FORMAL PHD TRAINING EXPERIENCED BY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH GEOGRAPHY STUDENTS

This research offers a situated snapshot of the contemporary geography PhD experience at National University of Ireland Maynooth (NUIM). The PhD is changing and within those changes are tensions as well as pros and cons. Course descriptors offer the prescribed path to the completion of modules. Although many students are meeting the new requirements, they must also continue to navigate their way to conducting original research within an environment where the formal training process is still contested by some academics. These points are illuminated through the responses from questionnaire surveys, a focus group carried out during 2009, and the situated experiences of the presenting researchers. These methods capture student and staff opinions. The student opinions about the pros and cons of formal training were very diverse and reveal the complicated nature of generalised programmes being offered to PhD researchers. In particular our analysis identifies a concern in relation to the inter-disciplinary nature of the training model, which is a more complex research framework than the specific focus of a single discipline model. As postgraduate students currently involved in formal training, we present a wishlist for the way forward. Key research training needs are confirmed and responses to the current prescribed format are included. We conclude that the new training paradigm is an improvement on the Humboltian model and participants derive benefits beyond the purely academic essentials.