Table Of ContentDebating Higher Education: Philosophical Perspectives 4
Robyn Barnacle
Denise Cuthbert Editors
The PhD
at the End
of the World
Provocations for the doctorate and a
future contested
Debating Higher Education: Philosophical
Perspectives
Volume 4
Series Editors
Paul Gibbs, Middlesex University, London, UK
Amanda Fulford, Childhood & Education, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk,
Lancashire, UK
Ronald Barnett, Institute of Education, University College London, London, UK
Søren S. E. Bengtsen, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark
Debating Higher Education: Philosophical Perspectives is a new book series
launched by Springer and is motivated by two considerations.
Higher education has become a huge matter globally, both politically and
socially, commanding massive resources, national and cross-national decision-
making, and the hopes of many. In parallel, over the last four decades or so, there
has been a growing interest in the academic literature in grappling with technical
issues in and around higher education. In particular, work has developed drawing
on philosophical perspectives and social theory. This is evident right across the
world, especially in the journal literature and in research students’ doctoral theses.
In effect, we have witnessed the formation of a new sub-discipline, a shorthand of
which is ‘the philosophy of higher education’, and which includes perspectives
drawn not only from philosophy and social theory but also feminism, ethics,
geopolitics, learning theory, and organizational studies.
Through this book series – the first of its kind – the editors want to encourage the
further development of this literature. We are keen to promote lively volumes which
are informed about changing practices and policy frameworks in higher education
and which engage seriously and deeply with matters of public interest, and are
written in an accessible style.
Books will take a variety of forms, and will include both sole-authored and
multi- authored formats. Importantly, each volume will have a dialogical flavour,
engaging explicitly in dialogue with contemporary debates and their contending
positions and, where practicable, especially in volumes with many contributors, will
themselves exemplify dialogue.
The editors are keen that the series is open to many approaches. We wish to
include work that focuses directly on the university as a social institution and on
higher education as an educational process; on the idea of the university and on
higher education as a sector with political and policy frameworks; on students and
learning, and on academics and academic knowledge; and on curricula and
pedagogy, and on research and knowledge processes.
Volumes will examine policy and practical issues including, for example,
internationalisation, higher education as a set of ‘public goods’, access and fairness,
and the digital era and learning as well as more conceptual and theoretical issues
such as academic freedom, ethics, wellbeing, and the philosophy of social
organizations.
The editors very much welcome informal inquiries at any time.
Ronald Barnett, UCL Institute of Education – [email protected]; Søren
S.E. Bengtsen, Aarhus University – [email protected]
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15094
Robyn Barnacle • Denise Cuthbert
Editors
The PhD at the End of the
World
Provocations for the Doctorate and a Future
Contested
Editors
Robyn Barnacle Denise Cuthbert
School of Graduate Research School of Graduate Research
RMIT University RMIT University
Melbourne, VIC, Australia Melbourne, VIC, Australia
ISSN 2366-2573 ISSN 2366-2581 (electronic)
Debating Higher Education: Philosophical Perspectives
ISBN 978-3-030-62218-3 ISBN 978-3-030-62219-0 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-62219-0
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature
Switzerland AG 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
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Contents
1 The PhD at the End of the World: Provocations for the Doctorate
and a Future Contested –Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Robyn Barnacle and Denise Cuthbert
2 Is Geo-logy the New Umbrella for All the Sciences?
Hints for a Neo-Humboldtian University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Bruno Latour
Part I Down to Earth – The PhD Lived-Experience
3 STEM PhD Student Preparation in the Eras
of Cross-sector Convergence and Global Climate Crisis:
An Autobiographical Exploration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Bryan G. Moravec and Matthew M. Mars
4 Operationalising Research: Embedded PhDs
in Transdisciplinary, Action Research Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Diego Ramirez-Lovering, Michaela F. Prescott, Brendan Josey,
Mahsa Mesgar, Daša Spasojevic, and Erich Wolff
Part II E arthing the PhD Curriculum
5 Postformal Learning for Postnormal Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Susan D. Porter
6 How Might the (Social Sciences) PhD Play a Role
in Addressing Global Challenges? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Lynn McAlpine
7 A Public and Persuasive PhD: Reforming Doctoral Education
in the Outreach- Focused University . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
Denise Cuthbert and Robyn Barnacle
vii
viii Contents
8 Remaking the PhD in US Higher Education: An Assessment. . . . . . . 117
Deane E. Neubauer
Part III E arthing Beyond the PhD
9 “I’m Sorry, but It’s Kind of Business.” Crisis, Critique and Care
in and Beyond the PhD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Ruth Müller
10 Doctoral Creativity as an Epistemological Force
in Saving and/or Destroying the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Liezel Frick
11 The Contribution to Climate Change Research
of the Professional Doctorate and PhD: More of the Same
but of a Different Flavour? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Paul Gibbs
Part IV Theorising an Earthy PhD
12 Expert Not Specialist: Doctoral Ecologies for Focused Frogs
and High-Flying Birds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Ross Gibson
13 The PhD Revolution: World-Entangled and Hopeful Futures . . . . . . 181
Søren S. E. Bengtsen
14 Resituating the PhD: Towards an Ecological Adeptness . . . . . . . . . . . 197
Ronald Barnett
Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Notes on Contributors
Robyn Barnacle is Associate Professor in the School of Graduate Research at
RMIT University, Melbourne Australia. She is a research education specialist, lead-
ing research education and supervisor training activities across the university.
