Universities in society: Value creation as research engagement (The Humanities as a specific case)

Conference registration
The conference is free and open to all but to receive the zoom link for the conference please register through this link.

Conference abstract
This conference presents the main research findings and practical implications of a Danish-based research project that studied how the cohesion between doctoral education, societal impact and value may be increased, specifically exploring doctoral education within the humanities across policy-making, institutional leadership, research environments, and individual doctoral students. That the project focused on the interconnections between levels ensured a more comprehensive and complementary understanding of doctoral education within the humanities.

One of the novelties of the project is that it researched how academics themselves (PhD students, supervisors, research leaders, PhD-School leaders, Deans, and Rectors) understand and engage in societal contexts both within and beyond their institutions. Perspectives that are often overlooked in educational policy, stakeholder reviews, and media coverage, and even in the research literature itself. Main findings of the project include that strong and major societal impact from humanities research happen in the research and leadership processes (and not as products), where disciplinary, institutional, and personal engagement catalyse interconnections between universities and societal stakeholders. From the project it becomes clear that societal value of research is dynamic (and not static), nested or ecological (and not isolated or separate), and depends heavily on existential and emotional dimensions of interpersonal relationships both within and beyond universities.

Conference programme
The research team will present the main findings and place them into current research and doctoral education contexts. Conference participants will be encouraged to contribute with their own research findings and professional experiences concerning the conference theme and project highlights. Finally, implications for further research, doctoral education, and university leadership will be discussed.

A detailed program will be shared with the particpants closer to the event.

Conference time and place
The conference is fully online (via Zoom) and will take place on December 4, 2024, at 09.00-12.00 Central European Time (CET) (UTC+1).

Organiser and conference chair
Principal Investigator (PI), Associate Professor Søren Bengtsen will act as conference chair.

The conference is hosted by the Centre for Higher Education Futures (CHEF), Danish School of Education, Aarhus University.