opening doors project


The purpose of OPENING DOORS is to co-develop an interdisciplinary, intersectoral, & international educational offering for post-graduate researchers. Our goal is to shape more innovative, socially aware, integrative and employable research graduates, ready to meet the challenges of the future. This will be accomplished through a challenge-based, open, online educational course. Course participants will develop doctoral competencies that are valued in open innovation networks, enabling them to thrive in complex knowledge networks such that career prospects in both academic and non-academic environments are enriched. The specific objectives of OPENING DOORS are to:

  1. identify the graduate skills that are valued in open innovation systems through interviews with employers, PhD graduates and educators in those systems
  2. co-design an educational course for PhD and postdoctoral researchers in collaboration with industry, government, community, university stakeholders including PhD students, that uses real-world challenges as the basis of collaborative learning opportunities.
  3. enable students to manage interdisciplinary, intersectoral and international connectivity through an open, online learning environment. Reflexivity, interdisciplinary team communication processes, intercultural sensitivity, digital skills and career development will underpin the learning process. This work is vital in an era where open science practices are becoming the currency in many intersectoral innovation networks

Opening Doors was a 17-month project, with five interrelated work packages.