Photo: Simon Klein-Knudsen

Doctoral courses in conjunction with conferences ease the way into the research community

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When doctoral courses are held in conjunction with an international conference it is a big win for both new and experienced researchers. That is the experience from DTU Civil Engineering that recently held a big event with 13 different professional approaches to civil engineering. DTU's standard and laboratory facilities are also given a lot of credit for the success.

Over the last few weeks, 500 researchers and PhD students from almost 60 different countries visited DTU to participate in the event Materials, Systems and Structures in Civil Engineering – MSSCE 2016.

In collaboration with Danish Technological Institute, DTU Civil Engineering held doctoral courses, technical and professional meetings and a scientific conference where participants presented and discussed their work in the building and construction research from 13 different disciplinary perspectives.

Future researchers are introduced efficiently to the research community

According to Professor Ole Mejlhede Jensen who was the academic anchor person for MSSCE 2016, about half of the PhD students who participated in the doctoral courses, also participated at the scientific conference. This is a very efficient way to introduce future researchers to the international research community, evaluates Ole Mejlhede Jensen.

"The PhD students are required to make a certain number of conference presentations during their education. When the presentations are combined with the opportunity to discuss their projects with leading researchers in their field on a doctoral course, both the new and experienced researchers get a great value from this interaction, "says Ole Mejlhede Jensen.

"The PhD students are required to make a certain number of conference presentations during their education. When the presentations are combined with the opportunity to discuss their projects with leading researchers in their field on a doctoral course, both the new and experienced researchers get a great value from this interaction."
Ole Mejlhede Jensen

This assessment is shared by Per Goltermann, professor and chairman of the Education Committee at DTU Civil Engineering.

"The concept of arranging doctoral courses in conjunction with an international conference is a great idea – both for the new researchers’ opportunity to be channeled efficiently into the research community and the academic environment’s opportunity to provide new capacity in form of new researchers, "estimates Per Goltermann, who coordinated a conference track on Innovation of Teaching in Materials and Structures at the recent conference.

One of the reasons why the doctoral courses were so successful is DTU’s good laboratory facilities, says Per Goltermann.

"The participants I spoke to were impressed with the high level of the doctoral courses and spoke highly of the way DTU's laboratories were involved in the courses. As both a teacher and researcher, it was wonderful to see the well-functioning interaction between academic presentations and experimental work in laboratories that characterised the doctoral courses, "says Per Goltermann.

Professors from the textbooks were ready with good advice

One of the PhD students who participated in both a doctoral course and the conference at MSSCE 2016 is Lin Chi, who is guest PhD student at DTU Civil Engineering.

According to her, the presentations and laboratory work on the doctoral courses had a close links to applied research and inspired her to try new things. Meeting the many experienced researchers was also valuable for her.

"The conference gave me a great opportunity to communicate with many respected professors that I know from the textbooks I have read throughout the years. I had the opportunity to discuss some of the issues that have confused me and they were really kind to offer explanations – and also gave me some good advice along the way. I feel really lucky to have been a participant," says Lin Chi.