Doctoral education in a science and technology park

The project, carried out as part of EDULOG, with the title ‘What do we talk about when we talk about doctoral education? - The perspectives of Portuguese universities and doctoral students’ (Cardoso, S., Carvalho, T., Soares, Santos, S., D., Diogo, S. and Freires, T., 2022), summarises a set of recommendations in the Discussion and Conclusions chapter, which are suggested in order to overcome the most important challenges raised in it. It is as a possible complement to these considerations that we propose the design of a structure, anchored in the academic and business worlds, that can meet the challenges posed by the set of recommendations described in the previous study. What is being considered is a closer approximation to a traditional conception of doctoral education - focused on the systematisation, deepening, development and generalisation of concepts, with results planned and embodied in a doctoral thesis - and an instrumental conception - particularly associated with research of a more applied nature, or a combination of this with more fundamental research - with a predominantly practical application of knowledge, its transfer, the creation of proofs of concept and products, based on a collaborative nature, within the framework of research teams or networks that are preferably multidisciplinary. As is also clear from the above transcripts, the importance of the presence of a ‘doctoral school’ within the higher education institution is recognised.