METEOR: Methodologies for Teamworking in Eco-Outwards Research
(METEOR)

Päärahoittaja

Euroopan komissio

Rahoittajan antama koodi/diaarinumero: 101178320

Päärahoittajan myöntämä tuki (€)

289 512,50

Rahoitusohjelma

CSA Coordination and Support Action, HE (2021-2027) (Horisontti Eurooppa HE)

Hankkeen aikataulu

Hankkeen aloituspäivämäärä: 01.12.2024

Hankkeen päättymispäivämäärä: 30.11.2027

Tiivistelmä

The overall aim of METEOR is to improve the transversal skills of current doctoral candidates and early career researchers (ECR) through an innovative, collaborative and participatory training program. Improving transversal skills will have consequent benefits to both an individual's employability and the whole research ecosystem, in line with the principles of Open Science and Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). For many years, the EC has promoted and funded innovation in school science education, notably around ideas such as Inquiry-based Science Education and Open Schooling. METEOR is designed to have a much more direct effect on the pipeline for science and research careers, by equipping doctoral candidates and early career researchers with the skills to operate in a range of research-driven environments and a desire to use their specialized knowledge responsibly and for the benefit of society. However, it also takes up the point made by Barnacle et al (2019) that HASS postgraduates can add value to a range of positions in and beyond academia, including STEM based positions.
METEOR has five core principles:
Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Impact, and Sustainability.
Relevance: The relevance of the PhD is questioned from three directions. Prospective doctoral candidates, most of whom will already have master’s degrees, question the additional value to their careers provided by a Doctorate, especially in areas of high demand such as information technology. Culturally, the value of a doctorate varies from country to country and “[t]he value of the PhD in non-academic labour markets depends on contingencies, groups involved in the doctoral research, as well as PhDs’ conscious personal desires” (Canolle & Vinot 2021). Secondly, its value is questionable when a master’s in a specialized content area provides enough technical knowledge at lower cost (Hnatkova et al, 2022). There may also be a tendency to undervalue the critical skills acquired during the PhD process. Crucially, if employers are looking for transversal skills in parallel with research ability, they may not see evidence for this in recently graduated individuals.
Thirdly, from a societal perspective, there is a pressing need for researchers to address current challenges, especially climate change, in line with RRI and the Europe 2030 agendas. (Hnatkova et al, 2022) However, in current inward-facing ecosystems, the PhD process often leads to the reproduction of academic norms and practices without any direct benefits for society. METEOR addresses all three relevance issues, by equipping doctoral-level researchers with parallel skills in the desired transversal areas, thus enabling them to earn more and do more for society
Effectiveness: METEOR will be effective because it takes a realistic approach to training challenges, including recruitment, retention, depth of learning and overall motivation. Our target for overall numbers reached directly is relatively modest but has been carefully matched to the available staff effort and other costs to give each participant an effective grounding in the specified range of skills, competences and attitudes. Our program covers an extended period of 15 months within the overall duration of 36 months, enabling deep engagement whilst providing sufficient time for development before, and dissemination after, obtaining our results.
Efficiency: METEOR is essentially a pilot project and we have calculated a cost per participant, which is in line with activities such as conference attendance or conventional summer schools on a per trip basis, but with the added value of an accredited program and structured skill acquisition.
It is difficult to obtain accurate costings for the per-student cost of a PhD, but we assume that fees charged e.g. in the UK for a PhD are an indicator of cost. Our indicative cost per participating student is around 5560 EUR, including travel and subsistence costs. However, this is for 15 months of engagement, and does not include additional participants who use our online training resources.
A typical 5-day online project management course costs around 1200, so from this perspective METEOR provides excellent efficiency even on a per-direct-participant basis.
Impact: This is of course discussed in more detail in section 2, but METEOR will have substantial impact at five levels:
1) Individual level, by enhancing skillsets and subsequent job satisfaction, motivation, earnings and career progression.
2) Institutional: by increasing the availability of transversal skills training, by creating awareness of the need to broaden the scope of postgraduate education, and by improving supervisory and evaluation capacity.
3) Industrial/commercial, by increasing the pool of highly skilled staff able to span boundaries between research, enterprise and society.
4) Research Governance: by supporting an increased focus on impact and stakeholder involvement in research decision-making, in line with the Open Science and RRI agendas.
5) Society: by actively working towards desirable research outcomes in line with the UN SDGs, and by acting ethically in all R & I activities.
Sustainability: METEOR has three sustainability dimensions:
1) Increasing the sustainability of the doctoral process itself, by bringing it into line with 21st century expectations and the need for a better educated workforce.
2) Providing participants and future researchers with the motivation, skills and attitudes to address societal challenges such as climate change.
3) Setting up systems, including a doctoral school, to sustain METEOR activities and impact in the long term.
We have made a number of assumptions, based on available evidence, as to METEOR’s likely success in these key areas, but the evaluation to be conducted in WP5 will rigorously test these assumptions and provide robust evidence.