LISTers,

In my experience there is nothing exceptional about PhD students  
publishing during their study.

However, I feel that this must always be voluntary. The prospect of  
having a fixed tariff of publications, which somehow contribute to the  
PhD, fills me with dread for a number of reasons. If one takes the  
view that a PhD primarily is a training in how to do research at a  
professional level (and I do take this view), then frankly some PhD  
studies may be very competent but not of enormous interest to the  
outside world. The PhD is a start in research: the best work comes  
later. For some, perhaps especially those working across disciplines,  
getting the fruits of their final conclusions into a format acceptable  
to several, perhaps diverse, audiences (both reviewers and readers)  
may not be successful until they become postdoctoral researchers.

I have long encouraged my students to publish, but with certain  
conditions. First, I want them to have experience of at least one  
conference so that they gain direct feedback on what is after all work- 
in-progress, and to make some contacts through meeting people. Second,  
the supervisors (plural) help them write the paper: this is most  
important because it is part of the apprenticeship, and it has the  
additional benefit of a much higher success rate than if the student  
did it alone. Thea Blackler is a good example of a student who co- 
authored with her supervisors very successfully, and produced some  
excellent findings at different stages of her study.

But there is another benefit seldom discussed. Many will have heard  
horror stories of vivas that go wrong, where a competent candidate is  
expected to pass, but whose work is rubbished by an examiner who takes  
a very different philosophical view about the thesis. This seems  
especially tricky where the thesis demonstrates deep work between  
design and another discipline where there are currently several  
contested positions. I personally witnessed this on one occasion,  
where one examiner, having interviewed the student, became convinced  
of a clear pass, whereas the other was less convinced and took an  
increasingly belligerent view that the thesis should be failed. When  
the university's research degrees committee came to discuss the  
matter, possibly to call for another examination, they were influenced  
by the student's publications record; several items had been published  
in journals and conference proceedings. All had been peer reviewed (to  
a lesser or greater extent) and this gave comfort that a critical view  
of the work extended well beyond the viva. In other words, they  
couldn't all be wrong.

Having students be reviewers is a good idea and has been practised for  
some time. Three or four of my past students have participated as  
reviewers for conferences while they were studying. As supervisors we  
would discuss principles of reviewing with them, and act as a backstop  
should they get into difficulty.

I was discussing with Chris Rust last night the fact that a number of  
our reviewers for the upcoming (and rigorously reviewed!) DRS08  
conference list themselves as PhD candidates, though they are often  
mid career academics with a wealth of research experience, and in some  
cases experience of review as editors as well. All reviewers for the  
conference have passed a vetting process to ensure they have good  
experience.

Finally, may I point out that in recent discussions on this list,  
means of dissemination seem to have been limited only to journal and  
conference papers, indeed there has been talk of conferences being  
lesser in status, and some journals being 'serious'. These are just  
two media of dissemination. We must accept that times have moved on,  
and there are many means of disseminating research, ranging across  
book chapters, single authored books, curated exhibitions, juried  
shows, performances, websites, interactive installations, CDs, DVDs,  
television etc. All of these are legitimate means of dissemination.  
Let us not confuse the media with the peer review process.

David

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David Durling PhD FDRS  |  Professor of Design
School of Arts & Education, Middlesex University
Cat Hill, Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN4 8HT, UK
tel: 020 8411 5108  |  international:  + 44 20 8411 5108
email:  [log in to unmask]  |  [log in to unmask]
web: http://www.adri.org.uk |  http://www.durling.info
http://www.dartevents.net
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