Robyn’s research is both conceptual and empirical, focusing on doctoral education,
policy, and practice, and she publishes widely on these topics.
Ronald Barnettis Professor Emeritus of Higher Education at University College
London, UK, where he was Pro-director and Dean of Professional Development. He
continues to pursue work in the philosophy of higher education and acts as a con-
sultant and visiting professor.
Søren S. E. Bengtsen is Associate Professor at the Danish School of Education,
Aarhus University, Denmark, where he is also the Co-director of the Research
Centre for Higher Education Futures. He is the Co-founder and Chair of the inter-
national academic association, Philosophy and Theory of Higher Education Society.
Denise Cuthbert has an education in the humanities and has worked across several
fields in the humanities and social sciences. She has published on a range of topics
related to women and children and on higher education policy and practice includ-
ing doctoral education. Her high education research appears in a range of journals
including Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, and Higher Education
Quarterly. Her day job is Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Research Training and
Development, providing oversight of the graduate research programs, both Masters
by Research and PhDs, at RMIT University, Melbourne.
Liezel Frickis Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies and
the director of the Centre for Higher and Adult Education at the Faculty of Education
at Stellenbosch University (South Africa). Her research interests are within the
broader field of doctoral education, with a particular focus on aspects of doctoral
creativity and originality, learning during the doctorate, and doctoral supervision.
ix
x Notes on Contributors
Paul Gibbsis Emeritus Professor at Middlesex University and visiting professor at
UTS, Azerbaijan University, and at the East European University in Georgia. His
interests include transdisciplinarity and philosophy of higher education.
Ross Gibson is Centenary Professor in Creative and Cultural Research at the
University of Canberra, in the ecologically delicate capital city of Australia. His
work spans many media including a dozen single-authored books, many radio fea-
ture programs, as well as several exhibition installations, live performances, and
motion-picture productions. See www.rossgibson.com.au.
Brendan Josey has more than 5 years’ experience in the architectural profession in
Australia, Europe, and the developing world. Brendan is engaged in the RISE
Project as a PhD researcher. Brendan is examining the interaction between
community- led incremental urban densification and the implementation of water-
sensitive infrastructure upgrading in Makassar, Indonesia.
Bruno Latouris Emeritus Professor associated with the médialab and the program
in political arts (SPEAP) of Sciences Po Paris. A member of several academies, he
is the recipient in 2013 of the Holberg Prize. He has written and edited more than 20
books and published more than 150 articles.
Matthew M. Mars is Associate Professor of Leadership and Innovation and
Director of the Career Center in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
(CALS) at the University of Arizona (UA) in Tucson, AZ, USA. He also holds cour-
tesy appointments in the UA’s Center for the Study of Higher Education and
Department of Public and Applied Humanities. His research focuses on how entre-
preneurial logics and strategies become embedded in and influence academic cul-
tures, community development initiatives, and social movements.
Lynn McAlpineis Professor Emerita at both the University of Oxford, UK, and
McGill University, Canada. At this point in her career, it is her research on doctoral
students and post-PhD researchers’ careers for which she is internationally recog-
nized. Her work conducted in Canada, the UK, and Europe examines how PhDs and
graduates navigate their life and career trajectories both in and outside the academy.
The results of her research have important professional development implications –
which leads to frequent international invitations to do workshops and keynotes that
explore these implications for PhDs, post-PhD academic researchers, PhD supervi-
sors, as well as university administrators.
Mahsa Mesgaris a PhD researcher at Monash University and an urban planner,
with a track record working on upgrading projects in the Middle East and Indonesia.
Her research explores spatial and land tenure complexities of infrastructure retrofit
in sanitation-deprived areas and aims to offer a practical methodology for location
decision-making and upscaling.
