New-styles of Doctoral Studies in Austria

In universities around the globe important changes are taking place concerning how PhD candidates are being prepared as early career scientists. These changes are being made in response to the increasing demand for well- trained and highly motivated researchers in an economically competitive and knowledge-based world. Under the auspices of the Third Cycle of the Bologna Process, an ambitious reform of the doctoral experience is taking shape in Austria with new structures and processes. A core part of these initiatives is offering PhD studies in Doktorandenkollegs (doctoral studies centres) that incorporate a selective process of admission, structure, and support for a group of funded students. Yet, the scholarly literature, as well as policy and practice, fails to mention gender. This neglect is particularly problematic because it does not acknowledge or propose to remedy the problem of doctoral studies as the first glaring leak of female talent from the higher education pipeline. We propose to focus on the ways male and female PhD candidates actively integrate and establish themselves as scientists in the first phase of their research careers in Doktorandenkollegs and ascertain from PhD candidates` experiences when gender is relevant and irrelevant in this innovation. Two research questions will guide the research: " How do PhD candidates become scientists in new-style PhD programs? " When is gender relevant or irrelevant in terms of advantages or disadvantages in doctoral experiences? We will employ a constructivist-grounded theory approach to build explanatory frameworks around concepts that describe PhD candidate experiences` of becoming scientists in the early stage of their careers and their gendered and ungendered dimensions. We will draw upon the interdisciplinary scholarship on doctoral studies along with the most current scholarship on gendered organizations, especially Ridgeway`s (2009) primary and institutional framing of gender. Intensive case studies will be conducted of four Doktorandenkollegs in two Austrian universities. The experiences of approximately 48 male and female PhD candidates will be investigated after their first and second year of studies. We will use and triangulate open-ended interviews, an innovative approach of pictorial representation, and structural/organizational information. These methods will enable us to generate an empirically grounded theoretical conceptualization of PhD candidate "interactive integration" in new-style doctoral studies programs and a useful conceptualization of the relevance (or irrelevance) of gender when becoming a scientist. The project intends to fill in a number of lacunae in the literature. These include: (1) theorizing forms of PhD candidate integration in new-style doctoral studies programs; (2) building a more useful conception of the relevance of gender in becoming a scientist; (3) analyzing the actual effects of institutional frameworks and structures of new-style doctoral programs; and (4) incorporating an agency and structural perspective in which PhD candidates bring knowledge, values, and ideas that interact with expectations within the university. The emergent gender-sensitive theoretical framework, innovative methodology, and carefully documented findings from the project will be used to inform and reframe scientific research and policy and practice initiatives on doctoral experiences in new-style programs in Austria and Europe. The study also will highlight good practices of PhD candidates and organizations and possible improvements.