What I still often miss in doctoral education is the bridging and exchange between the different actors in the field: policy makers and academic leaders, practitioners, whether professionals or supervisors, and those who deal with doctoral education as scholars. With the founding of the PRIDE Network, we want to make an active contribution to this bridge-building. Then I learnt about IDERN, the International Doctoral Education Research Network.
As stated on the IDERN Website (quote from Dec 2020):
IDERN was formed, to provide an avenue for researchers on doctoral education from around the globe to generate dialogue on knowledge creation and doctoral pedagogy. The aim of the network was to generate a collaborative, international research agenda for doctoral education; to build a research field in this most advanced form of educational provision, and to connect researchers from different national settings, as well as different disciplines and research perspectives. The network has been operating since 2007 and aims to meet for a research forum once every two or three years, as well as to use online technologies to share and disseminate information and research on the doctorate.itself.
The purpose of IDERN is to create a network of scholars and practitioners actively engaged in researching doctoral education. This is why I considere it as a highly valuable source also for preofessionals to be continuously informed and updated about the current debate in the field. Working in an academic setting, I learnt in more than a decade engaged in doctoral education, that our arguments are more convincing when we can refer to scholarly work. Moreover, I am also deeply convinced that it is a sign of professionalism when we take scientific knowledge in the field into account in our actions.
An additional plus of IDERN is, that it is not a traditional academic organization or association. To become a “member” of IDERN simply subscribe to the IDERN listserv, which is the primary means of keeping this research community connected, and you are in. The listserv is, outside of the meetings, the primary means of keeping this research community connected.
For more information visit IDERN Website and subscribe.
