With the expansion of the blue economy market across Europe in recent decades, more doctorate holders are turning to employment outside academia and trailblazing new career trajectories in marine, maritime, and coastal non-academic sectors. In matching such new realities, the six European universities under the alliance of European Universities of the Seas (SEA-EU) partnered in an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships project called SEA-EU DOC.
Nested in the principles of the SEA-EU, the SEA-EU DOC was launched in September 2020 and aimed to raise awareness about career paths in non-academic employment for doctorate holders, strengthen the recognition of the doctorate in the non-academic sector and promote the exchange of experiences and good practices to improve doctoral training programmes accordingly. The project focused on three intellectual outputs (IOs). IO1 aimed to provide visibility of the diversity of career paths available for doctorate holders. IO2 assessed skills and training quality required to match the demands of the current and emerging employment opportunities. IO3 worked on creating a European blue doctorate network to strengthen links with the private sector.
The volume entitled Inspiring Alumni Stories: Testimonials of Blue Doctorate Holders is the result of several months of interviewing work delivered under IO1. A series of one-to-one interviews were held with 60 doctorate holders across the six countries in order to profile non-academic employment of blue doctorate holders. Dr Ritienne Gauci (Department of Geography) who coordinated this task for the University of Malta said: “Through these interviews, it was possible to identify the key success criteria of each doctorate story and analyse the factors that influenced the fruitful trajectory of each of the alumni in developing a career outside the academic sector. The results will help to strengthen future doctoral training programmes and ensure that students obtain the qualifications and competences expected by employers in both the current and prospective labour market.”
The University of Malta’s partnership in the SEA-EU DOC was led by Prof. Nicholas Vella, Director of the Doctoral School. Mr Clayton Axisa was appointed Research Support Officer on the project and contributed to the deliverables of this volume and accompanying video testimonials which can be downloaded online.
The results of the project will be presented at the annual meeting of the European University Association’s Council for Doctoral Education to be held in Lahti, Finland, in June 2023.
The UM’s SEA-EU Office, managed by Maria Grima Calleja, supported this project.
