PhD students shared their research in Engineering Education at SEFI 2021 Doctoral Symposium

5th Doctoral Symposium at SEFI 2021

On September 12, the SEFI 2021 conference was opened with the fifth SEFI Doctoral Symposium in Engineering Education Research. 10 PhD students used this opportunity to share and discuss their PhD work with 11 established scholars, to build their network, and to exchange feedback and ideas. For the second time, the doctoral symposium was organized fully online, which made it feasible for Australian and African PhD students to join as well.

After the Doctoral Symposium, our survey learned that all participants rated the activity highly. They believed the format was well-adapted to the online setting. We provide just a couple of quotes from the participants’ feedback:

“I liked the in-depth discussions during the group sessions, I liked hearing the take home messages from everyone, and I liked the tips from the senior researchers in the introduction. I also liked the speed dating. Overall, it was fantastic and I’m very glad I joined: thanks for the great session!”

“I liked meeting people from various backgrounds in engineering education and get new ideas and new motivation for my research.”

When the next doctoral symposium is hopefully face-to-face again, participants believe that the doctoral symposium could be extended to a longer day, such that the participants get more opportunity for networking and deeper discussions.

No better way than to give the floor to our participants to advertise the future doctoral symposia:

“It is very interesting to attend the symposium, since you will be able to get new insights from people who have different research experiences and different backgrounds.”

“ABSOLUTELY DO ATTEND!!! Don’t worry if you feel like you have no idea what you’re doing – the seniors have been through that, and have seen it all. They want to help you, so swallow your pride and let them.”

“It is a wonderful networking opportunity to meet other PhD students and more experienced researchers in Engineering Education – certainly a beneficial experience to hear about different perspectives and ideas that could help shape/inspire undergoing works in their PhD or future research work collaborations.”

The Doctoral Symposium was proudly chaired by

• Jonte Bernhard, Professor, Deputy Editor of the European Journal for Engineering Education,
• Kristina Edström, Associate Professor, Editor-in-Chief of the European Journal for Engineering Education,
• Tinne De Laet, Associate Professor, Chair of the SEFI SIG Engineering Education Research.