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Volume 7, Edition 2 – March 2011 |
ATN in PROFILE
Presenting at the 2011 ATN Symposium, Lesley Thompson, Director: Research
Base for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK (EPSRC),
highlighted the importance of ensuring PhD quality, embedding impact, and
the benefits realised by Doctoral Training Centres in an increasingly
limited budget environment.
Encouraging greater end-user engagement has been a particular focus of the
EPSRC since 2001, with the UK facing many of the same challenges and
pressures as Australia, including an ongoing view by industry that PhD
graduates lack ‘associated skills’.
Doctoral Training Centres in the UK, from which the ATN IDTC-M pilot will
draw a number of influences, are one way in which they have addressed these
issues. Such centres are highly effective and popular, attracting the best
PhD candidates and comprising in the EPSRC 50 centres and £280m of
investment.
The outcomes of the initiative have been very successful, not only producing
high quality graduates with excellent employment outcomes, but also
increasing both industry funding and research income for their host
universities. This clearly bodes well for the ATN IDTC-M and similar centres
going forward.
Lesley Thompson’s presentation may be accessed
here.