Knowledge Transfer at the Research–Policy Interface: The Geography Postgraduates' Experiences of Collaborative Studentships

Abstract

The need for effective knowledge transfer has been well documented; however, few narratives reflect on postgraduates as brokers of knowledge when participating in collaborative studentships. This paper reports on the authors' experiences of undertaking Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Scottish Government (SG) collaborative PhD studentships in geography, a new studentship which trains doctoral students to be employable in both academe and government. Particular focus is given to the experiences related to an annual month-long SG placement, which increases opportunities for knowledge transfer by engendering a deeper awareness of the needs of all partners. It concludes by considering what the experiences offer to the PhD process, authors' future prospects, and the issue of knowledge transfer more broadly.

Keywords:

• Knowledge transfer
• knowledge brokerage
• doctoral training
• student experiences

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by two Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Scottish Government Collaborative Studentships (Award numbers: PTA-028-2006-00001 and PTA-028-2006-00004). The authors would like to thank the four anonymous referees for their comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The views expressed in this paper are not the views of the Scottish Government, the ESRC or the hosting institutions. All errors and misrepresentations are therefore, the authors' own.