Duration
30h Th
Number of credits
| Doctoral training in economics and business management (Sciences de gestion) | 10 crédits |
Lecturer
Language(s) of instruction
English language
Organisation and examination
All year long
Schedule
Units courses prerequisite and corequisite
Prerequisite or corequisite units are presented within each program
Learning unit contents
This Doctoral Seminar plays a central role in the program of the Doctoral School in Management Science co-sponsored by ULiège, ULB & UMons.
The objective of this course is to develop your doctoral student's skills in structuring, positioning and presenting your doctoral thesis project within the research community. This involves structuring and planning your research work, designing your research questions, adopting relevant theoretical and methodological tools, identifying meaningful contributions, and designing relevant publication strategies.
The five sessions will help you get acquainted with the different dimensions of a doctoral thesis and of academic research in general. Assignments prior to each session will enable you to prepare the contents and apply the topic to your specific project and research community. The final assignment will consist of drafting the structure of your first research paper.
Learning outcomes of the learning unit
At the end of this course you will be able to:
- structure and plan your doctoral project
- position your project within your research community
- formulate a clear research question
- draft an appealing literature review
- make theoretical and methodological choices
- present and discuss research findings
- understand how to identify research contributions
- design relevant publication and diffusion strategies
- develop your critical thinking
- make explicit and justify your choices
- strengthen your writing and presentation capacity
Prerequisite knowledge and skills
To be enrolled in the PhD Program in Management Science at one of the Universities participating in the EDT ULiège - ULB - UMons.
To have a good knowledge of English (the whole course will take place exclusively in English).
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Session 1: Positioning and planning a research project
- Discovering the world of research
- Identifying your epistemological positioning
- Identifying your research community/ies
- Defining a compelling research question
- Planning a research project and applying for funding
Session 2: Crafting a literature review
- Defining the pieces of literature
- Exploring the literature
- Identifying research gaps
- Writing a literature review
Session 3: Defining a research design, collecting and analyzing data
- Choosing and justifying your research design
- Collecting data
- Analyzing data
Session 4: Reporting and discussing findings
- Reporting findings
- Discussing findings
- Identifying limitations and future research avenues
Session 5: Publication and diffusion strategies
- (Co-)authorship strategies
- Choosing a journal
- Preparing a manuscript for submission
- Reviewing process
- Communication and research profile
Mode of delivery (face to face, distance learning, hybrid learning)
Face-to-face, distance learning and individual work (in English).
Organisational adjustments related to the current health context
The teaching will move to an online format if the sanitary situation doesn't enable face-to-face classes.
Recommended or required readings
The course will be partly based on the following book, which participants can but do not need to acquire:
Saunders, M. N. K., Thornhill, A., & Lewis, P. (2018), Research Methods for Business Students, Harlow: Pearson.
Additional readings will be provided on the Lol@ platform section dedicated to the course.
Assessment methods and criteria
Below you will find information on the evaluation methods planned for in-person and remote exams as well as those planned for hybrid sessions. Depending on how the health crisis evolves, the chosen method will be communicated to you no later than one month before the start of the exam session.
The course grade will be determined by a set of intermediary assignments to be prepared before each class (50%) as well as by a final work (30%). Active participation will be graded too (20%).
- Assignment 1: Formulate your research question(s) (max. 3 sub-questions)
- Assignment 2: Draft the structure of your literature review and state the main research gaps (max. 3 p.)
- Assignment 3: Draft your research design (methods you plan to use) and justify your choices (max. 3 p.)
- Assignment 4: Examine 3 empirical papers in your field and compare the way in which the authors report and discuss their findings (max. 3 p.)
- Assignment 5: Interview a scholar in your field about his/her publication experience, including good and bad surprises ; ask a cover letter and a response letter to reviewers ; and ask about his/her publication strategy recommendations for doctoral students
- Final work: Write the introduction of your first research paper and complete the other sections of the paper in bullet point mode. Also prepare the abstract and the cover letter explaining why you think the paper should be of interest to the targetted journal.
Work placement(s)
Organizational remarks
The dates and the room will be communicated early October on the Lola platform dedicated to the course and on the official website of the ULiège - ULB - UMons Doctoral School.
Contacts
Prof. Benjamin Huybrechts (b.huybrechts@uliege.be)