YUFE Approach to Doctoral and Postdoctoral Learning

At YUFE, we are building a shared vision for European education by supporting doctoral and postdoctoral researchers with unique training models and career development opportunities.

Integrating doctoral and postdoctoral training with YUFE values, such as responsible research, is a key element of this vision for joint European education. This will be achieved through a comprehensive doctoral and postdoctoral training model and tracking framework designed to promote responsible research practices actively.

With this approach, YUFE piloted several initiatives to support early-career researchers:

YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning
YUFE Postdoctoral Training and Development Scheme
YUFE DIOSI Impact and Graduate Tracking Framework
YUFE Courses for Early Career Researchers
Framework for Joint Supervision and Mentoring

YUFE Pilot Projects for Early Career Researchers

From May 2024 to December 2025, 8 YUFE universities piloted the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning to establish a joint vision and overarching framework for doctoral education.

What was included?

YUFE courses for doctoral candidates on key topics such as ‘Research Sustainability’, ‘International Career Development’, and more.
Apero Doctoring Sessions – informal gatherings inspired by the French apéritif to foster peer discussions and expert insights, e.g., sessions on topics such as ‘Time Management’ and ‘Good and Bad Days of a PhD’.
MOOCs to grow your academic skills at your own pace.
Comprehensive evaluation at the end of the pilot to shape future implementations of the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning to help other institutions.

Key Dates

May 7, 2024 – YUFE-wide kick-off (Cohort 1)
November 7, 2024 – YUFE-wide Kick-off (Cohort 2)
January 14, 2026 - YUFE-wide From Reflections to Directions

General Timeline

As this pilot programme concerns doctoral education, participants of this pilot were doctoral researchers. Relevant stakeholders are experts on doctoral education, representatives from the doctoral schools, doctoral candidates and/or supervisors. The pilot ended in December 2025, with a final event “From Reflections to Directions” on 14 January 2026. Policy recommendations will be delivered by June 2026.

For more information about the outcomes of the pilot or future YUFE initiatives, you can contact the following representatives of the partaking universities:

Nicolaus Copernicus University: [email protected]
University of Antwerp: [email protected]
University of Bremen: [email protected]
University of Eastern Finland: [email protected]
University of Essex: [email protected]
University of Maastricht: [email protected]
University of Rijeka: [email protected]
University of Sorbonne Nouvelle: [email protected]

With the development of the YUFE Postdoctoral Training and Developing Scheme, YUFE wants to provide institutionalised network broad support, foster new collaboration opportunities, facilitating mobility and providing international YUFE-wide high quality training and peer networking opportunities, bearing in mind that postdoctoral researchers are a distinct target group that merit specific attention and support in their endeavours, their teaching, their research, finding balance and further developing themselves.

What was included?

Internationally organised courses on different topics, such as ‘Leadership’, ‘Proposal Writing’, International Career Development, ‘Science Communication and Public Engagement’,…
Peer Support Groups: informal sessions on varying topics that aim to stimulate and nurture the researchers’ needs while marrying peer competencies with expert advice.

MOOCs to grow your academic skills at your own pace.

Key Dates

November 19 & 28, 2024 – YUFE-wide virtual kick-off
January 19, 2026 - YUFE-wide Connect & Reflect
The pilot ended in December 2025, with a final event “Connect & Reflect” on 14 January 2026. Policy recommendations will be delivered by July 2026.

For more information about the outcomes of the pilot or future YUFE initiatives, you can contact the following representatives of all the partaking universities:

Nicolaus Copernicus University: [email protected]
University of Antwerp: [email protected]
University of Bremen: [email protected]
University Carlos III of Madrid: [email protected]
University of Cyprus: [email protected]
University of Eastern Finland: [email protected]
University of Essex: [email protected]
University of Maastricht: [email protected]
University of Rijeka: [email protected]
University of Sorbonne Nouvelle: [email protected]

The YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning

In the DIOSI project, the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning was created coming to terms with doctoral learning in a changing higher education environment where a failure to adjust the entrance to workforce to the slowing expansion of the research system has led to an overproduction of aspiring scientists with limited opportunities for permanent careers in academia.

