Research and research based knowledge is becoming increasingly central to societal and cultural growth, economic competitiveness, health, and happiness. As a consequence, the education of future researchers, has taken on heightened political, institutional, and educational interest, with a focus on how connections are being made between groundbreaking research and its societal impact and value. Particularly, doctoral education within the humanities strive hard to make this connection overtly clear and meaningful. It is often tacit in what ways research within the humanities, during and after doctoral education, is being conveyed, applied, and integrated within institutions, organisations, and companies outside the university. This research project studies how the cohesion between doctoral education societal impact and value may be increased.
The project studies the societal value and impact of doctoral education within the humanities across policy-making, institutional leadership, research environments, and individual (current and former) doctoral students. Earlier research has focused mainly on only one of the levels at a time, whereby the mutual influence and entanglement of the levels has been under researched. That the project researches across levels, and focusing on the interconnections, mean that a more comprehensive and complementary understanding of doctoral education within the humanities becomes possible. To develop the right theoretical and methodological approaches and designs for such a study will most certainly become one of the biggest challenges of the project.
One of the main project aims is that the connection and cohesion between research and society becomes stronger and mutually fruitful. Also, that there will be a stronger mutual influence between universities, and institutions for higher education, research environments, and the surrounding society. Further, the project aims to ensure that research within the humanities is initiated and integrated widely within the society and also within institutions, organisations, and companies outside, but with a strong anchoring within, universities. And that researcher education within the humanities will play a central part in that regard.
Hopefully, in the long view, this will mean that research into higher and doctoral education will receive more attention and recognition in Denmark, and internationally at the same time – and that research within the humanities, and its societal impact and value, will gain a stronger voice amongst other research disciplines and in the societal and political debate.
