Author: Barry Elsey
University of Adelaide

Edition: Volume 64, Number 1, April 2024

Introduction: Many years of lived experience supervising PhDs and other research-based higher degrees provides the contextual background to reflections on practice and conceptual underpinnings to a specialised branch of adult continuing education for professional managers within industry contexts. Special Attention is focused on the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) as a research education experience for adults occupying senior management roles. Their seniority and underlying motivation combined with extensive knowledge and practical experience required a different approach from supervising mainstream PhD students. Much that was learned advising them was readily transferred to younger PhD students, to confirm the validity of approach. The research education process was dedicated to extending the boundaries of knowledge in the long tradition of the PhD. One important difference, however, was more emphasis on practical application of research outcomes. This key difference will be explored further.

Attention is focused on the key features of a practical approach to advising such adult learners with strong industry backgrounds. It was very much a learner-centred, customised approach focused on what they wanted to know and their explanatory rationale. In addition to being academic scholarship it was also about how new knowledge was to be applied in workplace and industry settings.

Keywords: senior management level research education, adult continuing education, adult learning theory, higher research degrees, the doctoral research learning journey

[feather share] Share a copy of this abstract.

This article is part of AJAL, Volume 64:1. The entire volume is available in .pdf for purchase here.