This event, run in conjunction with the London Centre for Arts and Cultural Exchange (www.lcace.org.uk), looked at the future development of the PhD in English studies, particularly how it relates to knowledge transfer through such initiatives as the AHRC Collaborative Fellowships. The mix of academic staff and PhD students attending created an opportunity to look at both policy level and personal issues. In terms of policy, Peter Barry highlighted how the RAE and AHRC cultures pull PhD research in different directions: the RAE towards mono-disciplinarity and the monograph and the AHRC towards interdisciplinarity, knowledge transfer and wider impact. Is the ’traditional’ PhD a good preparation for the new collaborative, interdisciplinary world where research has to demonstrate its relevance to the wider community? The Creative Writing PhD mirrors this ’dilemma’ in the differing weights assigned to creative and reflective elements in different institutions.
A panel comprising Farah Karim-Cooper, Bridget Escolme, Gordon McMullan and Christie Carson shared the experience of the Collaborative Doctoral award run by Shakespeare’s Globe in conjunction with King’s College London and with Queen Mary University of London. While there are notable benefits and opportunities for students in being active participants in a lively theatre culture, panel members recognised the lure of students being distracted from the primary purpose of their doctorate. While the Collaborative Award was hailed a success in terms of manipulating the knowledge transfer agenda for disciplinary ends, it was acknowledged that there were constraints imposed on students having to work within the boundaries of a pre-determined project.
In the afternoon, discussion centred on personal experiences of the PhD, both for those who were in mid-career and able to reflect back on how it had shaped their futures and for those still going through the ’long, dark night of the soul’, as one participant put it. What emerged was the diversity of the ’PhD experience’, which includes that of mature students who may not be aiming for an academic career and international students who may be worrying about how they will match up against their compatriots when they seek a job ’back home’. The importance of the supervisor/supervisee relationship was a continuing thread through these discussions, as was the nature and purpose of the thesis itself.
Like a good thesis, the day was driven forward by curiosity, but left plenty of scope for further discussion.
Jane Gawthrope, English Subject Centre
