The industrial PhD: student perspectives on learning, communicating and knowledge brokering

Journal article, 2026

Purpose – Professionally integrated doctorates such as “industrial PhDs” (IndPhD) are considered a way of promoting societally relevant and applicable knowledge production in the academy. IndPhDs place the student in a brokering role between industry and academia – theorised as two different discourse communities (DCs) in this study – which entails new and challenging practices when communicating their research. Whereas previous research has painted the communication realities of IndPhDs with broad brush strokes, this study aims to highlight the variety of their experiences and challenges, along with the support needed.

Design/methodology/approach – This study designed and used a survey distributed to IndPhD students affiliated with major Swedish technological universities.

Findings – Participants communicated in a variety of genres in academia and industry, but many found the adaptation across audiences challenging. They overall lacked support in developing the skills needed to adapt their communication across the two DCs as well as developing their knowledge-brokering identity.

Originality/value – Previous research has lacked detail in describing the communication realities and challenges of IndPhD students, providing an insufficient base for designing training and support. Drawing on DCs and knowledge brokering, a set of concepts not previously used together to theorise IndPhDs, this study adds a more fine-grained picture – identifying and detailing areas where support is needed as well as providing advice for practice.