To join the IDERN, please contact Mark at mrconnolly@wisc.edu.

In a world that is no longer able to maintain or sustain social or cultural enclaves, free from impact of global flows of capital, technologies and bodies, our lives have become more complex. People, events, governments and institutions such as education are increasingly interconnected. In universities, where the presence and influence of an ever-expanding world are particularly keenly recognized, ideas, information and knowledge increasingly cross national boundaries, enabled by digital media and geographical mobility for academics and students. Those of us concerned with doctoral education are increasingly involved in developments that allow and indeed require an international consciousness and an active reaching out to connect programs, knowledge and understanding about pedagogy, and knowledge production. Research and research education become primary sites for shaping the world.

The International Doctoral Education Research Network (IDERN) was formed in this context, 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 three years, as well as to use online technologies to share and disseminate information and research on the doctorate. A listserve run by Dr. Mark Connolly, University of Wisconsin–Madison, is, outside of the triennial meetings, the primary means of keeping this research community connected. 

See last publications

• Career goals, pathways and competencies of geography graduate students in the USA

M Solem, A Kollasch, J Lee – 2012

… 2006. Envisioning the future of Doctoral Education: Preparing stewards of the discipline, San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass. … 2006. The assessment of Doctoral Education: Emerging criteria and new models for improving outcomes , Sterling, VA : Stylus. …

• Graduate Students’ Perceptions of Their Advisors: Is There Systematic Disadvantage in Mentorship?

S Noy, R Ray – The Journal of HigherEducation, 2012

… Our findings speak to the utility of the intersectionality framework for examining interpersonal relations in highereducation and suggest that advisor support indoctoral education is raced and gendered. …Advisors and advisee issues in doctoral education. …

• Coping with loneliness: An etnographic study of doctoral students

H Janta, P Lugosi, L Brown – 2012

… International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy , 23(1/2): 4–32. [CrossRef] View all references) study examines this further by comparing perceptions of doctoral students in chemistry and education across a number of UK departments. …

• The path to graduation: A model interactive Web site design supporting doctoral students

N Simmons-Johnson – 2012

… Objective. This 2-phase mixed method study assessed 2nd-yeardoctoral students’ and dissertation students’ perceptions of the current Graduate School of Education dissertation support Web site, with implications for designing a model dissertation support Web site.