A PhD in chemistry is often highly fundamental. If you were to pursue that as a lecturer at a university of applied sciences, it would be difficult to involve your students in the research along the way. It would be far better if you could forge a direct link with practice and industry during that research.’

‘We want to show that with an industry partner you can make an impact within years‘

Rogier Nijssen

Overstated

Another motivation is the number of ‘urgent key technology challenges for which you simply don’t have another twenty years to faff about academically and hope that someone will eventually do something with it’, Ruijgrok continues. Nijssen concurs, putting it somewhat bluntly: ‘A university group does fundamental work, often spanning decades. You produce “a pile of paper” and that’s what you get your doctorate on, but the impact on the field can sometimes take decades to materialise.’

Nijssen sets against this the application-oriented mentality of practice-based research groups. ‘They focus on subjects such as the energy transition, technology and digitalisation – things you can get stuck into straight away’, he says. ‘Looking at Jasmijn’s project, we do write it up and publish it too, but what we really want to show is that with an industry partner you can make an impact within years, rather than needing decades to do it.’

‘Because who actually reads the papers I publish?’ asks Ruijgrok rhetorically. ‘Not the process operators I’m trying to reach. In other words, you have to think carefully about how you reach the right people: which forms of science communication should you deploy for which audience?’

‘You don’t have another twenty years to faff about academically on the urgent issues’

Jasmijn Ruijgrok

No competition

That said, Nijssen is keen to add some nuance. ‘The professional doctorate programme is not in competition with university PhDs – it is complementary. I think that in this way we are making the entire field more robust and more interesting.’ One concrete difference between a PD and a PhD is: no emphasis on writing academic articles, but rather building a portfolio in the form of prototypes or business models, with the aim of making a direct impact on professional practice during the course of the PD. ‘The question a PD candidate focuses on is therefore also driven by the professional field’, explains Ruijgrok. ‘In my case, the portfolio consists of, among other things, a reactor design and an educational design. With the latter in particular, I think you can create a great many potential impact-makers – that’s really exciting. But the portfolio of a PD who approaches the energy transition through a sociological lens will look entirely different.’

Tourism

Ruijgrok also actively involves students in the PD research, says Nijssen. ‘And not only from our own programmes, but also from accountancy, for instance – so students with a completely different perspective.’ And because direct impact on practice is the goal, ‘the whole thing also needs to be strongly multidisciplinary; you genuinely need other disciplines’, adds Ruijgrok.

The pilot is currently structured around broad themes. ‘Our domain is energy and sustainability, but there are also projects in the theme of art and creativity’, says Nijssen. Ruijgrok focuses within her theme on materials science, while others are researching subjects such as biogas, hydrogen, the electricity grid and energy communities. ‘But there is also a PD from the tourism domain who is looking at plastic waste caused by tourism’, she says. ‘So a thoroughly chemical subject – linked to recycling – but approached from a completely different angle.’

What is needed to make this work in the Netherlands? ‘The professional doctorate needs to be enshrined in law’, says Nijssen. ‘Once it is recognised in legislation as an accredited qualification, it will take off. On top of that, structural funding will be needed for this kind of thing, comparable to the PhD grants and doctoral bonuses at universities. And of course a great deal of communication and publicity about the programme, so that both individuals and businesses know it exists and understand its benefits.’