These evolutions have had a crucial impact on the doctoral experience where doctoral education in Europe has evolved from serving a calling in academia and developing into competitive researchers to also become highly-skilled knowledge professionals with transferrable competence-based profiles. This evolution has not resulted in any convergence of views or solutions and a wide variety of doctoral experience still exists today.

Therefore, a vision was developed for the future of doctoral learning, and a joint model of doctoral learning, finding itself at the crux between research, education, and innovation, was explored.

The new YUFE DIOSI Model was thus defined based on this analysis and contains five principles:

A joint vision on doctoral learning with three main desired outcomes for a YUFE DIOSI PhD holder (1)
An overarching framework for the doctoral programme that acknowledges diverging expert visions on the ideal learning format(s) for the doctorate, which includes:
- transferrable skills training (2)
- formal and informal learning (3)
- an extended thesis reflection (4)
a strategic reframing of supervisory relationships (5)

In the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning, the doctoral candidate (DC) stands at the centre of the (doctoral) universe as an active steward in charge of their research and career. Ownership and autonomy are key to achieve personal and professional development and throughout the learning process.

The DC becomes the holder of unique expertise on the specific subject, stretching the barriers of new knowledge.

This goes hand in hand with a development in the capabilities and capacitates of the DC, at the level of personal development. The process should be mirrored in the professional portfolio and career development of the DC.

In this process, the YUFE DIOSI DC is supported by the supervisor and the supervisory committee and guided by a non-academic mentor.

Virtues that YUFE DIOSI DCs acquire, (Kersschot, 2021 based on Mowbray & Halse, 2010)

The institutions should provide constructive and practical support with the supervisors as the guide.

For the learning outcomes or acquired intellectual virtues, three main outcomes or domains were found in the European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning (European Commission, 2008) and in the conceptualisation of coalescing virtues created by Mowbray & Halse (2010), on which the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning builds:

developing cognition: the acquisition of sophia (knowledge);
developing research and other skills: the acquisition of technè (skills/technique);
developing personal resourcefulness: the acquisition of phronesis (autonomy, integrity and other agreed competencies for the doctorate holder).

The doctorate is the level at which the learning process is a catalyst for the creation of new knowledge and there is no single method towards approaching and reaching that goal. Therefore the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning proposes a mix of types of learning where the following components are proposed as part of the YUFE DIOSI doctoral trajectory:

The following topics of (transferrable skills) learning/training:
- research ethics & integrity, unconscious bias in research and the work context;
- open science & innovation;
- research skills;
- broader skill development (related to career goals);
- entrepreneurship (recommended for those that would benefit from training on it).
A mix of formal and informal training formats:
- joint formal training to foster community and/or cohort development;
- formal training (to choice) as an effective way for learning;
- informal training.
A research plan and individualised development plan as part of a PhD thesis with an extended and thorough side-note (self-)reflection which allows for identifying specific needs and tailoring the learning process to the doctoral candidate and in the end focuses on acquired competences during the learning process.

In the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning the relationship between supervisor and supervisee is key to the success of the PhD research, and to the wellbeing of the doctoral candidate (DC). As a supervisor, professors take on many roles going from director of a thesis, to a mentor and coach and even supporter

Additionally, a new basic component to the supervisory team is added, the non-academic mentor. There are several reasons to include this person: improved career goals, training goals, a stronger relationship with society, to enhance impact and public engagement, and potentially even a stronger relationship between the DC and the institution.

The non-academic mentor:

needs to hold a PhD or equivalent research experience, scholarship or professional practice;
will primarily guide with specific attention to the formal training and professional development components and to non-academic career related questions which might encompass wellbeing;
provides an additional link to the institution – even if employed elsewhere.

