Post-graduate education is increasingly called upon to support doctoral students in developing not only research expertise but also a broader set of professional, personal, and institutional competencies required by contemporary academic and non-academic contexts. In response to this need, this contribution presents the design of an educational program for holistic doctoral development, grounded in a Faculty Development perspective that considers PhD candidates as possible future faculty members. The contribution reports on the educational design process, illustrating how a practice-oriented training architecture was developed in collaboration with doctoral students to address the training of multidimensional competencies. The program is structured around interconnected learning experiences operating at the micro, meso, and macro levels, combining reflective practices and collaborative learning within an orientation course for first-year doctoral students. The key elements of the training proposal stem from an integrative review conducted using the PICOC method, aimed at answering the question: How is training for the development of competencies for doctoral students structured and delivered internationally, and what differences can be observed in terms of content, methods, and training objectives? The educational design and integrative review are part of a broader doctoral project, where the research was conducted using a mixed sequential exploratory approach (qual-QUAN) on doctoral training. The qualitative insights that emerged from 8 focus groups conducted with University of Verona’s (Italy) doctoral students (N = 39) and 25 interviews with stakeholders involved in doctoral education or faculty development (N = 25), along with data from a national survey (Italy) of doctoral students (N = 451) on their perceptions and needs regarding doctoral training, provided an empirical basis for identifying areas of competence and defining the program structure. This paper centres on the educational design of a program for holistic doctoral development, showing how it was empirically grounded in qualitative and quantitative findings and informed by an integrative review. The design process is presented as a co-constructed endeavour involving doctoral students themselves, and is discussed as a transferable framework to inform faculty development practices at both national and international levels.
Designing Doctoral Training: an Empirically Grounded Educational Proposal Aimed at Supporting a Holistic Professional Development
Martina Ghio
;Alessia Bevilacqua
2026-01-01
Abstract
Post-graduate education is increasingly called upon to support doctoral students in developing not only research expertise but also a broader set of professional, personal, and institutional competencies required by contemporary academic and non-academic contexts. In response to this need, this contribution presents the design of an educational program for holistic doctoral development, grounded in a Faculty Development perspective that considers PhD candidates as possible future faculty members. The contribution reports on the educational design process, illustrating how a practice-oriented training architecture was developed in collaboration with doctoral students to address the training of multidimensional competencies. The program is structured around interconnected learning experiences operating at the micro, meso, and macro levels, combining reflective practices and collaborative learning within an orientation course for first-year doctoral students. The key elements of the training proposal stem from an integrative review conducted using the PICOC method, aimed at answering the question: How is training for the development of competencies for doctoral students structured and delivered internationally, and what differences can be observed in terms of content, methods, and training objectives? The educational design and integrative review are part of a broader doctoral project, where the research was conducted using a mixed sequential exploratory approach (qual-QUAN) on doctoral training. The qualitative insights that emerged from 8 focus groups conducted with University of Verona’s (Italy) doctoral students (N = 39) and 25 interviews with stakeholders involved in doctoral education or faculty development (N = 25), along with data from a national survey (Italy) of doctoral students (N = 451) on their perceptions and needs regarding doctoral training, provided an empirical basis for identifying areas of competence and defining the program structure. This paper centres on the educational design of a program for holistic doctoral development, showing how it was empirically grounded in qualitative and quantitative findings and informed by an integrative review. The design process is presented as a co-constructed endeavour involving doctoral students themselves, and is discussed as a transferable framework to inform faculty development practices at both national and international levels.
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