2024 EUA-CDE Annual Meeting

The 2024 EUA-CDE Annual Meeting focused on the topic of data from various perspectives. Hosted by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, it discussed this topic by looking into the available data on doctoral education and how this data impacts management and strategy in this field.

Through a mix of traditional and interactive sessions, this conference tackled a broad spectrum of issues. These included the key role of data in the strategic development of doctoral education, duration and completion rate of doctoral programmes, artificial intelligence and FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable) data training. Over three days, the Annual Meeting provided a platform to reflect on how to develop data management skills at the doctoral level and how to facilitate access to data infrastructures for doctoral candidates, among many other topics.

In addition, EUA-CDE organised a dedicated session featuring the presentation of a Thematic Peer Group report on institutional support for postdoctoral researchers and stimulate an exchange between participants on how to successfully foster this type of support within European universities.

This year’s conference provided participants with opportunities for discussions, debates and networking, also outside the formal programme.

EUA-CDE Annual Meetings have become the largest and most comprehensive gatherings of academic leaders, senior academics, doctoral education professionals, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral candidates and other stakeholders working on doctoral education and research training. They are open to anyone with responsibilities and interest in this field.

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The presentations are available via the "download" tab on the right.

Wednesday 26 June:

Pre-meeting Workshop: New to doctoral education
Postdoctoral researchers at European universities: profiles and institutional support 2023 Thematic Peer Group report presentation

Thursday 27 June:

Plenary session I: Data collection in doctoral education: benefits, challenges and main approaches in Europe and beyond

Parallel session I A. The role of data: survey initiatives
- Improvement of research conditions, services and offers for early-career researchers – TH Köln’s experience conducting a doctoral researchers survey, Mirjam Heetkamp, TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences, Germany
- VUB PhD Survey, Anaïs Glorieux, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
- Turning Feedback to Progress: data-driven initiatives in doctoral education at the University of Latvia, Gunta Kalvāne, University of Latvia, Latvia Inga Škendere, University of Latvia, Latvia

Parallel session I B: The role of data: an institutional perspective
- Evaluating the qualification programme: A multi-perspective approach to data collection, Tim Klinge, Technical University of Munich, Germany
- Review of doctoral programmes at the University of Helsinki as quality assurance – was it worth the effort? Kirsi Korpiaho, University of Helsinki, Finland Minna Palander-Collin, University of Helsinki, Finland
- Polytechnical University of Valencia doctoral school: the experience of a school managed using a strong information system, Javier Martinez Sanchez, Polytechnical University of Valencia, Spain
- Doctoral thresholds - could our data predict the abandon rate? Elise Pinta, University of Turku, Finland

Parallel session I C: The role of data: a thematic approach
- Developing a data driven roadmap for transversal skills development, Martine Smith, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Leona Coady, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
- Quality assurance and the binomial professionality–personality for selecting external examiners for the doctorate, Diana Oliveira, University of Aveiro, Portugal
- Onboarding doctoral candidates: the prevailing practices in Europe, Monika Tasa, University of Tartu, Estonia Chiara Ceriotti, University of Vienna, Austria

Plenary session II “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts”: rethinking research assessment

EUA-CDE – Plans for the coming year

Friday 28 June:

Parallel session II A. The role of data: a national perspective
- Where are they going? Register-data-based analysis of doctorate graduates’ career paths, Michael Hofer, University of Vienna, Austria
- Enhancing Dutch doctoral programmes: A collaborative approach to data collection through PhD Surveys, Janneke (J.R.) van Seters, Wageningen University, Netherlands
- A five-year journey of doctoral education in Poland: Harnessing diverse data for quality assurance, Krzysztof Walkowiak, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland
- Collecting data from the external labour market through an interuniversity PhD talent advisory board, John Creemers, KU Leuven, Belgium
- “SI Doctorat INRAE”: collecting data to build policies and distribute opportunities, Irina Vassileva, University Paris-Saclay, France

Parallel session II B - The role of data: fostering support for doctoral candidates
- How can the supervision of doctoral candidates be improved through the monitoring of structured Status Talks? Michael Wutzler, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Germany
- Postgraduate researcher needs & supports, Shane Reynolds, University of Limerick, Ireland
- Connecting the dots – Turning data into effective wellbeing policy for earlycareer researchers, Sean Bex, Ghent University, Belgium
- Exploring how doctoral candidates experience doctoral education, Ann MacPhail, University of Limerick, Ireland

Parallel session II C - The need for data literacy
- The need for data literacy Building FAIR Foundations: Fostering the uptake of research data management in doctoral education, Ulrike Kenens, Hasselt University, Belgium
- Data by, data from, and data about postgraduate research students: Horizons of ‘data’ in the future of doctoral education, Ingrid Holme, University of Galway, Ireland
- The central university library as an educational hub for Open Science and Research Data Management: the approach and experience of the University of Belgrade, Dragana Stolić, University of Belgrade, Serbia
- Drowning in data? Keeping our heads above water through data-based decisions, Heather Sears, Coventry University, UK