There is thus a tripartite of supervision in which (at least) three parties are present: a traditional supervisor (academic, professor with a PhD), the DC and a non-academic mentor.

Bibliography

This webpage builds on previous work by authors in non-peer reviewed outlets. We reuse (parts of) texts published in Kersschot, 2021 (DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7300114), and Golob, Künn-Nele, Sušanj, Zubić, Zelenika, 2022 (10.5281/zenodo.7351179).

Mowbray, S. & Halse, C. (2010) The purpose of the PhD: theorising the skills acquired by students, Higher Education Research & Development, 29:6, 653-664, DOI:10.1080/07294360.2010.48719

The completion of the YUFE Pilot on Doctoral Learning and the YUFE Pilot on Postdoctoral Training and Development marks an important step towards a shared European vision on early career researcher support. The insights gained during these pilots form the foundation for future YUFE-wide and institutional initiatives.

News

The YUFE pilot programmes have been successfully completed. Below are some highlights and outcomes.

The YUFE Pilot on Postdoctoral Training and Development concluded on 19 January 2026 with the closing event Connect & Reflect, bringing together postdoctoral researchers and staff from across the YUFE alliance. The event focused on reflection, networking and shaping the future of postdoctoral development within YUFE, and featured a keynote by Dr. Ira Virtanen on the power of networking, followed by an interactive session for participants to exchange experiences and insights.

The YUFE Pilot on Doctoral Learning concluded on 14 January 2026 with the closing event From Reflections to Directions, bringing together doctoral researchers and staff from across the YUFE alliance. The event focused on reflecting on PhD experiences, exploring diverse career paths, and shaping the future of doctoral training within YUFE. Highlights included career insights from doctoral graduates, emphasizing transferable skills, strategic thinking, and communicating research beyond academia, as well as discussions on peer challenges and mentoring.

The University of Antwerp successfully completed its non-academic mentoring programme as part of the YUFE Pilot on Doctoral Learning.
From September 2024 to September 2025, the programme connected doctoral researchers with mentors from diverse professional backgrounds. Its goal: to support both career and personal growth.

At the closing event, participants shared inspiring testimonials. The key takeaway was clear: mentoring fosters growth in perspective, confidence, career development, and connection between academia and the wider world.

The 13 trained Peer Support facilitators have successfully launched 11 Peer Support groups in the spring of 2025, an incredible achievement in supporting the needs of postdoctoral research communities across the YUFE Alliance. With 117 participants actively engaged, these groups are thriving. The feedback has been incredible, and the energy from participants has been nothing short of inspiring.

On November 19^th 2024, the YUFE Pilot on Postdoctoral Training and Development started with a YUFE-wide virtual kick-off across all the YUFE institutions. We will be piloting the YUFE Pilot on Postdoctoral Training and Development Scheme until end 2025, with international YUFE wide high quality training and peer networking opportunities, focusing on postdoctoral researchers as a distinct target group that merit specific attention.

On May 7th 2024 the YUFE Pilot on Doctoral Learning started with a YUFE-wide kick-off across all 7 participating YUFE institutions. We will be piloting and implementing the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning until end 2025 and based on an elaborate evaluation at the end, specific recommendations will be formulated to help other institutions with further implementation of the YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning.

The DIOSI project developed by the YUFE alliance has received its review from the  European Research Executive Agency of the European Commission. They state that the project has delivered exceptional results with significant immediate or potential impact. For more information you can click here.

YUFE Approach to Doctoral and Postdoctoral Learning

YUFE Pilot Projects for Early Career Researchers

The YUFE Pilot on Doctoral Learning

General Timeline

The YUFE Pilot on Postdoctoral Training and Development

The YUFE DIOSI Model for Doctoral Learning

The YUFE DIOSI Vision for Doctoral Learning

The YUFE DIOSI Doctoral Programme Framework

The YUFE DIOSI Supervisory Team

Bibliography

News